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Post by Greywall on Aug 6, 2022 9:50:10 GMT -5
Fuar was a simple town in Southern Zedonia, primarily a fishing village that grew slowly with native Xaspeshi and Gaelics living a quiet life in the cold country. But the moment the Mil'Nor agreed to have a railroad built brought in hundreds of people from across the UKUG, GWR had begun shipping materials from Sepedia via rail line into the town along with workers to being the construction. Migrants seeking work came from as far as Alba and Faroe, the local economy exploded overnight and the expected flush of immigrants hadn't come yet. Fuar's port authority began preparing for ships bringing in additional materials and workers as GWR managers boarded from Fuar to set for Mil'Nor, there they would assist the Mil'Nor teams in constructing the Southern line to meet the Northern line. The first set of narrow-gauge rails would be put adjacent to the the main station where they could unload passengers and freight coming in and out of Mil'Nor. The first locomotive placed on it was a GWR 456 Maintenance locomotive, the locals called them Jerrys. Further work would begin soon while the Summer air permitted it.  Jerry Maintenace locomotive. |
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Post by Greywall on Aug 10, 2022 20:07:20 GMT -5
Daniel Edwards stepped off the cruise ship and onto the busy port, hundreds of migrant workers flooded it, mostly Gaelics from across the UKUG looking for work like him. He brought with him just a few clothes, toiletries, some food and items to carry with him. He wanted to start a new life in Zedonia and working on the Mil'Nor railroad would be a good way to earn that keep.
"Name?" the man behind the customs desk emotionlessly said, "Daniel Edwards" without much time to even think beyond that the man handed him a card and some papers, "Railroad yea? Head down the Western path toward the main station, they'll assign you to a work group. Next." Daniel quickly moved out of the way for the next worker who received the exact tone for tone greeting. After leaving the port area Daniel made his way to the Western path of the town of Fuar, it was now occurring to him the town was much colder than anywhere else in Ulster-Gaelia. He finally came up to a large train station where several men and women were being split into groups, as Daniel approached the building a man walked up asking for his paperwork "Ah Edwards, you're in work group D. You'll be working tonight laying track a couple miles South, go report to your foreman, you'll be riding a toad to your work location."
Daniel made his way to the main camp, he was assigned a small tent with three other men, he placed his things before hearing a voice cry out "Work group D! Get ready to depart!" he was rattled a bit by the sudden call to work not realizing how late it had gotten, but he was here to do a job. He made his way to the rails where a Jerry locomotive and a Toad van were waiting, he jumped into the cramped Toad filled with workers before the small steam engine pulled away. "Always a shitshow in the beginning, they'll be better organized after a month or two" complained one of the workers. After an hour of travelling down the rail line they arrived by a large lit work encampment, it was already dark as the locomotive came to a slow stop and Daniel stepped down from the Toad with the other workers. As they left the work group that was there already began to load into it, "We'll be back in 12 hours, try to make progress lads." said the engineer as he began working the steam engine in reverse back to the town.
"Alright, you start laying ties and then we all lift the rails and place them all down, once that's down start hammering in spikes. We do this until shift end. Get to work." Daniel and the work group quickly laid down several wooden ties which was fairly easy given the narrow-gauge track size, then came team lifting the rail itself, large sold pieces of steel that had to be laid down just right with the already laid rail. Despite it being narrow gauge, they still weighed quite heavy, but the hard job came with driving the spikes into the cold tundra floor. Daniel had to swing the heavy hammer several times to drive a single spike in but he noticed his group was struggling. "Put your backs into it!" cried the foreman as the freezing night air began to hurt Daniel, 'Oh fuck, what did I get myself into?' he thought as he finally heard the satisfying sound of the spike entering the ground firmly.
12 hours passed through the freezing night but the work group made alot of progress, the distant light of the sun rising from the East finally broke as they heard a familiar sound, the sound of the Jerry locomotive bringing the Toad down the line. It came to a slow stop and began unloading the next work group, "Good job lads, load up, there's breakfast back in town." Daniel and the exhausted crew boarded the Toad and annoyingly had to stand the entire trip back, once they arrived back in town their foreman said "Go grab some food, you earned it, then get some sleep. If you need to wash up there's a bath over there. Men's on the right, Women's on the left." the foreman walked over to a tent where a long line stretched, the sweet smell of bacon and eggs filled the air and Daniel could only think of filling his starving stomach. He got in line but was surprised how quickly it moved forward, he reached the long heat waved buffet of food filled with sour dough bread toast, bacon, honeyed ham, eggs, steamed mushrooms and tomatoes and large vats of tea and water. Daniel filled his tray to the brim when one of the caters chimed happily "Coffee is over there on the side, plenty of cream and sugar if you need it!" Daniel was in heaven, he had read this in his work pamphlet, the entire meal was free. He grabbed two mugs filled with coffee and sugared cream before settling down to feast. The night's hard work had made him very hungry.
After feasting like a king he made his way to his tent where he found his fellow workers gone, likely with the workgroup that had left, he had the entire tent to himself and plopped down into his twin sized bed. The tent was comfortable and warm, sheltering him from the cold Fuar air trying to invade it, he closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep feeling his body rejoice at the moment of rest at last.
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Post by Greywall on Aug 13, 2022 13:40:26 GMT -5
Continued progress of the Northern section had become far more organized as the weeks rolled by, Daniel was now accustomed to his work having built some muscle and memory to how to swing the hammer. The work was still hard and draining but the GWR fed and paid very well, he never met his tent mates always exchanging off the work trains heading to the line before realistically bumping into them.
Progress carved dual tracks into deep Southern Zedonia, oddly enough connecting some isolated villages and homesteads. GWR erected some small stations along the way, water towers and some coal depots. Daniel was returning to Fuar, the trip particularly long as the tracks stretched several miles South. His hands were hard and calloused, and he was already thinking of the hot breakfast waiting for him at the town. Fuar was already expanding quickly when Daniel noticed something off in the docks, Frannerre ships. "They came a few days ago, here for the war in the South." mentioned a worker walking past heading for the food tend. Daniel had heard of the bloody war in South Touli and while it was far away it still concerned many in Zedonia that peace had been shattered.
Daniel was piling on some fried eggs, roasted tomatoes and potatoes when a foreman shouted, "OY ATTENTION!" he and everyone turned to face the foreman who was standing on one of the tables, "Damn fine work lads, we're ahead of schedule and as such you all get 20 pound bonuses!" A cheer swept through the tent waking up the exhausted workers, Daniel gave a grin happy to hear of the extra money. "Our work is going to change; we're building a border station near the village of Temiche and that'll be our new base of operations as we enter Mil'Nor so after a couple days we'll be departing from Fuar and we're all going to have that station built. GWR will continue to receive the bulk of materials and workers here in Fuar but we're getting pretty far from the work site, and we need a border station anyway. Enjoy your meal! We leave Fuar in two days, so that means no work." he stepped off the table amid another row of cheering, some time off was much needed.
Daniel began eating his food now wondering who his tent mates were, he hadn't met them yet and some slight anxiety filled him concerning it.
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Post by Greywall on Sept 2, 2022 15:42:54 GMT -5
The sharp shrill of the whistle caused Daniel to cup his ears, the first line of the new railroad had been finished. Several Gaelics were getting together and celebrating near the GWR camp within Mil'Nor, ale had been brought up by the company to let some steam off and Daniel wasn't letting free drinks go by. He overheard several co workers talk about going into the nearby city to see what their new trade partners were like, "I wonder what the women look like? Hell even the men" one worker said interested in getting some warm company while they were down prior to the new line being planned.
Others simply wanted to laze about and rest their sore bodies, Daniel was one of them, the cold harsh Touli winter had finally come and Mil'Nor was at its forefront. "This place is freezing, even compared to Fuar." Daniel complained, he rushed back to his tent and found his bunk mates leaving for the nearby city as well. "Oy, yer Daniel yea? I'm Patrick and this dumb Ichlan bastard is Takunda" the dark Gaelic elbowed Patrick hard into his ribs causing him to laugh. "We're heading into the town, going to find more ale, well something better than the pale Grinvel shit they brought" Takunda said. Daniel shook his head, "I'm tired lads, i'll lay down for the night" they both shrugged and walked out allowing a cruel whip of cold air into the warm tent. Daniel took his clothes off and wrapped himself up into his bunk. The warm wool sheets and covers quickly cocooned his body in pleasant warmth and he fell asleep happy knowing his money was collecting quite a bit and there were still more lines to lay down.
The next morning Daniel would find some of his fellow workers hung over and trying to grab some bacon at the food tent, he would then see a few walking into camp naked "What happened to you!?" he would ask. They shook their heads, "Got lucky" they would then sway their heads back at the nearby town "But so did they, took everything off me". Daniel shook his head in disbelief, making his way to the food tent for something to eat.
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Post by Artsy Astra on Sept 6, 2022 13:19:08 GMT -5
A young Rel man came into his local bar waving a newspaper. He called out in a thick Plainery bluegrass accent, “Hey y’all! Yer gonna wanna hear this!”
The UKUG ad caused quite a stir among Rel communities in Plainery. Despite being a snoozy rural region, it was a cultural hub atleast among their people with the largest portion of the population residing there. Their usual want to explore and interact with new cultures being a well known facet of their culture, it was no surprise that many jumped upon the UKUG opportunity for a new frontier.
Boats filled to the brim with mostly Rel, and a few Shazzak or human family members, set off for Zedonia in a minor exodus. The true promise of a frontier their forefathers had experienced in the early days of the Republic a few months at see away.
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Post by Greywall on Oct 16, 2022 18:34:55 GMT -5
GWR began the process of laying tracks in Northern Mil'Nor, Jerry locomotives hauled workers back and forth as they did before with the Ralteran-Fuar line. Daniel signed up for another bout of work, this time working as a conductor on the open cab locomotive. He made quite a bit of coin in the last project and was promoted following his return. Some workers returned to Zedonia after getting paid taking their large payments home.
Takunda and Patrick came back as well, Takunda working maintenance on the cars and locomotives, Patrick having to work the crane lowering steel tracks. Patrick definitely needed the money after he fell for some Mil'Nor woman and lost all his earnings. Long story short, the short stack took his money after a rather eventful night.
They made good progress now knowing how to lay the narrow gauge track, connecting to several towns and villages in the North.
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Post by Greywall on Dec 17, 2022 22:36:49 GMT -5
Progress stalled in the North but continued on in the South with the war raging, Daniel and his team were shifted South to connect Mil'Nor to the Kithium league. As winter reared its ugly head, track laying slowed down considerably. Daniel cursed the open cab locomotive as he shunted some cars back and forth from the work site and the town that was the latest connection to the railway.
He tried to stay near the fire and boiler as much as possible getting some relief in its never ending war against the Mil'Nor winter. Snow slowly fluttered down blanketing the ground into a nice sheet of white, the work crews up ahead had some fires roaring and heavily bundled up. The sounds of sledgehammers and men cursing in the cold were otherwise breaking the silent winter landscape. As the crews unloaded the cars of tools, some explosives and supplies they slightly gave Daniel looks of envy as he got to sit in the locomotive as they worked. Once they finished Daniel would head back to town to collect coaches to pick up the next work shift to take them to the worksite and then take those at the site to town for their time off. He braced against the cold wind slicing him to tatters, he felt as if no matter how thick his coat and Tartan were wrapped around him the wind found its way straight into his bones. "Damn...one more year of this an i'm settling up in Zedonia." Daniel cursed.
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Post by Greywall on Jan 23, 2023 23:41:41 GMT -5
Spring finally broke the long and bitter winter in Mil'Nor, as the first wave of green broke through the meager grey and brought in color the sounds of the countryside stirring with small birds, insects and animals would be mixed in with the sounds of rail workers laying down track and steadily getting back to work on lines held off due to the war.
The Southern line had finished near the Kithium border, Daniel was now steadily shipping workers back and forth as the tendrils of rail lines spanned across the Valderan Republic. The work crews in Mil'Nor were now large and diverse as GWR attracted workers from all over Ouhiri, Daniel picked up a large group of Rel workers who eagerly boarded the coach to continue work.
The Northern and Southern lines were close to completion, GWR was now ordering more locomotives to be built and sent an order to the Mil'Nor freight and passenger factories that they would need more to meet the steady demand of rail usage. Lines that were finished were already working around the clock shipping goods across the Republic.
Daniel had a few more months before his contract would be up, the Valderan GWR branch was growing rapidly, after a year it was one of the larger foreign companies in Mil'Nor and already inquiring for more contracts from the Republic to expand more lines for cash incentives. After delivering the work crews to the site he saw Patrick on the crane nearby laying down steel and decided to talk to him.
"Patti! How are ya?" Daniel shouted as some conductors looked over his locomotive and began preparing it to haul workers back into the nearby town. "Oy, Danny boy. I'm alright, you staying over?" Daniel shook his head, "No, I got this season and I'm taking my account and going North." Patrick shook his head, "Really shame laddie, they offered incentive bonuses and raises to stay over, hell they offering 400 pounds to join the Kithium crew if you been here." Daniel paused before asking, "Kithium crew?" he would be lying if that bonus didn't get his attention. "GWR wants to try and get into the Kithium League, anyone who knows how to operate the equipment gets 400 bloody pounds." he slapped his hands "just like that".
Daniel thought about it, going over to the League wasn't his first choice, but he was young and getting as much money as he could get. "I'll think about it, what's your next day off? We need to get with Takunda and grab some food." Patrick shrugged, "Takunda left, he went back to Zedonia to work at a major rail depot. It's all new people now, most of who we started with moved up." Daniel sighed but heard his locomotive getting ready, "Listen i'm working up North so meet up with me." Patrick nodded and went back to his work. Daniel boarded his Jerry locomotive and hauled coaches full of tired workers wanting to get back into town.
He mulled it over, but the amount of money GWR was offering to keep experienced workers was too good, he decided to at least stay in Mil'Nor for now.
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Post by Greywall on Feb 21, 2023 22:45:06 GMT -5
GWR had finished the Northern and Southern lines, the company had properly ordered enough cars and freight trucks from the local factories in Mil'Nor and locomotives from the UKUG to properly operate the new network of rail lines.
The company placed bids to now spiderweb into the inner country to connect more towns and states of the Republic to the main lines, IE make more money.
Many workers were now waiting for further work, likely to enter the Kithium league or if GWR began laying down track in the inner country. Some bought homes in the open country of Mil'Nor and others returned home to their native land. Either way, they had money.
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