It's now been some months since the newest highway in the country's completed, and folks have been rolling smooth as butter on it!
Completed early last September, The B.W. Highway (so named for Bob and Wendy, the two builders leading the charge on the project) was constructed to improve traffic between nearby towns Daviston and Kimball Ridge. Gone went the bumpy old country roads through the hills and in came a smoothly laid highway to make it a safer travel while preserving as much of the natural habitats of the mountainous area as possible.
The project was announced by the Cliffstone Foothills County Department of Roadways, Highways, and Backroads in 2022 as an improvement project for the increasingly busier Wedgeton Airfield, now servicing three airline companies and a variety of passenger and cargo services. With these new roads, buses can now transport folks to be ready for flying out to visit friends or loved ones or business partners, trucks can deliver fresh goods from Crotoonia and beyond at ease, and supplies for the airport from parts and fuel can be delivered in ways both rail and road.
"It's such a great turnout on so many fronts!" comments Bob, on break from working on improvements to Brickerton's Main Street walkways. "We've made it a lot safer for everyone to get to the town and airport, but also preserved the beauty of the natural landscape around here. We used dirt from landslides outside the towns to help make that area safer while making it easy to lay out our new road. It all helped to make a better build through and through!"
"We wanted to make this highway a proper one with our work on the new Airport terminal." explains Wendy, also on the same build the day of our interview. "With it being so much bigger and grander, the people needed a way that benefitted it and the residents of the airport. Before, fuel could only be delivered by train...bad luck on a busier day with mainline engines switching in and out. Now with the new road, both can work in tandem delivering goods to make traffic easier!"
For those still new to the country, you can hook up to B.W. Highway thru County Road 29 from Daviston or Bagdell Road from Kimball Ridge.
Welcome to our fourth edition of ASK A CROTOONIAN, where we ask a Crotoonian of your choice about their day-to-day lives on the railway and all the burning questions you've wanted to ask them! What coal do you take? What water works the best? What copies of bad movies are safe to chuck into your firebox?
That crash near the trestle did give me a find rebuild! And I still enjoy pulling the odd passenger train whenever I'm needed on the tracks. Especially if it stops James and Farnsworth from fighting over coaches!
THOMAS: We work with them a lot of the time! I guess you could say some of them are "honorary" True Blues!
TRACY: I suppose people call us that a lot because we work together a bit a lot! But these guys were my first friends when we moved here, and we've been firm friends since...our crew's a little special for me.
TILLIE: People may call us "The True Blue Steam Team", but we work with a lot of them around our own yards; Azul is the one I can count on to look after the yard when any four of us are paired up for a job!
CASEY JR.: We may all be different shades of blue, and may not be all on a True Blue Team, but we make a team together!
It was certainly an exciting time! I'd never seen a railway quite like this one, and I've made lots of friends since! I'd say more, but you might find out about those adventures some day.
One time, an old viaduct along the tracks to Breakwood Park started to collapse when Alfred was dropping off supplies to the Waterpark Resort! He was stuck on a weak part that had already begun to collapse, so we had to be quick and careful securing cranes and cables to fasten him before we could pull him out! I was the only engine small enough to brave the crumbling bridge and pull him back to safety. But thanks to the team, we saved him before the section collapsed and nobody was hurt!
Oh my goodness! I never knew our stories were being heard, but I'll try to answer the best I can!
1. Timbertop Hill! They often set up winches to get cars up there for log-loading, but some engines charge up to make the grade!
2. When I got uncoupled from the wagons, my brakes couldn't switch on properly because of the grade...they were forced open by the pressure from it! When Tootle bumped into me outside Bluthsburg, he ended up knocking them into place, letting us glide into Fausten Yards to try and slow down and stop!
3. We met on our old railway sometime ago. When we were on a job together, we found out I once wanted to be part of the scenery I'd pass, and Tootle was always jumping into it in his trainee days!
I'm gonna write a lot of nice messages for the Spring Fairs, Easter parties, and especially birthday parties! The only problem with Spring is...(sniff)...my allergies always flare up.
Once or twice a poem's gotten me stuck at the buffers. When I do, I take time away from it. I think about other things and try some new things. The poems eventually return, like I return to my sheds after a long day of work. It all takes time.
If you wanna get your favorite Crotoonian on our next edition, get your butt over to