Railway Empire
/‘Shorty’ Jim McGinty traded his .577 caliber rifle for a sledgehammer as the reunited states of America followed the massive destruction of the Civil War with the massive construction of a coast-to-coast transportation system powered by steam locomotives set on tracks.
After surviving the carnage as closely as one can-–his hair was parted by a rebel bullet in the Battle of Cold Harbor—the spunky Irishman, thankful he was only 5’ 6” and not 5’ 6½”, returned to his hometown of Killdeer, Pennsylvania, to resume his most fortunate life. But soon, Pokeyville, PA, became much too boring after experiencing the ‘glory’ of war so he drifted out west, itching to start a new, more exciting one—building railroads. McGinty was hired by industrialist Roger Smythe in 1866, as the final connections were being linked together.
His work assignment began in Omaha, under the guiding hand of chief engineer, Doc Murphy. Their first connection challenge was a short line to Norfolk and the surrounding corn fields, then west to North Platte, then through Wyoming and the final hub, Denver. The man-in-charge hammered home that they were always to use the shortest available path which was solid, practical advice through the pancake plains of Nebraska, not so much through the granite peaks of the Rocky Mountains.
With the twin goals of Cheyenne reaching 30,000 citizens and an unimpeded rail line from Omaha to Denver delivering timber and wheat and meat and corn to the folks back east, the crew’s first endeavor was completed, so Shorty moved on to the next level of his life, returning back east for a spell, helping lay a network of rails connecting Indianapolis, Toledo, Chicago, and Grand Rapids-–towns that were rapidly expanding after the war that were now linked, hauling beer, lumber, fruits, vegetables, and milk all over the Midwest.
Mr. Murphy’s most demanding undertaking was to run a passenger train from Toledo to Omaha without stoppage. To achieve this goal, his team needed to construct a straight shot between the two cities and a bridge over the Mississippi River near Rock Island, Illinois. When the train transporting a hundred passengers whistled into the Nebraska city without a steel wheel’s revolution of rest, it unlocked another adventure, this one way out west.
The crew pounded in the first spikes in Sacramento and did not stop until the capital city connected with San Francisco and Redding with trains set to carry passengers and mail; then from Shasta to the north and Carson City to the east with trains set to carry silver and gold. Then the final spike at Promontory Point, Utah. Soon, supply trains chugged in and out from Winnemucca, Elko, and Salt Lake City (although running a railway line through Indian territory might have proven fatal had not Union Pacific compensated the tribes for once). At last, the East and West Coasts were inseparable by two parallel embryonic ribbons of steel!
All told, Shorty McGinty helped lay down a total network of 2,337 miles of train track and would repeat the projects a million times over, because in reality, he was indeed 5’ 6½” and not 5’ 6”, and was indeed killed by a rebel bullet through the forehead in the Battle of Cold Harbor. He, in some in bat-guano, mixed-up, inexplicable way, ‘woke up’ 158 years later stuck inside a railroad construction and management simulation video game developed by Gaming Minds Studios and published by Kalypso Media, with artwork created by Bruno Frasca and Daniel Lieske. The poor digitized soul thinks the life he’s living is one of spikes and rails and train stations, but in reality it's one of ones and zeroes and PlayStations.
By CraigE
From: United States