The train driver in the courtyard

The rolling mountains extend in depth.

A narrow railway track is like a winding snake, lying quietly in the embrace of the mountains.

Seven inches away from the giant snake, there is a station, an inconspicuous small station.

The train station is built halfway up the mountain, and a station sign - "Daheigou Station" - is poured with cement on the right side of the railway track base.

The black fonts imitating the Song Dynasty and the white background look extremely ordinary under the reflection of the light.

Daheigou Station is a fifth-class station and currently has more than a dozen employees.

The webmaster and deputy webmaster each lead 3 people to form a team of 4, and each team takes shifts every 5 days.

Since the small station with four people per shift is too small to be equipped with a canteen, the employees in the station take turns cooking.

When Li Aiguo and others arrived at Daheigou Station, the stationmaster Zhou Mingyi was wearing a water skirt and working on the earthen stove.

When he saw the jeep stopped, he looked at the food in the black pot and then at the jeep outside. Finally, he decided to choose the food in the iron pot and shouted outside: "Wait a moment, I'll be here soon."

After a plate of dishes came out of the pot, Zhou Mingyi trotted all the way to greet them.

He took off his water skirt and wiped his hands carelessly, stretched out his hand and said enthusiastically: "I'm a comrade from the accident investigation team, I'm sorry. I was cooking just now, and yesterday the villagers in the mountains brought mountain mushrooms, which tasted very good. .”

He seemed to feel that he was not enthusiastic enough, so he turned around and ran into the room, bringing out a plate of fried mushrooms and handing it over.

"You guys try it?"

Today we are here to investigate the train accident, not as a guest. Just as Wang Guozhen was about to wave her hand to refuse, Li Aiguo had already come out of the room.

Li Aiguo held the wowotou in one hand and chopsticks in the other. He picked up the mushroom and put it in his mouth. He chewed it twice and let out a burst of praise.

"Well, it tastes really delicious. Come on, team leader, Comrade Yu, Director Zhang, you guys should try it too."

"Don't tell me, these mountain mushrooms are much more delicious than those in the capital."

Just when Wang Guozhen was about to refuse, Yu Dafei and others sat down on the stools, took the chopsticks and started eating.

Wang Guozhen looked at the people chatting with Zhou Mingyi while eating, and felt a sigh in her heart. He would never be able to be a social cow in his life.

Four or five people, with one chopstick each, killed a large plate of mushrooms. Zhou Mingyi got up and wanted to stir-fry, but Li Aiguo stopped him.

Li Aiguo took out a big navy and handed it to him, and said cheerfully: "Brother Zhou, we have a mission today, let's go to the accident scene, right?"

"Yeah."

In the conversation just now, Li Aiguo clearly told him that there were no problems with the handling procedures of Daheigou Station in this accident, and Zhou Mingyi also let go of his psychological burden at this time.

Zhou Mingyi asked Xiao Wang at the station to call on the work, and personally led the accident investigation team to get on the horse.

"Comrade Patriot, I heard that you are a train driver. Can you use this thing?"

"Haha, Brother Zhou, are you going to test me with this?"

After several people got on the horse, Li Aiguo stood in front and pressed down on the heavy iron frame. Zhou Mingyi pushed behind with his buttocks raised.

The horse was running faster and faster on the railway track, and no one even needed to push it anymore. Zhou Mingyi jumped on the horse and shook the iron frame with Li Aiguo.

It is difficult to start the horse, but once the speed is up, you can maintain the speed without much effort at all.

The accident scene is only a thousand meters away from Daheigou Station.

In just a moment, Li Aiguo saw a flatbed train tipped over on the safety track.

The locomotive's headlights were badly shattered, the originally bright glass cover had long since shattered, leaving only a dark hole, just like the psychological trauma left after the accident.

In front of the front of the car, the rails were twisted and deformed, as if torn apart by a huge force, revealing hideous wounds.

The accident scene was similar to what was described in the information, except that the wood had been transported away, leaving a mess on the ground.

Occasionally, a gust of wind blows, and a slight metal collision can be heard, as if the locomotive is moaning in a low voice, telling its pain and helplessness.

This is not the first time Li Aiguo has seen a wrecked train, but every time he feels very sad.

For ordinary people, trains are just a means of transportation, but for train drivers, they are brothers and partners.

Hearing the sound of footsteps, a young comrade wearing a railway uniform emerged from the woods.

He put on his pants as he walked, and Zhou Mingyi jumped off the horse and strode over.

"Zhang Zeshan, are you off duty?"

Zhang Zeshan was startled, and quickly said with a smile: "No, stationmaster, I don't know who fried the mushrooms yesterday. It seems that they were not cooked. I had a stomachache, so I went to the woods to solve it."

"Really? It's because your stomach is so bad." Zhou Mingyi smiled awkwardly.

Sautéed mushrooms.
Li Aiguo seemed to feel a dull pain in his stomach, and he thought that he had been careless this time.

Yu Dafei and the others also felt uncomfortable in their stomachs and looked ugly.

Zhang Zeshan also noticed the identity of the accident investigation team, looked up at Li Aiguo and others, and then said:

"Stationmaster, don't worry. When I was in the woods, I was still staring at this place. No one can get close."

Zhou Mingyi introduced several of them.

"Since the accident, in order to prevent anyone from damaging the scene, we have specially assigned a comrade to guard here."

After hearing this, Li Aiguo could be sure that this guy was not trying to murder the imperial minister.

Rubbing his belly, he strode to the side of the train, walked around the train first, and then looked at Dong Gong.

"Mr. Dong, you are in charge of the front end of the train, and I will check the brake system. Let's check the entire train again according to the information."

"it is good."

Later, in order to cooperate with Li Aiguo's inspection work, Zhou Mingyi asked Zhang Zeshan to bring his own equipment from the station.

In fact, after the train accident, the train had been inspected several times.

The Forest Railway Office and the Forestry Department have both sent people to inspect.

A while ago, the Harbin Railway Bureau also sent experts to check, but found nothing wrong.

Li Aiguo picked up the wrench and inspection hammer and inspected along the brake line, making a clanking sound.

He checked very carefully, not missing any detail.

Whether the plug, cylinder body and locking caliper of the brake cylinder are intact, whether the brake pipe can control braking, and whether the compensation pipe maintains pressure balance at both ends during the process of connecting or disconnecting the brake.

The overflow valve protects the braking system from too much or too little air pressure.

Whether the L-type brake valve can control the brake cylinder by adjusting air pressure.

Whether the secondary braking of the brake handle is sensitive.

Li Aiguo is as familiar with steam locomotives as his wife.

But out of caution, we still check one by one and verify one by one.

It's three poles in the sun, and not even one third of the body has been inspected.

Zhang Zeshan seemed a little anxious at this time.

If in the past he could lie down and sleep in the woods, now he had to be by his side.

"Driver Li, this train has been inspected more than a dozen times. There's no need to go to such trouble, right?"

"Be careful and you never make a mistake. Many accidents happen because of small mistakes."

Li Aiguo did not relax his vigilance. He first checked the front brake system from beginning to end, and then also checked the brake system of the car, and found no fault.

Later, he helped Dong Dong inspect the locomotive and found no abnormalities.

At this time, the weather was getting hot, and green bean tea was delivered to Daheigou Station.

The accident investigation team sat under the shade of a tree and held a short meeting while drinking mung bean tea.

After listening to the reports from Li Aiguo and Dong Gong, the leader of the investigation team Wang Guozhen frowned and said: "So, this time the train lost control, it must be a man-made accident?"

Dong Gong shook his head: "If you can't find the fault, you can only prove that it is not man-made."

Wang Guozhen asked: "What does this mean?"

Dong Gong explained: “In fact, the train driver’s role in the train is very limited, and it is nothing more than acceleration, deceleration, and braking.

When the train passed through Daheigou Station, the speed was only 40 kilometers per hour, and it was not speeding. There is no way a train driver can make a train run out of control. "

Only then did Wang Guozhen finally understand.

But as a result, contradictions arise.

Since there is no fault in the train and the train driver cannot make the train go out of control, why does the train go out of control?
“Is it really caused by a design flaw in the train?”

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, Wang Guozhen closed her mouth and her face turned ugly.

Dozens of Jiefang narrow-gauge locomotives have been produced, and the Sifang Factory is now ramping up production.

It would be nice if this defect could be repaired.

If the defects cannot be corrected, it means that all these locomotives will have to be scrapped.

At the time of introduction, neither Sifang Factory, Sentie nor the bureau could bear such a huge loss. It can be expected that the Railway Research Institute, which is responsible for the design work, will also have to follow suit.

Dong Gong also figured out this joint, and felt a chill all over his body.

He didn't care about enjoying the cool anymore, put down the enamel jar, got into the locomotive and continued to check.

He must find out the real reason why the train went out of control.

The scene immediately became busy. Li Aiguo sat on a stone and kept squinting at the train. This made Wang Guozhen feel very strange.

"Driver Li, aren't you going to check? Or have you discovered something?"

"It's hard to say yet."

Li Aiguo suddenly pointed to the train and asked, "Did anyone see it when the accident happened?"

"This was not mentioned in the investigation materials." Wang Guozhen turned to look at the webmaster Zhou Mingyi, "Webmaster Zhou, have you seen it?"

Zhou Mingyi shook his head: "No, we were there at that time"

He seemed to have something unspeakable and closed his mouth mid-sentence.

Wang Guozhen felt a little strange and continued to ask.

Li Aiguo stopped him, handed Zhou Mingyi a cigarette, and said with a smile: "Brother Zhou, don't worry, we are the accident investigation team, not the disciplinary inspection team of Sentai Railway. As long as we investigate the real cause of the train accident, we will respect your position." I’m not interested in what’s going on here.”

After Zhou Mingyi took the cigarette, Li Aiguo's expression changed and he said seriously: "But if I find out that anyone dares to deliberately conceal things and mislead the direction of our accident investigation team's investigation, then don't blame us for being rude."

Zhou Mingyi was startled. This guy was born in the year of a dog. He would fall out at any time.

"Actually, this is embarrassing to say. We Sen Railway employees are different from your regular railway employees. Even though I am a stationmaster, my salary is only more than 20 yuan. An employee like Zhang Zeshan's salary is only 15 yuan.

This money is really not enough to support a family. So we started making extra money. "

As the webmaster, Zhou Mingyi took the lead in making extra money. He felt very embarrassed and stammered when he spoke.

Seeing the webmaster's embarrassment, Zhang Zeshan stood up and said, "Let me tell you. Making extra money is not a big deal.

There are medicinal herbs, jackals, tigers and leopards in this mountain, so there are many herb collectors and hunters going up the mountain on weekdays.

Those who work in the mountain shop also have to go down the mountain to buy supplies.

There are also production workers in the lumber yard who also need to go up the mountain to cut down trees.

Before the opening of the Forest Railway line, these people climbed mountains with their feet.

After passing the train, these people found their way inside the station, hoping to take a timber train up and down the mountain. Give us some money for the car.

Thinking that we wouldn't waste anything, we agreed.

Before train 3134 arrived, we were preparing to arrange for several loaded herb pickers to take the train down the mountain. "

Li Aiguo nodded slightly.

If you rely on mountains to eat mountains, if you rely on water to draw water, Daheigou Station relies on railway tracks, so it naturally needs to eat railway tracks.

Li Aiguo reminded: "Brother Zhou, I can understand your situation, but this matter is irregular after all. If someone gets caught, there may be trouble."

Zhou Mingyi also knew that Li Aiguo was telling the truth.

In fact, those people in the work shop have been unable to pay for transportation up and down the mountain recently.

The little boss also kept saying that if he dared to force them out of the car, he would report the matter to the Sentai Railway Office.

"Then what should we do? We can't go hungry." Zhang Zeshan said dissatisfied.

He felt that these people from the capital did not feel pain in their backs when they stood and talked.

With a monthly salary of more than 100 yuan, they naturally don't need this extra money.

"Xiao Zhang, don't talk to Driver Li like that. Driver Li also means well."

Zhou Mingyi was startled and wanted to scold Zhang Zeshan, but was stopped by Li Aiguo.

"What Comrade Zhang said is true. People always have to fill their stomachs and feed their wives and children. When we do work, we cannot ignore this."

He looked at the mountain people wandering around on the platform in the distance, squinted and said, "Actually, I think the passenger flow of the Forest Railway is not small. The mountain people going up and down the mountain, plus the logging production workers, are enough to support a passenger train. .

I think we should recommend the Sentinel Railway to open an additional passenger train. "

As soon as these words came out, Zhou Mingyi's eyes widened with excitement.

If there are passenger trains, their small station will be upgraded from a simple freight station to a passenger station, and their wages will also increase.

Also, he went down the mountain for training a while ago and heard from the leader of the passenger terminal that now he can sell goods on the platform of the passenger terminal.

In particular, instant noodles are very popular and profitable. You can earn 2 cents from a pack of instant noodles!
Although Zhou Mingyi has never eaten instant noodles, he is also aware of the value of selling goods at the platform.

Every month, each employee in the station can get a subsidy of five or six yuan based on the dividends from selling goods on the platform!

This is serious extra money. Even if someone reports it, there is no need to be afraid.

If you can make money legally, no one wants to take shortcuts.

Zhang Zeshan felt that this matter was unreliable and said: "Driver Li, how can this matter be so easy? Can the Forest Railway Office listen to us?"

"Don't worry, wait until I get back to talk to Director Zhang of Sentie about the Sentie Passenger Line."

Li Aiguo is not worried about the opening of passenger train lines.

After all, in later generations, Sentai Railway's passenger train was officially opened a year or two after it was established at Daheigou Station and has been running for decades.

Later, trains in big cities experienced the upgrading of internal combustion engines, electric locomotives, and high-speed rail. The passenger trains of Forest Railway are still steam engines. Instead of declining, it has become a tourist route, bringing huge profits to local scenic spots every year.

Zhou Mingyi was also worried just now. After hearing this, he excitedly held Li Aiguo's hand.

The accident investigation team came from the capital and had a high level. If they could make suggestions to Mori Railway, they might actually be able to do it.

"Driver Li, thank you."

"Why are you so grateful? We are worker brothers, so naturally we should help each other."

After listening to Li Aiguo's words, Zhang Zeshan's face turned red, feeling ashamed of what had just happened.

People are kind and well-intentioned to help him, but he questions the abilities of others.

He was originally investigating the accident, but the topic of the passenger line Wang Guozhenjian got further and further away. He coughed twice and said, "Patriotic comrade, shall we continue to investigate the train accident?"

Li Aiguo's face straightened and he said to stationmaster Zhou Mingyi: "Brother Zhou, the employees at your station did not witness the train accident, so is it possible that the nearby mountain people did?"

Mountain residents wandering around the platform may indeed witness the accident.

Zhou Mingyi hesitated for a moment and said: "Driver Li, I will gather everyone together now and ask them to think about the villagers who appeared at the station yesterday."

After saying that, he strode away.

Looking at his back, Wang Guozhen understood why Li Aiguo helped Daheigou Station.

The accident currently has nothing to do with Daheigou Station. There is no need for the station manager and employees to spend time helping the accident investigation team find witnesses.

After Zhou Mingyi returned to the station, he immediately summoned all the employees in the station.

"Boys, there is a major task for you at the station now."

The employees mobilized and wrote down the names of the villagers they met yesterday. Then Zhou Mingyi led the employees and rode bicycles from house to house to search.

This is a very difficult and vast task.

The villagers live very scattered, and the mountain roads are rugged, but no one at the Daheigou Station complained about suffering or tiredness.

Seeing this, Wang Guozhen gave Li Aiguo a thumbs up: "Aiguo, no wonder the teacher often praises you as a talent. I am convinced. Thanks to you today, they can make them so active."

The reason why Li Aiguo proposed the idea of ​​​​Senior Railway Passenger Line was just to benefit the employees at the station, and he had no such idea.

Hearing this, he just smiled.

Sudden.

I had a huge pain in my stomach.

Li Aiguo ran into the woods holding his stomach.

Night falls.

There are lights flickering in the mountains. Looking from a distance, they look like stars in the night sky, like fireflies flickering and jumping.

After dinner at Daheigou Station, Li Aiguo stood in the mountain breeze waiting for news.

After a whole day of investigation, most mountain residents did not witness the train going out of control.

Only Zhang Zeshan has not returned yet.

Suddenly, there was an excited shout from a distance.

"Driver Li, I found a witness."

(End of this chapter)