TRAIN NO.33

It was the time when the British ruled India. It was early days of railways there, and they were expanding the rail infrastructure for commercial and defence reasons moving steel. coal, gravel and the like.  That day in Majra railway station, the staff were busy readying a goods train to go to Chaman. Station master Latif, dressed in railway company uniform of grey shirt and grey pants, was personally supervising the operation. Since it was to be a mostly high gradient run, the train was formed of lesser than the usual number of carriages. There were only 9 of them carrying  coal and gravel. The already loaded open carriages in formation had been brought to the platform.  A local station driver moved the charged steam engine from its siding, and set off puffing amid whistles.  It went forward some distance till it reached the point where the line merged with the one leading to the platform. The engine backed slowly till it reached the loaded carriages and was bolted down to haul. It was designated Train no.33 and was ready to go at the scheduled time of 6.30 PM. The time was now half past 5 in the evening.

The platform, as usual, was empty of people at that hour except station staff. The crew of train no.33 now started arriving. The first to come in uniform carrying a bag was Bradley who was to drive the train.  He was a young man, a bachelor, with flaming red hair and sported a red moustache. Latif wished Bradley, who would usually be garrulous, and he waved back.

 “Latif, who is to assist me on the engine?”

Latif said “It is Rocky. Not come yet.”

“Good. He has been a crew with me a couple of times. Rocky is aloof but a nice fellow. Knows his job. He is an anglo-Indian chap from Chaman. He will come. Who is the guard?”

“Reed. Not yet arrived.”

“He will come. Let me get ready after picking up the gun from your room..”

“Yes please.”

In Latif’s room, Bradley took down the gun he had to carry against wild beasts on the way. He checked the availability of bullets, and carried the gun towards the engine. Climbing into it he laid the gun on the gun-rest, hung up his bag, and put on an apron and cap. He then checked the gauges  on the engine and found the readings satisfactory.

The crew member next to arrive was Reed. He was a bit stocky, and was partly bald. Perhaps another few months and he would retire and settle in Belfast from where he hailed. Reed was in uniform with a black coat on top. He was a stickler for rules and was thorough at his job. He came as usual with a food basket in hand containing his dinne r, besides snacks which he liked to eat on the way. He did not socialise much, and preferred to get into his carriage and wait, which he now did.

Next Rocky arrived. He was a fellow with a pinched unshaven face which never had a smile. He was  tall and very lean, and the uniform appeared baggy on him. He climbed into the engine, wished Bradley, hung up his bag and started checking the coal stock and water levels in the boiler.

 Bradley asked “Rocky, we’re now on our way to Chaman.  Have you been on this route before?”

Rocky shook his head. Bradley said “Stow more coal. Remember we’ll be climbing steeply at some points.” Rocky started work.

Standing, looking out of his compartment, Reed was speaking to Latif  who stood alongside. At 6.30, at a signal from Latif, one of the staff hammered vigorously  with an iron rod on a piece of railing hanging from the roof, to signal the train was about to leave. Bradley gave an answering whistle and as Reed waved the green flag, train no.33 set off.

Reed sat back in his carriage knowing that nothing would disturb him for at least two hours when the engine’s first watering point on the trip would be reached. His mind was on retiring and going back to Belfast to join his mother. His wife had passed on and they had no children. The train was going at a low speed as it was climbing a gradient. It was now dark outside and Reed kept his acetylene beacon handy for signalling. As the train proceeded, Reed checked the time on his pocket watch, and felt e notedHethey were nearing Khairpur station where the train wasn’t required to stop. He heard Bradley’s whistle as they crossed Khairpur. Finding the train running smoothly, Reed drew one of the cakes out of his basket and started eating it. Suddenly the train stopped with a jerk. Reed peeped out but he couldn’t see anything in the dark as they were close to new moon day. He didn’t understand why the train had stopped. Now Rocky came running and said “Sir, we saw something large blocking the rails and stopped.”

“Wait. I’ll go with you.” Reed, carrying his signalling beacon to light the way,  climbed down and went with Rocky towards the engine.

They found Bradley standing near the engine with a puzzled expression on his face. When Reed drew near, Bradley said “What I saw in the engine’s headlight was a heavy log on the rails and stopped. Let us walk up and see. Just a minute.” He jumped into the engine and came down with the gun.

Leaving Rocky behind, Bradley and Reed walked some distance on the railway line.

Finally Bradley said “Surprising isn’t it? The track is free.”

 They walked back to the engine. Reed saw Rocky sitting on the engine’s footboard and asked “Rocky, did you also see whatever blocked the rails?”

“In fact I saw it first and shouted when Bradley applied the brakes.”

Reed said “I‘ve to report it. This has happened minutes after crossing Khairpur station. Let me make notes. ” He pulled out a diary from his pocket and with a pencil scrawled details of the incident after checking the time on his pocket watch.

As they were considering resuming the journey, they heard a big noise of something crashing down  the branches of the big tree nearby. Bradley blindly sent a shot in the direction of the noise. The birds in the tree, and bats perhaps, flew out in response, shrieking but nothing dead or alive landed on the ground.

 Reed said “Bradley ,let’s get going or we may have to face some wild beast.” He retired to his compartment, and Bradley and Rocky got the train going ahead as fast as it could. They reached their destination Chaman  in the morning.  Reed went to Franklin, station master of Chaman who was at work in his office. He seated Reed, and lit up his pipe. At a nod from Franklin, Reed told him about the block on the railway line and the sudden disturbance on the tree alongside. 

Franklin pulled out the pipe from his lips and said laughing “This is the third time I’m hearing of such a block. I know the details well.”  Franklin coughed a little and said “People here say that Metty, the wife of a railway employee in Khairpur who had been harassed by the husband had committed suicide by hanging herself from that tree. In the two cases that were reported, the block had happened at the same point, at night, near the tree. You’ve now mentioned the happening at the same point. In the earlier cases they didn’t need to open fire.”  He thought a little and added “We examined the two cases thoroughly. In one case the anglo-Indian engine driver had tried to strangle his wife, and hearing her screams security staff had intervened and protected her. In the other case the man had burnt the fingers of his first wife after a quarrel by plunging her hand into boiling water. They say that when Metty is disturbed on seeing wrong doers towards women, her ghost living in that tree tries to block trains. How it is done is a mystery.”

Reed said “We weren’t disturbing anyone. In fact we were going silently without even a whistle after the gun shot.”

Franklin shrugged and said “I didn’t mean physical disturbance. I meant something psychical. Something  paranormal. Give me a report and I’ll also have this case investigated.”

Reed said “I’ll do it. I’m also going to note down this happening along with certain others which I’ve recorded. My mother in Belfast would be interested in hearing of such strange happenings in distant India.”

Franklin nodded. He put the pipe back on the stand and went back to his paperwork.

 Reed and Bradley were camped at the railway employees club as they were scheduled to return to Majra only the following night. While there, they were talking to the head of the club, an Englishman. Reed asked “Do you know of an anglo-Indian fellow nicknamed Rocky who works for the railways?”

 The man thought a bit and said ”Not personally. According to the grapevine he had tried to murder his wife about ten days ago. They say he did it by forcing her to drink something poisonous. But she survived. Everyone here thinks he is guilty of harming his wife.”

Reed and Bradley were surprised. They felt the events of the previous night confirmed Rocky’s guilt. May be Metty’s ghost had acted! But how could it have sensed Rocky’s guilt? What about seeing the log on the rails? How about the sound like a large beast descending from the tree inducing gun fire? There were no answers!

END