ryethenovel Chapter 14 Steel Rails
Chapter 14 Steel Rails
The steel rails were delivered on the third day.
Old Wu was driving the same Jeep, with a trailer attached to the back. The trailer contained six steel rails, each six meters long, which he had salvaged from the shipyard's scrap heap.
They were old, but not rusted through. Old Fang tapped each one with a hammer; the sound was crisp, and the steel was still there. The sleepers were bought by Qiu Changhai from Old Huang, a timber merchant on the island. They were made of locust wood, twenty in total, sawn square and soaked in tung oil.
"Locust wood is resistant to seawater." Qiu Changhai squatted down next to the railway sleeper, running his hand along the wood's grain. "It should last three to five years without any problems. Replace it when it breaks down after three to five years."
Ding Haisheng pushed the welding machine out of the stone house, plugged it in, and began welding the rail joints. The six rails needed to be joined into two twelve-meter-long rails. The joints needed to be beveled and welded in three passes: the first pass for the base coat, the second for the filler coat, and the third for the top coat.
Ah Guang squatted down beside him and watched without blinking.
After Ding Haisheng finished welding the first joint, he used a welding hammer to knock off the flux residue, revealing the weld seam with neat, orderly fish-scale patterns. He glanced at A-Guang.
"What did you figure out?"
"The welding rod isn't moving in a straight line," Ah Guang pointed to the weld, "it's swaying from side to side."
"The oscillation is small during the root pass and large during the cover pass. The oscillation is to ensure good fusion on both sides of the weld and prevent undercut."
Ding Haisheng picked up a piece of scrap steel from the junkyard and drew a straight line on it with a slate pencil. "Practice on the scrap plate. First practice walking in a straight line. Once you can walk in a straight line steadily, then learn to swing."
Ah Guang took the welding clamps and squatted down next to the pile of scrap boards. He first put on his mask, then checked his gloves and work clothes cuffs.
Ding Haisheng glanced at it and nodded. A-Guang, holding the welding rod in welding pliers, walked along a straight line. His hand trembled, and the electrode tip left a crooked mark on the steel plate. He went again, still crooked. On the fifth try, it was barely straight.
On the tenth attempt, the welding rod tip stuck to the steel plate and couldn't be removed.
Ding Haisheng came over and took a look. "The current is too low. Thin plates need a low current, but if it's too low, it's difficult to ignite an arc. Increase it by one level."
Ah Guang increased the welding machine current by one level and reignited the arc. This time it went smoothly; the welding rod traveled steadily along a straight line, the flux melted evenly, and a thin weld was formed.
"Okay. Let's continue practicing tomorrow. Practice straight lines for ten days, then practice swaying for ten days. Weld the corner seams flat after a month."
Ah Guang removed the welding rod from the welding clamp, hung the clamp up, and took off his welding mask. His forehead was covered in sweat.
Laying the tracks took a whole day.
Lao Fang directed the operation, Qiu Changhai checked the level, and Ding Haisheng and A Hai lifted the steel rails.
Jiang Haiping also got involved, working with A Guang as a team, carrying the sleepers one by one onto the gravel bed and arranging them at 60-centimeter intervals. After they were arranged, Lao Fang used a measuring tape to measure, and the spacing error was no more than one finger's width.
"Okay. Install the steel rails."
Two twelve-meter-long steel rails were lifted up and placed on the sleepers. Qiu Changhai used a spirit level to level them section by section, inserting shims one by one. The joint of the rails was right on the sleepers, and Ding Haisheng added two more welds, then smoothed them with an angle grinder until they were as smooth as a single, continuous rail to the touch.
Old Fang squatted at the end of the rail, squinting as he looked from one end of the rail to the other; the rail was perfectly straight.
"Okay. Install the pulley."
The pulley was salvaged from an old ship's rail; it had four cast iron wheels and the bearings had been replaced. Ahai placed the pulley on the rail, gave it a push, and the pulley slid smoothly from one end of the rail to the other with a uniform sound and no jamming.
Old Fang stood up and rubbed his lower back. "I'll be doing a test run tomorrow."
As evening fell and work was finished, Lin Xiu'e brought over a pot of fish ball soup. The fish balls were made from mackerel meat, with egg whites and starch added, making them bouncy and sweet. Several people squatted beside the newly laid steel rails, drinking the soup.
The rails were still warm after being exposed to the sun all day, and it felt nice and cozy to sit on.
Ah Guang squatted on the steel rails, holding a bowl. "Brother Ping, how big of a boat can our raft pull in the future?"
"We can haul anything under 30 tons."
Ah Guang thought for a moment. "How big is thirty tons?"
"The Ping An is so big."
Ah Guang said "Oh" and lowered his head to drink his soup.
Old Fang put down his bowl, took out a cigarette, and lit it. "Once this boat is assembled, the repair shop can repair six boats at the same time. Four are in the stone trough, one is for the old boat on the east side, and one is for the new boat on the west side. With six boats, we need to keep up with the manpower."
He looked at Jiang Haiping. "With the current manpower, I'm good at main engine and gearbox, but my lacing isn't as good as Qiu Changhai's, and my welding isn't as good as Ding Haisheng's. Qiu Changhai is good at lacing and rudder systems, but not main engine. Ding Haisheng's welding is fine, but he's still learning gearbox and rudder systems. Ah Hai has learned a little about main engine, gearbox, and lacing, but he's not proficient in any of them. Ah Guang has just started learning welding. Lin Xiu'e has mastered lacing, but she doesn't know anything else."
"Repairing six boats at the same time can't be done by just one or two people. From now on, I'll be in charge of the main engine. Once Guo Dayong has mastered the craft, he can fix minor problems on his own. Ding Haisheng will slowly connect the gearbox and rudder system. Qiu Changhai will lead Lin Xiu'e in caulking. Ding Haisheng will be the welder, and A-Guang will learn from him. We'll all work together to launch and spruce the boats."
Jiang Haiping wrote down this division of labor in his notebook.
Old Fang took another drag of his cigarette. "There's one more thing. The old parts shelf is getting increasingly cluttered. Old gears, bearings, steering gears—some of them can still be repaired and used. We need someone to manage it. Ah Hai is suitable. He has a good memory; he remembers where everything is."
Ah Hai heard his name called and looked up. "Master Fang, if I'm in charge of used parts, do I also need to learn how to repair mainframes?"
"Learn. Managing old parts is just a side job. You should still learn how to handle the mainframes."
Ah Hai was relieved and lowered his head to continue drinking his soup.
On the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, the new boat raft officially began accepting orders.
The first boat to come aboard was Old Chen's. After the spring fishing season, the bottom of the boat was covered with barnacles, densely packed like armor.
Old Chen spent half a day shoveling away at it, until his back was so sore he could barely straighten up, and he only managed to remove a small section. Old Fang said that with a row of shovels, he could finish shoveling in half a day.
The boat was pulled aboard, and Ah Hai and Ah Guang squatted under the boat, shoveling for three hours, piling up a small heap of barnacle shells. Old Chen squatted beside them watching, clicking his tongue in distress.
"So many barnacles, how much oil must have been used?"
"Too many barnacles make the boat heavy, increase drag, and waste fuel." Old Fang kicked the barnacle shells he'd shoveled off aside. "Your boat hasn't been on the liner for a year, has it?"
"A year and a half," Old Chen said embarrassedly. "Last time I got a raft from Ding Fugui. He said he cleaned it up and painted it. But after two trips out to sea, it's all overgrown again."
Old Fang squatted down and looked at the bottom of the boat. Sure enough, there were still remnants of barnacles under the paint. Ding Fugui hadn't cleaned them off properly before painting. The barnacles were growing back from the remnants, cracking the paint.
"This time, remove everything completely. Cut off all the remaining roots, scrub with a steel brush, and then apply paint. I guarantee you won't grow barnacles for a year."
Old Chen agreed. After removing the barnacles, the bottom of the boat was painted with two coats of anti-rust paint and one coat of anti-fouling paint. The anti-fouling paint was reddish-brown, and it looked like a new boat after being applied. Old Chen squatted by the raft and watched for a long time.
"Master Fang, is this lacquer really able to prevent barnacles from growing for a year?"
"I can't say a year, but ten months is no problem."
Old Chen was satisfied. "Ten months is enough. We'll start lining up again around this time next year."
The second boat to come up was Cai Datou's. The main engine was emitting black smoke again. When Lao Fang took it apart, he found that the fuel injectors were clogged again.
"Where did you get your gas from?"
Tsai stammered. "It's still that private gas station across the strait, two cents cheaper per liter."
Old Fang shoved the fuel injector into his hand. "Last time, Ah Hai's dad used cheap fuel, and the injector got clogged. He had to soak it in cleaning agent to fix it. Didn't you see?"
"I saw it. But it's cheap."
"It's only two cents cheaper per liter, saving twenty dollars on a boatload of fuel. But if the fuel injectors get clogged, you have to disassemble and clean them, resulting in a day's lost work and a loss of several hundred kilograms of fish. Is that little bit of fuel money enough to cover the lost wages?"
Cai Datou squatted on the ground and remained silent.
Old Fang sighed. He removed the fuel injectors, soaked them in cleaning agent, and after an hour, dried them with compressed air before reinstalling them. He tested the engine; the exhaust smoke was much fainter, almost invisible. Cai Datou squatted at the engine bay door, watching the main engine spin steadily.
"Master Fang, I'll fill up at the gas station in town from now on."
"It should have been done a long time ago."
Wang Cunzhi arrived at noon.
He rode his Jialing 70 motorcycle, a bag of loquats hanging from the handlebars. He said they were from a loquat tree in the fishery company's yard, and he'd picked a bag to share. Ahai took them and squatted down on the rocks to distribute them. Each person received five or six.
Wang Cunzhi squatted beside the new boat row, watching Old Chen's boat being painted.
"This ship's rafting is well-constructed. The rails are straight, the sleepers are sturdy, and the pulleys run smoothly. How much did it cost?"
"The processing fee for the materials is a little over a thousand," Jiang Haiping said.
"A little over a thousand, worth it." Wang Cunzhi peeled a loquat and put it in his mouth. "Ding Fugui's raft had rusted rails, rotten sleepers, and the pulley bearings were never lubricated. It cost him less than five hundred to build that raft. He only cared about saving money, not about long-term sustainability."
He spat the loquat pit into a crevice in the rocks. "By the way, the sign the county wanted to put up at Baishakou has been erected. It's a marine ecological protection zone; ship repairs are prohibited. Ding Fugui went back to his hometown; he hasn't paid off his debts yet. Is his nephew Ding Haisheng still with you?"
"exist."
"Ding Haisheng is different from his uncle. He's someone you can get along with." Wang Cunzhi stood up, clapped his hands, got on his bike, and rode away. After walking a while, he turned back. "Don't throw away the loquat pits after you've eaten them. They can grow in the cracks of the rocks. In a few years, they'll be a tree."
In the evening, Lin Xiu'e arrived.
She hadn't brought any food today, so she squatted at the edge of the courtyard wall and peeled and ate the loquats Wang Cunzhi had left for her. Jiang Haiping sat beside her. The moon rose from the sea, and the steel rails on the new ship raft in the west gleamed in the moonlight, the pulleys stopped at the end of the rails. In the stone trough, the fishing boats awaiting repair swayed gently.
Lin Xiu'e stuffed the loquat pit into the crevice of the reef.
"Ping-ge. My dad said the Ping An is going to set sail again in a couple of days. There's one last wave of mackerel spawning. This time, my dad wants my brother to come along. He's thirteen and can't concentrate on his studies. My mom disagrees, saying he's too young. My dad says Lin Xiu'e was able to stay home and take care of her younger sister at thirteen, so why can't he go on the ship at thirteen?"
Jiang Haiping peeled a loquat and handed it to her. Lin Xiu'e took it and took a bite.
"And then?"
"Later, my brother said he wanted to go. My mom didn't say anything."
She spat the loquat pit into her palm, looked at it, and then stuffed it into a crevice in the rocks.
"Ping-ge, you said my brother went on the ship, right?"
Jiang Haiping thought for a moment. "You didn't go to school back then to stay home and take care of your younger sister, right?"
Lin Xiu'e was stunned for a moment.
"No, right or wrong. If the family needed it, we went. It's the same with your brother going on the ship."
Lin Xiue lowered her head. "Sometimes I think, if my family had been rich, I could have finished junior high school and was probably in high school in the county now. My brother wouldn't have had to go to sea at thirteen."
She peeled another loquat, but this time she didn't eat it; she placed it on her lap. "But if my family had money, I wouldn't have come to you. If I hadn't come to you, there wouldn't have been the Ping An Aircraft. Without the Ping An Aircraft, my father's leg wouldn't have healed, the loan wouldn't have been paid off, and I might have gotten married long ago."
She looked at the sea. "So there's a good thing about being poor."
Jiang Haiping remained silent.
A sea breeze blew by, and the two tender leaves of the loquat seedling swayed gently in the moonlight. The circle of broken seashells that Ah Hai had wrapped around it was still there.