The friendly enemies, or robber barons

[vsmith]

try this one:

anyway back to trains

[ttrigg]

 

Vic;
Nice little icon, very appropriate for this little war!

[ttrigg]

Rosebud Falls Gazette
Charter Member of the Garden Railways Associated Press Enterprises
Published by Acme Enterprises

Preemptive Air Strike at Sea

Rosebud Falls (11 Oct. 1906) On The GRAPEvine today:
President Douglas Flatbottom confirmed this morning that RbFSRy had indeed intercepted the RT&F ship Scow Pie at sea in international waters.  The RbFSRy Air Ship "Falls" had followed the suspect ship for several days and confirmed that none of the original crew remained on board.  After positive identification of deck hands as members of the Hong Kong Mafia Syndicate the Air Ship "Falls" was given authorization to force the "Scow Pie" to heave to and be boarded for inspection. 


After the "Scow Pie" opened fire upon the "Falls"  INTERPOL authorities aboard the Falls gave authority to attack the vessel. 

During it's attack The Falls reported that its weapons had scored direct hits upon two of the three vessels in the fleet.  As the first two vessels, the "Scow Pie" and "Hung Lo" sank in flames, a third submersible vessel was seen to go under the water as it turned out to sea headed for deeper waters.

[tangerine-jack]

Mr. Tangerine-jack of the DDSL has released the following statement:

 

“It comes as no surprise that Mr. Flatbottom is again mistaken about the DDSL and RT&F activities.  He can hardly run his own railroad, so it stands to reason he should know nothing about boats.  The Scow pie, along with its sister ships the Smackwater and the Hung Lo, are indeed modern oceangoing Chinese Junks and used for legitimate cruise ship purposes and are generating great revenue for the railroad.  I can confirm that the Scow Pie is the personal pleasure boat of my security chief, Mr. Chin, so comes as no surprise to see it cruising around the Pacific Ocean.  Where else would Mr. Flatbottom expect a boat to be?

 

Mr. Chin is a great supporter of the Hong Kong police and often attends charity fund raisers and police balls with local law enforcement and civil authorities.  I hired him for his specialized knowledge of law and security enforcement, he is the best in his trade.”

 

 

The Sicilian police, along with INTERPOL have confirmed that Mr. Chin is indeed a “person of interest” in the sudden and permanent retirement of Mr. Vinny Kneecap.  Taromina chief of police, honorable constable Salvador Spaggetio had this to say about the whole incident:

 

“We are indeed wanting to question Mr. Chin, not as a suspect, but for tips on how to do it ourselves, Mr. Chin is one smooth operator, clean, I like that.  Mr. Kneecap had become quite the squeaky wheel lately in complaining about the RT&F management not allowing him full license to “explore his creative interests” in dealing with the RbFSRy security problems of last summer.  It is our belief that, like all squeaky wheels, Vinny finaly got himself greased.”

 

When questioned about the rumor that the DDSL and RT&F were engaged in secret negotiations to purchase upgraded military hardware from the Foundry and Firearms Division of Davenower Limited, Capt Bob “fat man” Johnson of the RT&F only said “that’s a secret, but we can afford it”.  Mr. Jack only added a definite “maybe, but who cares” 

 

The RT&F has been upgrading to stronger track under the guise of repairs due to flooding.  This new trackage is capable of handling the armaments produced by Davenower Limited, although no firm connection can be made to the alleged arms deal.  The DDSL shows no signs of upgrading, but underground tunnels have been spotted using high resolution thermal satellite imaging. 

[ttrigg]

Rosebud Falls Gazette
Charter Member of the Garden Railways Associated Press Enterprises
Published by Acme Enterprises

Rosebud Falls (11 Oct. 1906) On The GRAPEvine today:
Dateline San Diego: 

Admiral Grace Hopper, Chief of Naval Operations (pictured above) for the RT&F today accused the RbFSRy of attempting to sink the vessel Scow Pie while in international waters.  Authorities in Santa Barbara Calif. have confirmed that the Scow Pie has been seen off the central California coast.  There is still no information as to the where abouts and or condition of the original ships crew after it left Hong Kong. 

In a possibly related story, several bodies of sailors have washed ashore on Midway Island.  Unconfirmed reports indicate that at least one to the sailors had a tattoo depicting the ship "Scow Pie".  Midway authorities have begun a search for other bodies in the hopes of finding a surviving member of the crew in question who might shed some lite upon the circumstances involved with these bodies.

[ttrigg]

Rosebud Falls Gazette
Charter Member of the Garden Railways Associated Press Enterprises
Published by Acme Enterprises

Rosebud Falls (11 Oct. 1906) On The GRAPEvine today:
Dateline San Francisco:  San Francisco Harbor Police have confirmed that after hailing the RT&F vessel "The Scow Pie", the ships captain turned his vessel south as if to head for San Diego or points south.  Police confirmed that they had positive visual conformation that Mr. Kno Chin was in fact aboard the vessel, and that several of his underlings from the Hong Kong Syndicate were working as deck hands.  Police further explained that since they had seen none of the "pressed gang" crew, known to be aboard the Scow Pie when it left Hong Kong, it is speculated that these unlucky sailors had fallen overboard during the journey across the Pacific.

[Anonymous]

Ithink what is needed are some of DaveNower manufacturings other products - much more suited to peacekeeping applications than an armoured car - tho the ammo doesnt come cheap !!

A generous discount is available for bulk purchases tho a cautionary note needs some good solid track

[Capt Bob Johnson]

Hey Flatbottom, too bad you wiggled and scrunched around when you took that picture causing you to snap one of a local tourist attraction; the one I have assigned to the disposal of the Dixie D is a cut down FFG that retains the GT propulsion but had it's weapons systems and a bunch of other unnecessary stuff removed to better enable it's use as a high speed illicit weapons smuggler.

I'd not be too worried about your imported armored car as research shows that it was designed by Boyima Dumkowski who was canned from Polish Air Safety Equipment Company for designing that parachute that deployed on ground contact utilizing a pre WWII naval torpedo triggering mechinism!  Even the test monkeys went to a better place after using that one, and that invention drove the firm under!

TJ, the "Golden Slipper" is under way, weather routed, making good speed, and gives an ETA Cape Henry of 0630/12th!    She should slide into the pier in Hampton Roads shortly thereafter having discharged your priority cargo in the vicinity of the Bridge Tunnel Island!

 

[ttrigg]

Rosebud Falls Gazette
Charter Member of the Garden Railways Associated Press Enterprises
Published by Acme Enterprises

Rosebud Falls (10 Oct. 1906) On The GRAPEvine today:
Dateline: Shanghai: Unidentified sources within the Turkish Embassy here have acknowledged that the Really Tanked and Fallindown Railroad (RT&F) has acquired several ships that the Hong Kong Navy had scheduled for retirement to new reef construction.



When questioned about this acquisition Mr. Havn Funn, Hong Kong Harbor Master, confirmed that the RT&F has purchased the vessel in question along with its "pressed gang" crew.  He was unable to confirm that Mr. Kno Chin head of the Hong Kong Mafia Syndicate was aboard the RT&F vessel as it left port.  Mr. Chin is wanted by Sicilian authorities in connection with the recent demise of Vinny "da kneecap" Testosterone, a prime suspect in the attacks upon RbFSRy of last summer.

This reporter believes that Mr. Chin and about 30 other members of the H.K.M.S. are aboard the RT&F ship "The Scow Pie" headed to San Francisco in route to the Dixie D Railroad of Virginia Beach.  INTERPOL has alerted San Francisco authoritites that they have a warrent for Mr. Chin and several other unnamed memebers of the Hong Kong Syndicate.

[Anonymous]

I think you teo blokes need restructuring; we would never put up with anything like this down under.

We are more interested in the intersheep wars; across the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand

Australia has recently defeated New Zealand in the Sheep Dog trials and not a single dog was found gui;lty; however a few of the handlers were.

 

Rgds Aussie Ian

[vsmith]

 

[tangerine-jack]

The Dixie D Short Line has released the following press announcement:

 

“The Dixie D Short Line is not intimidated by the Rosebud Falls Gazette’s printing of Mr. Douglas Flatbottom, CEO RbFSRy, announcement of the agreement to purchase over 100 Polish Draisine from the Foundry and Firearms Division of Davenower Limited. Mr. Flatbottom is merely trying to cover up incompetent management of his own railroad by falsely accusing the DDSL of wrongdoing, the proof of which continues to elude Mr. Flatbottom.

 

Although Davenower Limited produces high quality products, the Polish Draisine is not a fitting subject for such a well respected firm.   It is apparent that the Draisine contains multiple design flaws that not only render it useless for its intended purpose, but is in fact dangerous only to its crew.  The DDSL is not interested in RbFSRy junk as it in no way affects the economic ties the DDSL has with other East Coast and Canadian railroads.”

 

In unrelated news, the DDSL has made public today the restructuring of its security division.  Gone are Vinny “da kneecap” Testosterone, having been replaced by the quiet, but scary, “Mr. Chin” with an all new hand picked security team.  “I so solly for Mr. Testosterone’s little accident, velly bad luck fo him” said Mr. Chin on Testosterone’s sudden retirement.  “My han pick team, velly scalry guys, no want to meet dem in dahk alley”.

 

DDSL security forces move out for the day’s training.  Undated file photo, AP

[Capt Bob Johnson]

Tj,

Just in case you should have to pull a certain party out of retirement, I have arranged to have one of my steamers put in to Sicily, ostensibly to make repairs!  (And you thought I only had a railroad!) Since the charter party calls for the charterer to pay all expenses until redelivery on the East Coast of the US; I told the Chief to make the repairs last for up to 10 days before sailing for Hampton Roads!    We can sail at a moment's notice, but the Chief will make it look good!    Just let me know what you have in mind!

I have put all dispatchers on alert that if a special from the Dixie D needs trackage rights they are to get the way cleared PDQ, or they are gonna be looking for jobs they can do without arms!

I don't think we need to worry overmuch about old Flatbottom at this point, cause I have done some sniffing around and know something that he is not aware of!