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<h1>Ran When Parked</h1>
<!--
I started writing this to prepend to the chapter. Not sure where I was
going with this so I'll just leave it in here, commented out.
<p>
<span class="quote speech">What are the odds it's just gonna
work?</span><br />
Michelle's eyes wander around the driver's cabin.<br />
<span class="quote speech">Batteries are dead so it's not gonna
start. Will it run? No idea.</span><br />
Jack pulls a key out of his pocket and inserts it into a key switch on
the control panel. He turns the key and – as expected –
nothing happens.
<span class="quote speech">Guess we'll need to find a power source
then.</span>
</p>
<p>
The two roam around the hall, looking for a generator or anything that
could be abused as one. Michelle makes her way to an area with
workbenches and all sorts of tools. Jack looks at the crates and boxes on
the closest one of the huge shelves.
</p>
<p>
<span class="quote speech">I ... uhh... found one. No idea how we're
gonna get to it though.</span><br />
Jack stands in front of the shelf, looking at a large crate that's
about 2m above him.<br />
<span class="quote speech">Please let that not be the only option.</span>
</p>
-->
<p>
Michelle pokes her head out from underneath the train.<br />
<span class="quote speech">I think that's it.</span><br/>
She puts a large piece of leftover hose aside and crawls out.<br >
<span class="quote speech">That was quick – nice job.</span><br />
Jack walks over to the compartment holding the batteries, takes the
cables off the terminals, and hooks them up to the generator he had
turned into a makeshift power supply. He starts it and climbs into
the train. Michelle follows him and they go to the driver's cabin.
Jack turns a key switch and part of the dashboard lights up. Then, he
pushes the engine start button. The engine begins to turn over.
While holding the button, Jack points to the fuel pressure gauge,
slightly raising his voice to talk over the engine:<br />
<span class="quote speech">That's progress already.</span><br />
The needle on the gauge slowly creeps to the right.<br />
<span class="quote speech">Too slow though</span>, he adds after a
moment.<br />
He holds the button for a while, the engine keeps turning over,
but it doesn't seem to fire even once.
</p>
<p>
Michelle suggests they take a look at the fuel injection. Jack turns
the key switch off again and they go to the middle of the railcar.
The floor panels above the engine bay are already missing, they had
removed them earlier to replace the bits of rotting hose in the fuel
line. Jack grabs the manual from one of the seats and starts flipping
through the pages while Michelle jumps out and stops the generator.
He begins to undo <span class="comment">knowledge gap here: How
does that work? What do you undo to fix a gunked-up fuel injection?
Also, do/did diesel engines have a carb?</span>
</p>
<p>
After <span class="comment">cleaning out gunk and doing some makeshift
fix</span>, they try again.
The engine attempts to start a few times but it still doesn't run.
Michelle notices the fuel pressure is back down to zero so they pull
the line out to see what's going on. Michelle waits next to
the train, holding the end of the fuel line over a bucket while Jack
returns to the driver's cabin.
<span class="comment">suggestions for improvements welcome</span>
</p>
<p>
He presses the button for a few seconds, then he leans out of the window
looking at Michelle and the bucket. She looks up at him and says:<br />
<span class="quote speech">Barely a few drips. But there's pressure
on the other side of the fuel filter.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">So we need a new one?</span>
</p>
<p>
He walks over to the closest door and jumps out. Michelle begins
undoing the clamps holding the fuel line to the filter while Jack
starts searching all drawers and boxes in the vicinity for a
replacement. One side of the filter comes loose and Michelle starts
with the other side.
</p>
<p>
<span class="quote speech">Not the right one but I found this.</span>
<br />
Jack holds up a box he found in a drawer. He opens it while walking
back to Michelle and pulls out a fuel filter that is significantly larger
than the one pulled from the train. The fuel line fits inside it so they
add a piece of larger hose over that and put multiple hose clamps around
both.
</p>
<p>
Michelle climbs back inside, Jack starts the generator again and follows
her.<br />
<span class="quote speech">Ready?</span> She has her fingers on the
engine start button.<br />
<span class="quote speech">Go for it.</span><br />
It takes a while but the engine eventually sputters to life. Michelle
lets go of the button and it keeps running.
</p>
<p>
A few hours pass as they fix up a bunch of other small things around
the train and put the floor panels back in. While climbing around the
storage shelves in the <span class="comment">hall/hangar?</span>, he
finds a crate of dried-out lead-acid batteries. After adding some water
and letting them sit for a while to dissolve the acid, he shoves them
into the battery compartment and connects the cables.<br />
<span class="quote speech">Michelle, can you turn the switch?</span>
<br />
<span class="quote speech">Nothing.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">I figured. Let's see if...</span><br />
He connects the generator back to the train and starts it.<br />
<span class="quote speech">Start the engine, I'm wanna see
if we can charge the batteries like this.</span><br />
With the engine running, he wraps some loose wires around the battery
terminals and connects them to the generator, causing quite a few sparks
to fly. The generator's engine sounds like it's suddenly
struggling under heavy load. He yanks the wires out but a few bits of
them have already fused with the battery terminals.
<span class="quote speech">Okay, that was truly a room temperature IQ
move.</span><br />
He disconnects the train from the generator and waits for a moment
to see if its engine will continue running without electricity.
It does, so he forces the lugs onto the battery terminals which now have
pieces of wire stuck to them.<br />
Michelle leans out of the window and says:
<span class="quote speech">The gauge with the battery symbol just jumped
to the red line.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">If it's not past it, should be
fine.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">Well, slightly?</span><br />
Jack climbs into the train and goes to the driver's cabin.<br />
<span class="quote speech">Nah this is fiiiine.</span>
</p>
<p>
After giving the dashboard a once-over and leaning out of the window
to check that the train is free to move, he attempts to disengage the
brakes. Nothing happens. He flips a few switches and a compressor starts
puttering away under the floor. The next attempt to disengage the brakes
is met with a lot of hissing from underneath the train, but nothing else
happens.
</p>
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