Chapter 35: Railway Command Center, Fengtai Locomotive Depot!

Chen Shi chuckled mischievously. “A man from the capital, when he spits, it’s like driving in a nail, if he doesn’t keep his word, he’s not a real man!”

Old Chen glared fiercely at Chen Shi. “Can’t you be a little proper? Did you pack your letter of introduction, household registration book, and all the things I asked you to prepare?”

“Double-check everything, don’t you dare forget anything!”

Chen Shi waved his hand impatiently. “You’ve said that eight hundred times. I packed everything. My mom handed them to me last night!”

He lowered his head and started wolfing down his breakfast. He didn’t invite Chen Maihua to eat with him.

Because Chen Shi knew exactly what kind of job he was going to test for today, stoker. And stokers weren’t just some ordinary workers.

That job meant standing in front of a blazing furnace, exposed to six directions of wind, dealing with heavy pollution, drenched in sweat with no end in sight, and a back soaked in sweat sticking to his shirt!

That’s how it was in those days, resources were scarce, and everything had to be prioritized for the pillar of the family. If you didn’t, that pillar might just collapse.

After breakfast, Chen Shi and Old Chen headed toward the siheyuan. When they got to the central courtyard, Qin Huairu was standing by the water tap washing bed sheets.

Judging from the state of those sheets, they must’ve gotten soaked again last night.

Chen Shi glanced at Qin Huairu with a gloating smirk. “Oh wow, no wonder she was married off with a two-hundred-thousand dowry, so capable, washing clothes first thing in the morning. Bed sheets, no less! Tsk tsk, who washes sheets every single day, huh…”

“Little Shi, doesn’t your family wash theirs? Newlyweds usually wash sheets often, you know?”

Jia Zhang, speaking through the window, glared daggers at Qin Huairu after hearing Chen Shi’s shameless teasing.

Qin Huairu looked at Chen Shi with grievance in her eyes, full of regret. If she had known, she wouldn’t have said anything about his mother-in-law yelling the other day in the courtyard.

Who knew this street punk would be such a pain to deal with?

Thanks to Chen Shi’s snide remarks, Jia Zhang was going to torment her again today.

Jia Dongxu had already gone to work. Why is my life so miserable?

In the front yard, Yan Bugui’s eyes lit up. “Well, well, Old Chen, heading out so early with your boy? Don’t tell me you’re getting him a job?”

Old Chen coughed. “Ahem, Yan Dàye, if I had the ability to get him a job, I would’ve done it ages ago, not waited until he’s already twenty!

His mother’s not feeling well today, so I told the brat to go buy some medicine. But I’m worried he might skim off the money or mess around, so I’m going with him. After we get the medicine, I’ll head to work.”

Hearing that Old Chen’s wife was sick again, Liu Haizhong joined in the conversation. “Oh right, I’ve got a medicine pot at home we don’t use anymore. Make sure to take it!”

Once Chen Shi and Old Chen were out of earshot, Yan Bugui said with a smug tone, “Old Chen’s whole life is tied to that son of his. There’s no way their family’s getting out of this rut.”

Liu Haizhong added, “Chen Shi better pray Old Chen lives a long life. Otherwise, one of these days you’ll find him frozen under a bridge.”

They rode the public bus all the way to Fengtai Locomotive Depot in the capital.

Before entering the platform, Chen Shi took in the surroundings, barbershops, bathhouses, inns, restaurants, the Fengtai department store, pharmacies, Xinhua Bookstore, vegetable markets, general stores… all kinds of businesses lined the way.

The workers’ housing was built along the railway, as close to the station as possible. All brand-new industrial residential blocks, much better than the houses outside. They even had central heating in the winter.

No wonder they called it Iron Boss!

With this kind of infrastructure, it really was something else.

In the distance, there were arched buildings, a station house with a large clock on top, decorative glass, steam locomotives, and the grand Fengtai Bridge, which split the depot into two sections.

Banners promoting the Overload Campaign were hung up everywhere, from the shift hall and the platforms to the dispatch room. “Trains haul more, run faster!” They had significantly boosted the transport capacity of the railway and were sending vast quantities of supplies to the front lines.

Chen Shi vaguely remembered the Overload Campaign. It had started in 1951, when the Korean War broke out, and was all about transporting as many supplies as possible.

It was a nationwide grassroots movement within the railway system, aiming to load every wagon to capacity and push every locomotive to haul more, run faster, and reach 500 kilometers of daily operation.

Before the founding of the new country, even though the routes Fengtai handled were mostly flat with gentle slopes (under 5%), the locomotives were outdated and underpowered. The max load on mainlines was only about a thousand tons, fifteen hundred at most.

But in the early days of the new country, workers in the depot pushed the limits, on unchanged tracks with old equipment. The legendary “Great Man” locomotive unit made history on April 8, 1950, hauling 2015 tons between Zhengzhou and Yancheng, surpassing the official limit by 415 tons, breaking records on the Longhai Line and Jingnan Line!

Since then, the “Great Man” had continued to break records and had performed outstandingly during the war effort.

So this… was the legendary Fengtai Locomotive Depot, one of the new nation’s Top Ten Depots?

Located in the southwestern suburb of the capital, Fengtai Town, founded in 1892, it was the first locomotive depot in the city.

If Tangshan Depot was the “eldest son” of the new republic’s railway system, then Fengtai Depot was the command center.

Fengtai sat at the crossroads of China’s major railway arteries, Jingshan, Jingguang, Jingjiu, Jingyuan, and Fengsha, all intersected here. It was the throat of the capital’s railway system. It connected Tianjin, Qinhuangdao’s seaports in the east with central and northwestern China’s inland areas. It was the key hub linking the northeast, northwest, north China, and south-central regions.

Although it wasn’t as grand as it would be in future decades, the current Fengtai Depot was still fully equipped.

Chen Shi still wanted to wander around and see more, but Old Chen dragged him straight to the Personnel Department.

What they called the “Personnel Department” back then was actually the Labor and Wage Division, merged with the Personnel Office after the founding of the country, together just referred to as Personnel.

“This is the Personnel Division. It’s part of the general administrative offices of the depot. The staff here are known as ‘clerk-officers’, in charge of handling personnel matters.

Personnel, labor safety, and education are bundled into one three-in-one office. They’ve got a director and deputy director.

Come on, let’s get you registered. Hey, did you bring your letter of introduction?”

Chen Shi paused. “Oh no… I think I lost it!”

Old Chen’s face turned red with anger on the spot. “You, you, I told you so many times to bring the introduction letter! How could you forget it?!”

Seeing Old Chen’s face flush and neck bulge with rage, Chen Shi casually pulled it out of his pocket. “Heh, just messing with you. I brought it!”

“You little rascal! I ought to beat the stuffing out of you!”