Breaking Ground Part 2

By the end of the first week, the railway headquarters in Helmarte was buried in paper. Daily telegraph reports arrived constantly:

Division II requesting additional dump wagons.

Division IV short 140 laborers.

Division III requests priority allocation of hydraulic dewatering pumps.

Division VI reports timber delivery delay.

Division VII requires two additional portable steam engines.

Arthur stood beside Ernest's desk, holding the latest stack. "You wanted seven railways. You now have seven sets of operational crises."

"Excellent," Ernest said without looking up.

"Excellent?"

"Problems mean they are moving earth. Silence means they are sitting idle."

The immediate bottleneck was transport. Ironically, they were building a railway because Belfast's road network was failing, but until the track was laid, every shovel, boiler, stone block, tool crate, and food ration had to move by wagon.