Gulag Boss by Mochulsky Fyodor Vasilevich Kaple Deborah

Author:Mochulsky, Fyodor Vasilevich, Kaple, Deborah
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2011-05-10T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

BOSS OF A RAILWAY DIVISION

Labor Force: Professional Railwaymen

EVEN THOUGH THE FLOODING DANGER HAD PASSED ON THE Pechora River, and the enormous embankment to the bridge had withstood the pressure of the spring waters, this section of the track retained its military status since it was necessary to continue with reinforcement work. But the emergency situation had passed, and the authorities gave me permission, as the boss of the section with military importance, to go and live in the village of Pechora. From the village, every day I went to work in the floodlands of the river. In July this work finished and again, the regional chief called me to his office.

He congratulated me on my success in completing my embankment job, and then went on to tell me the next plan. It does not make sense for you to return to the job of engineer/inspector, he told me. This, as I told you earlier, is a job for old fellows. Physically, you held up very well while doing heavy labor on the militarized section of track. So, I feel comfortable trusting you with this next very crucial job, which will demand a huge amount from you physically, as well as good engineering training.

Until recently, continued the regional chief, the camp’s chief job was to lay down railroad track from Pechora to Vorkuta as quickly as possible. We had to do this because, as you know, of the serious situation on the fronts and the loss of the Donbas and its seams of coal. The access to Vorkuta’s coal literally saved the country. Now the track has been laid, the coal is moving from Vorkuta, and most importantly for the camp, the railroads have begun to operate. But since we built it quickly, in record time, it turns out that in many sections we used substandard materials or low quality dirt for the embankments, and we allowed deviations from the projected plan.

In some places, he continued, we are still using track that was built for temporary usage. And heavy freight trains hauling coal are driving on them, one after another. But we need to build up the road and do some maintenance, which will be very difficult because of the railroad’s normal operating conditions. The work has to be done in the intervals between trains passing by.

The current railway division boss on our section of the track, he said, is an old but very experienced railroad engineer from the prerevolutionary days. He loves his work and is very devoted to it. He is willing to work day and night. But, he is physically weak and often ill for a long time, and now the doctors have forbidden him to go out on the track. However, he never pays them any attention, and as soon as he feels better, he goes to work. As a result, then he is bedridden again, for a long time. At this point, he has been at home in bed for two weeks already, without any real prospect of getting back on his feet anytime soon.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.