Chapter 9 comes out of the shop

"Chasing the Daylight" has not been putting up a good show lately, first with a two-week hiatus and then this chapter arriving a week late. The latter delay, however, has a reason: the site has been completely redesigned, from pilot beam to rear buffer! New features include a more navigable layout, smaller graphics to decrease download times, and a separate index of illustrations for those of you who like the artwork. The URL has not changed, so there's no need to update your bookmarks.
Chapter 9 is a bit on the long side but it's also one of the tenser scenes so far: Charlie is assigned to raise steam in engine #9 for the day's work - alone. His take on this: "I hoped to high heaven I knew what I was doing." But it's Lionel who has the real problems, and now he's caught right in the middle. Come on over and enjoy!