If Mr. Bartholomew cannot come up with a means to compete with the Hendrickton & Western railroad, the H&PA will be doomed to failure.

The catch is that the owner of the competing H&W railway, Montagne Lewis, is dishonest and will stop at nothing to prevent Mr. Bartholomew from succeeding.

Tom, and his friends Ned Newton and Mr. Damon, have several life-threatening encounters with these hired gunmen.

The engine is powered by a pantograph connection to dual overhead catenary lines providing 3,000 volts DC.

The layout of the driving wheels is never explicitly mentioned, but the configuration would be either 4-12-4 or 4-6-0+0-6-4 (see Whyte notation).