In “A Tempt­ing Offer,” the open­ing chap­ter of “Tom Swift and His Elec­tric Loco­mo­tive,” Tom Swift and his father, Mr. Bar­ton Swift, dis­cuss the poten­tial of a high-speed elec­tric loco­mo­tive with Mr. Richard Bartholomew, a vis­i­tor from the West rep­re­sent­ing the Hen­drick­ton and Pas Alos Rail­road Com­pa­ny. Faced with intense com­pe­ti­tion and a need for inno­va­tion to sus­tain its finan­cial via­bil­i­ty, Bartholomew presents the Swifts with a chal­lenge to devel­op an elec­tric loco­mo­tive capa­ble of unprece­dent­ed speed and pow­er. He high­lights the indis­pens­abil­i­ty of such a devel­op­ment for over­com­ing the rugged Pas Alos Range and out­per­form­ing the rival Hen­drick­ton & West­ern rail­road, backed by Mon­tagne Lewis, whom Bartholomew sees as a for­mi­da­ble and venge­ful adver­sary.

Bartholomew’s propo­si­tion involves a sig­nif­i­cant ele­ment of secre­cy and urgency, reflect­ing his fears of indus­tri­al espi­onage by Lewis’s oper­a­tives. He offers the Swifts $25,000 for their exper­i­men­ta­tion toward cre­at­ing an advanced elec­tric loco­mo­tive, with a promise of a $100,000 bonus plus orders for all units they can pro­duce with­in two years if they suc­ceed. This finan­cial arrange­ment under­scores the high stakes and the trans­for­ma­tive poten­tial of their pro­posed work in the rail­road indus­try.

Tom, intrigued by the chal­lenge and the oppor­tu­ni­ty to engage in a “bat­tle” of wits and inno­va­tion, is eager to pro­ceed. Despite the risks and the pres­sure, the Swifts agree to under­take the project, with plans to final­ize a con­tract with Bartholomew. As the chap­ter con­cludes, the Swifts are aware of the need for dis­cre­tion due to the sen­si­tiv­i­ty of the project, hint­ing at the adver­si­ties and intrigue they may face in their pur­suit of rev­o­lu­tion­ary tech­no­log­i­cal advance­ments in rail trans­porta­tion.