Cover of Tom Swift and His Electric Locomotive
    Adventure Fiction

    Tom Swift and His Electric Locomotive

    by LovelyMay
    Tom Swift and His Electric Locomotive by Victor Appleton is an adventurous novel where young inventor Tom Swift designs a groundbreaking electric locomotive, facing challenges and excitement as he tests his creation and uncovers a plot to sabotage it.

    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.

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