CHAPTER XI – Tom Swift and His Elec­tric Loco­mo­tive begins at a cru­cial junc­ture in the devel­op­ment of the Her­cules 0001, as Tom directs his ener­gy toward the del­i­cate process of elec­tri­cal inte­gra­tion. The loco­mo­tive, an engi­neer­ing colos­sus weigh­ing near­ly two hun­dred thou­sand pounds and tip­ping the scale at two hun­dred eighty-five tons when com­plete, demand­ed pre­cise cal­i­bra­tion and immense pow­er. Tom cal­cu­lat­ed a need for forty-four hun­dred horse­pow­er, con­vert­ed into a steady stream of 3,000 volts DC—an extra­or­di­nary load that pushed the lim­its of Shop­ton Elec­tric Com­pa­ny’s capa­bil­i­ties. Amidst tan­gled cables and hum­ming machin­ery, Tom remained hands-on, dressed in his over­alls and per­son­al­ly over­see­ing the final fit­tings. The locomotive’s boxy, enclosed design was sleek, with no exposed gears or smoke­stacks, mark­ing a depar­ture from tra­di­tion­al steam engines. Its clean exte­ri­or con­cealed an intri­cate web of systems—an emblem of moder­ni­ty craft­ed under pres­sure.

While adjust­ing the final seg­ments beneath the met­al shell, Tom noticed an odd, faint tick­ing. The noise was rhyth­mic, almost mechan­i­cal, echo­ing eeri­ly from near the motor hous­ing. He spot­ted a crum­pled pair of over­alls near­by and, assum­ing it was sim­ply mis­placed by a care­less work­er, dis­missed it. That illu­sion of nor­mal­cy shat­tered sec­onds lat­er when Ned New­ton and Rad Samp­son rushed in, with Rad yelling of dan­ger. They’d been tipped off by a stranger’s sus­pi­cious behav­ior near the yard ear­li­er that day. Rad’s fear was spe­cif­ic: a bomb. That tick­ing wasn’t from gears—it was the sound of a timed device count­ing down. In that instant, the dif­fer­ence between over­sight and dis­as­ter became razor-thin.

Bar­ton Swift entered quick­ly, his years of expe­ri­ence lend­ing instant cred­i­bil­i­ty to the warn­ing. He con­firmed what every­one now feared—the tick­ing sig­naled an explo­sive, most like­ly a time bomb. The entire shop fell into a stunned hush. No one moved except Tom. With delib­er­ate calm, he approached the sus­pi­cious bun­dle. Know­ing hes­i­ta­tion could cost lives, he grabbed the item and rushed it to a water bar­rel. With a splash, the tick­ing van­ished beneath the sur­face. The dan­ger, though still present, had been neu­tral­ized. The room exhaled. Tom’s quick think­ing had saved not only the loco­mo­tive, but every per­son stand­ing near­by.

In the after­math, the shop buzzed with ner­vous ener­gy. The failed sab­o­tage attempt was a grim reminder that suc­cess draws not only atten­tion but also hos­til­i­ty. Tom real­ized that his work had moved beyond the realm of invention—it was now a tar­get. Indus­tri­al rivals, threat­ened by the poten­tial of his elec­tric loco­mo­tive, had clear­ly decid­ed to esca­late their efforts. This attack wasn’t just meant to dam­age equip­ment; it aimed to intim­i­date, dis­rupt, and delay. But if any­thing, it had the oppo­site effect. Tom’s resolve deep­ened. The Her­cules 0001 wouldn’t just run—it would thrive. And now it had to do more than prove its engineering—its suc­cess had become a state­ment.

The inci­dent prompt­ed imme­di­ate action. Secu­ri­ty was dou­bled. The work yard was swept for oth­er devices. Entry points were sealed off, and all deliv­er­ies were thor­ough­ly checked. Tom also tasked Ned with help­ing him design a sur­veil­lance plan for the remain­der of the project. Sab­o­tage had moved from the hypo­thet­i­cal to the real. They had to be ready for more. Yet through it all, Tom remained focused on progress. The gen­er­a­tor upgrades were com­plet­ed the next day. Test­ing resumed. Delays weren’t acceptable—not with the Hen­drick­ton & Pas Alos Rail­road con­tract loom­ing and pub­lic curios­i­ty ris­ing.

As the chap­ter draws to a close, the mood shifts from pan­ic to deter­mi­na­tion. The Her­cules 0001, now ful­ly wired and fit­ted, hums qui­et­ly on its rails. Its smooth design and pow­er­ful frame mask the dra­ma of the past few hours. But every­one in the yard knows what could have hap­pened. Tom walks the length of the machine, inspect­ing each sec­tion not just as an inven­tor, but now as its pro­tec­tor. The elec­tric age of loco­mo­tion is almost here—but it’s com­ing under fire. And Tom Swift, unde­terred, is more ready than ever to meet it head-on.