CHAPTER XIV – Tom Swift and His Elec­tric Loco­mo­tive begins four months after Tom final­ized his agree­ment with the Hen­drick­ton & Pas Alos Rail­road to bring elec­tric inno­va­tion to their lines. Dur­ing this time, devel­op­ment on the Her­cules 0001 has pro­gressed steadi­ly, although secu­ri­ty con­cerns have not dimin­ished. Andy O’Mal­ley, a known sabo­teur hired by Mon­tagne Lewis, remains miss­ing, prompt­ing Tom to strength­en safe­guards around his facil­i­ty. Fences are rein­forced, guards are post­ed, and elec­tric cur­rent is run through the out­er perime­ter dur­ing test hours. Tom knows that suc­cess breeds inter­fer­ence. And with the stakes so high, he can’t afford to trust luck.

As test­ing inten­si­fies, Rad, Tom’s aging helper, insists on being involved in the final trip out West. His loy­al­ty is unde­ni­able, but his health and lim­i­ta­tions are equal­ly appar­ent. Tom appre­ci­ates Rad’s com­mit­ment but gen­tly denies the request, entrust­ing Koku with the role of loco­mo­tive guardian instead. Koku’s phys­i­cal strength and unshak­able loy­al­ty make him the more prac­ti­cal choice. Mean­while, Mr. Damon, enthu­si­as­tic as ever, asks to join Tom dur­ing the deci­sive test run. He offers his pres­ence not just as moral sup­port, but as a tes­ta­ment to the belief many have in Tom’s vision. Despite his eccen­tric habits, Mr. Damon’s faith in the project mir­rors Tom’s own dri­ve for excel­lence.

Tom’s great­est chal­lenge now lies in achiev­ing a sus­tained veloc­i­ty of two miles per minute—an ambi­tious tar­get he believes Her­cules 0001 can meet. The lim­i­ta­tions of the Shop­ton track, how­ev­er, mean this test must be sim­u­lat­ed in short bursts rather than extend­ed runs. He shares his con­cerns with Ned New­ton, the company’s finan­cial over­seer and trust­ed friend. Ned, always prac­ti­cal, wor­ries about the stress such exper­i­ments may place on the engine. But Tom assures him that pre­cau­tions are in place. Every test is cal­cu­lat­ed. Every risk is mea­sured. His deci­sion to con­duct a high-cur­rent test at night, under secre­cy, reflects both his cau­tion and his ambi­tion.

Through­out the chap­ter, tech­ni­cal adjust­ments are described in detail. Tom recal­i­brates the cur­rent reg­u­la­tors, mod­i­fies the cool­ing sys­tems, and installs addi­tion­al safe­ty cut­offs to pre­vent over­load­ing. Every improve­ment brings him clos­er to the per­for­mance thresh­old he envi­sions. The loco­mo­tive hums with con­trolled pow­er, its design bal­anc­ing speed, torque, and resilience. Tom explains that while the the­o­ry sup­ports a top speed of 120 miles per hour, only a real-world test can con­firm whether it’s sus­tain­able under weight and grade con­di­tions. This isn’t just about build­ing a faster train—it’s about reshap­ing how rail­roads oper­ate. And Tom knows that this test could either silence the skep­tics or con­firm their doubts.

Mean­while, con­cerns about sab­o­tage still loom. The pri­vate detec­tive agency Tom had pre­vi­ous­ly hired has failed to track down O’Malley or uncov­er any new leads about his employ­er. Tom and Ned agree the agen­cy’s results are dis­ap­point­ing. More trou­bling is the pos­si­bil­i­ty that O’Mal­ley remains near­by, sim­ply wait­ing for the right moment to strike again. The lack of account­abil­i­ty fuels Tom’s mis­trust, and he qui­et­ly shifts focus from exter­nal inves­ti­ga­tors to more direct secu­ri­ty mea­sures. Guards are briefed. Sur­veil­lance is increased. And no one, not even minor staff, is allowed near the Her­cules with­out clear­ance.

As night falls, the final prepa­ra­tions begin. Tom stands by the loco­mo­tive, dou­ble-check­ing every wire, every lever, every cal­i­bra­tion. Koku watch­es from the shad­ows, ready to respond to any sus­pi­cious activ­i­ty. Mr. Damon paces near­by, mut­ter­ing bless­ings to mechan­i­cal parts. Ned sits near the switch­board, over­see­ing pow­er flow from the gen­er­a­tor. The moment feels less like a test and more like a launch. The team knows what this night rep­re­sents. It is the cul­mi­na­tion of the­o­ry, labor, and risk.

The chap­ter clos­es as the Her­cules 0001 roars to life on the test­ing track, its motors spin­ning silent­ly, almost effort­less­ly. Accel­er­a­tion builds in care­ful­ly mea­sured inter­vals. Lights blur as speed increas­es. Tom holds the con­trols with steady hands, eyes trained on the gauges. For him, this is more than a race against num­bers. It is a push against the lim­its of con­ven­tion. And whether the test ends in tri­umph or a les­son in restraint, Tom is ready to face it. In this moment, the elec­tric future of rail hangs on the silent charge surg­ing beneath his feet.