The southern gap on the high dark rock rim of the Three Crowns Valley was bathed in bright midday sun.
Here, sixty miles of nonstop welded track met its final clockwork closure point.
To the east stretched thirty miles of double-track void-alloy rail, resting on crushed dark rock ballast and creosoted oak ties.
To the west stretched thirty miles of matching track, curving gracefully around the western bluffs.
Between the two railheads lay an exact gap of three-eighths of an inch: the heat swelling allowance calculated by Giles Croft for eighty-degree surrounding heat.
Giles stood on the ballast shoulder. He held a pair of polished brass measuring tongs and a torque wrench.
Beside him stood Master Borin Bronze-Lung, Rathmor the Rusty, and Toby Karr.
Before setting the joint bars, Giles Croft used a flat mill file to edge the rail ends with a smooth forty-five-degree chamfer.
