Raising Steam

It's all changed for Moist von Lipwig, swindler, conman, and head of the Royal Bank and Post Office. A steaming, clanging new invention, driven by Dick Simnel, the man with the flat cap and slide rule, is drawing astonished crowds - including a few particularly keen young men armed with notepads and very sensible rainwear and suddenly it's a matter of national importance that the trains run on time. Moist does not enjoy hard work. His . . .vital input at the bank and post office consists mainly of words, which are not that heavy. Or greasy. And it certainly doesn't involve rickety bridges, runaway cheeses or a fat controller with knuckledusters. What he does enjoy is being alive, which may not be a perk of running the new railway. Because, of course, some people have objections, and they'll go to extremes to stop locomotion in its tracks.