Old Shag

"Old Shag" by Bob Farnham is a science fiction story that throws a freight train brakeman into a whirlwind of danger and mystery when his crew is incapacitated and the train, laden with dynamite, hurtles toward disaster. A strange, shaggy man suddenly appears, offering cryptic guidance and claiming knowledge of time travel to help avert the impending catastrophe. The brakeman must then act swiftly, following the stranger's instructions, confronting both the immediate threat of the explosives and the larger, more abstract questions about fate and the interconnectedness of events across time revealed during their puzzling conversation.