I am at a lunch counter in some railroad station, probably the one in Nearby City near my hometown (though the "dream" counter is not in same part of station as the actual counter is). Some man, identity uncertain, is with me. We have waited a long, long time for our lunch, and are beginning to think that the cook has gone on his vacation. My companion had ordered a hamburger sandwich, and I a cup of coffee and a dish of something else. Finally, a waiter brings our food, but in setting the dishes before us gets our orders transposed. He then changes them. The dish I ordered seems to contain a small pile of mashed potatoes, and a considerable amount of gravy in which are floating small objects that may be crackers. Leaving the lunch counter I walk out on platform and see 3 engines on about the 3rd and 4th tracks. Two of them are small, insignificant, but the other is a large one, and as I approach it from the front it seems to have a "shell" covering nearly all the numerous protuberances (air pumps, sand box, bell, steam chest, etc.) of ordinary locomotives. This, however, proves to be an illusion, for closer inspection shows the engine to be a dwarfish model of the huge Northwestern engine which hauls their 17-car train from Chicago part way to Denver, Colorado. The engine was the Rock Island lines, and was #1142 (both name and number being vivid). The engine starts moving but as it nears one of the cross walks, the brakes are applied .... striking several men who are crossing the tracks. It now appears that Gladys is with me, and we decide to ask permission to ride in the engine as far as my hometown. We are told, however, that the engineer is a Frenchman who speaks no English, and for this reason we are denied permission. I debate whether or not to repeat our request.