Changes

Directive 10-289 went into effect on May 1, 1957. Whether Wesley Mouch ever noticed that the distribution compliance reports from his Deputy Director of Distribution at Rearden Steel suddenly became less than reliable, the novel never makes clear.

Directive 10-289 went into effect on May 1, 1957. Whether Wesley Mouch ever noticed that the distribution compliance reports from his Deputy Director of Distribution at Rearden Steel suddenly became less than reliable, the novel never makes clear.

[[Dagny Taggart]], the sister of James Taggart who served Taggart Transcontinental as its Vice-President of Operations, resigned immediately, or so Mouch gathered. (Jim Taggart never confirmed the resignation officially.) Two weeks later, a major wreck involving the Taggart Comet (the TTRR's flagship coast-to-coast passenger limited train) and an [[United States Army|Army]] ammunition train collapsed the [[Taggart Tunnel]] at a cost of the lives of three hundred passengers (including US [[United States House of Representatives|Representative]] Kip Chalmers), plus nearly every member of the crews of both trains. The day after that disaster, Dagny Taggart called Wesley Mouch at his office and demanded to speak directly to Clem Weatherby. Mouch, not knowing how to judge that request, passed her through. Afterward, Weatherby informed him that Dagny Taggart had now stated her official policy to deal exclusively with Weatherby in all official matters touching the TTRR. Whether Mouch asked Weatherby why Dagny Taggart had taken that position, the novel does not specifically say.

[[Dagny Taggart]], the sister of James Taggart who served Taggart Transcontinental as its Vice-President of Operations, resigned immediately, or so Mouch gathered. (Jim Taggart never confirmed the resignation officially.) Then on May 28, a major wreck involving the Taggart Comet (the TTRR's flagship coast-to-coast passenger limited train) and an [[United States Army|Army]] ammunition train collapsed the [[Taggart Tunnel]] at a cost of the lives of three hundred passengers (including Kip Chalmers, who had intended to run for the [[United States Senate]] from [[California]]), plus nearly every member of the crews of both trains. The day after that disaster, Dagny Taggart called Wesley Mouch at his office and demanded to speak directly to Clem Weatherby. Mouch, not knowing how to judge that request, passed her through. Afterward, Weatherby informed him that Dagny Taggart had now stated her official policy to deal exclusively with Weatherby in all official matters touching the TTRR. Whether Mouch asked Weatherby why Dagny Taggart had taken that position, the novel does not specifically say.

Two weeks later, Dagny Taggart traveled westward on the Comet, which stopped in mid-route as a "frozen train." The reports that Mouch later received indicated that Miss Taggart rented a monoplane and took off for a Colorado destination. She reached it and then took off again, and whether she filed a flight plan or not, Mouch never heard. All he could gather was that Miss Taggart was last seen flying into the [[Rocky Mountains]], and that her aircraft was never seen again.

That evening, Dagny Taggart traveled westward on the Comet, which stopped in mid-route as a "frozen train." The reports that Mouch later received indicated that Miss Taggart rented a monoplane and took off for a [[Utah]] destination. She reached it and then took off again, and whether she filed a flight plan or not, Mouch never heard. All he could gather was that Miss Taggart was last seen flying into the [[Rocky Mountains]], and that her aircraft was never seen again.

== Railroad Unification Plan ==

== Railroad Unification Plan ==