Ben Time, locomotive engineer, finds himself bumped from the Saint Louis board. He lands on the Toledo Board, a much longer route and rather unfamiliar territory for Ben. As he begins to become familiar with the new territory his conductor on his second trip is found dead in his hotel room. All the railroad men staying in the hotel are suspect along with some compatriots that visit the nearby bar. A goodly portion of the suspect list is made up of a single railroad family, reminiscent of days gone by when the railroads employed many from the same family. Ben, being a member of the suspect list this time, has good reason to look into the third murder of his sleuthing career. Lurch, Ben's friend, assistant, and favorite conductor, isn't left out of the sleuthing. He continues to offer Ben helpful suggestions, even though he is on a different board. The two men continue on successfully in their new avocation of crime solving.