Quarry Line Mystery — A.C. Stewart

Bill Parks thought he knew everything there was to know about the trains that went through his hometown--but that was before he hitched a ride on the mysterious freight train and his life became unexpectedly entangled with the ventures of some desperate men.

He never would have found out about the train if it hadn't been for the problems at home. His mother and father seemed to quarrel more and more about money; then, Bill failed his school exams, and his mother began to take out some of her bitterness on him.

A little trip on a train was what he wanted, to cheer himself up. But the train he caught by mistake, and the things he learned, soon led to bigger troubles than he had dreamed of--and to choices that might mean life or death for many people. There were two main reasons for Bill's decision to ride again upon the train: if the men were smuggling or stealing, surely there would be a reward for him if he unmasked them, and his name in the papers too; then his mother would be proud of him instead of thinking of him as dull and stupid.

A friendly truck driver named Rhys, the menacing trainman called Zac and a girl Bill's own age add to the exciting action in this fast-paced mystery adventure story.