Letters from the Empty Train

Put three blank forwarding slips on the table: 4 Bell Row, 8 Bell Row, and Mill Cottage. Two cards must be compared to translate a route: the envelope docket supplies the old numbers and a workshop stamp; the register or Ada’s punched route strip supplies changes. Correct result: 4 Bell Row becomes 12 Cedar Walk; 8 Bell Row becomes 16 Cedar Walk; Mill Cottage remains Mill Cottage, now reached from Orchard Lane. A fourth card supplies a practical turntable procedure, not an answer to the address mystery. Do not open an envelope to solve this. Players choose between tonight’s evidenced delivery, an accountable handover to Pia, and guarded storage. A correct argument is accepted without a puzzle-password check; say exactly which address is still unsupported if needed.

Truth and opening

Ada’s final route left three bundles in the sorting drum. The route bell repeats the old addresses until each bundle receives an evidenced forwarding destination or a staffed handover. A renamed street and a renumbered terrace caused the mismatch. Scrap routing is a separate operational error, corrected with the turntable’s POST setting.

120-minute route

Inventory mail and hear the station’s deadline 20m → Check changes at the parcel office 25m → Hear Ada and reconstruct the final round 30m → Move the carriage or drum and close custody 25m

Play the custody discussion with Pia and Joss. Additional time permits independent confirmation from both records and a reconstructed route, but no amount of work permits reading private contents as a shortcut.

People

Joss: wants Clear the platform without losing the mail. Offers A red hold signal and a guarded storage bay. Boundary: Will postpone dismantling but cannot promise unlimited platform space.

Pia: wants Deliver with privacy and traceable custody. Offers Forwarding register and tomorrow’s staffed round. Boundary: No opened letters and no invented recipients.

Ren: wants Keep the sorting carriage out of the scrap siding. Offers Turntable access and the lock checklist. Boundary: Changes rails only while the train is held.

Ada: wants Complete a promise without concealing her delay. Offers Her punched route strip and help carrying the drum. Boundary: Will not use private letter contents as directions.

Events and costs

Sorting work intervals at most 2: A foreman asks for written custody of the mail. Explain the remaining options: supported delivery, Pia’s handover, or Joss’s guarded storage. The foreman waits for the answer.

Closures

The last proper bell: All bundles have supported destinations is true and Carriage routed to the post ramp is true

Letters with a new pair of legs: Drum carried to Pia is true

A protected unfinished promise: Available

Recovery

Either the register or Ada’s strip combines with the exterior docket. If the docket is lost, rebuild-route costs two work intervals and uses a retained duplicate. A blocked turntable route leaves the passenger passage available for carry-drum and handover. With no work left, guard-mail resolves custody while preserving the undelivered status.