Iron Road

[first lines]

George Grant:
Alfred.

Alfred Nichol:
George.

George Grant:
So, what good news can I carry back to the bank?

Alfred Nichol:
Well, we're still laying track.

George Grant:
But not fast enough.

Alfred Nichol:
We had a few setbacks, but nothing major.

George Grant:
Good God, Alfred, you're using damned Chinamen! I mean, surely they're... they're far too insubstantial for this type of work.

Alfred Nichol:
Well, if they could build the Great Wall of China, I guess they can build a railroad.

Wang Ma:
When I left, my mother cried her eyes out. I told her in a year or two I'd be back to buy her a little farm. I'll find myself a wife. Maybe two. We'll have a dozen children.

Little Tiger:
That's you're dream? Two fat wives and a litter of kids?

Wang Ma:
That's my dream. What about yours?

Little Tiger:
When I come back, I'll build a factory right in my village, so every man in the village can work.

Wang Ma:
Just one factory?

Little Tiger:
To start with.

Little Tiger:
You dream little, you live little.

James Nichol:
They're farmers, they're not used to handling dynamite. What if they blow off their arms or their legs? What are you going to do then?

Edgar:
Then we'll train some more.

James Nichol:
I mean, look what we're doing - pushing a railroad through the wilderness. You and me are changing the world forever. How many people get a chance to say they're doing that in a lifetime?

James Nichol:
There's 2,000 men here. It's no place for a girl!

Little Tiger:
Living on the street in Hong Kong was no place for a girl, but I did that. I had no food, I had to eat garbage, and I did that too.

James Nichol:
That's different.

Little Tiger:
How? You say it's alright for a girl to sell herself hootchy kootchy. But it's wrong to do honest work?

Little Tiger:
When I go back to China, I want my own rail car.

Little Tiger:
That scar on your face. How did you get it?

Bookman:
From an accident. Some accidents can change you life. Or end it.

James Nichol:
I don't want you to leave.

Little Tiger:
I have to go.

James Nichol:
Then I want to go with you.

Little Tiger:
No. You think we can change the world. But I think it more likely the world changes us.

[last lines]

Little Tiger:
Rest well in China, father. I will stay in this land to make a new life for myself.