Re: [DL] The Trains of the Rail wars.

[Brett Dixon <balance@tubas.net>]

On Saturday, December 7, 2002, at 07:03  PM, cnc80@shaw.ca wrote:
>    I was wondering.
>    Are their actual stats, for "special trains" used by the great 
> players of the railwars.
>
> I was playing one of my favorite old games "Railway Tycoon" and was 
> impressed by the many different trains, loads etc, and was wondering 
> if Deadlands has something similar.

I didn't see a response to this one, so it thought i'd jump in. As per 
The Great rail Wars game, actual use of trains is kind of a special 
event in the fighting. As such, they seem to be rather generic, but 
keep in mind that generic trains in this instance includes special cars 
with flamethrowers, gattling guns, etc. to keep bandits away.

There's a few 'specialty' trains, such as the massive mobile railhead 
that, as I remember, Bayou vermillion uses. I think we can devise some 
sterotypes for the faction's trains,t hough stats may be identical:

To be safe, this should be considered a potential spoiler... The rails 
have their secrets...
















Union Blue: as one of the lines with close military and government 
ties, these guys might take a lot of inspiration from modern-day mass 
transit (somewhat bland but moderately comfortable accommodations) with 
touches of both military (armed ex-civil-war guards with rifles and 
such) and the 'Northern Character' (lots of machinery and industrial 
feel).

Dixie Rails: Much like Union Blue, but likely with a mix of both the 
cash-strapped Southern Military theme and the 'plantation owner' luxury 
cars. May have a wide division between passenger and crew, although the 
Southern themes of hospitality and honor keep this from being abused.

Wasatch: Expect the train to have a trial automatic bartender or 
similar. I  would expect these trains to have the least normal looking 
locomotives, and have some interesting devices attached. There's 
probably a good chance of trains having a car or two with compartments 
that passengers had best not enter... Have to keep the automatons 
someplace.

Iron Dragon: I think the oriental decor is pretty obvious. ID is 
considered a 'neutral' railroad, which says something considering it's 
owner. The stereotypical Asian concept of faultless politeness and 
observance of ceremony probably means that ID trains are a pleasure to 
ride, but if you actually manage to offend someone and make it stick 
there's no shortage of stereotypical Asian assassination methods both 
beautiful and terrible to behold.

Oh, and they probably hire good entertainment, if not of the kind most 
posse members would appreciate, to futilely attempt to bring some 
culture to the barbaric West.

The image of a steam locomotive rolling into the station festooned with 
banners, ribbons, lanterns, and other generic 'Oriental' scenery is 
interesting.

Bayou Vermillion: Here's where I figure the difference between 
'employee' areas and 'passenger' cars will be pretty powerful. Since BV 
uses some interesting sources for workers, they don't need to worry 
about the amenities when transporting workers... A well-locked boxcar 
should suffice, and you don't want to be the hobo that grabs a ride on 
these cars...

The passenger and 'manager' sections are, of course, incredibly gaudy 
in the worst excesses of New Orleans style. I'm thinking TGI Fridays on 
Acid here, folks.

Black River: I've always seen Black River as a more "working (wo)man's" 
rail line. They don't use the undead for workers when hiring the 
desperate or unscrupulous works just as well and causes less questions. 
As such, I see their locomotives and cars being mostly generic, 
although a few of the sleeper cars are probably very, very comfortable.

Well, that's my ideas to start... developing stuff for the railroads 
could be a great Epitaph article for someone..