Trains...choo choo...locomotives....i

[hollowecho]

So reading Though the book I was wondering do trains existe in the ATB universe it would seem to me that they would in some parts but it all would have access to them

[The Oh So Amazing Nate]

My gaming group says Yes. As long as you have a blacksmith who can do the iron work to build it, and someone with enough sense to set up the boiler/piston system then you can make a train. The problem as I see it is going to be tracks and who's territory they cross. Are the plains of free cattle going to allow your tracks to cut through their territory? If you go far enough West you're into the Prairie Dog Imperium, and other factions vying for control of the resource.

Are you going to use existing track layout? How much damage did they sustain in the crash? how much disrepair has occurred in the years of neglect? I'm sure it's possible using the same formula that road hogs uses for highway engineers and the like.

[Stone Gargoyle]

I have not seen any rules for building them. Yet another type of vehicle not adequately covered by any of the books as far as I know.
Taalismn recently wrote a Pilot: Trains/Locomotives skill for the We Gots the Skills thread over in the Heroes Unlimited section of the forum.

[Pepsi Jedi]

Trains would be problematic, but likely not for the reasons people think.

Moving them wouldn't be the worst, you could either use physical strength on the trains (Like the little two person cars we used to see in cartoons where two people pumped up and down on seasaw like handles). Or you could pull the cars along the tracks with domesticated insects (Instead of cattle as.. well you know)

Those aren't your problems. Your problems will be standardization... making sure the tracks are exactly "X" wide and the rails are "Y" wide and what not, which is difficult for a post apoc standpoint. I mean are the competing nations going to all agree and link their tracks? Of course not.

Your second problem will be maintenance and up keep. Rails can be messed up by something as innocuous as the sun. They need constant upkeep to keep them level and properly spaced. While there's people to do such, it still takes effort and they take alot of refined metal to maintain. Metal and production that is again, not standardized or common through out the ATB world.

Your third problem is the retaliative ease it is to mess up these things. You look at them and go "God, those things are literally staked to the ground with giant metal nails and tons of metal!"

You get some strong crowbars, a pick and a shovel and you can mess up tracks pretty quick. Depending on the wood of the ties, even quicker. Yeah. You can just burrn the ties out from under the tracks and knock out the ashy wood and the pins and then mess with the rails. (This is why there's often a pretty big corredor of foilage cut back from train tracks and a large swath of gravel between the tracks and the grass. Keeps fire off.)

You take out one second of rails, around a curve or something and the next train coming through derails and crashes and god can you imagine lifting a train onto the tracks in an After the bomb setting? You take up a mile of track and it's going to take months to effect repairs. If ever.

Even if you take out a section of track in a nice straight away it's the prime way to rob the train. Remember in ATB they can't easily call the cops. You don't even technically have to tear up the tracks. You can derail trains by putting stuff on the tracks. Or just taking a sledge to one section and banging it bent enough to cause the wheels to skip.

In 'civilized places" I.E. around the capitals. You might find light rail. Simi regular times and stuff, but once out of the highly patrolled highly populated areas, you just won't see it. It'd Draw bandits and thieves like stink on a monkey.

The established mode of transport of this nature in ATB is wagon train type caravans of traders that go on routes.

[Rali]

So reading Though the book I was wondering do trains existe in the ATB universe it would seem to me that they would in some parts but it all would have access to them

While there are no rules in the books for trains, it's a safe bet that trains do exist in the AtB universe (though that's really up to the GM).

A few problems that I figure would come in to play would be:

1) It's likely that lots of the rails would have been torn up, melted down and and sold for scrap.

2) Lack of maintenance would have led to sections of rail that would been warped, washed out, covered by land slides and fallen trees/buildings, or bridges and tressels may have washed out.

3) Railroads are more than just a straight line of rails and can get very complicated at areas where multiple lines converge and mix. It wouldn't be all that hard to find yourself sent onto the wrong line headed for parts unknown...

4) Fuel/Power. Unless you find an independent nuclear/fusion powered locomotive, you'll have to track down a descent amount of diesel or find some way of powering the tracks/overhead cables.

Of course you could use a normal ground vehicle fitted with rail adapters (see here).

However, it's likely that some communities/nations would have invested time and money in repairing and maintaining the old rail systems within their borders and using them to connect to remote areas beyond their borders.

You can find all sorts of information on trains and railroads online, or from an area Rail Enthusiast (Railfans) group near you (they are everywhere!).

[hollowecho]

I live less then 100 miles from Chattanooga tn, my town has a giant 20 rail system tuning thru it as well.My town is half way to 6 major cities The reason I was asking was the lack of info and such .

[glitterboy2098]

i actually intend to make railways a big part of my "Plains of free Cattle" material, once i get a chance to work on it.
i got around the issue of maintence by assuming the pre-crash period updated to high durability ceramic rails, and that there are "rail barons" which claim various lines between communities, who run trains on a regular basis through those routes, and those train loads of their employee's/guards watch for and repair damage along those lines.

lines not claimed by the barons have a higher chance of having bad stretches, and thus tend to be less well travelled. those routes also tend to be the ones going to less profitable locations. and the barons fight turf wars over the different routes and hubs, though damage to the tracks is considered offlimits in those fights. (any group that routinely damages the tracks would find themselves being hunted down by all the barons, leaving few places to hide)

though i did figure that many of the vehicles moving around the railways would be "speeders" (built from car frames) or scratch built locomotives and cars. (basically pulling the good wheel systems off old cars/trains, and building custom vehicles from them.. lets the occasional intact pre-crash car be a major find)