Railroad Employee Roundhouse
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And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers
Ride their fathers' magic carpet made of steel
Mothers with their babes asleep rockin' to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel

(from) City of New Orleans Arlo Guthrie

Basic Information

This page is an index of jobs involving locomotives, especially during the early years of the Railroad.

On the train:

Elsewhere:

This is listed as a Trope over at the TV Tropes Wiki, but it's really just a list of Professions relating to the Railroad. Since we have a tendency to make random generators over here (and I could imagine "Professions" being a category on the Random Character Generator sometime soon), it seemed better to split this up into pages on all the various character roles.

Sources

Bibliography

Game and Story Use

  • If your game includes a Train Robbery or Traintop Battle, it might be useful to know what sort of staff or authority figures might be on board.
    • Although if you rob a train in the wrong place and time, this could include a security detachment of US Marines.
  • Especially appropriate in The Western.
  • Trains are also a big deal in early C20 Eurasia, when armoured trains were key playing pieces Eurasia for such events as the Eastern Front of WW1 and its subsequent conflicts, including the Russian Civil War and its associated interventions, the Chinese Warlord Era and even some of the more disorganized parts of WW2.
  • Could also be fun "after the end" - especially if you are a Metro 2033 fan.
  • Broadly, for a decent train game you need plenty of wide open space and an enemy who is not all that well armed and disinclined to tear up the tracks. The first it to ensure that it's worth getting on the train in the first place, the second because a train is a large target and, no matter how hard you armour it, a well armed enemy is liable to shoot it to pieces. The last is also needed to ensure that the game doesn't come to a rapid, grinding halt … in much the same way a train does when the rails are removed.
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