Crazy idea maybe a bit too crazy? Need some conceptual help

[BarroomBard]

Hey guys!

Now, this forum is always a good source of outside the box thinking. Especially when it comes to finding ways to justify the Rule of Cool (for everyone's sake, I will refrain from linking to TVTropes). To harness this power for my own nefarious ends, I'd like to offer up a conundrum that has been rolling around in my head for some time.

Is there anyway that using trains as a primary weapon/vehicle of war is not an utterly stupid idea?

All I can think of is in a particularly protracted trench warfare situation, the trains could act as mobile artillery batteries, and the trenches would help protect the tracks from damage.

[ArcturusV]

Well that would be the historical model with railroad car mounted artillery pieces, going from World War I to the Russian "missile trains" in the Cold War.

Of course also the standard use as a fast resupply method/reinforcements.

Two trains moving at even moderate steam powered engine times ramming into one another can cause HELLACIOUS damage. It might be used as a scorched earth sort of method to deny rail yards or set up ambushes/traps as an enemy advances.

[J-H]

Mostly Russian. They are most effective when
1) You don't have non-rail self-propelled vehicles in an effective combat form and/or
2) You don't have a strong road net to get them around on and/or
3) You have long distances to cover very fast (tanks & armored cars are maintenance and fuel hogs, tracked vehicles tend to tear roads up, and the weight alone can cause damage to many surface streets).

http://wio.ru/rr/ww1white.htm
http://wio.ru/rr/ww1red.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armoured_train

[Incorrect]

The obvious choice would be to pick up a train and hit people with it. Alternatively you could throw it at people.

How easy or hard this is, depends on system and build. But it certainly fits rule of cool.

[Gravitron5000]

The obvious choice would be to pick up a train and hit people with it. Alternatively you could throw it at people.

How easy or hard this is, depends on system and build. But it certainly fits rule of cool.

One word ... trainchucks!

[Incom]

Well it's not like trains have never been suplexed.

The problem with trains is destroying the tracks--you would probably want them far enough from the front lines so this does not become problematic.

[Jay R]

As soon as one side has armed trains, the other side stays away from tracks. They work as moving artillery, but not much else.

And they are only defensive, since it takes too long to run rails into enemy territory. (Once you've conquered it, you can use the rails already there, but now you're defending that land.)

But they are great for troop transport and supply.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

As soon as one side has armed trains, the other side stays away from tracks. They work as moving artillery, but not much else.

Solution: use alchemy to create instant train tracks!

[Geostationary]

Solution: use alchemy to create instant train tracks!

Solution: use science to remove the need for tracks!


It's a tank! It's a train! What more could you ask for?!

[Concrete]

Anyone who thinks trains are unfit for active warfare has clearly not seen enough Wallace & Gromit.

[Driderman]

Anyone who thinks trains are unfit for active warfare has clearly not seen enough Wallace & Gromit.

There was an old Amiga game named Transarctica, where the Earth had been covered in ice and the only means of transportation are now train tracks, all of which are theoretically owned by the token Evil Empire (or something like that).
In any case, since traffic needs to go both ways, all the routes have parallel tracks, which opens for the possibility of train vs train combat.

[endoperez]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovak_Legions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armoured_trains_of_Poland

German WW2 propaganda film.
"They call for backup. An armored train responds."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OSb0kHn_RU


Some nice info, including this cool idea: since the train is vulnerable to ambush, it might be supported by cavalry.
http://www.ospreypublishing.com/stor...t.aspx?ID=1501

I've heard of a story where an Eastern European group of soldiers captured some Soviet trains and kept moving along the railroads and being unstoppable. It could be a greatly exaggerated version of the first link's story.

[TheThan]

Didn’t they use trains to ferry troops and move supplies back during the American civil war (and beyond I imagine). I imagine that would also likely be the useful in a society that doesn’t have mass/cheep teleportation magic.