Adding a train to Harpers Ferry

[Extracrispi]

Now that we've had a few weeks to get used to Harpers Ferry I've meaning to start a thread about the idea of adding a train to the map. That's right, a train.

8237

Now, as amateur Civil War buffs and historians, I'm sure we all know that railroads were a major deciding factor in the outcome. Likewise, the railroad is perhaps the most prominent landmark within Harpers Ferry apart from the Armory. Indeed the presence of the railroad played a major role in the failure of the 1859 Raid after John Brown failed to prevent a train from leaving the town and alerting the authorities and later being used to bring in the US Marines who ultimately put down the raid.

What better way to place emphasis on the importance of railroads in the war then to add a train!

8238

I'm not thinking of anything too fancy. Maybe a single 4-4-0 locomotive and a few coaches (3-4) either placed as a static object on the tracks near the bridge. Alternatively the train could be added in as a moving object and potential environmental hazard that runs through the map at random intervals. Trains are used as an environmental hazard to add extra challenge and immersion to maps such as Battlefield 4's Golmud or if you're as old as I am and owned an Xbox, Halo 2's Terminal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgnabJRX5s8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxtvGITBu1I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjzUBETM3lk

Apart from being used by players for dangerously childish and immature stunts during off hours, a train could be used to address some of the issues with balancing on the bridge map, as it could be used as a moving piece of cover by Confederate forces advancing behind it. Thus making it a bit more difficult for the Union to just mow down us Rebs as we try to cross.

We'd also have an excuse to make GeorgeCrecy reenact the chase sequence from the 1926 classic, The General as a publicity stunt, but that's another story.

8239

[Leifr]

I made the suggestion that discarded pieces of 'street furniture' are added to the Harper's Ferry scenarios, including abandoned wagons and the such. Perhaps a locomotive, or at least the abandoned carts on the tracks, would also be a welcomed piece of cover.

[A. P. Hill]

In time.

[Redleader]

I made the suggestion that discarded pieces of 'street furniture' are added to the Harper's Ferry scenarios, including abandoned wagons and the such. Perhaps a locomotive, or at least the abandoned carts on the tracks, would also be a welcomed piece of cover.

Great, why not make it an armored train :cool: ... don't worry it has plenty of cover and saves the CSA from hauling arty in.

8240

[A. P. Hill]

Great, why not make it an armored train :cool: ... don't worry it has plenty of cover and saves the CSA from hauling arty in.

8240

That would be the wrong style.

It would look more like this:
8241

[Redleader]

That would be the wrong style.

It would look more like this:
8241

I was joking :) But I like your picture A.P. :)

[Extracrispi]

Great, why not make it an armored train :cool: ... don't worry it has plenty of cover and saves the CSA from hauling arty in.

8240

Well, we might as well make it a German Panzerzug (stuffed with gold plundered from conquered nations and murdered Jews) and have both sides fight for control of it with Burt Lancaster blowing up the train at the end of the match.

8252

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1IEtzj23ws

[Poorlaggedman]

Didn't the defenders at HF throw up barricades somewhere? I have no idea but that would make sense, right? I don't know why furniture would be discarded all over the place, it wasnt perpetually looted by northern troops every morning

[A. P. Hill]

Didn't the defenders at HF throw up barricades somewhere? ...

Yeah, up on Maryland Heights, and Bolivar Heights. Where they knew the fighting were to take place.




... I don't know why furniture would be discarded all over the place, it wasnt perpetually looted by northern troops every morning

Thing of it was, civilians were still living in the town. And being in the Northwestern part of Virginia (at the time, West Virginia didn't come into being until 1863,) the citizenry in the neck of the woods were pro-yankee, so likely there was no need to ransack the town. The citizens saw an opportunity to make an income off the military organizations as they passed through. The only thing of any real value was taken apart and sent south into Virginia and North Carolina was the machinery in the armory that made rifles.

As for the Confederates, they needed the support of the locals and therefore wouldn't sack the place either with regard to citizens. Now the military installations is another story all together.

As to relating to Fredericksburg, the yankees were pretty put out by the time they actually made it across the river, so they had to vent their frustrations somehow!!

[Leifr]

Didn't the defenders at HF throw up barricades somewhere? I have no idea but that would make sense, right? I don't know why furniture would be discarded all over the place, it wasnt perpetually looted by northern troops every morning

Sorry, I should have been more specific.
'Street furniture' refers explicitly to objects that have use, or an intended use, outside on the street. I'm certainly not suggesting that there should be discarded pianos, cabinets and ottomans outside!

[Bobby Ransom]

Interesting!