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Trains and other steam powered vehicles The steam powered vehicles in Daleth are not very old. The "newness" of it makes many a traveller suspicious of the safety and quality. Recent accidents are always a major set back for the steam powered vehicles and the companies that exploit them.The first steam train was the "Black Diamond" (1817) that transported coal in Sterrenbos. The Black Diamond has an engine and a train of about ten wagons behind it. There is only one sober carriage for the owners of the mining company to travel with.
The first railroad company with transport of travellers was a fact in 1819, when the "Hissing Carriage" connected Ildritz and Lazulameir. The Hissing Carriage is a combination of a steam engine with a salon like compartment for the travellers on top of it. The engine has a driving installation on the back and front (which share the same design, anyway). The Hissing Carriage has a fireman, a driver and a coal boy on board, two stewards and more than enough place for up to thirty passengers with their luggage; all assembled in the luxury of a palace salon. At the evenly luxurious waiting halls, a team of carriers is ready on the high platforms to help unloading the luggage and the passengers and get them to ground level. Tickets from Ildritz to Lazulameir cost 10 Skilliggs per person, including luggage - this is expensive, and only the upper class uses the Hissing Carriage. A meal, snacks and drinks are included. The journey takes about two stonds - quicker than by coach.
Soon after the track of the Hissing Carriage was opened, the street steam train of Nieuw-Gamoor was build. This steam train rode on old rails in the street, connecting Broeckpoyrte with the centre of Nieuw-Gamoor. Formerly, the track was horse powered, and the steam train was thus nicknamed "Steam Donkey" - the engine had "donkey ears" which were in fact the sleek chimneys but helped the nickname nonetheless. During the opening of the track, the steam engine exploded and many invited guests of honour died, including Fayan, Count of Ciniz, and his wife. Now, the Steam Donkeys drives up and down the track all day, delivering the travellers on several street corners and on the stairs of the palaces. The engine pulls a train of a small coal wagon, a a luggage wagon, two standard carriages for up to forty passengers, and a luxury carriage for sixteen passengers. A journey from Broeckpoyrte to the centre of Nieuw-Gamoor costs 1 Skilliggs (standard open carriage with wooden seats) or 2 Skilliggs (luxurious interior carriage, velvet seats, heated), and takes about a stond. The tickets can be bought at the stewards, who has a small office in the luggage wagon. The most prestigious project for steam trains is the connection of Ciniz and Lamorial, run by the EWCL. Four countries are involved in the project, and the best engineers of Daleth cooperate. The tracks run from Lameirvar centre to Lamorial Beach and Dohn, with a sidetrack to Pordon. In Dohn the waiting hall is ready for a sidetrack to Tarnov/Dernëv too. From Dohn the train pulls up to the Noorderstroom River and then southbound to Unvar, and finally to Ciniz-Doors. There are plans to build the tracks further, to Gronbrunlar and then over the Felez-Felthan to Lazulameir, where a connection to the tracks of the Hissing Carriage should be made. The steep mountains south of Ciniz have proven to be a problem. From Lameirvar Centre to Ciniz-Doors takes 10 stonds and costs 20 Skilliggs - each stond that one should travel according to the time tables, costs 2 Skilliggs. There are three classes in the carriages: the private class, only used by the counts of Ciniz, Unvar, Dohn and Lamorial and their family and business partners. They sometimes do invite the "soft seat" class passengers to join them in the riding salons. The "soft seat" class is used by passengers who have to travel more than 4 stonds, or those who will pay for a 4 stond journey. The "hard seat" class is the standard class which has comfortable wooden seats, windows that can open, heating in winter and free hot and cold water. The "soft seat" version has velvet seats that can transform to beds (blankets included) in more or less private booths, curtains at the windows, has on board catering and a small bathroom (towels and soap included) per carriage. The front of the train is the engine, a large black piece of iron, that frightens the children and the animals along the track. Right after the engine is the coal tender. Then the luggage wagons follow with the stewards office. Three hard seat carriages and two soft seated close the train. On some occasions the private carriages are pulled at the back of the train - where the smoke and noise from the engine is hardly noticed. Other railroad companies are planning new tracks. The Steam Dragon Build during the last war, the steam dragon proved to be a dangerous vehicle that made a lot of victims. The idea was that the steam engine powered a four wheeled iron and wood car. The resulting vehicle resembled a fire spitting dragon - hence the name. The small steam engine that formed the core of the dragon was made of rather light metal and the risk of exploding was very high. The light wood used in the inside of the dragon would easily catch fire in the hot environment of the steam engine. Master Tehmon, an immigrant from Luban, build the vehicle under pressure of the war. He was not content about the dragon used in the war, but now has settled in Ildritz to improve the Steam Dragon. He has taken the Cinizian Code for Steam Safety to make the vehicle so safe, it should be on the streets of even the busiest city within a few years. Related topics:
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