Quote:
Originally Posted by Legbreaker
Well, it was the British system that started it all off... 
Elsewhere, as you rightly point out, it could well be a different story, but after a few months of combat, railway lines are sure to have been damaged, with bridges and tunnels destroyed. There will be limited routes available for the trains to take. |
Entirely agree. Railways are especially vulnerable and what you describe will be even more true after the first nukes start to fall. Nevertheless, I use them in my game and consider that in some areas (for exemple the trans-Siberian) large portions have been repaired. There are no more aircraft to destroy them and they have become less vulnerable again. I also use armored trains to protect them (more often than not a big word for reinforced wagons) and, again, as in WW2, these trains are carrying replacement rails. A trip by train can be very long.
The other main advantages come from the fact that I considered that a limited amount of steam powered locomotive are still available. Funny enough, you might have no train rolling in england but some in Wales (I think the wales have maintained part of their rolling stock in working order: Great Little Trains of Wales). The same will be true for Italy... New ones can even be built as they don't need modern machinery for their production.