[gurps] [VEHICLE] of the week 628 – Armored Express Train

Onno Meyer Onno.Meyer at gmx.de
Tue Nov 7 11:17:56 CST 2006


  This is a weekly posting with GURPS vehicles (and the like) to the 
GURPSnet mailing list. I grant the permission for all non-commercial 
redistribution of my work, but I would like to know if you put it on 
a website or the like. With a slight delay, old vehicles appear
at   http://omeyer.gmxhome.de/GURPSnet_files/summary.html
  Onno Meyer, 2006-11-06

Armored Express Train v1.0 (TL6)
  Copyright 2006 by Onno Meyer

  Historically, armored trains saw their brief moments of glory in the 
early 20th century, when they did carry much heavier weapons and armor 
than contemporary tanks and armored cars. 
  This fictional armored train could serve as a mobile base for a pulp 
action villain, or possibly for wealthy adventurers in lawless regions. 
It consists of the armored steam engine, four armored sleeper cars and 
two armored machine gun cars for security. It would carry some 40 crew 
and 200 passengers, service staff and dismounting troops – more luxury 
and fewer weapons than a historical armored train. 

ENGINE:
  The 850-horsepower engine and coal tender are armored with 20mm steel 
plates. The coal tender is fully enclosed and permanently linked to the 
engine. In addition to the engineer and fireman, the engine has seats 
for the train commander and two aides. 
  At routine travel speeds, the forced-draft engine burns either 1,875 
lbs. of coal or 4,500 lbs. of wood per hour. A full load of coal costs 
$900 and lasts for 24 hours, a full load of wood costs $180 and lasts 
for 6 hours.  

Subassemblies: Body +6, twelve Railway Wheels +2. 
Powertrain: 625-kW wheeled drivetrain, 625-kW forced draft steam engine, 
  24,000-kWs lead-acid battery. 
Fuel: 900 cf bunker.
Occ: 3 RCS, 2 NS

Armor           F      RL     B      T      U
Body:          4/60   4/60   4/60   4/50   4/10
Wheelguards:   4/60   4/60   4/60   4/60
Wheels:        3/10   3/10   3/10   3/10   3/10 

Equipment:
  Body: Whistle; 2-man intercom; 5-man environmental controls. External: 
Hitch; pin.

Statistics
Size: 60'x10'x12'   Payload: 23 tons   Lwt.: 120 tons
Volume: 5,000 cf    Maint.: 41 hours   Price: $241,660

HT: 12.   HPs: 12,000 Body, 600 each Wheel.

Design Notes
  Body is 4,000 cf, articulated. Wheels are 1,000 cf (increased volume). 
Structure is extra-heavy and cheap. Armor is standard metal. Mechanical 
controls. 280.2 cf of empty space. Empty weight is 194,000 lbs.

SLEEPER CAR:
  The sleeper car has eight passenger compartments with six seats each 
and a bar with five seats. A movie projector provides entertainment on 
long trips, or perhaps a way to receive progress reports from henchmen. 
The conductor and barkeeper have their own little compartment adjacent 
to the kitchen. The car has 20mm steel plates on the sides and top and 
narrow view slits and firing ports. The underside and ends are more 
thinly armored, possibly an access way for plucky heroes. 
  
Subassemblies: Body +6, eight Railway Wheels +2. 
Occ: 50 RS (fold into bunks)

Armor           F      RL     B      T      U
Body:          4/10   4/60   4/10   4/50   4/10
Wheelguards:   4/60   4/60   4/60   4/60
Wheels:        3/10   3/10   3/10   3/10   3/10 

Equipment:
  Body: Small movie screen; 5-man bar; small galley; toilet; 50-man  
environmental controls. External: Hitch; pin; 20 gun ports.

Statistics
Size: 48'x10'x12'   Payload: 5 tons    Lwt.: 50 tons
Volume: 4,800 cf    Maint.: 55 hours   Price: $132,250

HT: 11.   HPs: 3,000 Body, 225 each Wheel.

Design Notes
  Body is 4,000 cf. Wheels are 800 cf. Structure is medium and cheap. 
Armor is standard metal. 1,210 cf of empty space. Empty weight is 90,000 
lbs.

SECURITY CAR:
  The security car has two turrets with twin HMGs for air defense and 
four casemated MMGs along the sides against infantry attacks. A dozen 
firing ports for rifles cover gaps in the machine gun fields of fire, 
notably to the front and rear of the car. 
  A full load of ammunition is $3,240.

Subassemblies: Body +5, two full-rotation Turrets +2, four Railway 
  Wheels +2. 
Powertrain: 12,000-kWs lead-acid battery. 
Occ: 4 CCS, 2 CCS [turrets], 12 RSR

Armor           F      RL     B      T      U
Body:          4/60   4/60   4/60   4/50   4/10
Turrets:       4/80   4/80   4/80   4/80
Wheelguards:   4/60   4/60   4/60   4/60
Wheels:        3/10   3/10   3/10   3/10   3/10 

Weaponry
Two .303 MGs [Bod:L] (20,000 rounds each) +0.
Two .303 MGs [Bod:R] (20,000 rounds each) +0.
Two 14.5mm MGs [Tur1:F] (1,000 rounds each) +0.*
Two 14.5mm MGs [Tur2:B] (1,000 rounds each) +0.*
* Linked.

Equipment:
  Body: Casemate mounts for .303 MGs (concealed); 4-man intercom; 
medium-range radio; 18-man environmental controls. Turrets: Universal 
mounts for 14.5mm MGs; 1-man intercom. External: Hitch; pin; 12 gun 
ports.

Statistics
Size: 30'x10'x10'   Payload: 5 tons    Lwt.: 40 tons
Volume: 2,500 cf    Maint.: 59 hours   Price: $115,495

HT: 9.   HPs: 1,500 Body, 150 each Turret, 300 each Wheel.

Design Notes
  Body is 2,000 cf. Turrets are 50 cf each. Wheels are 400 cf. Structure 
is medium and cheap. Armor is standard metal. 1,303.3 cf of empty space 
in the body and 6.1 cf of empty space in each turret. Empty weight is 
70,000 lbs. 80,000 rounds of 7.7mm solid are stowed in the body, 2,000 
rounds of 14.5mm solid are stowed in each turret.

COMBINED PERFORMANCE:
gSpeed: 40   gAccel: 1   gDecel: 10   gMR: 0.125   gSR: 5
Extremely High GP. No off-road speed.

Weapon     Weight Volume Cost   Power WPS   VPS     CPS    TL
.303 MMG   20     0.4      $300   -   0.057 0.00038 $0.029 6
14.5mm HMG 95     1.9    $1,400   -   0.46  0.0031  $0.23  6

Weapon     Ammo  Malf. Type Damage SS Acc 1/2D  Max   RoF 
.303 MMG   solid crit. cr.  7d     17 13    700 3,900 12
14.5mm HMG solid crit. cr.  15d+1  20 14  1,200 5,400 8

  The TL6 vehicles use the design rules from Vehicles [second edition, 
third printing, Dec 2004 errata], VXi and VXii with the text format from 
Vehicles Lite. Following a precedent from W:MP, they ignore the rules on 
maximum tow weight (which do not work properly for trains).


Next Week: A howitzer car and an expendable flatcar to turn it into a 
more traditional armored train.


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