I dabbled somewhat around in my old D&D books and found something interesting.
I copied, pasted some, added some more, and more, mixed, stirred, alterd a bit, divided, reorganized, made some tables, changed some maps, and suddenly I had In my hand the following Document;
The Dwarven Thane
by RobinThis is a Nearby Alternate Reality of Mystara.
And a great source for adventures....
I see things like;
"Murder on the Dwarven Thane",
"Robbers from the Trees",
"Dragon Usurpurs",
"Politics and intrigues",
"Unparalelled Love knows no distance in the Known World",
"Through the Gullet of the Wurm",
"You can't escape death or taxes",
"Wind and sand blows against the windows. It is hot",
"What's the background history of the Dwarven Thane",
"Traveling over dancing tracks (Swamptrails)",
"The Dwarven Thane...Who's too blame?",
"Local dispute; Can a mortal being safely travel faster than 360'/round?",
"Farmers and citizens unite against the steel monster of steam and irritating whistles",
etc, etc.
You can download it from here
Based upon the following sources;
Source list
Basic story and Illustration; TSR 9220 AC 11 The Book of Wondrous inventions, page 34-35 The train of the Dwarven Thane by Vince Garcia
Extra Idea; Same book page 86 Vanserie's Wondrous Elemental Heater by our beloved Bruce Heard
Serraine engine information; TSR 9255 Creature Crucible 2 Top Ballista.
Small grey Maps; Adjusted from TSR 9372 Poor Wizards Almanacs 1, TSR 9441 Poor Wizards Almanacs 2 and TSR2506 Poor Wizards Almanacs 3
Large map; Adjusted Known World map by Thorfinn Tait after trailmaps TSR
Good idea, I'd like to eventually add this to my Mystara, haven't decided yet at which point in the future
I already see humanoids assaulting trains that was one of my ideas too... especially when it traverses through the broken lands, or when it leaves the Darokin Tunnel
which would in this map follow the exact same route as the trail --actually the rails were build over the trail and the trail continues to be uses as such...clever as dwarves may be they created small side niches to hide when the train comes by. The rails would most logically have a more straight line from Batavia towards the bend and tunnel in the Norden river. It would be an very interesting (or should I say threatingly dangerous) looking track, as the tracks are as wide as the rocks build upon and the Norden river is several hundred yards lower (this being between Batavia and the first tunnel in the mountains.
I see the train leaving castle Orcstopp somewhat like this; ...in Real Life it is just a folly, but in Mystara it could be a real defensive structure, maybe even with sturdy dwarven door.