Transportation in the Errant World

[Graybeard]

I hope people won't mind too much if a thread is introduced here that isn't tied to the daily updates, but rather to a larger, longer-term subject that's currently emerging as important in Errant Road. Note that a parallel conversation is occurring there, but I thought I'd post the basic inquiry in this forum as well, for the sake of getting ideas from non-Errant-Roadies. The subject is: how do people get around in this world, and in particular, where are the trains?

From what we've seen in Errant Story itself, the world seems to be composed of about equal parts magic/fantasy; conventional technology as in the real world circa 1850; and "steampunk" -- hey, where do you think all those airships came from? Which one dominates in a particular region obviously varies with the region, but they're all there. In Errant Story this has translated to means of transportation that include warp gates/travel platforms, airships (with magical enhancements), boats apparently running off some kind of engine power rather than sail, horse-drawn wagons, and of course, shank's mare. Have I forgotten anything? To this we have added submarines in Errant Road, which are a straightforward extension of power boats.

One thing curiously missing from this mix is railways. One would really think that they should be there; according to [url=hhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rail_transport]this[/url] Wikipedia article, the concept goes back to antiquity, and passenger and freight trains were already well established in much of the world by 1850. The technological level of the techie parts of the Errant World should be more than sufficient to cause them to exist, and that's laying aside the possibility (likelihood) that the dwarves had something similar. Yet we've never seen them in Errant Story, even when they would make sense -- certainly that would have been the normal way for Meji, Jon and Ian to get back and forth between Emerylon and Saus if it existed, and it would been reasonable for a line to run out toward Thranel from Port Lorrel as well.

I won't duplicate the discussion going on in the Errant Road forums, but what do people think about this? Are there railroads in Veracia and Farrel (I'll give Tsuirakushiti a pass -- too small an area, too many people, and magical means to move them around)? If so, why haven't we seen them? If not, why not? Because there should be some kind of mass transportation; the societies' infrastructures and technology levels are advanced enough to make railroads (there are non-magically-powered ships and airships, after all, and a manufacturing capability sufficient to make steel girders, as here, bottom panel), and there's a clear need.

Ideas and opinions wanted, and I'd love it if Poe and Impy could weigh in on this one.