Train

Evie Frye fighting Blighters atop a train

A train is a form of rail transport that consists of a chain of vehicles designed to move along rail tracks, with motive power typically provided by either a locomotive at the front or by motors in each unit working in concert. Their principal function is the transport of cargo and passengers.

Trains arose during the 19th century in the midst of the Industrial Revolution as a new and innovative mode of transportation that allowed individuals to travel across vast distances with greater speed and efficiency. It also complemented the surge in mass production by facilitating the transport of copious resources and products in a far shorter span of time.

Notably, the British Assassins under Henry Green, Evie Frye, and Jacob Frye employed a train as the hideout for their guild during their operations in London in 1868. The mobile nature of the base ensured that it was well-suited to eluding the detection of their enemies, the Templars.

History

Victorian London

During the 19th century, London trains provided routes for Edinburgh, Liverpool, Oxford, Cambridge, Brighton, and Dover. Open-topped carriages were available for the poor. In 1834, English and Scottish rail lines merged, allowing people to travel faster between the two places. Queen Victoria was the very first monarch to ride a train in 1842.

Rexford Kaylock standing atop his train

The first rail factory was owned by the Starrick family and inherited by their youngest son Crawford, who used it to expand his Templar influence and business throughout London. Sometime in mid-19th century, Starrick impounded a Herwicke Steam Engine which was owned by Agnes MacBean and nicknamed "Bertha". He then placed the train and MacBean under his Templar accomplice Rexford Kaylock. Kaylock, as the Whitechapel Blighters gang leader, equipped the train for their operations.

In 1860, several large railway companies donated money for the first underground railway transport under the plans of Charles Pearson. John Fowler was also hired as the chief engineer. However, the construction caused many families to lose homes and roads to be blocked. It also used the technique "cut and cover" which involved sinking of trenches and reinstating the surface.

The American businessman, Ned Wynert, and his group of thieves used London's transit systems as cover for their criminal activities. In this way, Wynert was able to rob many shipments coming into the city of their valuables.

In 1868, the Assassin siblings Jacob and Evie Frye destroyed the Whitechapel Blighters with their new syndicate, the Rooks. With MacBean's permission, the twins made her locomotive their mobile hideout and "residence", each claiming a carriage for themselves to live in during their stay in London. Later on, they gained the aid of Nigel Bumble, who worked under MacBean in fixing and repairing the train.

With Wynert's assistance, the Rooks would also rob trains carrying money to fund their operations. In addition, Jacob and Evie frequently visited various train stations in London to assassinate Templars and destroy Blighter shipments.

Russian Empire

In 1888, the Russian Assassin Nikolai Orelov attempted to assassinate Tsar Alexander III while he and his family were traveling by train from Crimea to Saint Petersburg. However, Nikolai and Alexander's fight caused the imperial train to derail and careen off the tracks, tearing apart several of the cars. The Tsar was able to hold up the roof of the dining car long enough for his family to get away to safety, whereupon he confronted an injured Nikolai but ultimately spared him.

Nikolai and Anastasia leaping from the burning train

In 1918, Nikolai and Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna hid on a train traveling to Kazan following their escape from Yekaterinburg. In the city, they hoped to secure transportation to Moscow, where the Russian Brotherhood was located, but during the ride, the Russian Templars boarded the train and began searching for the pair. Wishing to keep Anastasia safe, Nikolai dispatched the Templars, but more arrived, riding an armored train equipped with machine guns.

After the Templars opened fire on Nikolai and Anastasia's train, causing it to catch fire, the latter ran towards Nikolai, who covered her. Using his own machine gun, the Assassin killed all the attacking Templars before he and Anastasia jumped off the burning train and boarded another locomotive, which brought them safely to Kazan.

China

By 1927, the Templars in China had constructed an armored train known as the Great Wall. However, that year, the locomotive was hijacked by the Templar turncoat Yuri Dolinsky, who intended to use it to transport White Russian troops to support warlord Zhang Zongchang in his fight against the Templar-backed Chiang Kai-shek in the Zhejiang province.

The Great Wall

Learning about this, the Black Cross Albert Bolden set off a car bomb near the train and boarded it. As the troops set the train in reverse, the Black Cross engaged Dolinsky in combat, with Dolinsky gloating that the Great Wall could move and keep away foes in all directions. However, the Black Cross had already cut the tracks to the opposite direction, forcing the train to brake. Bolden killed Dolinsky and left as Chiang's nationalist forces stormed the train.

Behind the scenes

• The London Brighton & South Coast Railway locomotive is a red 4-4-0 tender engine seen hauling passenger trains; with occasional mixed or goods trains; around London named "The Great Eagle" with the number 1191, referencing the sobriquet of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and the year Assassin's Creed took place in, respectively. The train locomotive itself is based on a Great Western Railway Duke class.
• The South Eastern Railway engine is based on a LB&SCR A1x Terrier class 0-6-0 tank engine, though painted in British Railways' lined black livery, complete with smokebox number plate, and lettered for the S.E.R. Its serial number, 1476, is a reference to the year Ezio Auditore da Firenze began his quest to avenge the deaths of his father and brothers.
• Both types of engine designs present in Assassin's Creed: Syndicate are historically inaccurate. The A1x class tank engines in their original form, as the A1 class, were only introduced in the 1870s, and the black livery of the A1x was not used until the late 1940s. The Duke class started being built in the 1895 and never wore the red livery seen in game. In addition, neither locomotive are part of their respective companies and running numbers.
• There was a green painted locomotive for the London and South Western Railway seen in early trailers and concept art but cut from the final game. It was based on the Great Northen Railway Stirling Single 4-2-2 but as the class wasn't built until 1870 and was not part of the LSWR, this was anachronism.
• It is also uncommon to catch trains at stations and cannot go reverse out of stations such as London Victoria station and St. Pancras.
• The route of the train hideout in Assassin's Creed: Syndicate varies depending on which chapter the player is on.
• The stations trains visit include Waterloo station, Cannon Street station, Bishopgate station, London Bridge station, London Victoria station, and Charing Cross station.

Gallery

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  An Isu symbol of a steam locomotive
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  Concept art of the King's Cross Train Station during the Industrial Revolution
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  Concept art of an Assassin locked in combat on a train
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  Concept art of a train
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  Concept art of the Train Hideout
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  Concept art of the Train Hideout
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  Concept art of the Train Hideout
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  A train traveling to Kazan
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  The British Assassins' train hideout

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: The Fall (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
• Assassin's Creed: Underworld
• Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia
• Assassin's Creed FCBD 2016 Edition
• Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Resurrection Plot
• Assassin's Creed Roleplaying Game (mentioned only)