Rune Train

A magical train system? Sounds fun. This is a fantasy-WESTERN, after all. Who wants to read a Western without a train?
The nation of Windthrow is huge, close to the size of Russia.  This presents multiple problems, especially since the capital and a lot of the population reside in the west.  It is difficult to govern and control lands and peoples that are miles and miles away from you.  The Wizards approached the New Prince with a solution to this problem-- trains.  They call them Rune Trains.
Rune Trains run on a system that converts energy from a fire in the front car into movement.  The fire burns inside a furnace inscripted with runes.  The runes absorb the power from the heat and transfer it to other runes, which carry it and magify it and turn the mechanisms that turn the wheels.  The more heat on the runes, the more power they can give the train.

Weapons & Armament

The train itself does not have any weapons.  It does have armed guards riding on it.  The wizard-engineer is only an expert in the magic that propels the train, he or she doesn't know combat magic, so they don't really count as a weapon.

Armor and defense

A new development is a cargo car with doors and walls reinforced with blacksteel. This is a response to Pixie raids, since blacksteel resists their magic and most other types of magic. Because blacksteel is rare, this is NOT something that is seen often. There is only one completed train car with this armor so if you see it on a train you know they're carrying something valuable (which almost makes it more of a beacon for raiders than a defense...). The train is made of regular steel and wood, so it's reasonably strong, and arrows don't give it a lot of trouble. It's weight and speed when fully moving give it advantages against most attacks raiders might try, with or without magic. It's weakness is the weakness of all trains-- it is on a track, and it can't deviate from it. If the track is damaged or blocked, the train must stop, or be derailed.

Communication Tools & Systems

Light signals are used on the train as well as along the tracks.  Semifore flags are also used when the daylight would make lights less visible.  The train has a loud bell and a whistle to announce arrival/departure and warn people who are about to get squashed.

Rarity

Pretty rare right now. Only one or two of them on the Continent, I'm thinking. But Windthrow is working on building more as fast as possible.

Speed

40 - 50mph

Complement / Crew

Usually at least one guard per train car, and a couple in the front/back cars. One wizard is in the front car as well, to make sure everything works correctly (he's basically the engineer). There are also attendants on the cars to manage passengers.