The Railroad

The Railroad is an underground movement with a primary aim of freeing sentient synths from their creators at the Institute.

Fallout 3
There is little available information about either the Railroad or the Institute, however they assist runaway slaves and androids. The Railroad's methods for aiding in escape can be extreme, going so far as to find doctors to perform full facial reconstruction on escapees. They are known to operate in the Capital Wasteland and at least as far north as the Commonwealth.

Fallout 4
The Railroad is a faction situated in the Commonwealth, who assist runaway synths. Their main command center is located in the Old North Church in Boston, after their previous base was compromised following a raid by the Institute. They maintain a network of safehouses and clandestine contacts reminiscent of their namesake, the 19th century Underground Railroad, which helped slaves escape and reach free areas. To remain covert, members use a special marking system called "Railsigns" to mark cache, safehouse, and dead drop locations, as well as the presence of allies and/or danger.

Interactions with the player character
In Fallout 3, the Railroad plays an important role in The Replicated Man, in which the Lone Wanderer becomes involved in their conflict during the quest The Replicated Man in Rivet City, where a scientist named Dr. Zimmer requests aid in capturing a runaway android, and Railroad agent Victoria Watts pleads with the Wanderer to take pity on the android and fake its death.

Dr. Zimmer, Ms. Watts and the android give very logical and convincing arguments for their point of view, and the player character must make an ethical choice based on the limited information they gain from each of them. There are multiple "good Karma" solutions.

In Fallout 4, the Sole Survivor can learn about the Railroad through several sources. They can investigate the area around Park Street Station, speak with Doctor Amari at the beginning of The Molecular Level who indicates that the Railroad would be helpful to their cause, or overhear people in the Diamond City market, the Dugout Inn or guards in Goodneighbor discussing the elusive Railroad. All of these will result in the Sole Survivor getting the quest Road to Freedom. Piper also makes comments about them when the Glowing Sea quest starts.

The Railroad is joinable through the Fallout 4 quest, Road to Freedom.

Membership in the Railroad may negatively affect relations with other main factions. The more quests the Sole Survivor does for the Railroad, the more the Institute and the Brotherhood of Steel will disapprove of their actions. If the Sole Survivor sides with the Brotherhood of Steel or the Institute, they are sent to exterminate the Railroad, believing that they will try to stop the Survivor.

Relations with the Minutemen are not affected by joining the Railroad. However, when completing the Minutemen version of The Nuclear Option, the optional mission must be completed or the Railroad (including Deacon if he is the current companion) will become hostile when the player character next speaks to Desdemona. One will still be able to accept A Clean Equation from P.A.M., Lost Soul from Doctor Carrington and even the To the Mattresses missions from Desdemona when notified by Drummer Boy. Any extra attempt to speak with her outside accepting and completing quests will cause the Railroad to become hostile. This appears to be a bug as the Lost Soul missions should not be available if no survivors remain at the Institute.

Organization
The Railroad is constructed like a pyramid, with the base composed of "tourists" (informants and sympathizers), above which stand runners and safehouse owners, then an even smaller group of field agents, and finally, the most secretive and heavily protected, the HQ Members that have access to all the information and coordinates Railroad operations. All answer to Desdemona. Field agents are given aliases in place of their real names in order to protect their identities, and operate on a "need-to-know" basis to protect the Railroad.

Military
Though the Railroad is a spy organization that prefers stealth and sabotage, they do maintain a small but well-equipped force.

Railroad agents that specialize as soldiers are known as heavies. They are responsible for the defense of Railroad safehouses and escaped synths should they be attacked by enemy forces. They commonly make use of Gauss rifles or railway rifles and wear armored coats. As the Railroad is the only faction with ballistic weave, this gives their agents an upper hand and helps even the playing field against larger and more advanced armies.

Agents infiltrate organizations and towns and collect intel, and Tinker Tom created surveillance devices for placement at high vantage points. This gives the Railroad a powerful information network. Agents also serve a support role in establishing safehouses, stashing supplies, marking locations with Railsigns and sabotaging enemy fortifications.

Appearances
The Railroad appears in Fallout 3 and Fallout 4.

Behind the scenes

 * The Railroad is modeled after the "Underground Railroad", an organization in nineteenth-century America dedicated to helping African-American slaves escape to northern free states and Canada.
 * The Railroad contains a number of similarities to the Thieves Guild from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Both feature an agent named Maven, the name 'Mercer', brick-walled underground home bases, the use of symbolic markings on walls around the Commonwealth, etc.

Gallery
Railroad El Ferrocarril Trasa A Ferrovia Железная дорога Залізниця 鐵路