The Railroad: Fallout 4's Synth Freedom Network Explained
The Railroad is an underground network that smuggles runaway synths out of the Commonwealth. Here is its history, how its agents and safehouses work, who runs it, and what happens if you side with it in Fallout 4.
The Railroad is a secret resistance group in the Commonwealth that helps synths escape from the Institute, hides them and gets them to safety. It's named after the Underground Railroad that helped enslaved people escape in the 19th century, and it believes any synth that thinks and feels like a person deserves to be free. It's one of the four main factions of Fallout 4, and it first turns up in Fallout 3. (Fallout 4; Fallout 3)
How the Railroad began#
The Railroad's own records start in 2266. That year an Institute raid on its headquarters killed nearly everyone, and only thirteen members stayed on. They elected Wyatt as leader and rebuilt with tighter security, so that losing one safehouse wouldn't lead the Institute to the rest. (Fallout 4)
The Institute struck again in 2273, killing Wyatt when Coursers found the headquarters. Pinky Thompson took over through more losses, and in 2276 Desdemona won the election to replace him. Under her, the Railroad tightened its methods and found new tools, including a pre-war intelligence bunker called the Switchboard, which became its base. (Fallout 4)
How the network works#
The Railroad is built like a pyramid. At the bottom are "tourists", sympathisers who give money, shelter or information. Above them are safehouse operators and runners, then field agents, and at the top the headquarters staff who know everything. Agents use code names and know only what they need. (Fallout 4)
Agents mark caches, safehouses and dangers with chalk symbols called railsigns. The heavies, the Railroad's front-line fighters, guard safehouses and escort escaped synths. Tinker Tom, the group's brilliant and paranoid engineer, builds much of its gear. (Fallout 4)
Escaped Generation 3 synths can be given new faces and have their memories wiped so they can start new lives without knowing what they are. Members disagree about whether older, machine-like synths deserve the same help. (Fallout 4)
Finding the Railroad#
The Sole Survivor finds the Railroad by following the Freedom Trail across Boston, a pre-war tourist route marked in red on the pavement. The quest is Road to Freedom. The trail ends at the Old North Church, and spelling out "Railroad" on a dial marked with the lantern symbol in its catacombs opens the door to the hideout. (Fallout 4)
Inside, Desdemona and her agents are recovering from the fall of the Switchboard, which the Institute raided shortly before. Their first job for the Sole Survivor is to go back to the Switchboard and recover what they left behind. (Fallout 4)
The people of the Railroad#
Desdemona leads with total commitment to the cause. Deacon, a spy who has been quietly watching the Sole Survivor, can be a companion. He lies about his past all the time, so almost nothing he says about himself can be trusted. Glory is a synth who chose to keep her memories and fights as a heavy. Dr. Carrington runs the medical side and argues for caution. (Fallout 4)
PATRIOT is the Railroad's source inside the Institute. In 2287 his real identity is Liam Binet, the son of the head of Robotics, who has been smuggling synths out without knowing much about the people receiving them. (Fallout 4)
The Railroad in Fallout 3#
Fallout 3's side quest The Replicated Man shows a Railroad branch at work. Dr. Zimmer of the Institute comes to Rivet City hunting a missing android. Victoria Watts, a Railroad agent, is protecting it. The android is Harkness, the city's head of security, who doesn't know what he is because his memories were wiped. (Fallout 3)
The Railroad ending#
If the Sole Survivor sides with the Railroad, the group helps build the teleporter into the Institute and works with PATRIOT to stir up and free the Institute's synths. In Rockets' Red Glare, the Railroad turns on the Brotherhood of Steel and destroys the Prydwen. In The Nuclear Option, the Sole Survivor leads the synths' uprising inside the Institute and detonates its reactor. (Fallout 4)
The Minutemen stay friendly through all of this. The other paths are worse for the Railroad: the Brotherhood's questline includes an attack on its headquarters, and the Institute's ending wipes it out. (Fallout 4)
Frequently asked questions
- How do you find the Railroad in Fallout 4?
- Follow the Freedom Trail through Boston in the quest Road to Freedom. It ends at the Old North Church, where spelling out "Railroad" on a dial in the catacombs opens the way to their headquarters.
- Who leads the Railroad?
- Desdemona, elected in 2276. Her inner circle includes the spy Deacon, the inventor Tinker Tom, Dr. Carrington and the synth heavy Glory.
- Is the Railroad good in Fallout 4?
- It fights for synths' freedom and risks everything to save them, which makes it the most idealistic faction. It is also secretive, mistrustful and willing to destroy the Institute and the Brotherhood's airship to win.
- Is the Railroad in Fallout 3?
- Yes, in the side quest The Replicated Man. Railroad agent Victoria Watts is in Rivet City protecting Harkness, an escaped synth, from the Institute's Dr. Zimmer.
Sources
- GameFallout 3, Bethesda Game Studios, 2008
- GameFallout 4, Bethesda Game Studios, 2015
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
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