The Last Train Station
The moment the mole people were able to come back to the surface, they tried to build as many cities as possible, in every place of the world they possibly could. Some of these settlements were more successful than others, and some have since been lost to time. One of these is The Last Train Station, located deep in Desert.
Location
The Last Train Station is located deep in Desert, it’s the most western settlement that ever existed. It’s located on the hottest and driest land than any other Desert settlement, which probably contributed to it failing.
Why was it built?
From the very beginning, the people have tried to push the boundaries and test the limits of where in the world they could possibly live. While most people left to the more fertile and pleasant lands of what is now known as Ä+*4~ and Fairy Gardens, others tried to get as far into the desert as they possibly could. They were building town after town, each a bit further in the desert, and each built along a railroad that connected them all. The last one of them was this, The Last Train Station, known to be just that - the end point of the railroad leading out here all the way from the border with Ä+*4~.
The real reason why it was built was nothing more than to see how deep into the desert people could go and still survive. A pretty good motivation to get that far out was also to see if there are any good resources to be found out here. Spoiler alert: there weren’t.
The Settlement
The Last Train Station always was a pretty small settlement - not many were willing to come this far out and live in the unpleasant conditions of this location. The area is hot and dry, with no fertile land, no oases and not much useful to offer. Not anything that couldn’t already be found in more pleasant and convenient locations.
Interestingly, this is one of very few Desert settlements that was actually built above ground. Back in the day people were too excited to be able to return to the surface that they actually did try to build more above ground settlements, but they soon realized staying underground is the safest option out here in the desert.
Today, all that’s left of these settlements, including Last Train Station, are the ruins of the buildings that have been abandoned for centuries.
Why did it fail?
There were many reasons why The Last Train Station didn’t last for very long. Honestly, people should have known that trying to build a town so far out in the desert would be a bad idea. It was too far, too hot, too dry, and with not much useful to offer in terms of valuable resources. All of the food, water and other supplies had to be imported, but not much was getting exported. There was a small stone quarry and a salt mine, but there weren’t enough people living here to produce any significant amount of exportable goods.
In its best years, something over 200 people lived there, but people soon lost interest in going there. It was a terrible place to live, and too far away. Too costly to maintain, meaning that everything was a lot more expensive there than in towns closer to Ä+*4~. Surely people who were willing to go there were getting paid good money at their jobs, but having money doesn’t help you much where there simply aren’t any resources to spend it on. The town would frequently just run out of food and water, and don’t even think about getting any fancy artisan items sold in other parts of the world. You could try to get a fancy outfit bought from Ä+*4~ but shipping alone would probably cost like 600$, no one will get out here for less money than that.
In turn, all of the resouces exported form here were unreasonably expensive as well. But why would you pay 50$ for a box of salt, if you can get just as good salt for maybe 10$ at most? People just weren't willing to buy anything from here at the prices it was sold at.
With all these problems, the town never had a good chance to expand and thrive, and unsurprisingly less and less people were mowing here, and more people were leaving. The settlement didn’t even last a full 100 years before the last residents left and the train track leading there was shut down.
Last Train Station today
Today, barely anyone still remembers The Last Train Station. It’s recorded in the documents and its location is still marked on the map, somewhere, but no one even tried to go there in centuries and no one is really sure where exactly it is. The train track leading there technically still exists, but it’s now buried deep under desert sand. The Last Train Station today isn’t anything more than an distant memory and a tale to tell. And even that isn’t a very long or interesting tale. At least its story reminds us why it isn’t worth trying to get any further into the desert and wasting resources on settlements that can’t work. I guess sometimes you have to make a mistake so you can later look back on it and know it was a mistake, rather than live your life wondering “what if?”.
RUINED SETTLEMENT
29.7.2022
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