Railway rifle (Fallout 4)

For an overview of railway rifle models in the Fallout series of games, see railway rifle.

Fallout 4 weapon
Railway rifle
Type	Rifle
Core stats
Damage	100
Ammo	Railway spike
Clip size	10
Fire rate	10
Range	119
Accuracy	69
AP cost	20
Value	290
Weight	14.4
Damage	Rifleman Commando (automatic) Bloody Mess Astoundingly Awesome 2 (scope) Basher
Miscellaneous	Gun Nut Science!
Editor ID	RailwayRifle
Form ID	000FE268
Credits
Appearances	Fallout 4

 

The railway rifle is a weapon in Fallout 4.

Background

A product of Tinker Tom's engineering, the railways rifle shoots railway spikes at lethal velocities. During development there were issues with its cooling unit, and liquid nitrogen was eventually used to decrease the reload time.

Characteristics

The railway rifle fires railway spikes as projectiles in the same manner as an air rifle. These are rarely found as ammunition, but are cheap to buy and may be recovered from enemies slain using the weapon. In exchange, the railway rifle has become enormously more powerful from its last iteration while retaining its ability to do extreme damage to limbs--sometimes even pinning detached ones to walls.

The railway rifle is most effective in VATS at close to mid ranges, although its range is somewhat increased from its last incarnation and can be greatly increased with modification. The reason that the rifle is more effective in V.A.T.S. is that the nails seems to have a slight travel time which makes it harder to hit enemies further away. This travel time reduces the efficiency of the railway rifle as a sniper weapon. However, a scoped railway rifle can still be a devastating sniper weapon for use against unaware enemies because of its massive damage.

In addition, a train whistle can be heard when reloading the weapon.

Weapon modifications

Receiver

Mod	Description	Weapon prefix								Effect(s)	Perk(s) required	Components	Form ID
Standard receiver	Standard.	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	Gears x4 Nuclear material x4 Oil x6 Screw x4 Steel x8	????????
Automatic piston receiver	Improved rate of fire. Inferior range.	Automatic	–	+2	-12	-1	–	+1.5	+75	–	Gun Nut 2	Adhesive x8 Aluminum x12 Gears x6 Nuclear material x6 Oil x8 Screw x6	????????

Barrel

Mod	Description	Weapon prefix								Effect(s)	Perk(s) required	Components	Form ID
Short barrel	Standard.	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	Screw x4 Steel x6	????????
Long barrel	Superior range and sighted accuracy. Better recoil. Poor hip-fire accuracy.	Long	–	–	+84	+2	–	+2.2	+20	–	–	Adhesive x7 Aluminum x10 Fiberglass x8 Oil x4 Screw x6	????????

Stock

Mod	Description	Weapon prefix								Effect(s)	Perk(s) required	Components	Form ID
Standard stock	Standard.	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	Adhesive x6 Plastic x2 Screw x8 Steel x3	????????
Recoil compensating stock	Exceptional recoil.	Recoil compensated	–	–	–	+2	–	+1.3	+40	–	Gun Nut 3	Adhesive x10 Aluminum x14 Rubber x3 Screw x12 Spring x11	????????

Sights

Mod	Description	Weapon prefix								Effect(s)	Perk(s) required	Components	Form ID
Standard sights	Standard.	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	Adhesive x1 Steel x2	????????
Short scope	Improved magnification. Superior sighted accuracy.	Scoped	–	–	–	+16	–	+1.5	+35	–	–	Adhesive x2 Glass x2 Screw x2 Steel x4	????????
Reflex sight	Better focus and sighted accuracy.	Tactical	–	–	–	+7	–	+0.6	+45	–	–	Adhesive x3 Aluminum x4 Fiber optics x2 Glass x2 Nuclear material x2 Screw x2	????????
Medium scope	Better magnification. Superior sighted accuracy.	Scoped	–	–	–	+22	–	+2	+75	–	Gun Nut 3	Adhesive x3 Glass x3 Screw x2 Steel x5	????????
Long scope	Superior magnification and sighted accuracy.	Scoped	–	–	–	+36	–	+2.4	+95	–	Gun Nut 3	Adhesive x4 Glass x5 Screw x2 Steel x6	????????
Short night vision scope	Night vision. Improved magnification. Superior sighted accuracy.	Night-vision	–	–	–	+16	–	+1.5	+125	–	Gun Nut 3 Science! 1	Adhesive x4 Aluminum x4 Circuitry x2 Fiber optics x3 Glass x3 Nuclear material x2 Screw x2 Silver x2	????????
Medium night vision scope	Night vision. Better magnification. Superior sighted accuracy.	Night-vision	–	–	–	+22	–	+2	+145	–	Gun Nut 3 Science! 1	Adhesive x4 Aluminum x5 Circuitry x3 Fiber optics x5 Glass x5 Nuclear material x4 Screw x2 Silver x2	????????
Long night vision scope	Night vision. Superior magnification and sighted accuracy.	Night-vision	–	–	–	+36	–	+2.4	+165	–	Gun Nut 4 Science! 1	Adhesive x5 Aluminum x6 Circuitry x5 Fiber optics x6 Glass x6 Gold x2 Nuclear material x6 Screw x2	????????
Short recon scope	Tracks targets. Improved magnification. Superior sighted accuracy.	Recon	–	–	–	+16	–	+2.9	+195	–	Gun Nut 4 Science! 1	Adhesive x6 Aluminum x6 Circuitry x6 Crystal x8 Fiber optics x8 Gold x3 Nuclear material x7 Screw x3	????????
Long recon scope	Tracks targets. Superior magnification and sighted accuracy.	Recon	–	–	–	+36	–	+2.9	+195	–	Gun Nut 4 Science! 1	Adhesive x6 Aluminum x6 Circuitry x6 Crystal x8 Fiber optics x8 Gold x3 Nuclear material x7 Screw x3	????????

Muzzle

Mod	Description	Weapon prefix								Effect(s)	Perk(s) required	Components	Form ID
No muzzle		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	????????
Large bayonet	Superior bash. Inferior range.	Bayoneted	–	–	-18	–	–	+2.2	+40	–	–	Adhesive x6 Plastic x5 Screw x6 Steel x8	????????

Variants

• Prototype railway rifle

Locations

• Big John's salvage - inside Big John's fallout shelter, which is in a blue overturned railway car just behind his house. In order to enter the shelter's trapdoor, the power must be switched on. The power switch is near the automobile-powered main gate to the salvage yard, attached to a power cable that runs to the blue railway car. After hitting the switch, access the trapdoor by jumping on top of the car.
• Potential reward for completing the Railroad quest Underground Undercover and starting Precipice of War.
• Bedford Station - Inside a blue railway car attached to a locomotive. Appears at Level 20.
• Carried by Desdemona during the quest Tactical Thinking.
• Carried by Tinker Tom during the quest End of the Line.
• Carried by generic Railroad agents.

Notes

• Railway rifles only spawn when the Sole Survivor is above level 20, with the exception of the one carried by Desdemona during the quest Tactical Thinking.
• The railway rifle was brought back from Fallout 3, and shares a similar appearance to the original.
• The limb-pinning effect affects heads. Also, the pinning does not always happen in outdoor areas. In V.A.T.S. the camera will follow the flying limb or head for quite a ways before giving up.
• Very often there are spikes stuck in walls and bodies after a fight. These spikes are irretrievable.
• The rifle appears to be semi-automatic since the Sole Survivor doesn't cock it before or after each shot.
• Railway spikes can be retrieved from the corpse of a hostile target.
• Completion of the quest "Underground Undercover" will add legendary variants of the railway rifle as loot on legendary enemies.
• The standard receiver for the railway rifle is mislabelled as the automatic piston receiver in the console.

Gallery

Location at Bedford Station

From the Art of Fallout 4

Loading screen slide

References

Weapons in Fallout 4 Unarmed Boxing glove · Deathclaw gauntlet · Knuckles · Meat hook (Butcher's Hook) · Power fist Melee weapons Bladed Assaultron blade  · Chinese officer sword (General Chao's Revenge, Zao's sword, Sword of Wonders) · Combat knife (Pickman's Blade) · Disciples blade (Throatslicer) · (Grognak's axe) · Machete (Kremvh's Tooth) · Mr. Handy buzz blade  · Pint-Sized Slasher knife  · Pole hook (Bloodletter, The Fish Catcher) · Revolutionary sword (Shem Drowne sword) · Ripper (Reckoning ·The Harvester ) · Shishkebab · Steel sword  · Switchblade Blunt Alien shock baton  · Baseball bat (2076 World Series baseball bat, Cito's Shiny Slugger , Fencebuster , Rockville Slugger) · Baton · Board · Commie Whacker  · Lead pipe · Pipe wrench (Big Jim) · Pool cue · Rolling pin · Sledgehammer · Super sledge (Atom's Judgement ) · Swatter · Tire iron · Walking cane Ballistic weapons Pistols .44 pistol (Eddie's Peace, The Gainer, Kellogg's pistol, Early Retirement )  · 10mm pistol (Deliverer, Wastelander's Friend, Gen-4 10mm pistol , Classic 10mm pistol , Ultimatum Silver Sidearm )  · Acid Soaker  · Flare gun · Western revolver Shotguns Combat shotgun (Le Fusil Terribles, Justice) · Double-barrel shotgun · Handmade shotgun (Triple-barrel handmade shotgun) SMGs Submachine gun (Silver submachine gun, Spray n' Pray) Rifles Anti-materiel rifle  · Assault rifle · Combat rifle (CR-74L , December's Child , Overseer's Guardian) · Handmade rifle (Splattercannon, The Problem Solver) · Hunting rifle (Reba II, Tinker Tom Special) · Lever-action rifle (Old Reliable, Lucky Eddy) · Manwell carbine (Manwell rifle) · Radium rifle (Kiloton radium rifle, Radical Conversion) · Railway rifle (Prototype railway rifle) · Syringer Heavy weapons (Broadsider) · Fat Man (Big Boy, Nuka-nuke launcher , The Striker ) · Harpoon gun (Admiral's Friend, Skipper's Last Stand) · (Junk Jet) · Minigun (Ashmaker) · Missile launcher (Death From Above, Partystarter) Other Paddle ball  · Pipe bolt-action · Pipe gun · Pipe revolver · Thirst Zapper Energy weapons Cryo (Cryolator) Laser (Salvaged Assaultron head ) · Institute laser (Virgil's rifle) · Laser musket · Laser gun (Good Intentions, Old Faithful, Protectron's Gaze , Prototype UP77 "Limitless Potential", Righteous Authority, Survivor's Special, Wazer Wifle) · Gatling laser (Final Judgment, Aeternus ) Plasma (BFG 9000 ) · Plasma gun (Experiment 18-A, Sentinel's Plasmacaster) Other (Alien blaster pistol (Hub's Alien Blaster )) · (Alien atomizer ) · (Alien disintegrator )  · (Cosmic cannon ) · Flamer (Sergeant Ash , Heavy incinerator ) · Gamma gun (Lorenzo's Artifact gun, Zeta gun) · Gauss rifle (The Last Minute) · (Prototype Gauss rifle ) · Solar cannon (Solar cannon Mk.II, Outcast)  · (Tesla cannon ) · Tesla rifle  · (Thunderbolt ) Explosive weapons Thrown Baseball grenade · Cryogenic grenade · Frag grenade · Fragmentation grenade MIRV  · Fury grenade  · HalluciGen gas grenade · (Homing beacon) · Institute EM pulse grenade  · Molotov cocktail · Nuka grenade · Nuka Cherry grenade  · Nuka Quantum grenade  · Persuasion grenade  · Plasma grenade · Predator grenade  · Pulse grenade · Smart fragmentation grenade Placed Bear trap  · Bleeding bear trap  · Bottlecap mine · Cryo mine · Frag mine · Nuke mine · Plasma mine · Pulse mine · Caltrops  · Poisoned caltrops Parentheses () denote unique weapon variants.