Pirate Train

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The Pirate Train was a small train created out of the first ten (later six) cars of Snowpiercer in order for its crew to exist outside of Joseph Wilford's control and fight back.

While never given an official name, it was referred to as Snowpiercer on multiple occasions by both its own crew, the resistance left behind and Wilford himself, suggesting that Big Alice came to be considered to be the entire train, including the cars of Snowpiercer that were left behind, while Snowpiercer was the pirate train alone.

History

With both Snowpiercer and Big Alice under Wilford's full control, Alexandra Cavill proposed disconnecting the first ten cars of Snowpiercer in order to create a separate pirate train to go after her mother. Bojan Boscovic confirmed that Big Alice could handle powering both trains while they were gone, but that it would hobble Wilford, leaving the smaller, faster pirate train able to outrun him. After agreeing to the plan, Andre Layton began assembling his crew out of his remaining loyalists with Bennett Knox, Boki, Alex, Ruth Wardell and Bess Till agreeing to join him while keeping Miss Audrey as a hostage to ensure Wilford's good behavior while they were away. In addition, the crew also had Wilford's Head of Security Sykes as a prisoner after she was captured by Bennett. However, Zarah Ferami chose to stay behind with Snowpiercer due to the dangers of their plan, confident that Wilford wouldn't dare to harm her due to Zarah's pregnancy.

In order to disconnect the train, Boki began a manual override of the J-Links in the Aquarium, the one car that could be disconnected for safety reasons even during a lockdown while Layton distracted Wilford and laid out his threat to Audrey. However, while Boki succeeded in disabling one J-Link, 7 Jackboots attacked him, preventing him from disconnecting the other while he fought them off. During this time, Wilford sent Josie Wellstead outside to breach the Engine, but Bennett contacted her and redirected Josie to the Aquarium instead. On Bennett's order, Josie breached the Aquarium, causing the destruction of the entire car and apparently killing Boki and the attacking Jackboots but successfully separating the trains. However, Ruth was left behind on Snowpiercer after being delayed by Kevin McMahon, preventing her from reaching the front of the train in time.

Throughout the Series

The new pirate train returned to the Breslauer Weather Station for Melanie, only to find her gone and the last of her power preserving her vital data. Melanie's data revealed several areas of the Earth that were warming and that could potentially be used for recolonization. Layton ordered his crew to go after Snowpiercer and Big Alice, intending to get Snowpiercer back. They then headed west and turned south, back onto the Main line.

For the next six months, the pirate train searched the globe for a habitable location based on Melanie's data without success. It was eventually discovered that that First Class passenger Martin Colvin had inadvertently stowed away, having fallen asleep in his cabin which was located within the ten cars. Miss Audrey was locked up within a cage in the Library Car, but Sykes became cooperative as time went on, helping the crew out in small ways which Sykes claimed was simply her doing her part as a prisoner of war. While taking samples in North Korea, Bennett fell through a roof and had to be rescued by Layton and Josie. Due to overheating problems with the Engine, Alex and Till were forced to take the train and leave before the problems prevented the train from ever moving again. As the two women worked to repair the issues and return, Martin released Audrey with the two intending to force Alex to reconnect with Snowpiercer instead of going back. Sykes, who showed a wavering loyalty to Wilford, refused to help them and allowed herself to be locked up instead. Although Audrey and Martin briefly succeeded in taking the Engine, Till escaped, quickly subdued them both and convinced Alex not to give up hope. Upon the pirate train's return, they picked up Bennett and Josie and were soon after joined by Layton who brought with him Asha, a survivor that he'd found.

With the only location left being in the Horn of Africa, the crew decided to reconnect the trains before searching the last spot. However, due to the degrading satellites above the Earth, the pirate train struggled to locate Big Alice until they detected the detonation of an EMP weapon 520 kilometers away. Riding on parallel tracks, the pirate train caught up with Big Alice as Wilford prepared to freeze off Ruth's arm and both sides rushed to battle stations. Due to the problem with the satellites and a moonless night, Wilford never saw their return coming and he was caught completely by surprise.

Layton's plan was to have Josie board Big Alice and breach the Engine, so the pirate train led Big Alice into a game of cat and mouse in a railyard where the maze of tracks gave the smaller and nimbler pirate train the advantage. They attempted to use debris on the track to slowdown Big Alice, but it got through. Josie was then in a airlock, at the back preparing to board. Using a harpoon gun, the Jackboots managed to take out one of the train's rear wheels, forcing Alex and Bennett to disconnect the last four cars (using a J-Link) in order to prevent a derailment. Sykes saved Asha from being trapped in the cars, earning her Layton's thanks and, apparently, his trust. By going dark, Big Alice avoided the pirate train's attention until Pike set off Snowpiercer's fireworks. Wilford made a run for it, but he lacked the power to escape, allowing the pirate train to cut him off and bring Big Alice to a stop, forcing a standoff. After refusing a deal to surrender, Wilford cut power to Big Alice and threatened to let everyone freeze to death if the pirate train didn't reconnect. Bennett accepted, but he discreetly signaled Javi in Spanish who secretly opened an airlock in Big Alice's Engine for Layton who left the train with Josie. Wilford dispatched the Jackboots to the connection point to board and retake the pirate train as soon as they reconnected. As the pirate train came in from the other direction to reconnect, Josie created a distraction by pretending to breach Big Alice's Engine from the outside, allowing Layton to sneak onboard Big Alice and overpower Wilford, forcing him to call off his boarding party and publicly surrender to Layton. With the train under Layton's control once again, the pirate train finally reconnected with Snowpiercer and Big Alice, restoring full power to both for the first time since the pirate train's separation.

Wilford later enlisted Alex's help to plot the pirate train's course across the world. Wilford revealed that about three months into his search for the pirate train, he had detected a track switch signal in France, but he found no sign of the train there due to the pirate train being on an entirely different continent at the time. As a result, Wilford came to the conclusion that the signal was from Melanie and that she in fact still alive. It was later discovered that Melanie had survived by taking a Track Scaler from a hanger on Neckbreaker and she used the suspension drug to keep herself alive until Snowpiercer finally rescued her.

Population

Crew Andre Layton - Leader/Acting Breachman Bennett Knox - Engineer Alexandra Cavill - Engineer Bess Till - Crewman Josie Wellstead - Crewman/Freeze augmented Breachmen Martin Colvin - Accidental Stowaway/Chef Asha - Survivor from the outside

Captives Miss Audrey - Hostage Sykes - Prisoner of war/waitress

Number of cars

The number of cars of Snowpiercer is told in the intro, it changes over time:

Episodes	Snowpiercer			Big Alice
	Pirate Train	The rest of the cars
Pre-series	1001			43
1.1-1.9				40
1.9-1.10	994
1.10-2.10	1034
2.10-3.3	10	1023
3.3	6
3.3-3.10	1029
3.10	Less than 1025		More than 44

Trivia

• According to Bennett, due to being disconnected from Snowpiercer, the Engine is now a Ferrari and will be running hot, leading to noticeably increased temperatures inside the train and steam coming out of the outside while it's parked.
• Due to its smaller size, the train was capable of stopping and starting again, something that Snowpiercer could no longer do often and was capable of pushing the train in reverse, something never seen previously with the much-larger Snowpiercer.
• The train (presumably) did not have any Battery Cars, however, because it was so small, the Engine could power the entire train.
• Because of its small size, the Engine had more power and when stopped had to vent to prevent a meltdown, or start moving again (and vent), however if it vented too much, it wouldn’t be able to move again.
• To prevent a meltdown, the Engine needed 8 minutes to get up to speed and 10 to 12 minutes to run a discharge sequence, starting at 20km/hour and increasing to 75km/hour. While traveling Alex said, "Built to work at speed, under load, but we have nether. We're a jet engine strapped to a toy wagon. All we have to do is stop on a dime without stalling or burning up twice and once in reverse."
• During its cat and mouse game in the train yard, the train's last 4 cars were derailed and separated due to damage from a harpoon from Big Alice, leaving the train 6 cars long.
• Both Ruth and Bojan were intended crewmembers of the pirate train. However, Ruth was left behind after being delayed by Kevin and thus taking too long to reach the Aquarium while Boki was captured by the Jackboots.
  • Both were former Wilford loyalists who sided with Layton after seeing Wilford for who he truly is.
  • In Layton's absence, Ruth had taken up his role as leader of the resistance on Snowpiercer. She also appeared to have no hard feelings over being left behind, presumably understanding what had happened and she held faith in Layton's eventual return.
• The Pirate train never got an official name of its own. However, on multiple occasions it was referred to as Snowpiercer itself, suggesting that during its time away, the pirate train was considered to be Snowpiercer while the rest of the train was Big Alice, even the cars that belonged to Snowpiercer.
  • Ruth called it Snowpiercer while talking to Pike in The Tortoise and the Hare while the combined train under Wilford's control is never referred to by name, not even in Layton's opening monologue, instead just being referred to as "Wilford's rolling gulag."
  • In The Last to Go, Layton identifies the pirate train as Snowpiercer to Asha while the other train is simply called "Wilford's train." The only time that it's ever referred to as Layton's pirate train is once by Wilford himself near the end of the episode.
  • In The First Blow, Layton referred to the pirate train as Snowpiercer again while negotiating with Wilford while calling Wilford's train Big Alice. In turn, Wilford called the pirate train Snowpiercer while threatening to allow everyone to freeze to death if it didn't reconnect and when he's ordering his boarding party to stand down.
  • In a TNT's Season 2 Recap Clip by Ruth. Ruth also called the pirate train as Snowpiercer and called Wilford's train "Big Alice."
• As revealed in The Tortoise and the Hare, along with the Engine, the pirate train had the First Class Library Car and at least some passenger carriages, including Martin Colvin's. Alex also mentions a meat locker that she had wanted to imprison Miss Audrey in. It also had at least two cold lockers for outside work.
• The presence of the carriages and Martin's accidental stowing away suggests that the crew had most likely triggered some sort of evacuation of the cars before separating that only Martin had missed due to being asleep.
• While Alex and Bennett are the Engineers, Till has also been shown to nervously be able to drive the train, suggesting that the crew have all been given at least some basic training, presumably in case Alex and Bennett are unavailable.
  • In A New Life, Bennett offers to give Josie further Engineer training, further suggesting that at least some of the crew were taught how to drive the train if need be.

Gallery

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