Deeprun Tram

The Deeprun Tram (or simply the Tram) is a long, fully enclosed, underground (and partially underwater) set of double tracks upon which rolls two sets of three wagons, all credited to the gnomes' technical engineering. The service is fast and smooth, and is provided free of charge to travelers between the Alliance-aligned cities of Ironforge and Stormwind City. There is also a quest here that starts on the Ironforge side and ends on the Stormwind side that involves catching rats.

To keep the tram running smoothly and safely, there are gnomes that work on it daily. As such, any problems with it can be quickly addressed. The underwater section of the tram is, in fact, a subterranean lake.

History


In the aftermath of the Second War, the humans of the kingdom of Stormwind began the grueling task of rebuilding the war-torn lands surrounding their battered kingdom. In those days, the bonds of brotherhood that cradled the Alliance of Lordaeron were still at their strongest, and the dwarves of Ironforge were quick to lend aid to their human allies. King Magni Bronzebeard was frustrated, however, at the sluggish pace with which his country's aid was being delivered to Stormwind, and eager as well to establish a means of reinforcing the human kingdom with dwarven soldiers should the need arise. To address these two concerns, King Bronzebeard turned to Azeroth's most esteemed engineer, High Tinker Gelbin Mekkatorque, who immediately began drafting designs for a grand subterranean railway system that would link the cities of Stormwind and Ironforge. His plans would eventually include making a scale mock-up out of pie tins, which still exists in Sector 17, his quarters in Gnomeregan.

In the end, his vision became reality, and the newly-built Deeprun Tram developed into an indispensable link between the two great capitals, providing swift and safe transportation for thousands of their citizens, and bolstering military cooperation between the armies of these two proud Alliance strongholds.

Shortly after the petrification of Magni, Moira Thaurissan invaded Ironforge and closed the tram, isolating the dwarves in the city. Some time later, King Varian Wrynn led an elite strike team of 7 agents through the tram into Ironforge to liberate the city and rescue his son. After the Cataclysm, Bizmo's Brawlpub was opened under the tram, in Stormwind's station.

NPCs



 * In the stations
 * - Deeprun Rat kabob merchant
 * - Deeprun Rat kabob merchant


 * In the underground lake


 * Bizmo's Brawlpub

Quests

 * 1) Deeprun Rat Roundup
 * 2) Me Brother, Nipsy

Wild creatures

 * Rats
 * Sharks
 * Threshadons
 * Threshadons

Post-Cataclysm
Before entering the tram from Stormwind, a short ramp was added in patch 4.0.3a. When inside the actual Tram and looking back through the instance portal you just came through, you could see the old entrance without the newly-added ramp. This was fixed in a later patch.

In the RPG
Gnomish inventors organize into pairs, an odd crazy-guy/sane-guy relationship. One is always trying to push the limits of his devices to unknowable extremes while the other does everything he can to keep the invention from becoming disastrous. It was two pairings of just this type that created the underground railroad that connects Ironforge to Stormwind Keep.

Notes and trivia

 * You cannot be "run over" by the Deeprun Tram. Should you fall off the platform, the train will pass harmlessly over your head. There are ramps in the two stations to climb out.
 * While whether or not it is speedier than taking a flight path is debatable, it is free, fast, and carries a scenic touch. Notably, however, if you take a gryphon flight, it will carry you to the other city on demand; if you take the tram, you must first step onto the tram, and then you'll have to step off at your destination (if you are about to go AFK for a minute, the flight will be better for you).
 * The transit time between each end is 60 seconds and remains at each stop for 12 seconds.
 * The Tram itself has its own loading screen, but it functions like a regular public space, and not like the party-exclusive dungeon instances. This was done to prevent having player's computer load each zone between the two cities load as they pass under them. Furthermore, even though Ironforge and Stormwind are geographically North and South in relation to each other, the tram appears to run East and West on the mini map upon entering the zone.
 * In many official Azeroth maps, including ones in the RPG books, earlier games, Blizzard's website, and even WoW's manual, Stormwind is located along the northwestern portion of the continent of Azeroth, near the northwestern coast of "The Great Sea". Whereas Dun Morogh is located northeast of Stormwind in those maps, with Kul Tiras and other islands to the west of its western shore. In these maps, the Deeprun Tram actually passes under a very small portion of "The Great Sea", directly south of Kul Tiras and other islands.
 * Due to limitations of the game's engine, and because zones are roughly the same size and fit into roughly rectangular shaped area, they had to be placed next to each other for the paths to line up, this forced most of the northeastern dwarven lands west, just north of Stormwind. Even some locations are forced to overlap the world map, and exist in instanced zones, due to limitations. One example includes Alterac Valley which actually overlaps the Alterac Mountain zone in its own instance, and cannot be seen on the world map. The same occurs with Arathi Basin and Warsong Gulch. The Deeprun Tram is forced to "overlap" several locations it does not actually pass under because of the same world scale limitations.
 * The large body of water the tram passes through is considered to be inaccessible, but does contain a few notable objects. Scattered inside the body of water is a treasure chest, a diver, shipwrecks, a large beast named "Nessy", a giant clam, two Naga Sirens, and a Basking Shark.
 * Unlike Horde zeppelins, the Deeprun Tram is not guarded by Alliance guards. It is also especially handy to Horde players wishing to get from Ironforge to Stormwind or vice versa. On PvE realms, the Deeprun Tram is neutral territory, so Horde players may stay there as long as they like once their PvP flag drops. However, because the entrances to the Tram are deeply entrenched within Stormwind and Ironforge, it may be more difficult to infiltrate than Zeppelins; you must get through an entire city first.
 * For Horde raiders who have just raided Ironforge, the Deeprun Tram can be useful to then raid Stormwind with an attack from inside the city.
 * The goblins who run the zeppelin systems, eternally jealous of the gnomes' engineering skills, try to pass the Deeprun Tram off as a rumor and a myth to members of the Horde, who will probably never see it for themselves, as evidenced by comments made by Hin Denburg.
 * As of patch 5.1, it is also the home to the Brawler's Guild for the Alliance, which is located on the Stormwind station.
 * Although there is a map for the station in Stormwind added with the Brawler's arena, there is not one for Ironforge's.
 * When the tram was first opened in patch 0.10, the patch notes mentioned the Gnomish Engineering Corps being hard at work building a subway to connect the great cities of Ironforge and Stormwind City.