Wrong Side of the Tracks

Not to be confused with Wong Side of the Tracks

Wrong Side of the Tracks is a mission in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas given by Big Smoke.

Mission
Frank Tenpenny and Eddie Pulaski are seen leaving Big Smoke's house from the garage. Carl Johnson finds the two and Smoke tells him that they have to go to the train at Unity Station.

When CJ arrives, Big Smoke tells you his plan of crashing a meeting between the Los Santos Vagos and the San Fierro Rifa. However, it is an ambush and the Vagos try to escape via train. CJ and Smoke use a Sanchez to chase down the head of the train to kill all four Vagos, all the while avoiding obstacles such as oncoming car blocks and incoming trains. If successful, CJ and Smoke will have eliminated all Vagos before the train reaches the bridge connecting Los Santos and Las Venturas. Smoke tells CJ to head back to his home before the police comes, and CJ drives back to Smoke's house.

Mission objectives
In order to complete the mission the player must:
 * Drive to Unity Station
 * Get on the motorbike with Big Smoke, chase down the Vagos gang members and take them out
 * Keep up with the front carriage of the train so Big Smoke can shoot the Vagos gang members
 * Take Big Smoke back to his house

Tips

 * Jump on the Sanchez provided for you by pressing the "enter vehicle" button immediately after the cutscene ends.
 * Do not waste bullets trying to shoot the gang members as the train is too high.


 * Stay on the far right side. Staying too close to the train will give Smoke a bad angle and he will shoot the train instead.
 * While still near Unity Station and before the train makes a curved left turn, one Vago (the one who is behind the rest) will be killed when he fails to duck under a metal bar. Since it is pointless to aim for him, Carl can drive faster to focus on other gang members.
 * Just above the storm drain that the train passes, there is a ramp that is level with the train, and can be used to drive the bike on top of it. Not only does this give Smoke an easy shot at the Vagos, the player can also shoot at the gang members, assuming that they have a drive-by weapon.

Trivia

 * According to spectulation, this mission is noted as one of the hardest missions in Grand Theft Auto.
 * In the beta version, another objective would have been to retrieve a package from the dead Vagos, making CJ suspect something but this was cut before release possibly because Rockstar Games didn't wanted to make it too obvious that Smoke is going to betray them.
 * This is one of the first missions to take Carl out of Los Santos and into Red County; for players playing strictly mission to mission this will be their first exposure to the rural area, too.
 * Oddly, in the mission Local Liquor Store Carl complains about Catalina shooting so close to his ear, but he doesn't do it with Big Smoke, presumably as he is closer to Big Smoke and the fact that Smoke generally aims the gun higher and to the side, limiting the noise, wheras Catalina is shooting directly forward.
 * There is a Minecraft splash screen writing "Follow the train, CJ!" which is a reference to this mission.
 * By going onto Google and typing in "All you had to do" then most of the results will be "All you had to do was follow the damn train CJ!", which is what Big Smoke says to CJ upon failing the mission.
 * Whatever vehicle you used to bring Smoke home will be replaced by the Sanchez you used to chase the Vagos.
 * If the player fails the mission just as the Vagos crosses the bridge and looks closely, the player will see that the train will pass through a barrier.
 * There is a side mission in Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories called Wong Side of the Tracks, that the player also goes into the trains railway being chased by The Wong Brothers, that is possibly a reference to this mission since San Andreas was officially released in 2004 and LCS in 2005.
 * If you are having trouble with this mission, here is a much easier way to complete it: First you will have to get a sniper rifle and some ammo, then start the mission. When the cutscene of the Vagos jumping onto the train is over, quickly head to the train tracks in Ganton. Get off the bike and use your sniper to kill the driver of the train, then kill the vagos. Mission Passed!