Two questions, one about reverting Railroad hostility, and another about legendary merchants

[t317]

First, the merchants. I'd like to know, could I load up a settlement with Automatron bots to bump up the population amount, recruit the legendary merchants, and then send the bots that I don't need off to other settlements? Or would this cause the merchants to leave as the population drops?

 

Second...on my current file, I've been completing Institute quests. I've neglected to do any Railroad quests and completed The Battle of Bunker Hill by sending the synths back to the Institute (and I may have attacked a few Railroad Heavys that wouldn't stop attacking me). Past that, I paid no mind to the Railroad and have gone on to the Mass Fusion quest for the Institute (but have ignored it). My plan was to start doing Brotherhood missions followed by Railroad missions (aiming for a 3 factions survive ending), and I was able to meet Danse and start going down the BOS path with no issues despite also attacking BOS soldiers during the BOBH. However, upon returning to Railroad HQ, I found that they were hostile and Desdemona would not say anything other than telling me to leave. I reloaded my save, made a point to betray the Institute and returned to Railroad HQ, but this did nothing to change their hostility. Then I set myself as an ally to the Railroad with the Cheat Terminal mod, but this changed nothing.

 

So...am I out of luck at this point, or is there some sort of console command solution that will allow me to reset the Railroad and start receiving their quests?

 

(I've deleted all botched saves and have gone back to a point where I have not returned to Railroad HQ yet - I'm hoping that will help. In my now deleted save, I finished the Plugging a Leak quest by framing Justin Ayo and had hoped this would have allowed me to speak with the Railroad again, though it changed nothing.)

 

(edit 2, I abandoned the playthrough after accepting that the Railroad was permanently hostile. Still confused about the merchants, though.)

Edited January 1, 2020 by timone317