# Railroad games



## I Am Fasha (Apr 2, 2013)

Hi all!

What is your favorite free online railroad game and what is the best game for your $$ that your have purchased for your game console of PC?

I'm looking for something new to play on my PC and was looking over the Railroad Tycoon games. Some of the online games offer little to no challenge or the graphics are awful!!! JMO

Looking for something to play while I'm between projects or paint is drying 

If you can, post a link to the game you mention in your post :appl:


----------



## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Fasha

I'm not into computer games beyond solitaire, but I did
invest in the car card system from MicroMart when it
was on sale.

I got to try it yesterday. I had previously made a card
for every set of wheels on the layout. Each card has
the car type, box, hopper, tank, etc, it's road name
and number, color or other description and where is
is to be returned empty. Yesterday I separated
the freight cars from the cabooses, passenger and special maintenance
of way cars. Then shuffled the deck and dealt a 10 car train
hand. I used my switchers to build the train in the exact
order dealt. It was a lot more fun than just arbitrarily picking
a car here and there. Next operating section I'll break the 
train and place the cars as per the car card. I'm looking
forward to using them with a bud. That way I can run a
train on the main that occasionally blocks 'his' progress.

Don


----------



## I Am Fasha (Apr 2, 2013)

Sounds like a nice twist on an own way of making trains Don. Let me know how that works out.


----------



## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

I like the new car card system.

It's perfect for any operating session, alone or with friends.

Yesterday, alone, I used it to break the train made the day before.

But, before I could do that I had to use my switchers to move
cars that were not where they are 'assigned'.

To understand what went on, I'll describe my room size DCC
HO layout. It has a single track main that basically follows
the walls around. There are the East and the West yards,
each with 7 tracks, including loco service areas, caboose
track and each has an spur serving several industries.
Both yards are connected to the main by a passing siding.
I use those and the main around the yards for 'run arounds'.
There is a peninsula with a wye, industrial spur and
the central back-in passenger station. 

The interesting switching complication I built in is that
some spurs require the loco to push a car in, others
require the loco to back a car in. That's where the
'run arounds' are needed to get the car on the right
side of the loco.

I did make using my yard work easy by installing a diode
matrix turnout control. One button throws all
turnouts in a route to the selected yard track. 

So on with the card system train break.

After uncoupling the GP consist from the train it was
assigned to the loco service track in the East Yard.

The GE 70 ton switcher consist from the West Yard was
assigned to the break chores. Right off the bat the
first 2 cars were assigned to 2 industries on the same
PUSH IN spur. In addition. The cars were in reverse
order so I had to do a run around, and then a temporary
drop while the first car was pushed in. Back for the 2nd
car and push it in. And that was all from 2 car cards
which assigned them. The remaining 8 cars and caboose
were simple back in spotting but in various locations
around the layout. 

All of this was happening, while keeping a train continuously
running. That required the switchers to hold in various
spots to so the train had a clear track and, of course, a 
good deal of turnout throwing.

All in all, it took nearly all afternoon. That included 
rerailing at times when a car is derailed using the manual
HOG uncoupling. There were a couple of dumb
turnout throws also. All part of the fun.

Using this simple system you can add so much to the
enjoyment of your layout. 

You can make your own. Just get a stack of those old
fashioned file cards. Type or write on them the type
of car, it's Road Name and number, the color or other
brief description, and where it should go when 'empty',
for example, West Yard track 6 or March Electric Co.

Separate them into freight cars, passenger equipment,
MOW equipment, locos and cabooses. You'll mostly
use the deck of freight cars with one caboose and your
choice of loco. Shuffle the cards before each use and
deal as many as you want on your train. That will
be the order they are in the train. Then use your
skills to build the train.

Happy switching.

Don


----------



## mikek (Dec 29, 2013)

My favorite is Railroad Tycoon Platinum II. I've had it for years, still have not played all the possibilities. With over 50 scenarios that you can adjust the starting year, the possibilities are endless. I set the game to expert so I can buy other companies and stock, even short sell. Sometimes I will start with really old slow trains, sometimes with modern trains and electric track, just to switch things up. 
I especially like how track is laid in this game, much better than many others. Just love to set up a station right next to a competitor and steal his business, then buy him out. Buying a competitor when times are good (recessions happen) isn't cost effective, and getting enough stock to win the bid is challenging, too. 
Quite an involved game, gets better once you get the hang of it. 
I have a way of cheating at the beginning to get the best business.


----------



## I Am Fasha (Apr 2, 2013)

Thanks for the reply Mike. I have heard a lot of great things about this game, whats a good price for it?


----------



## I Am Fasha (Apr 2, 2013)

Very Cool Don!! When I can I will look more into this program.


----------



## mikek (Dec 29, 2013)

Google around, Fasha, this game is quite old, should be real cheap. Make sure you get the manual. Printing out a whole manual is quite a lot. 
I get a lot of good deals from Purplus, including my Kaspersky.


----------



## I Am Fasha (Apr 2, 2013)

I found it online at Steam. I paid $4.99 to play it on their servers. This game has a learning curve Lol, but I love it! Got five trains running, over three mill in the bank and my profits are running around 400k a year, I'm up to 1877. But! I can't seem to get Mt towns to grow... Suggestions?


----------



## mikek (Dec 29, 2013)

Fasha, the towns really don't grow much. Don't expect anything there, concentrate on monopolies where you supply from raw materials to finished product to the towns that have demand with good prices. Long hauls pay best. 
Many times to win the game, you have to take over all competition. That's not easy, especially when their stock is all sold. 
Ports are good for supply and demand, as are Capitols.
You really seem to be doing quite good, especially for a beginner. 
My secret for the game is to note what is available at the beginning of a game, as far as supply and demand. It changes for every start of the same game. Your manager and competitors change, too. Some managers are better than others. The main thing to look for is properly located supply. The options repeat after a few restarts, so you can choose a winning board after a few false starts. It makes a big difference. 
Also note that managers have different strengths, very important in certain games. Half price track or some other winning trait can make a big difference. Many times I will start off with a cheap track manager then move to another when my needs change.


----------



## I Am Fasha (Apr 2, 2013)

Good info sir! Thanks for your time and sharing that  One question, how do I hire these people? I see where they have applied to work for me, but can't figure out how good that :-(


----------



## mikek (Dec 29, 2013)

Like I said, you can choose a start with a certain manager, they change at every start. At the same time, supplies and factory locations change too, so it's a challenge to pick a good start. 
Once in the game, you can change managers anytime. The available new managers changes every couple of years. There is a page where you can hire and fire managers. I think you have to go to the company screen or such, I forget which.


----------



## I Am Fasha (Apr 2, 2013)

Thanks again sir, I found it


----------



## mikek (Dec 29, 2013)

The best locos are the Mikado, available about 1945, and the GG1, which is electric. If you can buy all your own company's stock, you can make more personal money by raising the dividends, and you don't have to be concerned about stockholder opinions.


----------



## DavefromMD (Jul 25, 2013)

For Railroad Tycoon 2 there are several versions. THe second Century is an add on that adds more scenarios and some new capability - like warehousing. You can drop off a load at a station for no $ and pick it up with another train to take it to a destination. This is great for mountainous terrain. You have a mountain train (like a Shay) haul the material from the mountains and drop it off. Then have a higher speed train haul it from there.

Railraod Tycoon 2 Platinum includes both the original and THe Second Century expansion.

THere is also Railroad Tycoon 3. The game has better graphics and play differently than RRT2. Industries are important. In RRT2 goods don't move unless hauled by train. You can't get iron ore and coal to your steel mill unless you haul it. In RRT3 goods will migrate via river and slowly overland to where there are needed. This simulates competition to the RR. The economics are also a bit more involved in RRT3. In RRT3 you cannot warehouse, unfortunately. RRT3 does not have the manager component, either. THere is also an "auto manage" for the train consist so you don't have to speicy which load the train will carry. This can be a plus and a minus. A plus when an area around a station grows and more industies develop. It will determine what can be hauled at the most profit. A minus in that there are scenarios where x amount of certain goods need to be hauled, it will haul other godds that are more profiable and not the ones you need hauled. You can also specify exact cargos for those cases, but unlike RRT2, it will not haul the goods unless it is profiable. Like RRT2, it is no longer made. What you can find to buy is usually v1. It goes up to v5. You can find wesites with the upgrades.

I play both and enjoy both. I like RRT2 from a pure RR game playing experience as you build your supply trains to feed your industires and then route trains to deliver your goods where demanded.

Another computer version of a game I like is Empire Builder Pronto. It is the compter version of Empire Builder - a "crayon" board game where you draw you rail lines on a map and fulfil contracts by picking up and delivering goods from cities. In the computer version, the computer opponents put up a good fair competition.

Here's a link to the board game: http://mayfairgames.com/game.php?id=105
On the left side of the page just about the "Empire Builder Pronto" logo is a link to the computer version.


----------



## I Am Fasha (Apr 2, 2013)

Great info Mike, thanks for sharing that. On just now understanding the logistics of buying companies and then supplying stations, I like this game!


----------



## I Am Fasha (Apr 2, 2013)

Great info Dave! Thanks for taking the time to share all of it 

BTW I found a app on the Google Play site that I'm playing on my tablet: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.deckeleven.railroads

Neat game and challenging! Has really taught me a lot about signals!!!! Fun to play when I can't get to my PC.


----------



## DavefromMD (Jul 25, 2013)

Here's a link to a site that has all the information you will ever need and more about RRT2 and RRT3. It also has an archive of map scenarios that you can download and a forum.
You have to register to use it.

http://hawkdawg.com/


----------



## I Am Fasha (Apr 2, 2013)

Sweet! Thanks Dave!!!


----------



## RedManBlueState (Jan 9, 2013)

I like the gameplay and graphics of Sid Meier's Railroads. The software itself, however, is buggy and crashes a lot. The publisher quickly dropped support for it. There is supposed to be a Steam version now, but i don't know if there any new crash patches or not.


----------



## I Am Fasha (Apr 2, 2013)

Redman I'm playing the game on Steam and find the graphics are great and I've not experienced any crashes. Really happy with it.


----------



## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

I have to say I'm a huge fan of RR Tycoon 2. I like RRT3 also, but not as much.

Something else you might consider is Trainplayer, available at http://www.trainplayer.com/index.html.

it is a model railroad simulator, which lets you operate a model railroad on your PC. It has a large library of track plans with the paid version, including the legendary Gorre & Daphetid. The graphics aren't great, but it's a model railroad. If you spring for the Tracklayer add on, you can build your own, using any jpeg or gif file as the background. You can also design layouts using the Anyrail CAD package and export it to Trainplayer, using Tracklayer to clean up any goofs. It's pricey, at $100 bucks for the two packages, but really, it's a blast to be able to run model railroads on your PC.


----------



## You Know Who (Jun 17, 2014)

If you're looking for a fun railroad-related game, I'd suggest Trainz. It's available on Steam, and there are PC and Mac versions of it. It's not free, but it's not too expensive. I think I got my copy for $20 on the App Store, but it was at a reduced price then. The game is really simple and very addicting! It’s a sandbox game that lets you build railroads as huge as you want, and add scenery, buildings, roads, mountains, pretty much anything! The variety of trains is massive, plus, there are HUGE amounts of free downloadable content on the internet (the Trainz Download Station, Jointedrail.com, and RRMods.com have a whole bunch of stuff.) Some of the downloadable content costs money, but the ones that do are very, very nice. The game's graphics are all over the place. Some trains/objects aren't very detailed, while others are detailed to the point where they look exactly like the real thing! The only downside is that sometimes the frame rate isn’t very good when there are lots of trains or objects on the screen at once. Trainz is quite relaxing to play, and I’ve been having fun with it for over a year. I highly recommend it.


----------



## I Am Fasha (Apr 2, 2013)

Thanks for the reply and info YKW, I will check that out


----------

