Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon (1990)

This is a summary of the game model of the original Railroad Tycoon (RRT).

Start condition

  • $1 million (half in equity, half as loan)
  • Lay track
  • Build stations
  • Buy trains
  • Schedule trains
  • Sell, buy bonds
  • Build additional industries
  • Buy or sell shares

Stations

Max. 32 stations per player. First stations gets an engine shop for free. Stations can be up- or downgraded. During an accounting period built or re-built stations pay double for freight.

  • Signal Tower
  • Depot (3x3 squares influence area)
  • Station (4x4 squares influence area)
  • Terminal (5x5 squares influence area)

Station improvements

  • Engine shop
  • Store
  • Hotel
  • Switching yard
  • maintenance shop
  • cold storage
  • livestock pens
  • goods storage
  • post office
  • restaurant

Trains

Max. 32 trains per player.

  • Change “consist” (number and type of cars/wagons
  • Types include: mail, passenger, freight

Engines

  • 0-4-0 Grasshopper
  • 4-2-0 Norris
  • 4-4-0 American
  • 2-6-0 Mogul
  • 4-6-0 Ten-Wheeler
  • 2-8-0 Consolidation
  • 4-6-2 Pacific
  • 2-8-2 Mikado
  • 2-6-6-4 Mallet (Challenger class)
  • F3-A Diesel-Electric
  • EMD GP Diesel-Electric
  • 2-2-0 Planet
  • 2-2-2 Patentee
  • 4-2-0 Iron Duke
  • 0-6-0 DX Goods
  • 4-2-2 Stirling
  • 0-8-0 Webb Compund
  • 4-2-2 Johnson Midland Spinner
  • 4-4-0 Claud Hamilton
  • 4-6-2 A1 Class
  • 4-6-2 A4 Class
  • 6/6 GE Class Crocodile
  • 1-Do-1 Class E18
  • 4-8-4 242 A1
  • V200 B-B
  • Bo-Bo-Bo RE Class 6/6
  • TGV

Cars

  • mail
  • passenger
  • beer
  • livestock
  • goods
  • hops
  • textiles
  • steel
  • chemicals
  • cotton
  • coal

Supply and demand

Stock market

Time

  • 100 years running time (starting year depends on the scenario)
  • Accounting period two years long

Difficulty levels

The chosen difficulty level remains in effect for the whole duration of a game.

Levels are “Investor”, “Financier”, “Mogul”, “Tycoon”. The level of difficulty affects revenue earned by each delivery as well as the tycoon rating at the end.

Reality levels

  • “No Collision Operation/Dispatcher Operation” In the dispatcher operation, the movement of trains is controlled by block signals and collisions are possible.
  • “Friendly competition/Cut-Throat competition” In friendly competition, they do not buy your stock, attempt to take you over or start rate wars.
  • “Basic economy/Complex economy”

Economy

  • Simple: Stations with two or more cities will buy everything
  • Complex: Specialized rules

Other features

  • If the share price of a competing railroad falls below $5 and stays there for too long, it can be dissolved and be removed from the game
  • For each bankruptcy that the player declares, the interest for selling new bonds is increased by 1%. After a certain number of bankruptcies, the player is unable to sell any bonds.
  • Each car that is placed on a train costs $5,000. When the consist changes, one is only charged if the total number of cars increases.
  • There is a Find City option

Supplied scenarios

  • Western United States
  • Northeast United States
  • Great Britain
  • Continental Europe