Game Recommendations

[Thebaz]

Hello,

Other than train simulators are there any other railway-based games out there worth buying? Either for PC or actual board games (I have 4 different versions of Ticket to Ride...)

 

[Intercity110]

openTTD is more intermodal but you can make it railway oriented (oh, and it's free)

 

[_toommm_]

Simsig is really fun IMO. There are quite a few free maps, some more complicated than others, and some paid for.

I’ve not played it in a while, but I’m a fan of the Huddersfield map as it has a mix of different types of signalling as it extends out to Diggle Junction.

 

[GusB]

Simsig is really fun IMO. There are quite a few free maps, some more complicated than others, and some paid for.

I’ve not played it in a while, but I’m a fan of the Huddersfield map as it has a mix of different types of signalling as it extends out to Diggle Junction.

Agreed!

I haven't played it for a while, but I also enjoyed messing around with SimSig. I started off with one of the single-line Welsh routes but I got bored quite quickly. Eventually I discovered Carlisle, which is fairly easy to handle as a single player. Well, it was until I tried the late 70s/early 80s timetable that required loco changes from diesel to electric and vice-versa, along with the required moves from depots...

Those were free routes, but I did spend some money and bought the Edinburgh sim, which includes the Caledonian Sleeper shunts (bring your own Valium)! I also bought the east Scotland route, which covers Perth, Dundee, Aberdeen and places inbetween, many of which were controlled by mechanical boxes; this is definitely not one that you want to tackle on your own unless you're a) very, very good at multitasking or b) insane!

Try one of the free routes in order to get the hang of the mechanics of it, and if you have other people who are interested, you can either play a more complicated sim and divide the tasks between you, or you can "chain" a few different sims together to cover a larger area.

 

[Alex Mihai]

Nimby Rails (available on Steam) is a very nice choice if you want to delve into recreating railway operations/rail-based public transit. Basically you have the map of the whole world and you can build tracks, depots, set up train lines and services. There are plenty of mods on the Steam workshop (including plenty of UK trains, as well as various mods that enable you to also set up road/sea transit - meaning you aren't only limited to trains). While at first it might seem a bit complicated, nothing beats that nice feeling after you completed your first line and see trains running up and down it.
Openstreetmap and openrailwaymap are two (free) tools/sites that will greatly enhance the route-building process.