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Thread: Looking for a Railroad Constrcution Set (Linux or Windows)

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    Default Looking for a Railroad Constrcution Set (Linux or Windows)

    My son (3 yrs old) is very fond of trains, and we often build elaborate tracks using the Brio style tracks and accessories.

    I've seen/heard of Railroad Tycoon, and just now found online discussions of A-Train, a Mac & Amiga game from the early 90's.

    I'm interested in finding a simple 'Railraod Construction Set' sort of software; if the software has detailed graphics showing trains travelling the tracks that's even better.

    Would either of the above fit the bill? Do you guys have any recommendations? There doesn't really need to be any gameplay - that's not what I'm after. I just want us to be able to design different tracks and watch trains travel on them.

    I tried checking out the RRTycoon 3 site to see if it had any sort of eval download, but the site is absolutely terrible - clogged with so much Macromedia I gave up before finding any useful info. It took ages to actually display anythign on my DSL/P4-2.4 laptop.

    Thanks,
    Steve
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    For a child as young as your son, I would track down (haha, punny!) one of the Thomas the Tank Engine games. If you have a Genesis, the one for it is excellent. I don't know about the others though, that's the only one I have.

    Another excellent choice for the PC would be 3D Ultra Lionel Traintown and 3D Ultra Lionel Traintown Deluxe. I believe these are both out of print, so they may be a little hard to find, but they're both designed more for kids than for adults. (Although I find them to be as much fun as Thomas myself!)

    There's also Loco-Commotion, which you can get dirt cheap at EB online for $3, but if you get Railroad Tycoon 3, it's included on that disk for free. It's more of a puzzle game than anything else, but it does have a driving mode.

    Getting into the titles for older kids, there's Model Railroad Simulator, which you can find on Ebay or some other online shopping outlets for about $10.

    The Trainz series is also great for older kids, but they're a little more pricey. Trainz should be about $20 if you can find it, and Ultimate Trainz Collection should be about $20 also, but Trainz Railroad Simulator 2004 is about $40.

    Railroad Tycoon 2 and Railroad Tycoon 3 are more like strategy games than railroad simulators, so these aren't really a good choice for a child that young. I'd recommend Rails Across America before I'd recommend either one of those for a child, but it's a strategy game too, so it's not really appropriate. Perhaps if you wanted to save them for when he's older, but not right now.

    Then of course there's the king of them all, Microsoft Train Simulator and it's upcoming sequel, Microsoft Train Silumator 2. These are for the hardcore train enthusiast, but since they do have modes where you can just ride and let the computer do the driving, they may not be a bad idea for some kids.

    I hope that helps you out. I have all of these games, and they're all excellent choices. But for the money, unless you're a train enthusiast too, I would go with the two Lionel games that I mentioned before I bought anything else. Hard to find or not, they have tons of fun activities with alot of educational value, so they're much better suited for an extension of playing with the Brio trains than any of the other games would be, except for the Thomas games.

    Keep in mind that Traintown & Traintown Deluxe have completely different activities though, so it's a good idea to get them both, if you can find them. They usually go for only $10 or $20, depending on who actually has them, and they will both pay for themselves well into his elementary school years.

    Try to find him one of those little engineer's caps and matching overalls too. Little boys just love getting dressed up like that when they play with their trains. It makes them feel like they're a real engineer already, so it's good for their self esteem. Not to mention it makes them really cute for the camera!
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    Lego Loco is also worth checking out. It's been discontinued for a while, but some KB Toys might still have it and possibly Target & Wal Mart in jewel case versions. If realism is what you're looking for it won't fit the bill, since the graphics are more "kid friendly" then anything, but the gameplay is good for that age. It's along the lines of the original Sim City in look and feel but for kids. My older two played it a lot when they were 4-5.

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    Those are great suggestions - I especially like the idea to get him an Engineer's outfit. I'm definitely going to pursue some of those games you guys mentioned.

    Do any of the games have a mode where you can just lay track down and tinker with the layout? You know, pick a straight track, then add a curve, then add a T, etc... ? And then you can look at the whole track layout on the screen, and possibly watch a train travel the length of the track?
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    There is another program called Raily 4.0 that allows you to make a virtual model railroad. You can select whatever brand track you want, even Brio stuff, and it gives you a selection of all the different pieces and you can put them together however you please. You can also add elevations and scenery and then take a ride through your virtual model railroad.

    It is probably a bit too advanced for a child that young though.

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    I downloaded and installed Raily last night. It looked very cool, but seemed a bit advanced for ME. I think I'll probably use it to layout tracks, and then show it to Nate as we take the virtual ride on the layout.

    I couldn't figure out a few things though -
    1) How do I load up Brio tracks? The list of modules on the website shows brio.arf as a module, but I couldn't find it on my system anywhere, and couldn't find a way to download it from the site.
    2) How do I make the train GO, once I've placed it on the rail?

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    The one thing that always disappoints me about these railroad simulations is that it's too hard to crash the train and when you do crash, it's nowhere near as spectacular as it should be. You also can't blow up bridges and let the train plummet to its doom.
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    All of these games will let you make your own tracks and watch them run. I forgot about the online only games though. Here's one called Train Master:

    http://www.trainmaster.com/

    I don't have it yet myself, but it looks pretty good. It sounds like it has some pretty spectacular train wrecks too. "Derail the train and you crash and burn."
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