When Steinmeyer and his team at PopTop Software sat down to design and build Railroad Tycoon 3, their efforts were not unlike those of the hobbyists who have erected scale model train sets for decades. As Steinmeyer says: “[The game] is a great complement to the hobby: it includes a wide variety of locomotives and rolling stock that a hobbyist would be hard pressed to duplicate on his own.

“[The first] Railroad Tycoon just managed to tap into the public fascination with trains by bringing them to life visually and letting players step into the business side and step into the shoes of a classic tycoon — a Carnegie, Gould or Vanderbilt.”

One area of Railroad Tycoon 3 that he thinks is vastly improved over its predecessor is track layout, which he admits the team struggled with. “There’s enormous flexibility here,” he says. “You can build single or double track, at any arbitrary grade or angle, with tunnels, overpasses and bridges.

“Making sure that the player could easily lay out track, reconnect it to other track and run trains over it properly took an enormous amount of development time and testing. But in the end, it all works well and is a lot of fun to play with.”

Humble Beginnings to Far-Flung Future
In addition to the 25 scenarios found in the game, which cover the gamut from railroad-versus-railroad battles during the golden age of the industry to futuristic visions of mass transit, the MacSoft release of Railroad Tycoon 3 includes the 13 maps and 8 locomotives found in the Coast to Coast expansion pack. One of the new maps literally covers the United States from coast to coast.

“The basic premise of our futuristic scenarios is that a global cataclysm has caused the melting of the ice caps, with vast flooding and Europe and America,” Steinmeyer explains. “So we were able to alter geography and politics.” He points out that the United States portion features a California that “has become a series of independent islands you must link with bridges.”

Plenty of Toys to Play With
While many of the scenarios task you with building an empire in order to complete the required tasks, some, such as one set during World War II, challenge your logistical skills. “In the World War II scenario,” says Steinmeyer, “all the track is already built, and you’re in charge of delivering vital supplies along the East Coast in the early days after the U.S. has entered the war. So it’s a pure test of how well you can route your trains over existing track.”

You win a bronze, silver or gold star when you complete each scenario, depending on the number of tasks you accomplished. The game follows actual history as you work through the decades, unlocking new locomotives (there are 55 total) and types of track (suspension bridges weren’t available before 1895, for example) along the way. In addition, there are 180 different types of buildings you can construct and 40 kinds of cargo you can haul between stations.

Railroad Tycoon 3 also includes a free-form “sandbox mode,” which allows you to build whatever you want without worrying about finances or completing tasks, and an editor that you can use to build your own maps to trade with friends. You can even download new maps from the PopTop Web site. And if you’d rather test your tycoon skills against live opponents, you can play over a LAN or the Internet, or you can use the free GameRanger service to meet with and compete against other gamers.

Watch Your Speed. Eventually you can upgrade to modern locomotives.

Train in Vain. Make sure your trains are well maintained or this could happen.

Two Trains Were on the Tracks. Don’t worry, one train leaving the station while another is arriving won’t cause an accident.

Coast to Coast. See if you can span the continent with your empire.

Stumped? Then you may need some help, thanks to the cheat codes that are commonly placed in most videogames. They allow you to, well, cheat and change the rules. This sometimes includes activating bonuses, unlocking secrets and new levels of gameplay.

To enable the cheats in Railroad Tycoon 3, press the “.” (period) key at any time to bring up the cheats box. Simply type one of the following codes and press the Return key to activate it. Make sure you include any spaces.