$19.99Train Fever Build the railways a country grows around
Run a transport company from 1850 onward, laying lines and roads that carry a growing nation into the age of steam.
Is Train Fever worth it?
Train Fever is worth it if…
- you enjoy slow, deliberate planning over fast action
- you like watching a system you built run on its own
- you have fond memories of Transport Tycoon and want a modern take
- you don't mind a learning curve and the occasional clunky building tool
- you like a game that mods can reshape with new vehicles and buildings
Screenshots
Build a transport company from nothing
You start in 1850 with money and a map, and turn it into a working business. Build tracks, roads and stations, buy vehicles, and set up lines that carry people and goods where they want to go. There is no grid: tracks and roads follow the terrain at any angle, so a line curves around a hill instead of clipping through it. The maps are randomly generated at realistic scale, up to 256 square kilometers, so every run starts somewhere new. Once the first passengers board and the money comes in, you reinvest it: more vehicles, longer lines, a second town connected.
Towns that grow around your lines
The cities are not set dressing. Each one is simulated dynamically, with buildings generated procedurally, and they develop based on how well you serve them. A town with good connections grows; a neglected one stalls. Passengers are simulated individually too, and they take the fastest route available, so a tram stop grouped with a train station becomes one destination and people happily mix transport types to get home. Fulfill what people need and the city rewards you with more travelers, more demand, and more reasons to build the next line.
The quiet pleasure of a running network
This is a game for leaning back. There is no timer breathing down your neck and no punishing failure: you plan, build, and then watch. The soundtrack is a genuine highlight, calm enough to sit under hours of play. Once your lines are set up and the vehicles are moving, the game becomes something close to a living model railway: trains and trucks crossing the map, towns swelling at the stations, revenue ticking up. It rewards steady, unhurried planning rather than quick reflexes, and it is happy to let you play at whatever pace you like.
Shape a country, one line at a time
If you like growing something from the ground up, the whole map is yours to organize. You decide where stations go, which towns get connected first, and how freight flows between industry and city. Vehicles span more than 150 years of transport history, so the world changes under you: the horse bus that served a village in 1850 gives way to trams and diesel trains as the decades pass, and routes that printed money in 1900 may need rethinking once the towns get bigger. Getting a network running well across a whole region, then watching it all move, is the point.
Can you play without worrying about money?
Can you play without worrying about money?
Yes. The game ships with mods included, one of which is a sandbox mode where money is no object and you can simply build, the way you would lay out a model railway on a table. That mode is a good way to learn how track building and lines work before running a company for real.
Is it only about trains?
No. Trains are the headline, but you also run trucks, buses and trams, and carry freight as well as passengers. The modes work together: feeding passengers from a tram line into a train station gets them across the map faster than either could alone, and well-served towns grow into better customers for your trains.
Does the game change between playthroughs?
It does. Terrain and buildings are generated procedurally, so every new map is a different puzzle of hills, towns and industries to connect. Combined with the long span of vehicle history and the freedom to build anywhere, runs play out differently, which is a big part of why people put hundreds of hours in.
