01 / Track
Lay the line
Drag to lay track. It follows the ground, so a valley costs you a bridge and a hill costs you a cutting. Lines run in eight directions, with proper curves, junctions and passing loops.
The game
IRONLINE is a railway tycoon in the tradition of the classics. You lay the track
, carry coal to the works
and people into town
, and the region grows up around your line, year after year.
- 011920 to 2030
- Start in 1920, 1950, 1980 or 2010. The engines, the towns and the troubles change with the years.
- 02Twelve regions
- Eight landscapes, from the Lowlands to the Fjordland, and four drawn from real places, New York State and Canada among them.
- 03Rail, and the rest
- Roads, lorries and trams feed your stations. Ships and aircraft go where the track can't.
Trailer
See it run.
Everything in the trailer is captured in the game.
What you do
Everything runs on the line you drew.
02 / Cargo
Carry what the region makes
Coal to the steel mill, grain to the food processor, oil to the refinery. Nineteen cargoes in all, from timber and fish to newspapers that lose their value within days. Every region deals its own mix of works, and no two coal mines are quite alike.
03 / Towns
Towns grow when you serve them
A station brings people, mail and trade. Serve a town well and it grows street by street, with trams and traffic of its own. The news tells you when a place you serve passes a new size.
04 / Coast
The coast and the country
Build a quay and run ships where no track can reach. The coast has piers, lighthouses and fishing harbours. Inland there are castles, abbeys and standing stones, and your line has to find its way around them.
05 / Business
Rivals and deals
Other companies are building too, and they want the same traffic. Buy into them, and once you hold control, take them over. Take on deals to carry a set load by a set date, or sign a works' whole output to you for three years.
06 / Working
One line, five trains
Signals split the line into blocks, one train to a block. Single-line sections are worked by token, so two trains never meet head-on. Add passing loops and up to five trains can share a line, all on one timetable.
07 / Seasons
Through every season
Spring to deep winter, morning light to lamplight. Snow settles on the towns and the line, and the trains keep running.
The eras
Four starts. A hundred and ten years.
Each start is its own story, with its own engines, its own crises and its own end date. The pictures are key art.
1920
The Grouping 1920 to 1948
Steam, coal and the first main lines. Twenty-eight years from a single line to vesting day, through the Grouping, the Crash, the war and the Commission.
“Be the railway the state has to buy.”
On the roster: Crofton 4-6-0 · Garratt 2-6-0+0-6-2 · Meridian 4-6-2 · Austerity 2-8-0
1950
Modernisation 1950 to 1968
The last of steam and the first diesels. Eighteen years from nationalisation to the container, with the axe falling in the middle.
“Close a third of the route-miles and still run a surplus before Beeching.”
On the roster: Harrier D1 · Heritage DMU · Titan D12
1980
Sectorisation 1980 to 1996
Diesel and electric. Sixteen years from the sectors to privatisation, with the coal traffic collapsing in the middle.
“Win the 1994 franchise: fewer trains standing, more people carried.”
On the roster: Vulcan D8 · Suburban EMU · Sprinter · Lancet 90
2010
Great British Railways 2010 to 2030
The last franchises and the first of GBR. Twenty years to get off diesel, with a pandemic in the middle of them.
“Electrify one corridor and cut diesel to two fifths of the fleet, or lose the contract.”
On the roster: Lancet 90 · Metro Electric Unit
Screenshots
From the game, as it runs.
Every picture here is a frame from IRONLINE. Click one to see it full size.
Coming to Steam
Be the railway the state has to buy.
IRONLINE is coming to Steam. Leave your email and you'll hear when the store page opens.
We'll only use your email to tell you about IRONLINE.
Press kit
Logos, art and screenshots.
- Game
- IRONLINE
- Genre
- Railway and transport tycoon
- Developer
- John Nicholson
- Platform
- PC, on Steam
- Release
- Not announced
- Website
- ironlinegame.com
About. IRONLINE is a railway tycoon. You build a transport company across a region: lay track, place stations, buy engines and run them at a profit, while the towns and works around your line grow. Start in 1920, 1950, 1980 or 2010, play across twelve regions, and add roads, trams, ships and aircraft as the network grows.
Download everything (.zip, 3.8 MB)
FAQ
Questions, answered plainly.
What kind of game is IRONLINE?
A railway tycoon. You build a transport company across a region: lay track, place stations, buy engines and run them at a profit while the towns and industries around your network grow. It belongs to the same family as the classic transport tycoons, and it was built from scratch.
When is it out?
There's no date yet. IRONLINE is coming to Steam. Get notified and you'll hear when the store page opens.
Which platforms?
PC, through Steam. Windows, macOS and Linux builds are in testing, and the store page will list what ships.
Is it only trains?
Rail is the heart of it. You can also lay roads for lorries, run trams through town, build quays for ships and open aerodromes, and they all feed the same network.
How does a game end?
Each start has its own story and its own end date. In The Grouping, the board grades your company year by year up to vesting day on 1 January 1948. Run out of money, miss too many of the board's targets or fall too far behind, and it can end early.
I'm new to tycoon games. Where do I start?
With the lessons. There are three, about twenty minutes in all: a first line, then signals and lines, then the market.
Will it run on Steam Deck?
Deck testing is under way. Support will be listed on the Steam page once it's settled.
Who makes IRONLINE?
IRONLINE is made by John Nicholson, an independent developer.