The countryside railway

A railway line with six stations: Bayside Station and Midtown Station in Palmera Bay, Village Station at the east end of the village between the lane to Sunflower Valley and the Skyport shuttle stop, Sunflower Valley Halt just inside the valley gate, Copper Hills on the freight platform, and Frontier Town at the west end of the old station platform. Three trains run on one timetable all day and night, so at every station a train leaves in each direction about every ten minutes.

At the station

Stand on the platform and press shift and enter for the booking office: board a train that is at the platform, buy a single ticket, a day rover or a railcard, stamp your rail passport, take parcels at the porter's office, and read the departure board. You hear the station announcement when a train approaches, the train pulling in, the guard's whistle and the doors before it leaves.

Tickets

A single costs 10 points plus 3 points a kilometre and is valid today, from the station where you bought it, to your chosen station. The train lets you off there by itself. A day rover item costs 250 points: use it from your bag on the day you travel and it is valid on every train until midnight. A railcard costs 6000 points once, stays in your bag and takes a third off every single and day rover. Travelling without a valid ticket is possible, but a ticket inspector or a conductor may come by: then you pay the on board fare, half as much again, or you are put off at the next station.

On the train

You sit in the coach and can walk the whole train: the dining car is north through the gangway, with the steward's counter at its north end, and the observation car beyond it. Press shift and enter anywhere in the coach for the journey menu: where you are, get off here or at the next station, ride on past your ticket, buy a ticket on board, and who is riding with you. At the steward's counter you can have tea, coffee, a sandwich, soup or a ploughman's lunch; they really fill you up and quench your thirst. In the observation car, shift and enter looks out of the window: each of the 10 views of the line, counting both directions, goes into your collection. If you leave the game on a train, you are still aboard when you come back.

Work on the railway

Conductor: when a train is at the platform, choose to board it as the conductor. Your shift runs to the end of the line. On every stretch two passengers show you their tickets: listen to the train's direction, the stations and the date, then thank them, sell them a ticket or an excess fare, tell them to change trains, or charge a penalty fare. You can also check the tickets of the real passengers aboard and make announcements to the train. Pay: 20 points for every passenger you judged right, plus standing with the railway. After five shifts you may ride in the driver's cab as a guest and sound the horn once on every stretch.

Porter: take up to two parcels at a time to stations at least two stops away, within an hour; 40 points each, 4 a day.

Today's journey: every day the railway names one journey. Ride it, getting on and off at the named stations, for 80 points.

Rewards

Every kilometre counts for the weekly board; the top three each Monday get a cup for their trophy cabinet. Titles: Commuter at 50 kilometres, Rail Rover at 300, Iron Road Veteran at 1500, Station Collector for all six passport stamps, Window Seat Wanderer for all ten views, Guard of the Countryside Railway after twenty shifts. Trophies for riding the whole line in one journey, every stretch both ways, a long night ride, fifty tickets rightly checked and a hundred parcels.

Commands

slash rail opens the railway menu: the booking office on a platform, the journey menu on a train, the railway overview elsewhere. slash timetable reads the departure board. Both are also in the living world menu, under The Countryside Railway.

WHERE TO STAND AND BOARD (24 September 2026)

Shift and enter now works on the whole station platform, not only at the booking office sign. Midtown Station: anywhere on the concrete platform east of the rails, the area read as Midtown Station, the second platform on the line. Bayside Station: the strip between the bus platform and the rails. Copper Hills: the whole freight platform. Frontier Town: the old platform west of the freight office window. Village Station and Sunflower Valley Halt: the marked railway platform. When a train stands at the platform its doors are open along the platform edge next to the rails; press shift and enter and choose board the train.

Railway stewards: while a train is in, you can sign on as the train's steward from slash crew and serve the carriage from the trolley between stations for pay. See the page Cabin crew and railway stewards.