3D Railroad Master by Abracadata

[ossie]

Does anyone remember this game? I finally decided to go through 20 odd years worth of installation disks for various programs, drivers, old games, cameras, printers etc and give them a ruthless clean out and I found 3D Railroad Master. I had zero recollection of what it was and even having a look at it on youtube bought back no memories at all. Strangely enough it seems to have installed fine on Windows 11 with a tiny little screen in the middle of my monitor, a very 90s PC synthesized soundtrack and some VERY sharp graphics.

Does it ring any bells for anyone else?

Screenshot (854).png

[SD40-2]

I remember playing two different demos for this. It's such a strange game with a very unique aesthetic and a few quirky choices for gameplay.

For example, There's a money system which wouldn't been seen again in trainsims until Derail Valley, but it only counts for points and lets you repair damage.

Also, it's 3D Railroad Master.

[oper190]

I recall one if I remember correctly was Train Master or similar, just had a cab view and was suppose to have excellent physics. Same company was putting together a new Sim, Train Master Train Simulator that could use MSTS equipment and maybe routes. It got canned as they were a software company for real railroads and got to much work in that area to continue working on a game.

[ossie]

I don't think I recall hearing about that one Geary, but then again I had this game and I didn't remember it either.

And yes Parker, you're correct about the title. My disk has Master written in big red letters and 3D Railroad in smaller letters under it, hence my version of the title, but it definitely installed onto my machine as 3DRRMaster so right you are!

[NorthernWarrior]

I did buy this at the time but it was pretty much rubbish, even by the standards of the time. The trains had zero physics and it was very hard to build anything that wasn’t just flat track on the ground.

It rapidly got eclipsed by Trainmaster 4 then MSTS.

[ossie]

I suspect that happened with me too Vern. There was zero name recollection etc when I found the disk. An interesting trip down (non)memory lane at how far we've come though.

[SurvivorSean]

I played something like that. I remember the original Trainmaster which was looking from the side in a 2D sprite version of a train, crossing, and signals. SIAM had a few good ones including dispatching. I just moved lately and I had a envelope from the UK for I forget what it was but it was a train simulator that had good searchlight signals but mainly just running and stopping for signals in very basic 3D. I remember TM4 don't think I bought it but of course MSTS I got when it first came out and I had it for years until Run8 came along. Now only Railroader (though Derail Valley) still sits in my Steam library. The rest I don't bother with.

Thanks

Sean

[NorthernWarrior]

That basic 3D program might be the original “Railsim” coded by a guy called Jens Schubert. IIRC there were German and US versions, very basic vector graphics and scratchy sound that played through the PC speaker.

I still have some of the old SIAM Traffic Control games, the US ones like Tehachapi 91, MPKS and the BN Funnel were quite good, albeit a bit simplified (Tehachapi didn’t include all the passing sidings out to Palmdale, for example). Some of the UK ones where you actually had to allocate motive power to the trains could be fiendish. The games were very unforgiving of errors and you could lose points for minor delays, putting a steam loco that still needed turning or water/coal on an outgoing train. Of course these were all MS DOS titles so these days have to be run in an emulator like DFend.