Sandy and I had a trip to New Zealand, and while driving through the steep terrain with many windy sections I reminisced about the great days of early railroad building games like Railroad Tycoon where you really had to spend time laying the track. As the genre evolved it became easier to just draw lines between the 2 stations and be done with it, but it lost some of the charm and excitement of picking a low-grade way through a mountain chain or choosing to go through rather than around.
You take on the role of a locating engineer in the early 1900's. Rail has proven to be a far better way of delivering goods, and many companies are wanting spurs off the main line to pick up and deliver their industrial resources to town (or the next processing plant). You are charged to find an efficient route through the terrain to maximize the return on investment for a 20-year contract. Other players can submit competing track layouts to find the best engineer.
The game is currently pre-alpha. The mechanics are in, but graphics and gameplay is pretty raw. Feedback definitely welcomed.
