Download Railroad Tycoon for free

by Zack Stern { Nov 30th 2006 at 3:30AM }

2K Games recently posted the original Railroad Tycoon as a free download, as part of a promotion for Sid Meier's Railroads! We had problems with the original link, so we didn't mention it right away. 2K has just helped us get the download working, and we're passing the savings to you.

The game's Flash site -- boo -- with auto-loading sound -- boo -- doesn't have an easy, direct link to the game; find in the center of the page. Users with puny 1,024x768 displays, like us, will have to scroll down.

This 15MB PC classic includes the manual and documentation in case you get stuck. Play a little bit of gaming history and see how far we've progressed -- and stayed the same.

Tags: free download, FreeDownload, Railroad Tycoon, RailroadTycoon, Sid Meier, SidMeier

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

John @ Nov 30th 2006 5:43AM

thanks for this information

WhaleMenace @ Nov 30th 2006 5:48AM

does anybody play railroad tycoon?

Vegard @ Nov 30th 2006 7:01AM

Full version of the good old game...

Anyway, this is the working link, I think: http://www.2kgames.com/railroads/downloads/Railroad_Tycoon.zip

tofuji @ Nov 30th 2006 7:05AM

I believe the demo is for the new game, Sid Meier's Railroads!, not of the original Railroad Tycoon.

RedStar @ Nov 30th 2006 7:09AM

RT used to be one of my favourite games!! My disks have long since corrupted though. So, this is awesome news :)

Frexy @ Nov 30th 2006 8:22AM

I've played Railroad Tycoon II for quite some time; seeing this might get me picking it up again...

I don't like the whole 3D-conversion of the game, the good old tycoon (being II) had 4 angles, and that was perfect...

I wonder how many developers and games it takes before one gets to know that

3D converting games is NOT always making the games better...

I haven't played the new installement, but it SURE doens't look like more fun...

Same with the conversion of Sims to Sims 2...
I prefer the original... I don't know why, Sims 2 seems broken to me. Anyone else has this feeling that full 3D doesn't mean 'better' or even; 'better playable'?

fraxyl @ Nov 30th 2006 8:23AM

Has this one been given an exe to run under Windows or is it still the DOS version? I don't remember it ever being 15MB though. Is the majority of the space manual or what? O_o

eLevel @ Nov 30th 2006 8:29AM

Hey joystiq,

Why do you guys have such a hatred for flash sites? This isn't the first time i've seen you guys trash a site because it was built in Flash.

What's the matter? You can tell us. Did Flash touch you? It's ok joystiq, show us on the doll where flash touched you.

C. Grant @ Nov 30th 2006 8:36AM

eLevel: Flash is bad usability, simple as that. It's cumbersome, and blocks out a significant part of the audience when it's required for navigation.
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20001029.html

smafty @ Nov 30th 2006 9:34AM

Railroad Tycoon was fun, but I preferred (and still play) Transport Tycoon. Do a search for OpenTTD to find a version that will play on new hardware and has many improvements over the original.

justin @ Nov 30th 2006 10:42AM

I liked Transport Tycoon better, but this one is fun, too.

Chris @ Nov 30th 2006 10:46AM

I have Sid Meier's Railroads and enjoy it quite a bit. I have to say that nothing will ever replace the first Rail Road Tycoon. I spent countless hours of my childhood playing that game. The new version is ok, but I don't think it has the depth of the original game.

RedStar @ Nov 30th 2006 11:00AM

Part of the reason i liked the original so much was because of the bug where you could tilt a company into neg cash to the point where it becomes positive.

So you buy it up when it is failing ...and then loot it for millions when it goes in the black. hehe :)

Prolly the only exploit in any game that i have ever used.

HaloBreaker @ Nov 30th 2006 11:24AM

Transport Tycoon Deluxe is free now due to abandonware laws.

d/l it here, as well as other great classic games.
http://www.abandonia.com/games/en/240/TransportTycoonDeluxeforWindows.htm

DosFreak @ Nov 30th 2006 12:15PM

Abandonware laws huh? WTF. I'm going to make up some laws just for the heck of it.

The Ishouldgetpaid$1000weekly law. Yeah, that sounds good.

Jonah Falcon @ Nov 30th 2006 1:03PM

Woot! It's Railroad Tycoon Deluxe! One of my favorite games of all time. It was an ADDICTION on my C-64, Amiga and my PC. :D

HaloBreaker @ Nov 30th 2006 1:35PM

You know what I mean DOSfreak stop acting like a genius just because you happen to be consummate with Dosbox. Unwritten abandonware laws. ::rolls eyes::

Jonah Falcon @ Nov 30th 2006 1:38PM

"Abandonware laws huh? WTF. I'm going to make up some laws just for the heck of it."

I think he means public domain/copyright laws, which do exist. (rolling eyes)

RedStar @ Nov 30th 2006 1:46PM

this game is run through a dos emulator (dos box .65)

Now ima thinking...i played this?
I can't even figure out how to scroll the game.
I just might have to break out the manual.

:)

Jonah Falcon @ Nov 30th 2006 7:24PM

The game is buggy. You can't lay track. Take 2 bungles it again. Better off getting the abandonware version.

Peter Kirn @ Dec 1st 2006 11:03AM

Ah, good times, good times. I'll definitely use this an excuse to try out OpenTTD, but the original Railroad Tycoon is one of the great games of all time, certainly a real landmark in Sid's career.

They're running it in DOS emulation via DOSbox, incidentally.

Oh, and by the way, I think many who are complaining about the bugs are actually *forgetting how to play the game*. You can't lay track in anything other than detail mode. (F4)

RedStar, you made me chuckle. I'm finding it even funnier that stuff I've forgotten is coming back to me...