Wisconsin Rails

**WISCONSIN RAILS:**

 Wisconsin Rails is a stand alone scenario in Railroad Tycoon II. This 300 x 400 tile map depicts the state of Wisconsin as well as Northern Illinois, Eastern Minnesota and Iowa, Western Indiana, and part of the upper peninsula of Michigan. The map has a fixed start date of 1860, and cannot be adjusted. This map requires AI, and allows between one and three AI players on this map.

**Objective:**

Expansion and hauling goods are the main goals that must be achieved on this map. and you only have 60 years to achieve this. If everything works out in your favor though, you can meet these goals well before then.

Bronze: Connect Chicago, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis/St. Paul, have $30 Million in company net worth

Silver: $45 Million in Net Worth, connect the three major cities, and haul 200 loads of lead, iron milk, paper, and beer

Gold: $60 Million in Net Worth, connect the three major cities, connect Wisconsin to Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Minnesota, and haul 350 loads of the key goods.

In order to get into the three major cities, you have to purchase the rights into the city in order to get access to them from the territory tab of your company book.

Locomotive releases are a bit different on this map as they are timed differently and based more around when their prototypes would have been in operation. You will start out with the American, and as the years go by, the Mogul, Ten-Wheeler, Consolidation, and Shay will come out at different times than usual. The Mogul is the next locomotive.

-It will be expensive as a first move, but connecting Chicago to Milwaukee can be done immediately. Sometimes, one of the cities [usually Milwaukee] will already be opened up, which can save you some money. If none of the cities have opened their borders to you, issue some stock immediately. This can give you a little extra cushion of starting money, Buying Chicago will cost you about $100,000 up front. Also, if you can, hire Robert Garbe as soon possible. This will save you money in the long run, as you'll be running steam engines for a very long time.

It is recommended that you do this immediately, as the AI usually likes to start building out of either Chicago or Milwaukee immediately, and not getting them connecting right away could hamper your ability to get to them later, as the AI may have already connected them already.

-It is suggested that you connect West Chicago and Milwaukee, and if you have a little extra money, reach into Chicago itself. The AI almost always like to build out of Chicago first, as the territory restrictions do not apply to them. Lay the mainline straight through Waukegan, Kenosha, and Racine, and then place small stations in each of them just as a safety precaution to prevent the AI from connecting them and creating some awkward track layouts.

-Get passenger trains running as soon as possible. If you've done the aforementioned tip of putting stations down in Waukegan Kenosha, and Racine, if any of them demand passengers, make station stops there. This will get money rolling in a lot quicker.

-There is always going to be a distillery in Milwaukee. If there are any grain elevators next to your mainline, connect them, have a small local freight run up to Milwaukee. The grain will turn into beer/alcohol. Then run a solid "beer train" from Milwaukee to Chicago. That can get some freight revenue rolling in.

-Once you've settled in, you may get asked to build a connection to the Mississippi River ports and haul. You will also have to buy the rights to these as well. This will include Prairie Du Chien and Galena, and the ports take crude oil. You can either fork off at North Chicago, building through Beloit and Janesville, and head for Galena, or head straight West out of Milwaukee towards La Crosse, then turn South towards Prairie du Chien.

-Somewhere in Southern Wisconsin, there is almost always a massive gathering of oil wells. If you can get them grouped together closely enough, it would be advisable build one large station in between all of them to group them together with one large community station. This can quickly build up a large supply of oil. Then you can start running one or two oil trains between the oil field and the ports. It would be recommended to wait until the Mogul becomes available, as it can handle longer trains on hills better than the American. Make sure you have sand and water towers at both ends of this route, as you will encounter a grade coming up out of the river valley.

-From here, you can start snaking your way along the Mississippi River and making your way up to the Twin Cities. If you've expanded out enough in the lower part of Wisconsin and Northern Illinois, the AI may become "boxed in" and won't be in a hurry to get up there before you do. Be persistant with track laying, but be patient, and don't hug the river too closely, or you'll have a lot of grades. Having this route remain relatively flat is going to be beneficial when faster locomotives become available. Once you've connected the Twin Cities, you can relax as the AI won't be competing with you to get there now. Now would be a good time to get your railroad strengthened up, and focus on hauling whatever key goods you haven't been working on yet.

-To get your Iowa connection to count, you have to connect the Quad Cities. Since you are going this far South, connect Galesburg and Peoria as well. There are usually coal mines in this area. This is beneficial for you if you have steel mills in either Chicago or Milwaukee.

**Trivia:**

-To an extent, this map loosely mimics the territory where railroads such as the Chicago & Northwestern, the Rock Island, the Soo Line, the Milwaukee Road, and the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy were built and had a strong presence, so you could potentially recreate the route of one of your favorite Midwestern Railroads so long as they traveled through some part of Wisconsin.

-Keep an eye on the newspaper headlines, as several historical events will be happened while you're playing this map. Some of these events could impact how you earn revenue.