Your First Custom Map | Railway Operation Simulator

🚀 What can this tool do?

With the Map Editor, you can build your very own stations and timetable, then play them with exactly the same controls as the main game. Lay some track, place a station, and decide when the trains run—that's all it takes to put together one complete "Railway Operation Simulator" of your own.

How to read this page: this page is the doorway for people who are new to both railways and this game. First you'll get a feel for "how railways work" through everyday comparisons, then you'll learn "what order to build in," and finally you'll build one tiny single-station map all the way to the finish. The detailed steps are gathered in each guide (left menu), so for now just use this page to grasp the big picture.

When a technical term shows up: if you hit a word you don't know, keep the Glossary open as you read and you won't get lost. On this page too, whenever a tricky word appears for the first time we always add a "plain-English version" right next to it.

🧠 Railways in 5 minutes

To build a map, it helps to know just a little bit of railway vocabulary. Don't overthink it—it's fine. Let's take a quick look at six keywords, each with an everyday comparison and a picture.

① Track = the "track circuit"

A railway line isn't managed as one long continuous rod—instead it's chopped into short segments, like the squares on a board game. Each of those squares is a track circuit. Because the system knows "which square the train is on right now," it can change the signal colors and keep trains from running into each other.

One railway line split into four track circuits (squares). The system can tell that the train "is on square 2."

→ Learn more: Glossary "track circuit" / Wiring guide

② Stations and platforms

A station is where trains stop, and a platform is the track number (track 1, track 2…) at that station where passengers get on and off. When building a map, you place a box that represents the station, then lay platform bands on top of it.

Inside the station box (dashed line), there are tracks (blue) and platforms (green bands). You name each track number.

→ Learn more: Glossary "station / platform / track number" / Wiring guide

③ The switch = the point where the track changes direction

Where a line splits into two directions, there's a switch (a "point"). The direction that goes straight is called "normal," and the direction that branches off is called "reverse." The words sound complicated, but it really comes down to two choices: "straight" or "turn."

At the switch (orange dot) the track splits into two directions. Straight = normal, turn = reverse.

→ Learn more: Glossary "switch / normal / reverse" / Wiring guide

④ Signals = three-color cues

Signal colors are almost the same as traffic lights for cars. In this game's custom maps, you only need to remember the three colors "🟢go / 🟡caution / 🔴stop". A signal's color changes automatically depending on whether the route (explained next) is open. The player never changes the colors directly.

Custom-map signals only use three colors. They switch automatically to match the state of the route.

→ Learn more: Glossary "signal / aspect" / Equipment guide

⑤ Routes and "levers"

A route is the path that a single train travels (a "from here to there" path made by linking several track circuits together). And the switch that opens that path is a "lever." When you operate two levers as a pair—the lever on the departure side (the start lever) and the lever on the destination side (the end lever)—a single path connects up and the signal turns green.

Operate the start lever (orange) and end lever (blue) as a pair, and the track circuits in between connect up so the route (green) opens.

→ Learn more: Glossary "route / lever" / Equipment guide

⑥ Timetable = the schedule

The timetable is the schedule of "at what time, which train, runs where." In a custom map, you line up the trains you want to run one by one and decide their departure times and so on.

→ Learn more: Glossary "timetable / train list" / Operations guide

🗺 The big picture: what order to build in

The Map Editor's left menu is split into four parts: Company → Wiring → Equipment → Operations. You just work through them in this order (top to bottom), and that's it. Later categories use what you made in earlier ones, so going top to bottom means less backtracking.

Work through the left menu from top to bottom. The flow is set up so that what you make earlier is used later.

Order	Category	What you make here
①	Company	Train classes ("Local," "Express," etc.) and train types (icons)
②	Wiring	Track (track circuits), switches, stations, platforms
③	Equipment	Levers, routes, signals, departure buttons
④	Operations	The trains you run and their times (the timetable)

"Operations" needs a scenario: you can't edit the Operations category (the train timetable) until you've first created one scenario (a set of timetables for a given time of day—for example, the morning rush). When you create a new map, it asks "Create a scenario?", so go ahead and make one there.

🛠 Try building one yourself (hands-on tutorials)

Once you've got the big picture, the fastest way forward is simply to get your hands moving. We've prepared "hands-on tutorials" where you build a working map from start to finish, following the screenshots one at a time.

Hands-on ① Single-track passing — the simplest possible map, where two trains pass each other at a single-track station. You'll experience the full loop of Company → Wiring → Equipment → Operations.
Hands-on ② Double-track turnaround — at a double-track station, you use a center track to turn trains around. You build it by linking two path groups together.
Hands-on ③ Shunting with a pull-out track (turnaround) — a turnaround using a pull-out track, with an operation change. An advanced setup that places two stations on one map and links four path groups.

Start with Hands-on ①. You'll see exactly where the words you learned on this page (track circuit, route, lever, signal) show up in the actual controls. It's fine to skip the hard parts. First, just get one train running.

📚 What to read next

Once you've got the big picture, move on to the detailed how-to guide for each category (the left-menu order = the build order).

Map Editor: Getting Started — reading the screen, saving, preview, and a map's bundle info
① Company guide — train classes and train types
② Wiring guide — track circuits, switches, stations, platforms
③ Equipment guide — levers, routes, signals, departure buttons
④ Operations guide — path groups, train list, diagram rows
📖 Glossary — check up on railway and editor terms all in one place
⛳ Playing user maps — play your finished map from the title screen

For how to play the main game itself, see the How to Play guide. Running your custom map in preview uses the same controls as the main game.