Riverbend Line

SSA One Tech

About this game

Riverbend Line is a steam train driving simulator. You take an 0-6-0 goods engine and its rake of wagons round a single-track circuit through a farmed river valley - rice, cane, banana and orchard on either side of the line - keeping to the speed boards and stopping accurately at three platforms.

DRIVING, NOT STEERING

Tractive effort comes from the regulator, limited by boiler pressure and by what the rail can actually hold. Slam the regulator open from a stand and the wheels will slip: effort collapses and the driving wheels run away until you ease off. Work the engine hard and the gauge comes down; shut off and the fireman gets it back.

The brake is a vacuum brake, so it takes a couple of seconds to come on and longer to release. A full application is about 0.85 m/s2 - roughly 90 metres from 45 km/h. Both the regulator and the brake are latched: the handle stays where you leave it.

Nothing about a 130-tonne train is instant. Plan the stop; do not react to it.

THE LINE

Three stopping places - Orchard Halt, Riverbridge and Garden Cross - spaced round the circuit, with a long viaduct carrying the line over the river between the first two. Speed restrictions are derived from the shape of the line itself, tight curves and station approaches, and are posted on lineside boards well before they bite. Semaphore signals work the sections.

PICK YOUR LIGHT

Morning for low sun and river mist, noon for clear air and long views, evening for golden hour. The whole valley is lit, fogged and graded from the choice, and the choice is remembered.

FOUR VIEWS

Chase the train from behind, ride the nose, watch it go by from the lineside, or take the free camera and look wherever you like.

SCORED ON THE STOP

Keep to the boards and pull up on the mark at each platform. Overrun it, stop short of it, or run past a speed board too fast, and it shows.

BUILT SMALL

Every part of the world is generated the moment the game starts - the geometry, the textures and the sound alike. There is not a single asset file in it, which is why the download is a fraction of the size of most 3D games. Three quality tiers keep it playable on modest hardware.

PLAYS OFFLINE

No account, no sign-in, no ads, no in-app purchases and no network connection. Nothing is collected and nothing leaves the device.

CONTROLS

Touch controls are laid out for a phone or tablet held in landscape: latched regulator and brake levers where your thumbs already are, plus reverser, whistle, camera and volume. A connected keyboard works too.

What’s new

First release.

Three stations, three times of day and four camera views round a single-track circuit through the valley. Touch controls for phones and tablets; a keyboard works too.