How railroads get their names
Every railroad in a game has a name that every other player can see. Here is where yours comes from, and how to change it.
Before your first line
If you start a railroad without typing a name, it is called after your account: Ada's Railroad, if your account name is Ada. A guest account has a name like Guest 4821, so a guest's railroad is Guest 4821's Railroad.
An account with no display name is called New Railroad. Your email address is never used for a name, because every other player would see it.
When you order your first line
The first time you order a line, an unnamed railroad takes its name from that line. The name is the line's two end towns, in alphabetical order, joined with an ampersand:
Boston & Worcester
It does not matter which end you chose first. If the line runs through other towns, the name uses only the two ends and never a town in the middle.
The name is given when you place the order, not when the track opens. Three things follow from that:
- If you cancel that first line before it opens, the railroad keeps the name.
- A later first line never changes it. The name is yours from then on.
- A railroad whose owner typed a name is never renamed this way.
Where a town's name carries a state or province tag, such as Wilmington, NC, the tag is dropped when no other town shares the short name. So you get Boston & Wilmington and not Boston, MA & Wilmington, NC. If another town would read the same without its tag, the full name is kept.
When the name is already taken
Names the game writes are unique inside a game. If another railroad already has the name, the game tries these in order and uses the first one that is free:
- Boston & Worcester
- Boston & Worcester Railroad
- Boston & Worcester Railway
- Boston & Worcester Lines
- Boston & Worcester 2, then 3, and so on
Capital letters and extra spaces do not count as a difference. The railroad that got there first is never renamed to make room for you.
The same ladder applies to the name before your first line, so Ada's Railroad becomes Ada's Railway, then Ada's Lines, then Ada's Railroad 2.
Naming it yourself
Play free and Start my railroad do not ask for a name. If you choose a game yourself from the game list and press Found a railroad, the dialog has a box labelled Your railroad. It is optional. Leave it empty and the name comes from your first line.
You can also rename at any time. Open your railroad's page and press the pencil beside its name. A box asks for the new name.
A name you type is your choice, and your first line will not replace it. The game does not check that a typed name is unique, so two players can choose the same one.