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Every technology in the game

2026-10-26 · Clockwork Dragon Studios · updated 2026-10-26

This page lists every technology in the game, 75 in all, grouped by branch and in the order they open. It is built from the game's own list each time the site is published, so it always matches what you see in the tech tree. For how research, prices and patents work, read research and patents.

The eras are those of the America board, and the locomotives named are the ones on sale there. The price shown is the listed price. Your railroad pays that, or a tenth of its last year of revenue if that is more. The days are the time a project takes on the America board. A technology that lists a locomotive is one of the things you need before you can buy it, and some locomotives need several. A technology that closes to new orders in a later era says so, and railroads that hold it keep it.

Locomotive (15)

  • Six Driving Wheels. Six coupled wheels under the boiler: the arrangement that turns a passenger machine into a road engine able to lift tonnage over a grade. Needed to buy: Early Ten Wheeler 4-6-0, Mogul (2-6-0), Camelback Class (4-6-0), Ten Wheeler 4-6-0, Prairie (2-6-2), USRA Pacific (4-6-2), and 7 more. Opens in the 1840s. Costs $20,000 and takes 730 days.
  • Belpaire Firebox. A square-shouldered firebox with more crown space over the fire: steadier steam at speed, and the shape Altoona built its passenger power around. Needed to buy: Class D16sb (4-4-0), Class E3sd (4-4-2), K4 Class (4-6-2), PRR S2 (6-8-6). Opens in the 1860s. Costs $20,000 and takes 730 days.
  • Eight Driving Wheels. Eight coupled wheels. The Consolidation and everything descended from it: the freight locomotive the century actually ran on. Needed to buy: Consolidation (2-8-0), Mountain (4-8-2), Triplex (2-8-8-8-2), USRA Mikado (2-8-2), Berkshire (2-8-4), Yellowstone (2-8-8-4), and 9 more. Opens in the 1860s. Costs $80,000 and takes 730 days. Needs Six Driving Wheels first.
  • Ten Driving Wheels. Ten coupled wheels, all the weight on the rail doing work. Slow, deliberate, and unstoppable on a mountain grade. Needed to buy: Class AE (2-10-10-2), Decapod (2-10-0), Overland (4-10-2). Opens in the 1870s. Costs $150,000 and takes 1,280 days. Needs Eight Driving Wheels first.
  • Wooten Firebox. A firebox wide enough to burn anthracite culm (waste coal, nearly free on the road that mines it), with the cab pushed forward astride the boiler. Needed to buy: Camelback Class (4-6-0). Opens in the 1870s. Costs $25,000 and takes 730 days.
  • Trailing Truck Engines. A pair of small wheels under the cab carries the firebox behind the drivers, so the grate can grow without the drivers shrinking. Atlantics and Prairies follow. Needed to buy: Prairie (2-6-2), Class E3sd (4-4-2), USRA Pacific (4-6-2), K4 Class (4-6-2), Mountain (4-8-2), USRA Mikado (2-8-2), and 1 more. Opens in the 1890s. Costs $29,000 and takes 730 days.
  • Articulation. Two engines under one boiler, the forward set hinged to take the curve. The mountain roads stop double-heading and start running one train. Raises the pulling power of locomotives by 15%. Needed to buy: Triplex (2-8-8-8-2), USRA Mallet (2-6-6-2), Y6b (2-8-8-2). Opens in the 1900s. Costs $87,000 and takes 730 days. Needs Eight Driving Wheels first.
  • Simple Articulated Engine. High-pressure steam to all four cylinders instead of compounding through them. The articulated stops being a drag engine and learns to run. Needed to buy: Class AE (2-10-10-2), Yellowstone (2-8-8-4), Challenger Class (4-6-6-4), Big Boy (4-8-8-4). Opens in the 1910s. Costs $175,000 and takes 1,280 days. Needs Articulation first.
  • Super Power Engines. Lima's argument, settled: a firebox big enough to make steam faster than the cylinders can spend it. Tonnage at speed, not tonnage or speed. Raises the pulling power of locomotives by 10%. Needed to buy: Class F6 Hudson (4-6-4), Berkshire (2-8-4), Class A/E (4-8-4), Class E4 (4-6-4), Class J3a (4-6-4), FEF Class (4-8-4), and 2 more. Opens in the 1920s. Costs $70,000 and takes 730 days. Needs Trailing Truck Engines first.
  • Three Cylinder Engines. A third cylinder between the frames, turning a cranked axle: smoother torque, less hammer blow on the rail, and a great deal more to maintain. Needed to buy: Class 9000 (4-12-2), Overland (4-10-2). Opens in the 1920s. Costs $70,000 and takes 730 days. Needs Trailing Truck Engines first.
  • Twelve Driving Wheels. Twelve coupled wheels on a rigid frame, the outer limit of what a straight-framed engine can be asked to do before the curves object. Needed to buy: Class 9000 (4-12-2). Opens in the 1920s. Costs $280,000 and takes 2,560 days. Needs Ten Driving Wheels first.
  • Duplex Engines. Four cylinders driving two rigid sets of drivers on one frame: the last argument steam made against the diesel, and a beautiful one. Needed to buy: Class T1(4-4-4-4). Opens in the 1930s. Costs $105,000 and takes 1,280 days. Needs Articulation first.
  • Streamlining. Shrouding and a rounded nose. Some of it is real air, most of it is the timetable's photograph, and the public books the train that looks fast. Speeds up trains by 10%. Needed to buy: Hiawatha (4-4-2), Hiawatha (4-6-4), M-10001, Pioneer Zephyr, Class J (4-8-4), Daylight (4-8-4), and 1 more. Opens in the 1930s. Costs $262,000 and takes 960 days. Needs Super Power Engines first.
  • Four Axle Road Switchers. Four axles, all powered, a hood you can see past in either direction. The road switcher takes over the branch, the yard, and eventually the main. Needed to buy: EMD GP-7/9, Alco RS-11, EMD GP20, GE U25B, ALCO Century 420, EMD GP40, and 2 more. Opens in the 1940s. Costs $262,000 and takes 2,560 days. Needs Diesel Electric Engines first.
  • Six Axle Road Switcher. Six powered axles under a road switcher: the drag freight engine and the mountain helper in the same catalogue number. Needed to buy: ALCO Century 628, ALCO Century 630, DD40AX, GE U30-C, EMD SD40-2, EMD SD90-MAC, and 3 more. Opens in the 1960s. Costs $425,000 and takes 2,560 days. Needs Four Axle Road Switchers first.

Power plant (5)

  • Combustion Engines. The internal combustion engine, understood well enough to be worth a shop's attention. Nothing rides on it yet; everything after it does. Opens the way to later technologies. Opens in the 1890s. Costs $116,000 and takes 2,560 days.
  • Electric Engines. Current from a wire and motors on the axles. Where the tunnels are long and the traffic is dense, the smoke problem simply stops existing. Needed to buy: GE 1-D-1 S-1/S-2, DD1 2B+B2, GE B-B ES2, T-Motor Bo-Bo+Bo-Bo, P Motor (2-C+C-2), P5 (2-C-2), and 1 more. Opens in the 1890s. Costs $116,000 and takes 2,560 days.
  • Improved Electrics. Heavier motors, better control, and the mainline electric grows from a tunnel expedient into a machine that can hold down a passenger schedule. Needed to buy: GE 1B+D+D+B1 EP2, GG1 (2-Co-Co-2), GE EF-4 and EP-4 (2-D+D-2), E44 (C-C), EMD AEM-7 (B-B), GE E60CP, and 2 more. Opens in the 1910s. Costs $262,000 and takes 2,560 days. Needs Electric Engines first.
  • Diesel Electric Engines. A diesel prime mover turning a generator, the generator turning traction motors. It starts on a cold morning and it does not need water towers. Needed to buy: ALCO HH 600, ALCO DL-109, M-10001, Pioneer Zephyr, Alco FA Series, Alco Pa Series, and 22 more. Opens in the 1920s. Costs $175,000 and takes 2,560 days. Needs Combustion Engines first.
  • Gas Turbine Engines. A turbine burning the residue nobody else wants, geared to generators. Enormous power, enormous thirst, and a fine noise going by. Needed to buy: Gas Turbine (GTEL). Opens in the 1940s. Costs $175,000 and takes 2,560 days. Needs Combustion Engines first.

Components (11)

  • Westinghouse Air Brake. Brakes on every car, worked from the cab, failing safe when the line parts. Longer trains stop being a gamble taken with brakemen's lives. Raises how much a train can pull by 15%. Needed to buy: PRR S2 (6-8-6). Opens in the 1860s. Costs $100,000 and takes 730 days.
  • Janney Coupler. A knuckle that closes itself when cars come together. No one goes between them with a link and a pin, and trains grow as long as the drawbar allows. Raises how much a train can pull by 10%. Shortens the time spent handling cars at a station by 10%. Opens in the 1870s. Costs $75,000 and takes 730 days. Needs Westinghouse Air Brake first.
  • Bettendorf Freight Trucks. One-piece cast steel under the car in place of built-up wood and iron. Heavier loading, fewer trucks failing under it. Opens the way to later technologies. Opens in the 1900s. Costs $145,000 and takes 960 days.
  • Feedwater Heater. Exhaust steam warms the water before it reaches the boiler. The fireman shovels less for the same drawbar pull, every mile of every trip. Cuts the running cost of trains by 5%. Needed to buy: Triplex (2-8-8-8-2), USRA Mallet (2-6-6-2), Class F6 Hudson (4-6-4), Yellowstone (2-8-8-4), Class J3a (4-6-4), PRR S2 (6-8-6). Opens in the 1910s. Costs $175,000 and takes 730 days. Needs Trailing Truck Engines first.
  • A1A-A1A Truck. A six-wheel truck with the centre axle unpowered, spreading weight over light bridges without paying for a third motor. Needed to buy: ALCO DL-109, Alco Pa Series, EMD E-7/8. Opens in the 1930s. Costs $262,000 and takes 2,560 days. Needs Articulation first.
  • Roller Bearing Freight Trucks. Roller bearings for plain journals: no hot boxes, no setting out a car in the middle of a division, less drag every mile. Cuts the running cost of trains by 5%. Opens in the 1930s. Costs $262,000 and takes 1,440 days.
  • Dynamic Braking. Traction motors turned generators, throwing the descent into resistor grids. The mountain stops eating brake shoes on the way down. Cuts the drag of a ruling grade by 15%, so a train can take more over a grade. Opens in the 1940s. Costs $175,000 and takes 730 days. Needs Diesel Electric Engines first.
  • Flexcoil Truck. A coil-sprung truck that lets the axles find the curve instead of fighting it: kinder to the rail, and steadier at road speed. Needed to buy: DD40AX, EMD SW1500, GE U30-C. Opens in the 1950s. Costs $425,000 and takes 2,560 days. Needs A1A-A1A Truck first.
  • Comfort Cabs. A cab designed for the crew in it: sealed, heated, quiet enough to hear the radio. Crews notice, and so does the accident record. Needed to buy: ALCO Century 628, ALCO Century 630, EMD SD90-MAC, GE C44-9W, EMD SD70-ACe. Opens in the 1960s. Costs $425,000 and takes 2,560 days. Needs Electronic Control first.
  • Electronic Control. Solid-state control of excitation and wheel slip. The engine manages its own adhesion better than a heavy hand on the throttle ever did. Needed to buy: DD40AX, EMD GP40, EMD F40PH, EMD GP38-2, EMD SD40-2, GE E60CP. Opens in the 1960s. Costs $425,000 and takes 2,560 days. Needs Electric Engines first.
  • Centralized Air Processing. Filtered air handled from one place for the whole locomotive: cleaner power gear, and a cab a crew can spend twelve hours in. Has no effect in the game yet. Opens in the 1970s. Costs $425,000 and takes 2,560 days. Needs Electronic Control first.

Way (10)

  • Telegraph Dispatching. Trains moved by wire on written orders instead of by timetable and hope: the Erie's invention, and the beginning of the dispatcher. Unlocks a new kind of track building: telegraph dispatching. Opens in the 1850s. Costs $22,000 and takes 730 days.
  • Block Signals. The line divided into blocks, and no more than one train in a block. Following movements stop depending on the flagman's legs. Unlocks a new kind of track building: block signals. Opens in the 1870s. Costs $100,000 and takes 730 days. Needs Telegraph Dispatching first.
  • Steel Rails. Bessemer steel in place of wrought iron. Rail that lasts years instead of months, and carries the axle loads the next thirty years will bring. Unlocks a new kind of track building: steel rails. Opens in the 1870s. Costs $100,000 and takes 730 days.
  • Catenary. Wire over the railroad: the half of electrification that is civil engineering rather than motive power, and the half that costs. Unlocks a new kind of track building: catenary. Opens in the 1900s. Costs $290,000 and takes 1,280 days. Needs Electric Engines first.
  • Creosoted Ties. Ties pressure-treated against rot and insect. The renewal cycle stretches from a few years to a few decades. Unlocks a new kind of track building: creosoted ties. Opens in the 1900s. Costs $58,000 and takes 730 days.
  • Heavy Rail. Heavier sections, better tied and better ballasted. The track stops being the reason the engine cannot be bigger. Unlocks a new kind of track building: heavy rail. Opens in the 1900s. Costs $145,000 and takes 730 days. Needs Steel Rails first.
  • Centralized Traffic Control. One panel, one dispatcher, every switch and signal on the district under one hand. Capacity out of the railroad you already own. Unlocks a new kind of track building: centralized traffic control. Opens in the 1920s. Costs $280,000 and takes 1,280 days. Needs Block Signals first.
  • Triple Track. A third set of metals through the bottleneck, so that fast, slow and opposing traffic stop waiting on one another. The trunk railroad's last answer to a line that is simply full. Unlocks a new kind of track building: triple track. Opens in the 1930s. Costs $340,000 and takes 1,120 days. Needs Centralized Traffic Control first.
  • Automatic Train Control. The signal carried into the cab and enforced by the brake. A train that runs past a restriction is stopped by the apparatus rather than argued with afterwards. Unlocks a new kind of track building: automatic train control. Opens in the 1940s. Costs $420,000 and takes 1,400 days. Needs Centralized Traffic Control first.
  • Continuous Welded Rail. Rail welded into quarter-mile strings. The joints go, and with them the pounding that destroyed both track and equipment. Unlocks a new kind of track building: welded rail. Opens in the 1950s. Costs $319,000 and takes 960 days. Needs Heavy Rail first.

Operations (4)

  • Car Interchange Rules. Master Car Builders' rules: whose car, whose repair, whose per diem. Foreign equipment on your rails stops being a favour and becomes a ledger entry. Raises what you are paid for carrying other railroads' freight by 10%. Opens in the 1860s. Costs $40,000 and takes 730 days.
  • Standard Gauge. Four feet eight and a half inches, everywhere, by agreement rather than by war. A car handed over at the junction simply rolls on. Shortens the time spent handling cars at a station by 10%. Opens in the 1880s. Costs $145,000 and takes 960 days.
  • Standard Railroad Time. Railroad time, agreed between roads and imposed on every town along the line. The schedule stops lying, so the meets stop being arguments. Speeds up all your trains by 5%. Opens in the 1880s. Costs $29,000 and takes 730 days.
  • Multiple Unit Consist. One crew, several engines, one throttle. Steam takes the arrangement badly; diesel and electric were built for it. Has no effect in the game yet. Opens in the 1890s. Costs $290,000 and takes 730 days.

Contracts (7)

  • Contract with Baldwin Locomotive Works. Terms with Baldwin, of Philadelphia: the largest works in the country and, for most of a century, the default answer to how a railroad gets a locomotive. Needed to buy: Triplex (2-8-8-8-2), Class F6 Hudson (4-6-4), Class A/E (4-8-4), 2900 Class (4-8-4), PRR S2 (6-8-6). Opens in the 1830s. Costs $10,000 and takes 730 days.
  • Railroad-Owned Engine Shops. Your own erecting shop, drawing office and all. The road stops buying what the builders offer and starts building what it actually needs, and the shop can carry a second project. Needed to buy: DD1 2B+B2, GG1 (2-Co-Co-2), Hiawatha (4-6-4), Class J (4-8-4), Class T1(4-4-4-4), Y6b (2-8-8-2). Opens in the 1860s. Costs $150,000 and takes 960 days.
  • Contract with Lima Locomotive Works. Terms with Lima Locomotive Works, the shop that would rather sell you a better idea than a cheaper engine. Needed to buy: Berkshire (2-8-4), Daylight (4-8-4). Opens in the 1870s. Costs $25,000 and takes 730 days.
  • Contract with General Electric. Terms with General Electric: the electrical half of American railroading, and in time the locomotive half as well. Needed to buy: GE 1-D-1 S-1/S-2, GE 1B+D+D+B1 EP2, GE B-B ES2, GE 45-ton switcher, GE EF-4 and EP-4 (2-D+D-2), GE U25B, and 5 more. Opens in the 1890s. Costs $145,000 and takes 730 days.
  • Contract with American Locomotive Company. Terms with the American Locomotive Company: Schenectady's whole catalogue, and a builder that will still humour a road's peculiarities. Needed to buy: ALCO HH 600, ALCO DL-109, FEF Class (4-8-4), Alco FA Series, Alco Pa Series, Alco RS-1, and 7 more. Opens in the 1900s. Costs $145,000 and takes 730 days.
  • Contract with Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. Terms with Electro-Motive. They will not build to your drawings; they will sell you the same locomotive they sell everyone, and it will work. Needed to buy: EMD E-7/8, EMD F-3, EMD GP-7/9, EMD NW5, EMD GP20, EMD FP45, and 9 more. Opens in the 1920s. Costs $350,000 and takes 730 days.
  • Contract with Fairbanks Morse. Terms with Fairbanks-Morse. Opposed-piston engines out of the submarine trade: powerful, unusual, and hard on a shop that has not met one. Needed to buy: FM H-20-44, FM H-16-44, FM Trainmaster. Opens in the 1940s. Costs $35,000 and takes 730 days.

Cargo (23)

  • Dining Car. A kitchen on wheels. The passenger who eats aboard does not break the journey, and pays for the privilege of not breaking it. Raises the pay for passengers by 10%. Opens in the 1860s. Costs $20,000 and takes 730 days.
  • Railway Post Office Car. A post office running at speed, clerks sorting between towns. The mail contract is the steadiest money on the timetable, while it lasts. Raises the pay for mail by 10%. Opens in the 1860s. Can no longer be ordered from the 1970s. Railroads that hold it keep it. Costs $40,000 and takes 730 days.
  • Sleeper Car. Berths made up after dark. An overnight run stops being an ordeal and becomes the reason to take the train at all. Raises the pay for passengers by 10%. Opens in the 1860s. Costs $40,000 and takes 730 days. Needs Dining Car first.
  • Cotton Compress. A steam press at the depot squeezing bales to half their bulk. The same box car leaves with twice the cotton in it, and the compress belongs to the railroad. Raises the pay for cotton by 10%. Opens in the 1870s. Costs $25,000 and takes 730 days.
  • Iced Refrigerator Car. Insulated cars with ice bunkers at each end, re-iced along the route. Dressed meat and California fruit become railroad traffic. Raises the pay for food by 10%. Opens in the 1870s. Costs $25,000 and takes 730 days. Needs Westinghouse Air Brake first.
  • Livestock Car. Slatted sides, feed and water on the road. Livestock arrives on its feet, which is the only condition anyone pays for. Raises the pay for cattle by 10%. Opens in the 1870s. Costs $25,000 and takes 730 days. Needs Westinghouse Air Brake first.
  • Parlor/Lounge Car. Individual chairs, a steward, and a door between the fare and everyone else. Each chair is sold on top of the ticket. Raises the pay for passengers by 10%. Opens in the 1870s. Costs $100,000 and takes 730 days. Needs Sleeper Car first.
  • Ore Jenny. Short, squat cars built for ore too heavy to fill a long one. The Lakes trade gets the only car that suits it. Raises the pay for iron ore by 10%. Opens in the 1890s. Costs $58,000 and takes 730 days. Needs Westinghouse Air Brake first.
  • Self-Clearing Hopper. A steel hopper that empties itself through its own floor. Coal stops being unloaded by gangs with shovels and starts being dropped in a minute. Raises the pay for coal by 10%. Opens in the 1890s. Costs $58,000 and takes 730 days. Needs Westinghouse Air Brake first.
  • Covered Hopper. Grain loaded through roof hatches and dropped through the floor, dry the whole way. The elevator's answer to the box car and the grain door. Raises the pay for grain by 10%. Opens in the 1930s. Costs $140,000 and takes 730 days. Needs Bettendorf Freight Trucks first.
  • Streamlined Passenger Cars. Lightweight cars in matched paint, air conditioned, ordered as a train rather than assembled from what the yard had. Raises the pay for passengers by 10%. Opens in the 1930s. Costs $350,000 and takes 2,560 days. Needs Streamlining first.
  • Welded Tank Car. Welded seams in place of riveted: a tank that carries more and does not weep at the joints. Raises the pay for oil by 10%. Opens in the 1930s. Costs $140,000 and takes 730 days. Needs Bettendorf Freight Trucks first.
  • Mechanical Reefer. A reefer with its own diesel and compressor. No ice decks, no re-icing stations, and produce that arrives as it was loaded. Raises the pay for food by 10%. Opens in the 1940s. Costs $35,000 and takes 730 days. Needs Combustion Engines and Roller Bearing Freight Trucks first.
  • Vista Dome Observation. Glass over the roofline and the scenery sold as the ticket. Worth a surcharge on any route with a view out the window. Raises the pay for passengers by 10%. Opens in the 1940s. Costs $140,000 and takes 730 days. Needs Streamlined Passenger Cars first.
  • Auto Rack. Two and three decks of new automobiles per car. The traffic the highway was taking back, taken back again, until the stones start flying. Raises the pay for automobiles by 10%. Opens in the 1950s. Can no longer be ordered from the 1980s. Railroads that hold it keep it. Costs $425,000 and takes 2,560 days. Needs Roller Bearing Freight Trucks first.
  • Piggy Back Trailer Flatcar. Highway trailers riding flatcars. The truck's door-to-door convenience over your long haul, at your cost per ton-mile. Raises the pay for goods by 10%. Opens in the 1950s. Costs $42,000 and takes 730 days. Needs Combustion Engines and Roller Bearing Freight Trucks first.
  • Covered Auto Rack. The same racks, enclosed. Vandalism and weather stop arriving with the shipment, and the manufacturers come back. Raises the pay for automobiles by 10%. Opens in the 1960s. Costs $425,000 and takes 2,560 days. Needs Auto Rack first.
  • Fifty Foot Box Cars. Ten more feet of box car. Modest, universal, and quietly worth a great deal across a whole fleet. Raises the pay for goods by 5%. Opens in the 1960s. Costs $425,000 and takes 2,560 days. Needs Roller Bearing Freight Trucks first.
  • Steel Coil Car. Cradles and covers sized for coils of sheet steel, which no ordinary car carries without damaging itself or the load. Raises the pay for steel by 10%. Opens in the 1960s. Costs $425,000 and takes 2,560 days. Needs Roller Bearing Freight Trucks first.
  • Unit Coal Trains. One shipper, one mine, one power plant, and a train that never breaks up: it loads moving and dumps moving and comes straight back for more. Raises the pay for coal by 10%. Opens in the 1960s. Costs $425,000 and takes 2,560 days. Needs Self-Clearing Hopper and Roller Bearing Freight Trucks first.
  • Whale Belly Tank Car. A tank slung low between the trucks, hauling more oil under the same clearances. Raises the pay for oil by 10%. Opens in the 1960s. Costs $425,000 and takes 2,560 days. Needs Roller Bearing Freight Trucks first.
  • Centerbeam Flat Car. A spine down the middle to strap bundled lumber against. Loads in one lift, arrives without its load having shifted. Raises the pay for lumber by 10%. Opens in the 1970s. Costs $425,000 and takes 2,560 days. Needs Roller Bearing Freight Trucks first.
  • Double Stack Well Car. Containers two high in a well car. The same crew, the same train length, twice the boxes. Raises the pay for goods by 10%. Opens in the 1980s. Costs $85,000 and takes 730 days. Needs Piggy Back Trailer Flatcar and Roller Bearing Freight Trucks first.