Transport Fever 3 Tycoon Walkthrough: First Routes to Underground Trams

For a working Transport Fever 3 Tycoon network, start with one town, connect its passengers and a nearby supply, then extend the routes after the first deliveries reach their destinations. The main route here is town service, intercity rail, freight transfers, a multi-input factory and better local transit. Airports, river construction and helicopters are optional branches for maps that need them. The route examples come from a pre-release Tycoon save. The brewery recipe, output-stock rules and vehicle deliveries below have been checked against Urban Games’ reply and current official manual; the full route has not been independently replayed in the retail game.

Pick a first town and make two useful connections#

Open the town’s supply and district views before placing a depot. Note which goods the town requests and where its residential, commercial and industrial areas lie. Choose a nearby producer with a plausible road connection, then identify a second town that can support a passenger link. In the video save, Spalding and Chiswick provide that opening pair; their names and geography will differ on a generated map.

1. Place two or more passenger stops where their catchment areas reach the homes and destinations you want to join. Connect them with a simple bus line and assign a modest fleet.
2. Put a road depot where a vehicle can actually reach the line. Check its maintenance coverage before assuming it serves every stop.
3. Run the line long enough to see passengers board and leave. Inspect the line’s waiting passengers and balance before increasing frequency.
4. Add one nearby cargo delivery. The pickup stop must reach the producer, and the delivery stop must reach the part of town that accepts that cargo. Set the vehicles to carry its actual category.

Cargo remains in the industry’s Output Stocks until a compatible vehicle collects it on a line configured to pick up that cargo type at or near the industry. Where the industry has a usable built-in loading point, you can use it; otherwise, provide a suitable station whose catchment covers the producer. Check the loading point, vehicle and line together. Cargo waiting at its producer does not establish that every industry or transport mode can operate without a separate station.

Output Stocks have a limit. If the stock fills and no vehicle collects the cargo, production continues but excess items are destroyed. Check the producer’s stock and Cargo Flow chart, the pickup vehicle’s load, any transfer warehouse and the town’s received goods in that order. A warehouse provides storage or a transfer between modes; the goods still need an onward service to their consumer.

Keep the opening small until you can name three working results: passengers have boarded the town loop, the producer has lost stock to a vehicle, and the town’s requested-good counter has risen after delivery. A bus line with riders but no cargo supply is only half the opening. A loaded truck that never reaches the correct district is the other half. The series then uses its first intercity passenger train to connect Spalding and Chiswick; that rail investment makes sense once both towns have local access to their stations.

Build the first passenger rail line, then prove a cargo handoff#

Connect the two towns by rail when buses alone leave a long intercity trip or a large queue. Place each passenger station so local buses can feed it, lay a continuous track between platforms, and connect a rail depot to the usable track. Create the line and buy a train only after the route planner shows a complete path. If the train cannot leave the depot, inspect the short connector, track direction, platform assignment and any electrification requirement before buying another train.

Keep early track layouts simple. A passing point or extra platform can help once trains meet, but a signal cannot repair a missing connection. Transport Fever 3 uses path-based signaling: trains reserve their route through a junction, and signals matter at passing points. Check the path shown by your line and the location where a train actually waits before changing the signals.

The series’ first larger cargo route moves fish from a fishing ground to Lisburn through Warwick. It has five distinct handoffs, each of which can fail independently:

1. Collect fish at the fishing ground by ship. The return port needs a reachable Warwick goods warehouse; the video initially shows a line warning until that storage exists.
2. The recorded route uses a truck leg from Warwick’s warehouse toward the rail station. In the current game, cargo is stored in industries and warehouses. Make sure the stock used by the freight train is within the station’s catchment, then configure the train to collect fish.
3. Configure a cargo platform at Warwick station without removing the passenger platform used by the existing line. Set a compatible freight train between Warwick and Lisburn.
4. At Lisburn, give the arriving fish a cargo platform and a separate local truck line. Place its last stop so the commercial district that wants fish is inside the stop’s catchment area.
5. Watch one shipment through the whole chain. Fish should leave the fishing ground, reach Warwick storage, load onto the freight train, travel to Lisburn and finally raise the town’s fish supply. If it stops at any stage, work on that handoff before buying another ship or train.

If an industry or transfer warehouse is full while vehicles wait elsewhere, inspect its outgoing line and receiving destination before adding incoming capacity. When the industry has stock but the pickup vehicle leaves empty, check station catchment or the built-in loading point, the vehicle’s cargo category and the line’s load settings. Cargo does not need to accumulate on an origin platform first.

Expand into a multi-input industry without hiding a broken leg#

After the first direct delivery works, connect a factory that needs more than one input. A brewery uses 8 Grain and 3 Glass to make 8 Beverages in the official free-game recipe. Breweries are available in Temperate, Dry and Subarctic climates, so choose another chain on a Tropical map. Beverages are Goods cargo supplied to a demanding Commercial District. The official industry list lets you choose a recipe that exists in your map’s climate.

The recorded brewery route brings grain and glass into Lisburn and sends the finished product toward Chiswick. A later chain takes oil through a refinery and onward toward chemicals, dyes and clothes. These are pre-release route examples; use your factory’s displayed production rule when configuring those later chains.

Build from the final consumer backward. Find the town that requests the finished product, locate the factory that makes it, and trace each required input to its source. Give every leg a named line and a specific pickup and drop-off. For a two-input factory, get the first input moving, then confirm the second arrives before adding an output fleet. Watch the factory’s input stocks and production graph; a loaded vehicle at a depot tells you little about production.

For the brewery example, treat the lines as a short chain rather than a single service. Grain leaves the Warwick crop farm, while glass comes from Warwick Glassworks. Both need routes into Lisburn Brewery. Only after the brewery’s input stocks and production graph respond should a beverages line carry the output toward Chiswick. The video later adjusts line rates because a completed connection does not guarantee enough throughput. If grain is piling up while glass is missing, increase the glass leg or repair its pickup. If both inputs enter but beverages stay at the brewery, inspect the output vehicle and Chiswick’s final receiving stop.

In the oil route, a ship carries oil to a warehouse that is already full. More ships would deepen the queue. Move or consume stock from the warehouse, check that the outgoing line takes oil from the right stop, and then size the incoming service to match. If the refinery makes another cargo for the return trip, verify that the train can carry it and that the destination accepts it. An empty return does not automatically become a profitable backhaul.

The same oil route has a cargo-category mismatch. Early in that episode, a warehouse extension fixes a complaint because the receiving storage does not accept the required category. Oil is liquid cargo, so its storage and vehicle need to handle liquids; grain is bulk cargo, while glass belongs to goods. Check category allocation first, then the rate at which oil leaves for Wendover Oil Refinery. The creator changes to a rail service that takes oil in and collects chemicals on the return leg. Set and inspect the oil load and chemical load separately; a return path alone does not make the wagon carry both.

The Wendover chain still needs two more deliveries after the refinery. In the video, the chemical load comes back to a transfer stop serving Wendover Chemical Plant. Another service moves the resulting dyes toward the textile factory, and trucks carry its clothes to Warwick. Follow stock through the chemical plant, dye pickup, textile factory and Warwick’s clothes supply in that order. If chemicals arrive but dye vehicles stay empty, repair the chemical plant’s output leg. If clothes accumulate at the textile factory, the Warwick delivery is the missing link. A rail line between oil and chemicals is only the middle of this chain.

Keep transfers visible. Name a warehouse by its role, such as “oil transfer” or “glass for brewery,” and separate input and finished-product storage when the cargo list becomes crowded. Line balance can be negative on a transfer leg because the sale happens later. Evaluate the chain by delivered goods, stock movement and the combined cost of its routes, rather than judging one feeder line in isolation.

Move bricks and furniture without losing the second destination#

Long-distance freight adds a second problem: one vehicle may pass through several towns without dividing its load as intended. The recorded route takes bricks by truck from Morpeth Brickworks to a rail loading point, then sends a train toward Wendover and Warwick. The train loads successfully, unloads its entire cargo at Wendover and reaches Warwick empty. A full train leaving Morpeth therefore proves nothing about Warwick’s supply. Inspect the unloading rule and demand at each station. If you cannot reliably reserve part of the load for the second town, create a separate direct brick line for each destination. Run each train through one complete delivery and reopen both towns’ supply views before increasing capacity.

Furniture in the same save uses a central warehouse to combine planks and glass before distributing the finished product. A hub helps only when its flows are explicit:

• Inbound lines take each input to the factory or its reachable transfer stop.
• An output line removes furniture before the factory or warehouse fills.
• Separate onward services reach the towns requesting furniture.
• Each store accepts the intended category, with enough room for the next arrival.

Balance line rates against what the factory consumes and produces. A rapid timber train cannot compensate for glass arriving only occasionally, and a full furniture warehouse cannot improve town supply if no truck leaves it. The videos also show an upgraded electric train failing until catenary is present across the route. Check the whole path, including depot and branch connections, before replacing working rolling stock. On shared tracks, a fast passenger train may be slowed by freight; add a passing opportunity where the actual conflict occurs.

Do not count furniture as delivered when it reaches the hub. In the recorded setup, the hub has separate space for planks, glass and finished furniture, while Lisburn and Spalding request the product. Follow an outbound truck from the hub to one of those towns and check the town’s furniture counter. Then compare the other town. If only the first improves, the problem is in the second distribution leg, not in the factory’s recipe.

Use air and water for specific gaps in the network#

Aircraft are attractive when towns are far apart, but an airport needs more than a runway. Build a usable airport at each end and connect each terminal to the town’s bus or tram network. The recorded passenger route filled its first plane and built a queue before a second was added. That is a reason to inspect your own waiting count, capacity and operating balance, not a rule to start every air link with two planes. If passengers cannot reach one airport, adding aircraft will not create demand.

A river can substitute for a difficult land route when its ports and navigation really connect. In the video save, terrain work opens a channel for sand to reach a glassworks by ship. Before paying for terraforming, verify water depth, bridge clearance, port catchment and the ship’s complete path. Recheck the affected town’s rating afterwards; altering its surroundings can have a cost. If a road or existing rail line moves the same cargo reliably, the water project is optional.

Helicopters are even more situational. The series tries a machine pickup that does not establish a working cargo flow, then starts a canned-goods helicopter route. A later vehicle balance table shows that canned-goods service losing money. Try one helicopter only when its pickup, landing point and final consumer are all connected and its time advantage matters. After a few complete trips, check actual cargo carried and operating balance. A helicopter leaving a pad is merely the start of the test.

Start vehicle production before counting vehicles as town supply#

The official free-game Vehicle Factory recipe is 4 Sheet Metal, 1 Machines and 1 Tires for 1 Vehicles. Bring in all three inputs and check the factory’s input stocks and production. Sheet Metal and Machines use Flatbed transport, while Tires use Goods transport. Vehicles are Flatbed cargo delivered to a demanding Industrial District.

Episode 11 shows a different, pre-release example near Wendover: sheet metal and machines arrive through a flatbed-capable transfer warehouse, truck feeders and rail. Its recorded panel uses four units of sheet metal per machine, and the creator sets an 80% sheet-metal and 20% machines load. That two-input setting does not cover the current three-input recipe. Add a tire supply with compatible storage and vehicles, and configure each service for the cargo it carries.

If sheet metal and machines arrive but production is stopped, check for missing tires before increasing the existing feeder fleets. If machines accumulate at the transfer warehouse while the train takes sheet metal, inspect the train’s load settings. The input ratio describes what the factory consumes; it does not guarantee that one vehicle or a copied percentage split can carry every required cargo category.

By the end of the recorded episode, production has begun while deliveries to Warwick and Spalding are still planned. Urban Games confirms that produced vehicles must be transported from the factory to the town building that demands them. Add an output pickup with Flatbed-capable transport and a receiving stop whose catchment covers the building demanding Vehicles. Follow a delivery and check the town’s vehicle supply; production or collection at the factory alone does not cover that demand.

Grow the town, then route trams underground#

Town growth is tied to useful service, not just the number of vehicles you buy. Urban Games says passenger connections and delivered goods add town experience, while traffic, noise, pollution and the town’s assessment can hold growth back. Return to the town overview after each expansion: look for a requested good still missing, overcrowded passenger stops, freight trucks clogging a central road, or a service whose route bypasses its intended district. Move heavy cargo traffic to a suitable road or transfer point when it begins to block local passengers.

The final video replaces part of Warwick’s aging surface tram network with an underground tram loop. The track tool has an underground mode for trams. The video shows an Underground Stop with a surface entrance, a surface connection toward a tram depot, assigned loops and then passengers using the route. Keep the old surface service working until the new route has a complete path and boardings; otherwise construction itself can strand riders.

1. Place the Underground Stops near the busy destinations you identified in the town view. Check the green catchment around each surface entrance. In the recorded Warwick layout, the creator lengthens platforms before connecting track; choose a length that fits the trams you intend to run, rather than copying a fixed measurement.
2. Switch the tram track tool to underground mode and connect adjacent stops. Inspect each preview for a continuous route and a buildable slope where the track rises toward the surface. A stop icon over the right district is not enough if the buried rails stop short of its platform.
3. Keep or build a surface tram depot with a road and track connection. Add a short surface tram spur and transition it into the tunnel. Check that a tram can travel from the depot to the first underground stop before buying a fleet for the loop.
4. Create one loop in the line manager, selecting every underground stop in travel order. Assign one tram and watch it leave the depot, enter the tunnel, stop at each platform and return. Correct a broken segment or wrong stop order before adding a second direction.
5. When the first loop boards passengers, add the opposite-direction loop if the town’s shape and waiting counts justify it. Inspect waiting passengers, boardings and town traffic after both have run. Retire redundant surface service only after the replacement carries riders.

In Warwick, the creator builds two loops in opposite directions. That works for this layout because riders can reach different sides of the town without riding all the way around, but a compact town may need only one. If a tram cannot find a path, follow its proposed route from depot through the surface-to-underground connection; if it runs empty, inspect stop entrances and feeder coverage before changing vehicle capacity.

Quick diagnosis when a route looks complete but delivers nothing#

What you see	Check next
Producer has stock, but pickup vehicle stays empty	Integrated loading dock or station catchment, compatible vehicle, load rule and cargo category. Stock need not appear on the origin platform first.
Vehicle reaches the destination loaded, but the town receives nothing	Unloading stop, district catchment, receiving demand and any missing final truck leg.
Industry or warehouse stock is full	Outgoing line, destination demand and catchment, cargo category and pickup frequency. An industry destroys excess output once its stock limit is reached.
Vehicle factory receives sheet metal and machines but does not produce	Tire supply and the factory’s input stocks. The official recipe needs all three inputs.
Vehicles are produced but town supply stays unchanged	Output pickup and delivery to the town building demanding Vehicles, with compatible Flatbed transport.
Second town receives no bricks	How much the first stop unloaded; separate the town deliveries if needed.
Airport or underground tram is quiet	Local feeder and stop catchment at both ends, then passenger waiting and actual boardings.
Helicopter flies but loses money	Full round-trip cargo, pickup and drop-off, operating cost and whether a cheaper mode can serve the same demand.

Let a full delivery cycle finish before judging a change. At the destination, look for the town receiving the good, the factory consuming its inputs, or passengers completing the trip. Increase capacity where the queues form, then check the next full cycle.