- Pace35 · in between
- A wagon about every three seconds, rolling down unhurried; there's time to look, but you must think about the next one. A locomotive leaves with each complete train.
- Difficulty35 · in between
- Rather kind: a misrouted wagon goes back up the hump and comes back later, nothing breaks. Only on the seventh delay in one night does the night start again; after a restart the wagons roll a little more slowly.
- Tone50 · in between
- In between: a yard at night, deserted, squealing brakes, locomotive horns far off, but the warm light of the signal box and the pleasure of trains leaving complete.
- Story35 · in between
- Few words: the destinations on the signs, the name of each night, and nothing more. The story is the trains leaving.
- Scale50 · in between
- A marshalling yard, but every train heads for a far end of the country: the north, the sea, the mountains, the capital; and at the end, the last train on the viaduct.
- Form50 · in between
- A sorting game you understand at once, with a rule of its own: you set the switches for the leading wagon, and the ones behind take the same path unless you change something.
- Look50 · in between
- In between: rails, sleepers, coloured wagons with their symbols, floodlights cutting into the night, a few brake sparks, and stars overhead.
The theme
A marshalling yard on a moonless night, under the big orange floodlights. From the top of the hump, wagons roll down one by one, each with a destination: the North, the Sea, the Mountains, the Capital, the South, the East. You are the signal operator. You send each wagon to its track, and when a train is complete a locomotive comes to fetch it and takes it off into the night. At dawn the yard is empty, the floodlights go out one by one, and the last train crosses the far viaduct, every window lit.
The mechanics
Wagons roll down the hump onto the main line; at each switch they go straight on or turn off onto a sorting track. Tap the track the next wagon should go to (or type its number, or use the up and down arrows), and the switches set themselves. Watch out for wagons that follow each other: changing the switches too early sends the first one to the wrong place. A misrouted wagon goes back up the hump and delays the train; too many delays and the night starts again. Tracks change destination, wagons come in pairs, then there are six tracks.
Palette
Blue-black night #10121a, grey ballast #2a2c34, steel rails #8a8f9a, orange sodium floodlights #ff9a3c, wagons in their destination's colour: North blue #3a7bd5, Sea teal #2ec4b6, Mountains green #5aa860, Capital red #e0473a, South ochre #e8a03a, East violet #9a5ad8, each with its symbol. Big Shoulders Display for the title and signs, IBM Plex Sans Condensed for the rest. Industrial, calm, at night.
