Building the New Line is a PC game developed by Stunt Puppy Entertainment, Inc. and published by Infogrames. It was released in 2002.
Gameplay
Sir Topham Hatt thinks that the Island of Sodor needs a new branch line, so it is up to the player to decide where to build the new line, at either the Farm, the Docks or the Quarry.
First the player must choose to play as either Thomas, James, Edward or Percy and then start work on building new lines from a template. Then the player can decorate the line with scenery and then choose what produce can be collected from certain stops. The player can then test the new line where a variety of obstacles creep up (including George rolling over the rails, rocks falling on the line, the engine derailing, etc.).
Finally, the engine has to be mended and cleaned at the Works and the station decorated for the grand opening.
Characters
Playable characters
Non-playable characters
- Sir Topham Hatt
- Bertie (Does not speak)
- George (Does not speak)
- Thumper (Does not speak)
- Bulstrode (Does not speak)
- Cranky (Does not speak)
Locations
Trivia
- The characters in this game are voiced by Michael Angelis in the UK and Robin Smith in the US.
- The player has the choice of which track an engine rides on.
- In an advertisement for this game, it had different graphics and some activities were able to be skipped, and Edward and James' tenders were missing.
- A few music themes from series 1 and 2 have been used for each activity:
- In the main menu, Percy's theme is used.
- While selecting an engine at the beginning of the game, an unused version of Bill and Ben's theme is used.
- While building the track layout, Sir Topham Hatt's theme is used.
- The farm location uses an unused version of Toby's theme.
- The quarry location uses Donald and Douglas' theme.
- The docks location uses Trevor's theme.
- While repairing your engine, Bertie's theme is used.
- While decorating the engine at the station, Henry's theme from the first series episode, The Flying Kipper, is used.
- When the station officially opens, Harold's theme is used.
- Various voice clips of Robin Smith's narration found in both the UK and US game files show there were going to be more items to select to deliver, but were cut for unknown reasons.
Goofs
- Robin Smith is credited in the UK credits despite none of his characters speaking in that dub.
- Thomas' smokebox saddle is blue.
- One of Percy's sandboxes is dark green.
- Thomas' frame extensions turn blue when he is preparing for the grand opening.
- At the quarry location, coal and rocks are stored in bags for some reason. This also applies to flour at the farm and the docks.
- All the engines have Henry's whistle sound at different pitches.