This tutorial will teach you how to buy (purchase, build), sell (delete), and modify trains. Modifying trains allows you to add or remove engines and wagons.

How do I purchase trains?

Trains can be purchased from train Depots (the trains start from the depot you built them in).

1. Click on the depot (see Building depots for how to build them).
   
   

   Clicking the depot
2. The Train Depot window opens. This window displays all trains currently in this depot. Click on New Vehicle. A new window opens.
   
   

   Selecting New Vehicles from Depot window
3. This window displays all engines and cargo wagons available to you. Choose the engine you want to buy by clicking it (a description of the engine is also displayed). Once you are happy with your choice, click the Build Vehicle button.
   
   

   Buying an engine
   A new window opens - this window shows where your train is (for now, in the depot). Later on, you will give Orders to your train using this window. If you happen to close it, reopen it by clicking the train in the depot.
   
   

   The train window
   Your train's engine is now displayed in the Train Depot window.
   
   

   Newly built train engine in the depot
4. Now you can choose the wagons you want to buy. Select them in the same way as the engine and click Build Vehicle the desired number of times, e.g. 7 times to build 7 wagons. If there is only 1 train in the depot, the wagons are attached to it automatically. Different types of wagons can be added to the same train (e.g. 5 grain hoppers and 3 livestock vans).
   
   

   Buying wagons
5. You should now see your new train with wagons in the depot window.
   
   

   Newly built train in the depot

Tips for buying trains

Every engine and wagon takes up half a game square (excluding some NewGRF vehicles). So an 8 piece train (1 engine and 7 wagons) takes up 4 game squares.

An 8 piece train fitting in 4 squares

Keep in mind that engines with 2 parts count as 2 pieces and not 1 piece!

Remember that a train too long to fit in a station will take much longer to load and unload. Make sure you build stations long enough for your trains.

You can put more than one engine on a train by first building your train with 1 engine then building a second engine and drag/dropping it on the previously built train. This is most useful with Realistic acceleration turned ON. This allows trains to accelerate and climb hills faster. This is most apparent with very long trains (10 wagons long or more) that otherwise might never reach their top speed.

If you play with add-on engines and wagons that you can get via NewGRFs, these engines and wagons can be longer or shorter than half a game square. In this case, the train building window which to the right of the train displays the train length in tiles. (Note: Prior to version 1.1, OpenTTD displayed the train length as the number of half tile equivalents).

How do I sell / delete trains?

You can sell the train one piece at a time, sell several pieces, sell the whole train at once, or sell all trains in the depot at once.

• To sell 1 piece or the engine itself, just click & drag that piece to the top-most icon ( ) in the Train Depot window.
  
  

  Selling a train piece - the one being dragged

• To sell several pieces - a train piece and all pieces to the right of it:
  • Click & drag the piece to the second icon from the top ( ) in the Train Depot window.
  • Hold Ctrl while selling a piece (click&drag to top-most icon).

• To delete your entire train, drag the engine to the second icon.
  
  

  Selling several train pieces - last 3 wagons

• To sell all trains in the depot, click on the third icon from the top ( ). You will be asked to confirm that you want to sell all your trains in the depot.
  
  

  Selling all trains in the depot

How do I move around the wagons / engines?

You can move around wagons and engines by dragging them to the desired position.

Wagons can be moved:

• From one position in a train to another
• From one train to another

Engines can be moved:

• From one train to another train to be used as an additional engine
• From a multi-engined train to an empty space in depot list to be used as a separate train engine.

Holding CTRL while dragging a wagon allows you to move all wagons to the right of it. Dragging the first wagon (next to the engine) to another train while holding CTRL will transfer all wagons to the second train.

For more information, see Multi-engine trains, Selling an entire train.