Building the New Line

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Building the New Line
Development Team
Developer	Stunt Puppy Entertainment, Inc.
Publishers	Infogrames
Composers	Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell
Voice actors	Michael Angelis (UK) Robin Smith (US)
Overview
Platforms	PC
Released	2002
Release Guide
← Previous	Railway Adventures
Next →	Thomas Saves the Day

Building the New Line is a PC game developed by Stunt Puppy Entertainment, Inc. and published by Infogrames. It was released in 2002.

Gameplay

The Fat Controller 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

• Thomas
• Edward
• James
• Percy
• Sir Topham Hatt
• Bertie (does not speak)
• George (does not speak)
• Thumper (does not speak)
• Bulstrode (does not speak)
• Cranky (does not speak)

Locations

• Sir Topham Hatt's Office
• Tidmouth Sheds
• McColl Farm
• Ffarquhar Quarry
• Brendam
• Brendam Docks
• Knapford

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 the Clearwater Features era 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, a recreated 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 a recreated 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.
• A beta copy of the game is held by the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York, USA. [1]

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.
• When James is derailed if he hits broken track, much of the rear end of his tender is clipped off.
• At the quarry location, coal and rocks are stored in bags for some reason.
• All the engines have Henry's whistle sound at different pitches, Thomas has Henry's whistle half a step higher in pitch, Edward and Percy have Henry's whistle a step higher in pitch and James has Henry's whistle two steps higher in pitch.