🚂 Freight Hauler

A heavy freight train game in your browser

Freight Hauler hands you the controls of a real working train: two or three diesel locomotives at the front of a long line of hopper cars, boxcars, tank cars or containers. There is nothing to download. The game loads in a browser tab and you start in Ridge Yard, next to rows of parked wagons, an engine shed and the tall tower of the Ridge Mine loadout. Push the throttle forward and the diesels roar, black exhaust puffs from their stacks, and slowly the whole train begins to move.

Driving freight is different from driving a passenger train. A loaded coal train weighs over two thousand tons, so it takes a long time to speed up and even longer to stop. The air brakes take several seconds to apply and several more to release. Every decision has to be made early, and that is what makes it fun.

Load coal at the mine

In the Coal Run you start with ten empty hopper cars. Ahead of you stands the mine loader, a steel tower with a big bin of coal and a chute over the track. To fill the train you must crawl through it at between 2 and 8 miles per hour. A loading panel at the top of the screen shows your speed and turns green when it is just right. Too fast and the coal spills over the side, too slow and the chute jams. Get it right and every hopper rolls out of the loader heaped with coal, and the train gets much heavier.

Climb the mountain pass

From the yard the Ridge Line climbs a 2 percent grade through forests and hairpin curves to a tunnel under the summit. A heavy train can stall on a hill like this, and if it stops it can start rolling backwards. Keep the power up, watch your speed and don't let it drop too low. After the tunnel, the crew change at Pine Pass is a proper stopping test: bring the whole train to a halt with the front at the yellow board.

The way down is just as hard. On the long descent to the harbor, gravity pushes the train faster and faster, and the speed limit is 45 mph. Brake early and gently, keep the speed steady and cross the steel bridge over the gorge under control. At the bottom, Harbor Terminal waits by the sea with stacks of containers, gantry cranes and a cargo ship at the dock.

Five jobs and three sets of locomotives

Besides the Coal Run there is the Mountain Pass, with sixteen fully loaded hoppers and a red signal to deal with on the way down. The Container Express is a lighter, faster train that has to reach the terminal on time. Night Freight takes a string of tank cars over the mountain after dark, lit only by your headlight. Free Drive lets you take a mixed train of every wagon type anywhere on the line. You start with the Orange Workhorse, a pair of diesels. At 8 stars you unlock the three-unit Blue Mountain set, and at 18 stars the powerful Green Giant.

Why kids love freight trains

Long freight trains are one of the great sights of the railroad: the rumble of the diesels, the endless line of cars and the caboose bringing up the rear. Freight Hauler lets young train fans be the engineer and learn how weight, hills and brakes really work. Players practise patience, planning and fine control rather than speed, and every successful haul adds to their lifetime tons delivered.

Freight Hauler is free, needs no account, and keeps your stars and totals only in your own browser. It works with a keyboard or with the on-screen lever and buttons on phones and tablets. See the Parents & Safety page for privacy details. Prefer passengers? Try Rail Driver 3D or Metro Driver 3D, or browse the Train Games hub.

Frequently asked questions