Brasswhistle

Forty real locomotives wait in the shed, from Puffing Billy and Rocket to Mallard, the Big Boy, the GG1 and the L0 maglev. Each card lists the builder, designer, mass, power and record speed, then tells the life of the engine year by year, from the drawing board to the museum. Put two engines side by side and every figure lines up for comparison. The quizzes are built from the same cards. In one you guess an engine from its works plate, and every extra line you uncover costs points. Another gives you sixty seconds of true or false claims, answered by throwing the points left or right. You also order engines by weight or speed, place them on a timeline by the year they first ran, and couple each one to its country or works. Eight new questions arrive every morning, the same for everyone. Thirty longer answers cover questions people ask at the depot gate, such as why steam gave way to diesel. Points raise you through six grades, from Lamp Boy to Superintendent, and slowly relight six bays of a depot due to close, each bay opening a letter from its former station mistress. No account, no ads, no network needed.

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