One note: I tend to be more interested in the networks than in the specifics of the trains themselves, so I'm not that knowledgeable about train engines and what not. Maybe you can help me out with that.
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
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The game I’m currently playing is of an Esperanto-speaking island nation called Kaktoinsulo, or Cactus Island in English. Why Cactus Island? Look at this:
The island is 90 percent desert, with strips of green along the coasts.
Why Esperanto-speaking? Here’s the back story. Named Cactus Island by Captain James Cook during his exploration of the Pacific Ocean (the island is located somewhere between Hawaii and Latin America), Great Britain basically ignored the arid land and concentrated their efforts elsewhere. Around 1900, a consortium of British mining companies discovered sizeable amounts of natural resources on the island. Recruiting workers from Britain, however, proved difficult, as not many were willing to take their chances on the island. The British government agreed to allow foreign workers to bypass normal immigration procedure in order to live and work on Cactus Island. And boy, did they come! Pacific Islanders, Latin Americans, East and South Asians, Africans, and even a few from North America, Europe and Australia made the long trip to Cactus Island.
By 1920, the island consisted of a true melting pot of various races, cultures, and languages. Communication was a huge problem, which led to distrust among the various ethnic groups. Governance proved to be difficult for the mining companies, who asked the British government to take over. Britain wanted no part of the mess, and they subsequently turned the island over to the League of Nations, who set up a trust territory.
One of the first actions taken by the League of Nations was to establish a common language, one that would cause no trouble among the islanders. Several experts of Esperanto, an artificial language created several decades previously, were recruited by the League to establish the language as Cactus Island’s official tongue. Free lessons were taught, street and store signs were amended, and town names were changed. The name of the island was Esperantized as well, to Kaktoinsulo.
The establishment of Esperanto in Kaktoinsulo coincided with the establishment of another institution: mass transport. Kaktoinsulo Transporto (KT) was founded soon after the League of Nations took over, with a short rail line that began between two towns on the southwest coast: Jozefa Citadelo and Fiera Akademio.
The game is currently in 1940, but I took some screenshots around 1933. I’ll post those first before going to 1940, but before I do that, here is a shot of the southwest corner of Kaktoinsulo, where KT began operations.
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Feel free to post any comments, suggestions, questions, or complaints.
By the way, I cannot speak a word of Esperanto, although I have a slight interest in the language. If time allows, I will study a bit of Esperanto. This game may even spur me on!