In Railroad Tycoon 2 you are in control of a player. As with real life, often the end goal of setting up a transport company is to make yourself rich. Although pursuit of this goal isn't particularly rewarding, because you can't really keep the money, building up personal wealth to a particular level is often necessary to win many scenarios and campaign missions. So here is how it works.

As Chairman of your company you receive an annual salary based on how well you have done your job. However, the Chairman's salary pales in comparison with other opportunities for serious money making, on the stock market.

Having shares in a company are the best way to make money. Shares can make you money by two ways. The first is that if your company pays out dividends, then all of those who hold shares will receive a dividend. The other way of making money is by buying shares in the hope that their value will go up. You usually buy 1,000 shares at a time. Keep your eye on all the companies. If you think a company is going to do well, buy some stock in it. Similarly if you think its going to do badly, sell the stock.

Running a successful company is key, but how to get the most out of your company is different. As Chairman of your company you can set your dividend rate. The board of directors will only let you set a dividend rate which reflects the companies profits. If the company doesn't make as much profit, the board of directors will lower the dividend, and if your cash should go negative it will be suspended altogether. High dividend rates are quite good for a way of giving yourself money in the short term, and they also boost share price. However, in the long term it isn't a good strategy since your company won't be able to retain enough cash to use to expand operations and grow. The idea is that if all profits are used to build new track and trains which in turn become profitable. So low to mid dividend range is probably a good idea. However, if you are playing a scenario and it is only a few years before the deadline, I suggest whacking up the dividend rate as high as possible.

Another option you have available to you is to "Buy back stock". This has a double-fold benefit on your personal wealth. First of all, because there are fewer shares in circulation, it pushes up the price of each share. The value of your stock will go up. This is also beneficial for dividends. Because there are less shares to hand out money to, each share will bring in a larger dividend. The only drawback about the "Buy back stock" option is that your company cash goes down. This means less cash for investment which may mean less modest expansion plans. This option is best exercised probably when your company has cash on hand but doesn't know

If you don't have any cash you can still buy shares. Similarly if you don't have any shares you can still buy some. If you don't have any cash

The Railroad Tycoon 2 Economy goes through cycles just like the real world. During a period of boom, everybody works very hard, often overtime and earn lots of money. But as employers find it difficult to find staff, workers demand higher and higher wages, until employers can't afford it any more and sack some workers. The workers stop spending as much which means fewer goods and services are sold which means lower profits and more people are laid off work, and it spirals down into a recession. Then because everyone is out of work, they are prepared to accept low pays, which means employers can afford to employ more workers and a recovery starts.

That’s the cycle. All companies will perform very badly in a recession, even worse if things go really wrong and a depression occurs. During this time it is likely the price of stock will fall, so some its time to sell, and possibly do some short selling for companies who aren't doing particularly during normal periods. During a boom share prices will inevitably increase