Big Walk Train Guide: Unlock, Start and Stop the Trains

Quick answer

To start the railway, solve the five challenges associated with the Blue Tower, return their collected pieces to the control panel at the top, take the released key, and carry it through the marked key-cutting route. Insert the finished key at the station lock. A launch-week Steam guide and a recorded player route agree on this overall sequence.

Spoiler warning: this guide names the five Blue Tower challenge areas and explains the train controls and Big Ride route.

Evidence note: these are player-tested launch-week steps, not an official House House walkthrough. Individual puzzle layouts can scale with party size, and a later patch may change object positions or achievement behavior.

How to unlock and start the trains

1. Find the Blue Tower. The relevant control panel is at the top of the blue lighthouse-like tower, not inside one of the stopped trains.
2. Complete the five nearby challenge groups. The Steam guide names Turnstile House on the cliffs across from the tower, Locked Room to the east by the cliff edge, Obstacle Course to the southeast, Blindfolded Obstacle Course to the northeast, and Charades Locked Room near the giant green wall.
3. Place the five collected pieces in the tower panel. Completing only one or two rooms will not start a train. Return to the top and fill the full panel so that the key releases.
4. Take the released key through the cutting route. Follow the key-shaped directional markers and let the route's stations change the key. This is the same broad key-processing idea used by the Red Tower and Map Room route.
5. Insert the finished key at the train station. The player video shows the railway activating after this final station interaction. Reaching a carriage or pulling its internal lever before the station is unlocked does not replace this step.

If the trains still do not move, check three separate states: all five Blue Tower pieces are present, the key has passed through its processing route, and the finished key has been inserted at the station. Treat those as distinct requirements rather than repeatedly pulling the carriage control.

How many trains are there?

The inspected Steam guide describes three trains: red, yellow, and green. After they are unlocked, they travel continuously around the railway loop and run in the same direction. This is a shared transport system, not three separately unlocked routes in the source material.

Use the colors and the rail direction to tell friends which train you are approaching. If the group splits up, agree on a station or landmark rather than saying only “the train,” because a different colored train may arrive first.

How to stop a moving train

The lever inside the first carriage is a stop control. Pull and hold the lever to make the train stop; releasing it allows the loop to continue. This distinction matters:

• the Blue Tower key and station lock start the railway system;
• the first-carriage lever stops an already moving train.

A player who finds the lever while every train is still frozen has not bypassed the Blue Tower sequence. Likewise, a player waiting at a station may need a teammate already aboard to hold the lever long enough for everyone to board.

Is the train the fastest way across Big Walk?

Not necessarily. The launch-week achievement guide says the tunnel network is faster, while the train is slower but easier to follow and useful for the ride-related achievement. Use the railway for orientation, sightseeing, regrouping, or Big Ride—not as a guaranteed shortest route to every objective.

How do you get Big Ride?

The community achievement guide labels Big Ride as missable, and the dedicated video associates it with riding the activated train. Unlock the railway before the group's late-game point of no return, board a moving train, and verify that the achievement records during the current run. Do not assume that merely entering a stationary carriage has completed it.

Achievement triggers can be affected by host state or launch-week bugs. If one player does not receive Big Ride while others do, record which player hosted, whether the train was moving, and whether the station key had been inserted before retrying. The sources inspected here do not establish a universal recovery command.

Party-size and patch caveat

The official FAQ says many Big Walk challenges scale for two, three, and four-or-more players. The five named Blue Tower objectives remain a useful navigation checklist, but their internal cooperation requirements may not look exactly like a four-player recording. Prefer the objective names and landmarks over copying every movement from one video.

Source strength

• Official confirmation: challenge scaling by group size.
• Cross-checked player route: Blue Tower objectives, five collected pieces, released and processed key, station activation.
• Steam player guide: three train colors, same-direction loop, first-carriage stop lever.
• Community achievement guidance: Big Ride is treated as missable and should be checked before late-game progression.
• Not confirmed: that the train is fastest, a guaranteed achievement-recovery method, or permanent object positions across future patches.