alt Hacker NewsTrains can take you to the beach and away from civilization. Build a station where you want to go. At one point trains were the most practical way to get to national parks.
How often are you building treehouses that you need to pay hundreds of dollars extra a month to justify the cost, versus a one-time delivery fee?
If you build train station away from civilization pretty quickly it will be filled with civilization.
Trains are ok for mass transit. Rest of world is for cars.