Sincere thanks for all the kind messages. It is much appreciated. I will overcome and be back.
Sincere thanks for all the kind messages. It is much appreciated. I will overcome and be back.
Member since:11.06.2004
Reviews:265
Members who trust:66
This game was released in 2001.Some people did not give it much hope. After all it was a game about driving trains. Yet here we are at the end of 2004 and it is still there.
For the technology of the time it was quite good. But it could run slowly on some PC's. The hard drive requirement was large and there was no immediate adrenaline rush that you get with some games.
This could only apply for a small specialised corner of the game market. After all, how difficult could it be driving a train. O.K. so you had to follow the tutorial to learn how to start a train, and you learned how to stop one.
They are not like driving cars. Especially Steam Engines. Electric or diesels are easier, Take of the brakes, put into drive, apply power and away you go. What people do not realise is that a train can weigh in at hundreds of tons. That takes time to get moving, and time to stop.
The whole pace of this game is much slower than any car driving game or combat game. There you are in action at once. Here it takes time. You do not get large explosions and lots of violence.
O.K. So here are the basics.
These are the tech requirements. Should not be a problem with modern machines. Pentium II 266Mhz or better. Pentium III 350Mhz or better. Operating system; Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000 or XP. 32MB for early systems 64MB for 2000 up. Minimum 500MB hard disc space About 1.5 GB for a full install DirectX 7.Oa or better.4Mb video card capable of 800 x 600 32k colours Sound card with speakers or headphones. Monitor capable of 800 x 600 SVGA type. Those were the minimums. Now we have Graphics cards with 64MB, 128MB and 256MB. There are hard discs that now have multiple Gig capacity. This
is a point that I will take up later.
You get a two CD set with a good manual that describes each route and the activities on each.
You get 6 routes to drive over. They are:-
USA 1 Amtrak Electrified high speed Northeast Corridor Washington to Philadelphia
USA 2 Burlington Northern Santa Fe The spectacular Marias Pass in Montana. This route is Diesel operated
Euro 1 The railway from Settle to Carlisle with the Flying Scotsman.
Euro 2 Part of The Orient Express in 1930 Austrian Alps. Steam operated. Innsbruck to St Anton
Jap 1 Odakyu Electric Railway, An electrified line in one of the world’s busiest commuter cities, Tokyo.
Jap 2 Kyushu Railway Company. The mountainous Hisatsu line on the southern island of Kyushu. This line is again diesel and primarily for tourists.
There are activities ranging from the easy to the hard for each line. From driving a train of passengers from one station to another on time (easy) to running the length of a line with a full train in difficult conditions, Storm damage etc, to a time table. (Hard) Each route has an explore function where the normal rules do not apply. You will see no other traffic and can drive on the wrong line. Crash into buffers and the game will stop. You would be surprised how easy it is to crash sometimes. There are warning displays for when you exceed the set speed limits and in an activity you over run a red light, the game will stop. There is a save function where you can save a partly played scenario to come back to later, or go back to a point before you crashed.
I should say more about the individual activities for each route. They will present you with particular problems. Like dealing with a wagon where the wheel bearing is running hot. Or failed signals and damaged track where you have to reduce speed but still try to keep to a timetable.
Sometimes if you want to make things even more difficult for yourself, turn off the driving aids and try to fire and drive a steam loco with only the vision you get from the windows inside or sticking your head out of the side of the cab.
With Electrics and diesels, at least you are inside with a large window in front of you.
The simulation allows for a variety of conditions from full day to full night. From Summer to winter, with falling rain or snow.
There are also unexpected hazards of Deer or Hitchhikers on the line. They are not there for every run, and can be a surprise when they do pop up.
If you just want to sit back and enjoy the scenery then it would be best to take the tour of each route. There is an explanation for each one, where the camera takes you through the various positions, cab,passenger, line side etc. The camera position always defaults to the cab when you enter a tunnel and reverts to previous setting after emerging.
There are a number of controls that you can access apart from the driving controls. You can see the performance of a steam engine, how much coal and water you have left. How efficiently you are using the steam generated How much pressure in brakes etc.
Now to get back to the point of Hard discs. The mother board on a computer has 4 slots to take hard drives. The CD/DVD drive takes one as does the main hard drive. That leaves you with 2. If you are going to go in for this game in a big way then I suggest that you invest in a good, large capacity hard drive. A second drive. Here is where things start to get expensive. Prices vary such a lot. I would suggest something over 30GB as a minimum. 80GB or 100GB better. If you do not know how to install drive, get a professional shop to install it and set it up for you. Again I will say why later.
Now what makes this game special? In my opinion it is the fact that it is a simulation and that it has TOOLS. It has a route editor and an activity editor. The editor will not run at less than 1024 x 768.
You can use the route editor to alter an existing route, lay more track; add an extra station or a complete town if you want. Or you can create a whole new route, Every town, station, bridge, road or tunnel is there for you to make your route.
The activity editor can be used to alter an existing activity or to create new ones for existing or new routes.
And that is why I think this game is special. A whole community of people has grown up around this product. There are other commercial add ons and there are free sites. Some of the early add ons were not very good, but some now are superb.
There are communities in America, Australia, Russia, U.K., and Europe. They are all over the place. A lot of sites will have a free download, but may have a limit due to bandwidth. Some will make a charge,but then no limit on download. And this is where the large second drive comes in handy. There is so much out there that you can fill a drive with routes and stock easily. Full size. Narrow gauge,Steam, electric or diesel locomotives. Carriages and wagons from around the world and different periods. Trams. Every type of building imaginable. Road traffic, cars, lorry, busses. If you can think of it, probably somebody has made it.
A lot of people have put in a lot of effort into their creations and want you to share in them. They will ask that you not include them into any commercial product unless you have permission.
Some of the commercial add on routes are protected against alteration with the route editor, though you can alter activities and add new ones.
So, if you feel like a challenge, get this game and try to build your own route.
Now for the downside. There is always one. There should be a health warning printed on any of these products, warning that spending too much time on the computer rather than the wife or partner can be very detrimental to your health. Of course this can be true of any hobby, but here you are indoors and within range of an angered female. Somehow it is normally men who go in for these things. I apologise if there are any women who have suffered from an enraged partner when they were happily driving a train.
It has helped me to understand that a railway mans life is not an easy one. We may think that it is an easy life but this can give you a hint. It may only be a game but when your brakes fail and you have several hundred tons of train pushing you down a hill, you know that you are in trouble. All you can do is sit back and watch it happen.
This is not to everybody's taste, but I do enjoy myself with it. So far I have crashed on every line at least once. You really would not want to ride in any train that I tried to drive in the real world.
Finally. You will never suffer from leaves on the line as nobody seems to have made that as a hazard.
Cost about £35, but shop around. It is cheaper on Amazon.co.uk and you may find a bargain in your local shop.
In case you wondered my computer system has 3 hard disc drives and 5 removable storage drives.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
I Want One Of These Games! (too bad I haven't enough memory on any computer with a CD-ROM drive) ~ I would need it on a USB memory stick to play it on my (XP) WiND netbook
. . . ♥ jesi ♥
fabfrog5 12.03.2006 18:49
i like the sound of this one! i love trains, they are so exciting on board, or when they are at the station! a great review! :) x
gregslater84 24.12.2004 04:33
I was thinking of getting this for my friend who really wants to drive a train! Thanks!
Dec 4th, 2004
very helpful by (100%):
