I am a Conductor for a Class 1 Railroad. I saw this and played a demo because I was interested to see how "real" this was. The inside of the cabs are modeled accurately, with the controls and interiors spot on. Aside from that, this game doesn't really do a good job of simulating trains or railroading at all. You see, in the Professional world of Railroading we have a name for people who loves trains and dont work for the Railroad: Railbuff's (or Railfans). Yes, REAL railroaders look down on these folks. Because Railfans only see the perceived "mystique" and "glory" of trains. In reality working on the railroad can be grueling and quite dangerous. This "simulator" plays on Railfans love and ignorance of trains. They get to work the throttle and brakes and make the train go back and forth and blow the horn- just like playing with a train set. However the physics of railroading does not translate at all in this game: slack, bunching, "train feel", grade, dynamic braking, ect. Railroading is more than going back and forth on a joyride. The way the train feels as it is operating is a big indicator about what is happening to it at any moment and this fact is something a simulator game like this can never capture. That and it is very inaccurate in terms of how yard/ track switches operate, signals, handbrakes, ect ect. I guess working for a real railroad ruins the "experience" (if you can call it that), but I have flown a plane before and even computer flight simulators convey more realism than this train simulator does. Don't buy it!! And if you are a Railbuff who thinks this will get you anywhere near the real thing- it wont, never, ever, ever!!! If you love trains so much then get a job with the railroad. Just remember to keep your Railfanning a secret because the Railroads dont like Buffs- they end up staring at the trains passing instead of paying attention to the shove they are supposed to be protecting and end up derailing something or hurting someone!! Bottom line is: This game is just that- a game. It is not realistic nor representative of how trains actually operate!!!

To be blunt: this is NOT a train simulation. It is a train driving game. The physics are extremely unrealistic, as anyone who actually knows about trains can attest (and from the looks of the reviews here, most people do not know about trains). The graphics are amazing. I'll give it that. But that's all I will give it. If you are running an SD40-2 coupled to 100 coal hoppers, you can make it up a mountain at 40 MPH in notch 1, something that would never happen in real life. Everything is DLC. Compare this to other train simulators, where there a huge amounts of free content available. And you are letting steam on to your computer.

To me, the most important feature of a simulator is that it simulates the controls and the physics as close as possible to the real thing. When driving a recent GE's locomotive, I expect to see working Integrated Function Displays. If the menus are not modeled, I expect at least the main screen to be completely working exactly as the real thing. It should show the brake pipe pressure, the main reservoir pressure, the equalizing reservoir pressure, the brake cylinder pressure of the locomotive, the speed, the estimated speed in one minute, the reverser position, the power and brake lever positions, etc. The estimated speed in one minute is especially useful. Since you are in a simulator and can't feel G forces, it's hard to feel what is the current acceleration of the train. Right now, only the speed needle is modeled. The controls that show up at the bottom of the screen could be improved. The power lever should show a notch number instead of a percentage. The brake lever should have tick marks to the side to show where are mininum reduction and full service. The automatic brake, the independent brake and the dynamic brake all use the same lever and you need to press one of three buttons beside the lever to choose which brake you want the lever to control. You can obviously see why this is a bad control scheme. I don't like the horn. It's hard to do the short and long blow patterns properly. The horn keeps on going too long after you release the horn button. As it is right now, it feels more like a toy than a simulator and the game loses its appeal to me. Aside from those issues, the game is fine.