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I was introduced to rail sims many years ago (2005ish) by a friend who was, at the time, a train driver in Europe. Back then, if you liked trains, there wasn't a whole lot of choice; intricate working model railways for home or club, and computer sims such as Microsoft Train Simulator 1 (2 never finished development).

I bought in fully when Kuju put out Railworks (EA) which evolved eventually into what's known currently as Train Simulator Classic (DTG). Luckily today there are several different train simulations, such as; Trainsim World 6 (DTG), Simrail (Simrail S.A.), Trainz 22 (Auran), and Run 8 Version 3 (Run 8 Studios). All of these play somewhat differently and, like oranges, apples and tomatoes, are all fruit.

Trainsim World 6 is the current iteration of Dovetail Games rail simulator. It's built on the Unreal 4 engine and graphically looks pretty great. TSW6, like it's previous editions, allows the player to keep and use any and all DLC they've purchased for the TSW title, so your collection stays viable. Often DTG updates the DLC too. In this sim you are the driver/engineer, sitting in the cab of the locomotive power and operating the train. In some instances that operation can be fairly complicated in the study-sim sense, but for the most part the locos are relatively interesting and cool to run.

The series of DLC routes and other add-ons are primarily set in the UK, Germany, and the U.S., with at least one French route, a Dutch route, a Canadian freight route, two or three Swiss/Italian passenger and freight routes, and a recent Czech railway. The time span runs the gamut from steam power, to diesel, and to electric motives. Scenarios are a feature, along with time table runs, for both passenger rail and freight moves.
Note this is a single player sim.

I find it very enjoyable and I run this sim fairly often. Available on Steam, X-Box and Playstation.

Run 8 version 3
If you like the idea of big time North American freight trains, rolling through California, or down through Georgia into Florida, or even the mid-west and east coast, then this sim might be up your alley. This started out as a study-sim of railway operations, featuring multiplayer (engineer and conductor, MOW crews, dispatchers and so on, for roles ingame), and cold dark startups. It's also pretty sandboxy and has AI crews to run trains that players aren't running. Version 3 features AI Dispatch CTC which works really well and can be toggled on/off- so if you have a player wanting to dispatch, you can toggle the AI dispatcher off. Another prime feature of this sim is the simulation of train physics which has been heavily lauded by real life train crews and engineers. Played on full realism, it's not unheard of to break a knuckle (coupler) and then have to walk the length of the consist to locate the offending part and replace it. When we're talking 5000-7000 feet of train length that's a lot.

Note that the graphics are 'okay', not on par with TSW or other current sims, but it’s the physics engine and the smooth operational computing that makes this sim sweet. Besides, the sim is darn immersive enough that after awhile you don't really notice the environmental fidelity. The Run 8 devs have put out several DLC, both route-wise and a large variety of rail cars, locomotives, that can fill out your simming needs. You can jump into multiplayer (or single player) even without the DLC as the game provides proxies for missing freight wagons/cars/tankers etc.

Run 8's most extensive trackage is found in Southern California with hundreds of miles modelled- trust me, you can spend a lot of hours just running mainline trains, or locals, or working in the big yards like Barstow or San Bernardino. Both BNSF and UP are featured. Next up would be the south east US 'A'-Line run by CSX, with extensive trackage in Georgia and northern Florida. They also have DLC for Pennsylvania coal trains.
This sim is a lot of fun to play with like-minded people. I was, for awhile, part of a sim group who operated a 24/7 version of the SoCal rail network. The organiser produced a 'snapshot' of a single 24 hour period that had all the traffic and yard movements, along with locals and Amtrak passenger trains. Our objective was to complete every single action on that 24hr day, then do it all again. It took us several days of real time to complete one cycle lol. A ton of fun was had.

If interested you can check out Run 8 here: https://www.run8studios.com/

Trainz 22
The Trainz series by Auran has been around quite some time and has produced a variety of versions. It's seen as mainly a model railway simulator where one's basement/attic is almost endless in size. One of the key features is the ability to build your own layouts and access thousands of assets in their download service. You can also purchase ready-made routes which are based on real-life routes. In this sim you can drive the locomotive power from in-cab or birds eye view it using a controller similar to the controllers used in model railways.

This game is available on Steam, but really do your research before you buy, as there are multiple versions for purchase all featuring different things, including a brief paid-for access to their download service (allows 'full-speed' downloading with a 'ticket', highly restricted download speeds if you don’t have a ticket). Graphically this can be a lovely sim, however, depending on assets you add, can be a mixed bag graphically. I have friends who love this sim for the building, but it's not high on my list of 'to play' rail simulators.

Simrail
Simrail is a relatively new entry into the train sim environment and concentrates on the vast rail network in Poland. You get to drive the trains (high fidelity, a bit of a study-sim level) or be a dispatcher operating signal boxes etc. It is primarily a multiplayer game, but also features single player (which is great if you are trying to learn how to drive a particular loco before jumping in to MP and causing all sorts of angst if you mess up).
This is a Unity Engine game, looks very very good, and plays really well on the PC. I've only just got into playing this one, and there are, at time of this writing, four DLCs that are nicely priced. I support this sim because I love Euro railways. Simrail is available on Steam.


So that's my quick summary of probably the four most popular railsims. There are other rail games, such as Railroader that are worth checking out. It's a great hobby and as relaxing as building a model railway can be. If you have questions don't hesitate to ask. Thanks for reading!

Cheers!

I was wondering what happened to Train Sims, thanks for bringing me up to speed Leaf.

I like trains, but I cannot say I love trains, and have had some looks down the years, I bet there's are one or two of these I would enjoy, but suspect it would have trouble holding my attention over a longer haul, pun intended.

Is the game play compelling? Or is it just cool because trains are cool? Like a virtual playground for those of use who grew up on model trains?

Happy to do so, Ter. Thanks for reading.

Great questions DB. I'm going to give a wishy washy reply (sorry!). The sims I've mentioned have compelling game play but do so in different ways.

1. In the Trainz series, for example, the simulation can easily be seen as a model train/model railroad sim that, unlike the spatial limitations of a real life layout at home or in a model railroad club house, you can develop a setting (anything from fictional to prototypical) and then run your collection of trains with interactive industries, passenger stops/terminals etc. In earlier editions I spent a lot of time building a route with the tools provided, then running trains, adjusting the build and so on. If you are into computer modelling you can even build and add your own creations into the sim.

2.Run 8 simulates real railroad operations in North America, but also simulates the operation of locomotives in high fidelity (you can also change settings to make it more accessible). There are quite a few roles you can take on in Run 8. From the challenge of CTC dispatching (making sure trains are routed properly, getting to where they have to go, setting signals, authorizing MOW work and putting restrictions in place, deciding who gets to move first, last, or who gets stuck on a siding to await someone else to bypass and so on), running locals as an engineer, or even being the conductor who does the uncoupling/coupling of strings of cars that serve so many industries-- picking up/dropping off rail cars and tankers. You can spend hours work the yards and puzzling out how you want to take apart consists, setting out cars headed for somewhere, lining up cars to go elsewhere. Run 8 also features working hump yards where you can spend hours humping consists and organizing new trains for the yard dudes. You can also just be a mainline engineer, operating your train that might consist of a set of three power locos on the head end, two on the back end- the gameplay allows you to operate those adjunct locos just like they do all linked up irl. The physics is the best I've ever played with in a train sim. Say you're running a train that's mostly loaded and 5500' long. Thousands of tons of weight. Starting that train going even on 0 % grade is interesting and needing attention. Air brake compressor pushing air down lines that connect for over a lie in length (compressed air forces the brakes open, in the event of a brake-line failure the air rushes out causing the brakes to apply). Then once the brakes are mostly off you can start slowly applying a notch of throttle (or 2). You will start moving and as the locos pick up the slack in the couplers you'll see you're moving but the last unit is still sitting there. That begins the stress on the couplers- too much force and you'll snap those hunks of steel like dry twigs. Once you do get the whole shebang moving you have to baby the throttle, then worry about gradient changes, even subtle ones, which all affect your train speed and so also the stress on the couplers. It's a challenge, can be hard, but darn rewarding. What I like about Run 8 is I can sit down for six hours or I can sit down for half an hour-- in single player you can save at anytime and when you come back you can just keep going.

3. Trainsim World 6- this is a really good train driving sim. The gameplay is compelling mainly because you are being scored as you drive, gaining experience points (Action Points) that evaluate how well you ran the train. Score high gain a better medallion. From time to time accumulation of APs unlocks a Steam Achievement. But seriously, the compelling part is the challenge offered up by a specific route, type of train, and the objectives needing completion. You can run scenarios which are usually interesting, you can pick 'journey' scenarios which tracks your progress on a particular route, or you can pick a locomotive from a list that appears in a route and run the actual rl time table. Routes usually contain both passenger services and freight services so you can choose. Some routes, like the London GOBLIN Line have a lot of short services so if you only have 30 minutes to play you can probably get a run completed, or save to return. 98% of the routes in TSW6 are authentic recreations that use things like geodetic data maps to build from so trackage is very accurate. The developers include 3rd party companies (e.g., Just Trains, the twin of Just Flight) and each route is handcrafted. Some are modern, some are historic. There are some DCS level locomotives available as DLC if you decide that's how you want to play. TSW6 is very accessible, and has a lot of actual support via forums, Discord, Twitter...er X... Farcebook, and so on. One thing I like is that they tend to put out yearly versions in September where you can grab the latest edition at no cost if you have one of the previous iterations. DTG also tend to have a LOT of sales throughout the year, often with some deeeep discounts. Which is good as there would be no way that'd I'd own as much of the DLC as I do without the sales events. This might give you an idea of what goes into the routes for this sim

Thanks for the explainers. I don't think I've ever had a train sim/game. As a kid in the 70's though, my dad and I had a town-famous model train setup, and the folks would come each Christmas to see it. I remember going to the model train stores, which were always so cool. All those trains, plus all of these stores have operating displays and trains running around the store. Or they did, in those days, and it was all sort of magical for a little kid. Probably not too many of those sorts of shops around any more.

Anyway, I don't think I could get in to it all that much if it is like Flight Simulator for trains. I could get in to a game about trains if the focus is shading toward building an empire, increasing efficiency, expanding operations. I'd still want to be able to hop in the driver's seat, but if it isn't totally authentic I could live with it. I think there have been a few train games down the years like this, but I never felt compelled to jump in. European Truck Simulator is sort of what I'm thinking of, but even that game I didn't get in to for long. Fun to play with my then-young son, but haven't fired it up in a long time. Trains are cooler than trucks, so it might hit differently. I reckon there are a few games out there like this right now.

You've got me thinking about it anyway, maybe down the line I'll pick one up, pun intended.

My pleasure. I did some N-Scale model railroad stuff when I was in my early teens, basically learned how to make decent looking scenery and that was highly useful when I got into table top wargaming in my late twenties. Lots of fun.

I haven’t played a Train Sim either although I always had an interest and leaf is percolating that interest, thanks Leaf.