RailDriver

Review: RailDriver By Nels Anderson (21 January 2003) An overall look at the RailDriver control sitting in place of the keyboard. Behind the glare you can see the RailDriver manager on the video screen. Click on this or any other picture in this article for a larger image. Conclusion Usually when writing a review I hold off the conclusion until the end of the article. But here I'll make an exception. You want one of these. You know you do. Anyone who is serious about driving trains needs a re...

RailDriver Preview By Rich Garber (18 December 2002) To my surprise, an email showed up at my door asking me if I wanted to participate as an early beta tester for the RailDriver unit. Right smack in the middle of creating and testing activities for the WV&O RR, I said, 'you bet!' Activity testing is one of those times when I'm the crankiest because I'm not the happiest of campers when it comes to running MSTS because I use the keyboard/mouse combination. Two days later a large box showed up via UP...

Sandpatch By Nels Anderson (11 December 2002) I probably mentioned in my last review that running North American style freight trains is my favorite thing to do in train-simming. There have been some nice freight routes produced, but not much for my part of the country -- the U.S. northeast. We may not have the Rocky Mountains, but we do have some interesting and challenging terrain (hey, the "Berkshire" type steam locomotive is named after mountains here in Massachusetts...you ...

The Cajon Pass Route By Nels Anderson (8 October 2002) Everyone has their "thing" when it comes to areas of railroading, and my thing is freight. So when 3DTrainStuff offered me a copy of their new add-on The Cajon Pass Route I could hardly pass up the chance.     The Cajon Pass is located not far from Los Angeles, California, but far enough to be a whole different world terrain-wise, with high mountains and parched deserts...and lots of rail traveling through. Both the BNSF an...

German Railroads - The Bigge Lake By Robert R. Murphy (1 October 2002) When I received the assignment from Nels to review this product, I optimistically told him it would only take me a week and a half. He told me to take my time and play with it a while, and I'm glad he did. To put it bluntly, for me, this add-on breathed new life into Train Simulator. I must admit that the default routes had provided me with a lot of virtual railroading enjoyment. But the well-known Marias Pass b...

American Classics By Robert Murphy (9 July 2002) In May, Just Trains released American Classics, an MSTS add-on developed by the members of Train Artisan. Since MSTS has been around for a year now, and many have joined the world of train-simming only recently, a bit of review is in order. When Microsoft Train Simulator became available, TrainSim.Com was created in the image of FlightSim.Com and immediately became the premier download and forum site on the Web. One of the first subjects in...

NALW's Big Boy By Nels Anderson (4 July 2002) Introduction Since Microsoft Train Simulator first came out just over a year ago, probably the most asked for add-on has been a Big Boy locomotive. Now, thanks to the team at NALW, the wait is over and the Big Boy is ready to roll in MSTS. By at least some measurements, the Union Pacific 4000-series, 4-8-8-4 articulated steam locomotives built by ALCO and known as "Big Boy" are the largest steam locomotives ever built. Every asp...

UK Record Holders Of Steam By Nels Anderson (4 June 2002) Class: Princess Coronation Railroad: LMS Name: Duchess of Hamilton Number: 6229 Class: Princess Coronation Railroad: LMS Name: Coronation Number: 6220 Class: A4 Express Railroad: LNER Name: Mallard Number: 4468 Class: A4 Express Railroad: LNER Name: Silver Link Number: 2509 Class: King Railroad: GWR Name: King Edward I Number: 6024 The UK Branch team at 3D Train Stuff is ...

Euro Loco By Henri Patey (28 May 2002) Euro Loco Includes: (Great Britain) BR HST 125 (Europe) Eurostar (Germany) DB High speed ICE2 (Germany) DB V100.213 Shunter (France) SNCF High speed TGV Duplex (France) SNCF BB15000 (Netherlands) IRM Regiorunner (Netherlands) NS2200 (Italy) High Speed ETR500 Authentic mix of freight cars The Euro Loco Pack by ChristTrains is a great addition to your MSTS collection! The great variety of locomotives plus passenger and f...

TGV By Robert Jubb (17 May 2002) The first high-speed rail travel begin in Japan with the original Bullet train. From there, train travel between major cities could begin to compete with short haul air travel. SNCF (Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer francais) was the first European rail network to bring high speed rail travel to the masses of France. It began in the early 1980's with the TGV Sud-Est, the first high speed railway line in France, running from the Gare de Ly...