Run8 Update 14 and MP15 Pack 2 Available

New Switcher Liveries!

Run8 Studios announces their latest pack - MP!15's in four new liveries -- BNSF Swoosh, NS, BN, and SP.

These complement the first five liveries (BNSF Heritage I, Amtrak, Union Pacific, CSX YN3 and Run8 RR)

Update 14 is also out for V3 which addresses a couple of minor issues in each route, and some updated station models. Dale posted the full change log in the Run8 forum here.

Update 14 introduces a feature that sounds...

A week ago, I was wondering "what in the heck can I write about this month?"...

Taxes? Too depressing....

UFL Football? I'd probably have to explain it to too many of you.

The upcoming NFL Draft?

Waiting a few days turned out to be good strategy, because a bunch of stuff hit over the course of a couple days, and it was all worth writing about.

So without further procrastination, let's get to it....

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Whether it's music, mo...

Ah, the 3DTrains Feather River Route.

It's iconic, and visually one of the best routes ever created prior to OpenRails...

And, it's back!

We're hosting the file here at Trainsim to help our our friends at 3DTrains, who have been without a sales site for over two years now.

There's an Information Page with details on the route, how to purchase, and how to install. This is one that I missed out on, and will be adding to my collection. I hope ever...

Running the Microsoft / Open Rails Train Simulator is a little different from other simulators, in that there are a lot of options available for add-ons (over 30,000 in our library alone), as well as companion applications that are used to create routes, activities and even new models. Adding to the complexity, some of these applications date back to 2001, when MSTS was first introduced. The Windows operating system has changed quite a bit since then, and as a result, the way older app install...

If you've downloaded an add-on, they should go into a common Content folder. Some people organize all of their routes and trains into a single folder, while others might organize them into regions or time eras.

Many have installers, but it's also common to simply have a set of folders that get copied within your content folder.

I'll be using C:\ORTSContent for this tutorial, but your...

It's Anniversary Week!

Looking back a few days, March 8th marked the one year anniversary of separating Trainsim.Com from its previous owner, and ending a negotiation which had started five weeks earlier.

But that's not the only anniversary at hand...

Tonight, March 12th, marks a somewhat more significant milestone -- the one year anniversary of moving onto our own servers, and thus having total control over our collective destiny as a community.
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It's been a little over a year since FlightSim sold off Trainsim, and what a year it's been.

Rather than rehash that, I just wanted to take this time to thank a few people.

First of all, Nels Anderson for starting and funding the site, and Rick Frerichs for literally keeping it running during those two plus decades. Rick wrote the original software used for the file library, and it performed flawlessly up to the day we moved from the FlightSim servers to our own servers....

And just like that, NFL football is over for the season. Those of you who don't follow football closely may not understand the emptiness that sets in following the end of the regular season (especially for those whose teams don't make the playoffs), but for me, watching football is a block on the weekend where I am guaranteed to get mostly uninterrupted time to concentrate on programming fixes and other things Trainsim related because our household watches a lot of football... Congrats to the ...

A number of routes old and new have been bundled recently, which means you can get all of the required items in a single zip if you're a First Class or FastPass member. To view the list of current routes and other files that are bundled, Click here With the new track pieces for older routes available, you might want to rediscover a few of the older gems including the various Milwaukee Road "Lines West" such as the RMD East, RMD West, Idaho and Coast divisions. Or maybe the Pacific Electric o...

I'd say we are off to a very good start to the year... The last few years, I've been out of meaningful NFL football to watch by the first week of January, and able to spend more time doing other things. This year, my Packers shocked the world and knocked out the #2 Dallas Cowboys, making it to the Divisional Round officially as the youngest average age team in NFL history and the first #7 seed to advance to the Divisional Round... Unfortunately, this past weekend they lost a close game to the...