Until I ran across this thread I had no idea what "Rolling Line" was, and it caused me to look it up and its Workshop on Steam. What I found was a program that evidently appealed to a wide range of folks - from grade schoolers to accomplished train simmers with decades-worth of experience.
Yes, it's not a hard-core sim like Run8 or ORTS of Zusi or any of the others, but in my opinion it still is a sim, albeit a caricature of one. And what's wrong with that?
When I examine my train affliction (which I came by naturally because I was born and raised in a Class 1 division point town with extensive steam, and later diesel, repair shops), my thrill at watching my Lionel FA's coming out from underneath my bed with a freight train was every bit as satisfying as my HO-scale 4x8' layout was a decade later, and what certain activities and scenarios are on my computer's train sims are today. At each stage I became more sophisticated in my judgment and knowledge of the prototype.
I remember how "realistic" I thought my Rivarossi consolidation was on my Atlas 2-rail track compared to my old Lionel 3-rail tinplate track. Ditto for when I discovered, belatedly around 2008, MSTS. No more trying to cram 12" to the foot prototypes into my apartment when this computer program could produce a route that was 120 miles in length!
Yet the thrill was the same; the only thing that had changed was my perception of "reality." So I say "bravo" to the young designer of this program for choosing to make his sim a caricature rather than a physics-bound mathematical calculation; there are already enough of those. Enjoy it for what it is!
If Bruce, who evidently lost track of time because he was having so much fun working on a layout can enjoy Rolling Line as much as the following young gentleman can, I think out hobby has a great future.
Here is a quote from a young fellow who is offering a reskin of the GE DX loco in an extremely well-done and prototypically-based livery; note his age:
Terracotta Eastern is a Fantasy railroad in a fantasy big state called Terracotta. Last year when I was in 6th grade, I drew my own country. There is a state I put in my country that is my favorite, "Terracotta." I also drew some trains and what they look like in that state. Now since I have rolling line, I can put my Imagination on the layouts. So I decided to make a Genesee & Wyoming Livery for my layout. Also the reason why there is a house logo on my Genesee & Wyoming (AKA Terracotta & Eastern) is because Terracotta has so many houses, villages, and cities in the fantasy state.
And here's a link to his Terracotta Eastern reskin.
Cheers,
David