A train simulator (also railroad simulator or railway simulator) is a computer based

simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of Conceptual model, models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or proc ...

rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

operations. They are generally large complicated software packages modeling a 3D

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...

world implemented both as commercial trainers, and consumer

computer game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

software with 'play modes' which lets the user interact by stepping inside the virtual world. Because of the near view modeling, often at speed, train simulator software is generally far more complicated and difficult software to write and implement than

flight simulator A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...

programs.

Industrial train simulations

Centro Nacional de Capacitación Ferroviaria 1

flight simulators A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...

, train simulators have been produced for railway training purposes. Driver simulators include those produced by:
Transurb Simulation
a Belgian-based company * FAAC (the training division of

Arotech Corporation Arotech Corporation is a defense and security products and services company. It manufactures and designs products for military and non-military air and ground vehicles; interactive simulation for military, law enforcement and commercial markets, ...

) in the United States * Ongakukan in Japan * EADS in Germany *

Bentley Systems Bentley Systems, Incorporated is an American-based software development company that develops, manufactures, licenses, sells and supports computer software and services for the design, construction, and operation of infrastructure. The company' ...

in the UK
Lander Simulation & Training Solutions, Spain

CORYS
a French company with offices in Grenoble, France and Jacksonville, FL, USA * Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co KG (KMW) http://www.kmweg.de/, a German company based in Munich
Oktal Sydac
in Australia, France, India and the UK
SMART Simulatation
- part of the Neokon Baltija group from Lithuania with offices in the UK and Russia. * New York Air Brake, an American company based in Watertown, NY. * PS Technology, an American company based in Boulder, CO. Signaller training simulators have been developed by Funkwerk in Germany, The Railway Engineering Company (TRE) in the UK, OpenTrack Railway Technology in Switzerland, and PS Technology in the US.

Types of train simulators

There are various types of train driving simulators that are adapted to varying training needs and can be combined to meet operators' training needs in the most efficient way.

Full-cabin simulators

Similarly to flight simulators, train simulators can be a replica of a full driving cabin, on a one-to-one scale. Thi
type of simulator
is opted for when a train operator needs an immersive training tool for particularly effective training sessions.

Intermediate, more compact simulators

Certain simulators can uphold a certain level of immersion while optimising the space of a training room. When a certain balance between immersion and scalability is needed, thi
type of simulator
is chosen by instructors.

Portable simulators

When a train operator has various training centres, it is sometimes easier and more logical to invest i
smaller simulators
that can be transported from one centre to another. The company Transurb Simulation was the first to propose such a tool, which has now been adopted by many operators around the world and is becoming of a growing interest for smaller operators.

Consumer train simulation

Many consumer train simulations have been produced, often focusing on different aspects of real-life railways.

Driving simulation

Train driving simulation games usually allow a user to have a "driver's view" from the

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...

's cab and operate realistic cab controls such as throttle, brake valve,

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...

horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

and

whistle A whistle is an instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a larg ...

, lights etc. Train driving simulation software includes: * ''

BVE Trainsim BVE Trainsim (originally Boso View Express) is a Japanese three-dimensional computer-based train simulator. It is notable for focusing on providing an accurate driving experience as viewed from inside the cab, rather than creating a network of oth ...

'' (originally ''Boso View Express'') is a Japanese three-dimensional computer-based train simulator. It is notable for focusing on providing an accurate driving experience as viewed from inside the cab, rather than creating a network of other trains—There are no outside views, drivers can only look directly ahead, and other trains passed along the route are only displayed as stationary objects. * ''

Densha de Go! is a Japanese train simulation game series originally produced by Taito and more recently by Square Enix (who purchased Taito) and Railfan Holdings Co., Ltd. The series started with a 1996 arcade version and was first released in a home versi ...

'', a Japanese train simulation game series focused on driving, developed by

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, vending machines and jukeboxes into Japan. It b ...

. *''Diesel Railcar Simulator'', a train simulator focusing on British diesel-mechanical

railcars A railcar (not to be confused with a railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach (carriage, car), with a drive ...

. * ''

Microsoft Train Simulator ''Microsoft Train Simulator'' is a 2001 train simulator developed for Microsoft Windows. It was released on May 31, 2001, and developed by the UK-based company Kuju Entertainment. It sold one million units worldwide by 2005. Features Microsoft ...

'' (''MSTS''), developed by Kuju Entertainnment. **Open Rails, an

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

, freeware simulator that is backwards compatible with

content. * ''

Rail Simulator ''Rail Simulator'' is a train simulation published by Electronic Arts (EA). It was produced by Kuju Entertainment. After release of the EU version, EA's support and further development of the title was taken over by Rail Simulator Developments Ltd ...

'', a spritual successor to ''MSTS'' also developed by Kuju Entertainment. *''

Train Simulator A train simulator (also railroad simulator or railway simulator) is a computer based simulation of rail transport operations. They are generally large complicated software packages modeling a 3D virtual reality world implemented both as comme ...

'' (originally ''RailWorks''), a successor to ''Rail Simulator'' created when a new company, Rail Simulator Developments Ltd, purchased the rights. In 2013 RSDL rebranded themselves as

Dovetail Games Dovetail Games (DTG), a trading name of RailSimulator.com Ltd (RSC), is a British simulation video game developer and publisher. It was formed in 2008 by Paul Jackson (formerly VP at Electronic Arts and Director General of ELSPA, now UKIE), Ti ...

, and renamed ''Railworks'' to simply ''Train Simulator''. ** ''

Train Sim World ''Train Sim World'' (abbreviated to ''TSW'') is a train simulation game series developed by Dovetail Games. It was released on 24 July 2018. For the first time, ''Train Sim World'' allows players to walk around the game world in a first-person ...

'', a successor to the above developed by Dovetail Games using the

Unreal Engine Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game ''Unreal''. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of genres ...

. *''Run8'', a primarily

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

train simulator focused on realistic North American freight operations. * ''Train Simulator'' series (a.k.a. ''Railfan'') * ''

Trainz ''Trainz'' is a series of 3D train simulator video games. The Australian studio Auran (since 2007 N3V Games) released the first game in 2001. The simulators consist of route and session editors called ''Surveyor'', and the ''Driver'' module, ...

'' *
MaSzyna
', a freeware train simulator mainly focusing on Polish mainline rolling stock. The PC game '' 3D Ultra Lionel Traintown,'' amongst some others, give a different experience to driving, by being in a 3rd person omniscient perspective, controlling the trains from a bird's eye view. Peripherals specifically designed for use with driving simulations include

RailDriver RailDriver is a desktop cab controller for train simulation software. It replaces keyboard and mouse operation as far as possible to provide a more realistic train driving experience. It is designed to be compatible with ''Microsoft Train Simulat ...

by US manufacturer P.I. Engineering. RailDriver is a programmable desktop cab controller with throttle, brake lever and switches designed to work with ''

'', ''TrainMaster'', ''

'' and ''

''.

Strategy simulation

Railroad-themed strategy simulation video games are focused mostly on the economic part of the railroad industry rather than on technical detail. The ''

A-Train is a series of business simulation video games developed and published by Japanese game developer Artdink in Japan. The first game in the series was published in 1985. The first release in the United States was ''Take the A-Train II'', published ...

'' series (1985 to present) is an early example.

Chris Sawyer Christopher Sawyer is a Scottish video game designer and programmer. He is best known for creating ''Transport Tycoon'', which has been considered "one of the most important simulation games ever made", and the bestseller '' RollerCoaster Tyc ...

's ''

Transport Tycoon ''Transport Tycoon'' is a video game designed and programmed by Chris Sawyer, and published by MicroProse on 15 November 1994 for DOS. It is a business simulation game, presented in an isometric view in 2D with graphics by Simon Foster, in whi ...

'' (1994) was an influential game in this genre, spawning remakes such as ''

Simutrans ''Simutrans'' is a cross-platform simulation game in which the player strives to run a successful transport system by constructing and managing transportation systems for passengers, mail and goods by land (rail, road, tram, monorail, maglev), ai ...

'' (1999 to present), '' OpenTTD'' (2004 to present) and Sawyer's own ''

Locomotion Locomotion means the act or ability of something to transport or move itself from place to place. Locomotion may refer to: Motion * Motion (physics) * Robot locomotion, of man-made devices By environment * Aquatic locomotion * Flight * Locomo ...

'' (2004).

Sid Meier Sidney K. Meier ( ; born February 24, 1954) is a Canadian-American programmer, game designer, designer, and video game producer, producer of several strategy video games and simulation video games, including the ''Civilization (series), Civiliz ...

designed two railroad simulations: ''

Railroad Tycoon ''Railroad Tycoon'' is a business simulation game series. There are five games in the series; the original ''Railroad Tycoon (video game), Railroad Tycoon'' (1990), ''Railroad Tycoon Deluxe'' (1993), ''Railroad Tycoon II'' (1998), ''Railroad Ty ...

'' (1990) and '' Railroads!'' (2006). The ''

'' series itself inspired other rail games such as '' Rails Across America'' (2001).

Other genres

Some rail simulation games focus on

railway signalling Railway signalling (), also called railroad signaling (), is a system used to control the movement of railway traffic. Trains move on fixed rails, making them uniquely susceptible to collision. This susceptibility is exacerbated by the enormou ...

rather than driving or economics. Examples include ''

The Train Game ''The Train Game'' is a simulation video game originally published by Microsphere for the ZX Spectrum in 1983. Gameplay The player assumes the role of a chief operations manager at a railway. Two different track layouts are included, A and B, e ...

'' (1983), ''

SimSig ''SimSig'' is a mixed donationware and commercial Windows-based train simulator of modern railway signalling systems in Great Britain, from the point of view of a railway signaller. Users have also had success running ''SimSig'' on Linux using ...

'',
JBSS BAHN
', ''

Train Dispatcher A train dispatcher (US), rail traffic controller (Canada), train controller (Australia), train service controller (Singapore) or signaller (UK), is employed by a railroad to direct and facilitate the movement of trains over an assigned territory, ...

'', and the series of signalling simulatons produced b
PC-Rail Software

History

Train simulators are particular popular in Japan, where rail transport is the primary form of travel for most citizens. Train video games have been developed in Japan since the early 1980s, with

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

's arcade

action game An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, and platform gam ...

'' Super Locomotive'' (1982) being an early example, before more realistic train simulators emerged, such as Ongakukan's ''Train Simulator'' series (1995 debut) and

's '' Densha de Go'' series (1996 debut), as well as train business simulations such as the ''

'' series (1985 debut). Non-commercial Japanese sims include the freeware BVE, first released in 1996, which was later remade as the

free and open-source Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...

''OpenBVE''. One of the first commercially available train simulators in the West was ''

Southern Belle Southern belle () is a colloquialism for a debutante in the planter class of the Antebellum South. Characteristics The image of a Southern belle is often characterized by fashion elements such as a hoop skirt, a corset, pantalettes, a wi ...

'', released in 1985. The game simulated a journey of the ''

'' steam passenger train from

London Victoria Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, in the City of Westminster, managed by Network Rail. Named after the nearby Victoria Street (not the Q ...

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, while at the same time the player must comply with speed limits, not to go too fast on curves and keep to the schedule. It was followed with '' Evening Star'' in 1987. The first two train simulators to achieve large sales in the West, ''

'' and ''

'', arrived within a few months of one another in 2001. These featured differing design philosophies - ''Microsoft Train Simulator'' focused on providing a realistic driving experience, whereas ''Trainz'' focused more on the ability of the user to create their own content such as trains and routes. The developers behind ''Microsoft Train Simulator'',

Kuju Entertainment Kuju Entertainment Ltd. is a British video game developer. The original company was Simis, formed in 1989 and purchased by Eidos Interactive in 1995. Kuju was formed in 1998 in Shalford, Surrey, England, after a management buyout of Simis from E ...

, later released a spiritual successor called ''

'', which was later purchased by a separate company and rereleased as ''

Railworks ''Train Simulator Classic'' (originally ''RailWorks'' and ''Train Simulator'') is a train simulation game developed by Dovetail Games. It is the successor to ''Rail Simulator'', and was released online on 12 June 2009 and in stores on 3 July ...

''.

References

External links

2TRAIN Benchmarking Report on computer-based Railway Training in Europe

RailServe.com
(Directory of train simulator sites) *

Online Support Forum and Add-on downloads)

* ttp://sim.bemined.nl/ Metro Simulation
pagina Viajeros al Tren Add-on Soporte y foro en Español
{{Video game genre Virtual reality Video game terminology Railroad games 1980s video games