Discover > News

Jul 2023 - New route from Train Simulations

Train Simulations publishes new Southern Pacific Shasta route.

Jan 2023 - Portugal '79

Portugal '79 has been published. This provides 1775km of broad gauge track, with full detail on 91km between Entroncamento and Alfarelos.

Jan 2023 - HSB Simulator

New commercial route HSB Simulator published. This contains 87 miles of the Harz narrow-gauge railway, the longest narrow-gauge route network in Europe.

Nov 2022 - Version 1.5.1

Open Rails 1.5.1 released to fix 3 bugs in v1.5.

Nov 2022 - Version 1.5

Open Rails 1.5 released.

Jul 2022

Three new UK routes are now available for immediate download here.

Oct 2021

Version 1.4 is now available for immediate download here.

Nov 2020

Wagons can now be braked individually as on the oldest railways. This can be experienced in 2 scenarios - Stephenson's Rocket at Rainhill Trials and Langley Vale Timber Tramway.

Apr 2020

After more than a year of work the free, restored and improved Siskiyou Route is once more available.

Apr 2019

ENG files published with accurate physics for 176 USA diesel locos.

Dec 2018

Open Rails 1.3.1 released Download it here.

Mar 2018

Geoff Rowlands found a way to model 3D controls so they can be grabbed by the handle as in this video.

Jan 2017 - Version 1.2

Open Rails 1.2 released.

Mar 2016 - Version 1.1

Open Rails 1.1 released.

Dec 2015 - More Access to Elvas Tower

The Elvas Tower forum plays a major role in developing Open Rails but has been closed to non-members following a dispute. We can now report that some of the Open Rails sub-forums are open again.

Jun 2015 - Great Zig Zag Railway

Peter Newell has just released (June 2105) the Great Zig Zag Railway, a steam route for Open Rails v1.0 (this 120MB download requires no other files).

May 2015 - Version 1.0

Open Rails 1.0 released! Download it here.

Apr 2015 - Demo Model 1

Open Rails first demonstration route Demo Model 1 has been published.

Dec 2014 - 3D Cabs

Dekosoft Trains has added locos exclusively for Open Rails to its range. These are GP30 diesels taking advantage of our 3D cab feature.

Jul 2014 - Web Site

The legacy graphics-heavy web site has been replaced by one based on Bootstrap which is both easier to maintain and suitable for phones and tablets as well as PCs.

You can still see an archive of the old site.

Apr 2014 - Installer

An installer is now available, so Open Rails and its pre-requisites such as XNA can be delivered in a single download.

Apr 2014 - Smoother, More Detailed Graphics

Open Rails currently uses DirectX 9 and, although this is not the latest version of DirectX, hidden away inside is a method for reducing the number of "draw calls" which the CPU makes to the GPU. Fewer calls mean higher frame rates, smoother motion and the capacity to handle more detail.

The technique is called "hardware instancing" and allows identical objects (e.g. trees in a forest) to be combined into a single draw call. The work is transferred to the GPU which copies them as many times as necessary and usually has spare capacity.

You can expect some increases in frame rate, especially on routes with many identical objects. To turn this on, tick the checkbox for
Options > Experimental > Use model instancing.

Mar 2014 - Additional Languages

Open Rails becomes available in additional languages, initially eight including Chinese.

Mar 2014 - Work Starts on Timetables

A schedule of trains (or timetable) is nearly impossible to arrange in Microsoft Train Simulator as AI trains don't adhere to booked station stops. In Open Rails, the situation is better but an activity with a player train and AI traffic is still very different from a timetable.

Work has now begun on a timetable element which is an alternative to the usual activity. The timetable will contain all the details needed for each scheduled train - path, consist, booked stops etc.. Conventional activities will continue as before.

Also there is no longer any distinction between player train or AI train - any train in the timetable can be selected as the player train, the others are operated by a remote player or by the simulator.

Feb 2014

Fog is developed from just softening the horizon into a realistic effect which users can fully control.

Recent Code Changes

• T1.5.1-1928-gacd714487 Merge pull request #1106 from twpol/feature/1.6-unrevert-1
  Special merge from release/1.6 to master due to reverted commits
  • b669f093 Make control confirmations fade out in real time
    (cherry picked from commit 55111e97f5723d3b57a19d462cb41868ce426e90)
  • d0c2856d Merge pull request #1102 from SteelFill/dpu_brakes
    Fix Stuck Locomotive Brakes After Initialization
  • 35a8982f Merge pull request #1100 from cjakeman/translate-de2
    Updates to German translations
  • 848dab47 Merge pull request #1099 from cesarBLG/fix-tcs-pantographs
    Fix TCS orders not being sent to pantographs
  • 08d1e2f7 Merge pull request #1097 from SteelFill/particle_emitters
    Fix For Delayed Particle Emitter Spawning
• T1.5.1-1913-g74ecafa7f Merge pull request #1093 from openrails/release/1.6
  build: Update version numbers to 1.6
  • c1de846b fix: Correct invalid characters in manual
  • da10def3 build: Update version numbers to 1.6
• T1.5.1-1910-gafcdfe10c Merge pull request #1098 from SteelFill/wheel_speed_consistency
  Correct Use of Wheel Speed vs Ground Speed in Locomotive Physics
  • 34bd6a76 Steam locomotive specific adjustments
  • 6bbd2c6a Remove forgotten debugging output
  • 1ca03af7 Merge branch 'openrails:master' into wheel_speed_consistency
  • d366ab73 Correct use of wheel speed vs ground speed for traction calculations (always use wheel speed in order to obey conservation of energy)
• T1.5.1-1905-g2db0eb726 Merge pull request #1096 from sweiland-openrails/mouse_cursor_not_visible
  When the OR main form does not have the focus, hovering above the main OR form makes the mouse cursor disappear.
  • 7a4f055b See https://bugs.launchpad.net/or/+bug/2111749: When the OR main form does not have the focus, hovering above the main OR form makes the mouse cursor disappear. To get the focus again on that form, you have to click the mouse on that form without knowing where. Risking clicking on some control by accident.
• T1.5.1-1903-gfdcc8898c Merge pull request #1085 from cjakeman/manual-updates
  updates key commands for Train Operations window and also Daylight Offset
  • 37e2817f updates key commands
    And also a typo
• T1.5.1-1901-g6b9e971dd Merge pull request #1084 from TheGwyd/Calculate-Delay-While-At-Stopped-Stations
  Timetable: Calculate Delay While Stopped at a Station
  • 70ab3524 Merge branch 'master' into Calculate-Delay-While-At-Stopped-Stations
  • 13454ed6 Add Delay Calculation for Stopped Trains
    Add a delay calculation for trains stopped at stations when they are delayed past their departure time (trains that are meant to be waiting for more than 1 minute shouldn't get negative delays).
    Add comment explaining why existing delay calculation remains.
• T1.5.1-1898-gdbddf2606 Merge pull request #1101 from sweiland-openrails/help_simulation_options
  Added help buttons on Simulations options in Menu
  • 296d878e Add help buttons for Experimental tab
  • 9224ecc3 Add help button for Data Logger tab
  • 7031be96 Removed unused fields
  • 3d54395d Raildriver help added
    To be tested when not available: in OptionsDriver.cs remove // from line #if !DEBUG and #endif in function InitializeRailDriverSettings
  • 5db26e39 Added help button for Keyboard tab
  • 6813c065 Added help buttons on Simulations options in Menu
• T1.5.1-1891-g8228f3523 Merge pull request #1094 from SteelFill/blended_brake_tweaks
  Blended Braking Compatibility and Effectiveness Improvements
  • b9b4843b Tweak default values
  • e6e95f1d Add parameter for minimum speed of blended braking
  • 18c3e9c5 Improve blended braking response when using advanced brake cylinders and dynamic brake ramp up
• T1.5.1-1887-g07be04456 Merge pull request #1095 from SteelFill/control_confirmation
  Make Control Confirmations Fade Out in Real Time
  • 55111e97 Make control confirmations fade out in real time
• T1.5.1-1885-g12b1a74d5 Merge pull request #1092 from cjakeman/manual-update-timetable
  Adds $gradient, $req, depart-early and passing-time to Manual
  • 344634b2 Adds a second link
  • 7cc63cb6 Adds link to #speed description
  • d5816e47 Adds gradient command to Manual
  • 18238f45 Adds $req, depart-early and passing -time to Manual
• T1.5.1-1880-gcf1e59399 Merge pull request #1062 from rwf-rr/train-forces-popup-window
  Train Forces popup Window.
  • 9a76b26d Properly use IsMetric for formatting forces.
    Addresses PR review comment.
  • 1ec3dc63 Add to user manual, info about text line.
  • 34847efb Update user manual for the Train FOrces window.
  • c8ac68d7 Minor cleanup.
  • ef2b07be Show combined brake force, air and dynamics.
    Based on comment in PR.
  • c7db858c Merge branch 'train-forces-popup-window' of https://github.com/rwf-rr/rwf-openrails into train-forces-popup-window
    Manually fixed same conflict again in
    Source/Orts.Simulation/Simulation/RollingStocks/TrainCar.cs.
  • 3b663d2d Merge branch 'master' into train-forces-popup-window
    Manually fixed conflict in
    Source/Orts.Simulation/Simulation/RollingStocks/TrainCar.cs.
  • b96d6fa6 Also show dynamic brake force for engines.
    Dynamic brake force is show in the same blue color that is used to
    indicate engines.
  • de91cc4e Fix bug with calculating limits when switching trains.
    When switching from a train with low limits for the coupler strength and
    derail force to a train with higher limits, the limits in the popup
    window text line were not updated.
  • 3b18c48a Train Forces popup Window.
    New window that shows the coupler force, derail force, and brake force for each car in a bar graph.
    Minor changes in existing code to add conversions and access to member variables.
    This is a squash-merge from the prototype branch, train-forces-popup-v1.
• T1.5.1-1868-g9d945d08c Merge pull request #1064 from rwf-rr/help-add-train-info-tab
  Add Train Info tab to Help window (F1)
  • 1be1fc48 Update user manual for Train Info tab in Help window.
  • fb4a5001 Address comments in PR:
    * Typo in method name.
    * Calculating min coupler strength.
  • 6a5b9f51 Minor cleanup and formatting fixes.
  • 701cb276 Merge branch 'help-add-train-info-tab' of https://github.com/rwf-rr/rwf-openrails into help-add-train-info-tab
    Manually fixed conflict in
    Source/Orts.Simulation/Simulation/RollingStocks/TrainCar.cs.
    I should have pulled help-add-train-info-tab from origin first (as it
    had a merge fix from someone else), instead if trying to fix it in the
    merge from master.
  • cc5379f9 Merge branch 'master' into help-add-train-info-tab
    Manually fixed conflict in
    Source/Orts.Simulation/Simulation/RollingStocks/TrainCar.cs.
  • 52410f9e More changes suggested in PR review.
    Show total (max) and continuous tractive effort.
    Use trailing tons for all calculated ratings.
  • a57d23d3 Update calculation of Operative Brakes and Tons per Operative Brake.
    Brake Force alone is not sufficient to determine if the car has
    operative brakes. BrakeValve (BrakeEquipmentType) does not work well for
    the Content Manager, and even some newer rollingstock has it incorrect.
    Thus BrakeSystem (BrakeSystemType) not being "just a pipe" or manual
    braking seems to work best.
    Also corrected TpOP to only use trailing tonnage (as defined by BNSF).
  • 9b3415e9 Use continuous tractive effort, not peak tractive effort.
    In particular, the continuous effort makes much more sense for the Tons
    per EPA.
    Also rename variable names to reflect this.
  • 53dd604f Add TpEPA and TpEDBA, when units are imperial.
    TpEPA = Tons per Equivalent Powered Axles.
    TpEDBA = Tons per Equivalent Dynamic Brake Axles.
    These metrics are more accurate than HP per Ton, as they are based on
    tractive effort.
    The calculations are based on Union Pacific practices. UP uses a
    standard axle of 10'000 lbf tractive effort or dynamic brake force.
    For example a GP40-2 is 5.0 EPA, an SD40-2 is 7.1 EPA. Both have the
    same HP (and thus result in the same HP-per-Ton).
    Also renamed one variable.
  • 77728847 Add Max Dynamic Brake Force to Train Info tab.
    Also max tractive effort variables.
  • c5711ade First version of TrainInfo tab in Help window.
• T1.5.1-1855-g9d6ee3561 Merge pull request #1090 from cesarBLG/null-check-tcs
  Add null check to avoid crash on corrupt signal files
  • 9e0bfe8a No comments
  • 33d25821 Add null check to avoid crash on corrupt signal files
• T1.5.1-1852-g24537f48e Merge pull request #1087 from rwf-rr/improve-signal-error-message
  Improve warning message for signal location mismatch.
  • 1f64f024 Improve warning message for signal location mismatch.
    This is a warning logged for the BNSF starter route.

See more code changes