Open Rails

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The legacy graphics-heavy web site has been replaced by one based on Bootstrap which is both easier to maintain and suitable for phones and tablets as well as PCs.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

screendump listing languages


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

  • T1.5.1-1850-g49b28e816 Merge pull request #1089 from SteelFill/multi_track_profiles
    Fix Superelevation on Rigid Frame Rolling Stock Again
    • d750bd18 Correct improper use of settings menu superelevation where simulator superelevation should be used
  • T1.5.1-1848-g58ff988ed Merge pull request #1074 from Roeterdink/Gradient
    Gradient for AI trains in timetables
    • e9a66c16 Gradient - commit 2024-16-12
  • T1.5.1-1846-g8b64986df Merge pull request #1076 from Roeterdink/AllowDepartEarly
    Allows request stop, depart early, passing time
    • 3bbd5376 Update ProcessTimetable.cs
      Correction for Passing Time processing
    • d1ff8fdf Removed changes in UserCommand, InputSettings and AITrain which caused merge errors.
    • 57a470ca Reposition changes to avoid merge conflicts
    • 45201707 Include Passing Time
    • 6cfcfe98 2025-01-20
    • 35493ca6 2025-01-17 A
    • 3132cc2d 2025-01-14
    • 35ed34e7 2024-12-31
    • a1a72103 2024-12-30 A
    • ce50a580 2024-12-29 A
    • 6dce5ddf 2024-12-28 D
    • c23d0c3e 2024-12-28 C
    • 22fc1078 2024-12-28 B
    • 7df9fd6b Commit 2024-12-27 A
    • ce7b530f AllowDepartEarly_RequestStop 2024-12-27 A
    • c08b2a86 Allow depart early - commit 1
  • T1.5.1-1829-g5cb0ed0a4 Merge pull request #1067 from cesarBLG/controller-delays
    Traction and dynamic brake retardation
    • b471b7ca Fix dynamic brake controller not updated
    • 1a627219 Yet another location
    • 9e41cbb7 Fix two other usages of saved and current values
    • ea06d465 Correct display of throttle and dynamic brake with delays
    • 5bf46770 Increase the number of usable STF units to 64
    • f3854226 Restore confirmation messages
    • 13ab98ba Use correct rate units for parser
    • 8b5c27f2 Fix incorrect usage of target force instead of max force
    • 455e0114 Fix ignored ramp when changing from dynamic brake to throttle
    • 277dacde Merge branch 'master' into controller-delays
    • b7b097bb Remove filtered force as it is no longer necessary
    • a10de3a9 Fix bugs introduced during post-review changes
    • 2353e0fd Take into account maximum power from diesel engine
    • 2a36208e Refactoring and comments
    • 154f8836 Remove assumptions of zero throttle means zero force
    • 5aa41906 Update power ramp to take into account speed changes
    • b06837d9 Add ramp times for power
    • 777efaf4 Include documentation
    • bb815cdc Ramp up and down for tractive force
    • 45c6a23b Delay before enforcing changes in controller
  • T1.5.1-1808-gf2bc634a3 Merge pull request #892 from Roeterdink/OPP_SIG_ID_TRAINPATH
    Signal Function OPP_SIG_ID_TRAINPATH
    • 1f5ba4c8 Signal Function OPP_SIG_ID_TRAINPATH

See more code changes