Three versions of Open Rails are readily available to users, as shown below:
For first-time users, we recommend the Stable Version which comes with an installer.
Whichever version you choose, Open Rails has a mechanism to notify you of new versions and to update Open Rails for you. You will find the settings for this mechanism in Menu > Options > Update
Open Rails will check for updates at most once a day. If an update is found, then you can install the update just by clicking on the link in the top, right corner:
If you follow the Open Rails project on the forums, then you will hear about bug-fixes and new features. These are included in the Unstable Version for developers and testers to try out. Once they have been checked and approved, they are published (on Friday) as the latest Testing Version. Any user can easily update to the current weekly Testing Version and benefit from these improvements.
For reference all the Testing Versions (executable and source) can be found in our archive.
T1.5.1-1948-gdf7bf1a26
Merge pull request #1117 from albertosaurio65/ORTS_PLAYER_DIESEL_ENGINE_STATE-fix6b150dd0
Update Source/Documentation/Manual/cabs.rst24702ca7
ORTS_PLAYER_DIESEL_ENGINE_STATE manual fixT1.5.1-1945-g739a03116
Merge pull request #1113 from openrails/release/1.61bdb4bdf
Merge pull request #1118 from rwf-rr/fix-dpmode-first-last-fence47e9b25f
Merge pull request #1116 from SteelFill/animation_fix3cfe7c90
Merge pull request #1114 from rwf-rr/fix-db-setup-color-with-dpu45562fae
Merge pull request #1119 from twpol/feature/missing-pr-110353a4f91b
Merge pull request #1112 from cjakeman/update-installerde3ec882
Merge pull request #1109 from SteelFill/depart_early_fix5d58e450
Merge pull request #1108 from SteelFill/ai_lights_fixThe current Testing Version can also be downloaded as a Zip archive:
04 July 2025, 106MB
The documents included in the Testing Versions downloads can be found on-line at:
Note: Multiple versions of Open Rails will not interfere if they are saved to different folders.
To support development, the latest unstable version is also available, which is updated whenever a developer publishes a change. The unstable versions are more likely to contain serious bugs and are only recommended for users wishing to help with Open Rails development.
The Manual for the Unstable version is not included in the download, but is available on-line.
For reference all the Unstable Versions (executable and source) can be found in our Unstable archive.
Improvements to Open Rails are drawn from several public sources as shown here:
We try to make sure that these changes all work and fit together by reviews as marked in orange in the diagram.