I have always liked trains, but current train sims didn’t hold my interest much. Train sim world was cool but was still somewhat linear in my eyes. I wanted a freight train sim. I did some research and came across Run 8 While the graphics wont blow you away the rest will IMO.
So here are some screens of a Local run I did from Barstow.
Here is a overhead shot of the Barstow yard.
This is our train today, A BNSF GE ES44C
Here we are in the cab, On the right MFD you can see some info about our set up.
Yard speed limit is 15, here we are leaving the yard, I have swap the MFD, the left hand side shows the basic train loadout and the right hand side shows the distributed power settings.
This shot here shows why throwing rail switches back to the normal\green position is important. I had planned a straight exit to the main but earlier I had to jockey some trains around in the yard and had thrown that switch and never through it back. I didnt notice until I switched tracks.
Here is the switch thrown to swap tracks,
and since I have passed it here is the switch back to the normal position.
On the main going around a curve and uphill a bit
Passing a few tanker cars from a different Local run I did.
Up the hill and over some tracks,
Passing an engine from a different Local run.
Off the main track crawling at 15 mph
Waiting for the train to pass so I can throw the switch
Train passed and stopped, switch throw and I turned car tags on so i can see where each car needs to go.
First stop cars dropped off.
Second stop cars dropped off.
Third stop car dropped off.
And finally the last two stops dropped off.
The cars i dropped off will be processed and then marked for a new destination. It will take 48 hours to accomplish.
Its a fun freight train sim. This was just a Local run, The L-CAL0101 to be exact. In the first picture you can see 5 trains waiting to leave, there are another 4 in the inbound yard waiting to be sorted.
This is very customizable. It dosent hold your hand or set random stuff up. You can have AI trains running but they will go where you direct them and are set up by you. I normally spwan in some AI trains in Arizona and have them drive up to Barstow where I sort them and then I drive the Local route.
The above local took me roughly 2.5 hours.
Forgot to post a couple videos,
This is from the Cab as we pass a crossing.
This is getting up to speed,
And this is at full speed with horn a couple of times.