Are there any North American Routes in Rail Controller - or any plans to produce a version that includes them or an editor?
No, they are not available yet. Currently we only have GRS-NX panels from Arnhem (1965), Hengelo (2000) and Amsterdam (1989). Those are technologies directly bought from GRS in the USA. There are very similar panels in the US.
One of the problems in simulating a smaller panel like Fostoria is the amount of traffic running. 24 trains per day is nice and a lot for US standards. But pretty boring for a sim. (Amsterdam has 1300 trains per DAY. Exclude the night that makes about 60+ trains per hour.)
That being said, we ARE busy with a US Layout. That is a larger area (remember, we need to keep you busy!) and is on the East Coast. We're collecting a bunch of data and are making a symbol catalog and the graphics for the US Layout. It's too early to announce some more details. But just keep an eye on the website and especially the forum.
The German layouts like Bonn, Gelsenkirchen or Cologne are from a different caliber.
From all the sims are free demos available with full documentation. The demos have NO constraints in connection with the signalling system (only restrictions with the timetable)
And if you want to simply try a full working sim, join in into a multiplayer session... The multiplayer cost nothing. You just need a partner that has the full sim to join in. (Very cool with Hengelo, Amsterdam and Cologne)
for the download of the various versions:
http://shop.signalsimulation.com
Forum (lots of info):
http://forum.signalsimulation.com
Information (Wiki)
http://signalwiki.signalsimulation.com
free multiplayer client:
http://signalsimulation.com/multiplayer/en/index.html (older versions)
http://signalsimulation.com/downloads/Post_T_MultiPlayer_3_Setup.zip for the newest version for Cologne and Gelsenkirchen
All simulations are based on professionally based developments and are partly funded by the Scientific Research and Experimental Development program of the Federal Government of Canada and the Ontario Government (yep, we're doing some really interesting scientific stuff. For the "public sims" it's a bit hidden under the hood. But more to come). The simulators are used for professional purposes in laboratory and educational environments.
Note that both Halycon and NV3 are only publishers/distributors. Developers of the simulators is Signalsoft Rail Consultancy Ltd., based in Ontario, Canada.
Last note about an Editor: unfortunately, due to the immense complex nature of the sims, as well as the required deep knowledge of the signallling equipment being simulated, the operation of the Editor is a major undertaking that only can be done by signalling engineering specialists.
To write a manual for that Editor for the generic public is a major undertaking and would cost 10,000 + pages. Plus all the needed support. For the only few that *could* operate the editor and create a sim out of that... not worth the effort.
That being said: we ARE working on a public version of the Editor that allows certain qualified users to create databases for the layouts. They won't be able to create a full working simulator. This is based on the real world fact that technically all signal boxes (towers) are unique items.
Yep.. it's deep technical stuff and can't be compared with anything (free) that's currently available. You can buy similar stuff too, but a license normally cost you between 100,000-1,000,000 US$.
