Train Simulator

[charlielima]

Just thought of something. Does anyone know if any real world railway company is using a version of Trainz for conductor and/or locomotive engineer simulator training?
I know that many flight schools use Microsoft's Flight Simulator FSX for their pilot training and was curious if railroading could be done the same way.
Could be food for future thought.

Thanks,
Claude

 

[HLJames]

I believe BNSF is using Trainz for education, since they're working with JointedRail.

 

[charlielima]

Yeah, I heard. Great news and plenty of work for JR. When I haerd the news and did the survey, I started thinking if any railroad had done this type of thing already using Trainz or other PC simulators. I know most Class 1 RR's have simulators like the large airlines have but I wasn't sure about a PC type simulation for training purposes.

Claude

 

[whitepass]

UP had one made by the people that make the Raildriver.

 

[BD1]

placemarker

 

[JCitron]

My brother worked on the graphics for a flight simulator for Berl Systems awhile back. It was a pretty interesting project. He did the 3d modeling and cock-pit view while his customer worked on the controls.

John

 

[Enkidoh]

I know several rail operators here in Australia are using professional simulators to train (no pun intended!) new drivers - but they seem to be tailor made to each operator's requirements (like pilot simulators used by airlines) and are not 'off-the-shelf' applications like Trainz.

Having said that, I saw in a recent issue of Railway Digest magazine, in Queensland the Toowoomba Workshops Museum has set up a PC running what appears to be Trainz 1.3 in the cab of a locomotive for the public to use, so Trainz is definitely being used elsewhere.

 

[captainkman]

Having said that, I saw in a recent issue of Railway Digest magazine, in Queensland the Toowoomba Workshops Museum has set up a PC running what appears to be Trainz 1.3 in the cab of a locomotive for the public to use, so Trainz is definitely being used elsewhere.

That's the Ipswich Workshops Railway Museum. That simulator has been there for years, and it is used frequently by the visitors to the museum. I believe it is in the cab of a 2100 class diesel. The sim lets you drive for a few minutes once the controls are reset (throttle 0, reverser idle, trainbrake applied). Then a screen comes up advertising that Trainz is available for purchase in the museum shop.

Also, next to the Tilt Train display, there are 4 or 5 monitors with a numpad in front of them that also run Trainz 1.3. These run constantly, with no advertisement or time limit.

 

[Enkidoh]

Oops! I'm sorry about that - I tried looking through my pile of train mags to find the RD article in question and gave up - for some reason I thought it was Toowoomba, not Ipswich.

Thanks for the extra info about it Captain. If I ever find myself in Brisbane I think I'm going to have to give Ipswich a visit.

 

[captainkman]

Oops! I'm sorry about that - I tried looking through my pile of train mags to find the RD article in question and gave up - for some reason I thought it was Toowoomba, not Ipswich.

Thanks for the extra info about it Captain. If I ever find myself in Brisbane I think I'm going to have to give Ipswich a visit.

You're welcome.

Next time I go I'll be sure to take my camera and take some video of the museum, in particular the simulator.

Back on topic, I remember seeing a documentary, posted on YouTube, about CSX that showed the simulator used for driver training. If I find the video again, I'll post it here.