Train simulators are better than model railroads because...

Sourdough said:
Not true....both model railroading and train sims try to recreate the real deal, so to say they are nothing alike is simply incorrect. Besides, the real deal isn't part of the comparison chart...only models and sims...which are very simular in purpose but using a different method of modeling the real deal. Saying that it's an apples to pears comparison doesn't fit...and whether it's a useless excercise is strictly a matter of opinion...:cool:
Click to expand...

Blimey ... the whole topic is a matter of opinion. We are not talking science here do we? Ever tried to pick up one of the locomotives in Trainz with your hands? It is apples and pears my friend. You mistake my comments for them criticizing the simulator. I am not. One is not better or worse then the other; they are different in the core.
 
i don't know about better or worse. its all about what gives YOU personal gratification. but that absence or near absence of space limitations is a VERY BIG plus.

i think one little minus i have with auran trainz so far is not being readily and easily able to repaint everything in my own sierra midland coloring sceme (livery as such things are called elsewhere then where i live).

but that one 'little' gripe is more then made up for by being able to build litterally miles and miles of railroad, and not just railroad but the countryside it serves, and of course, not HAVING to block wire or install dcc receivers.

(other then that, the way i USE trainz, is just exactly the same as how i would model railroad if i had all the space in the world to do so)

(and yes, i do scratch build and kitbash, though i'm not much of a rivit counter. i do like to design and specify, which is more my intrest then trying to replicate some particular thing that already is, other then to meet aplicable standards in its design.)

one other thing, is them many times in my life i've had to move. trainz on laptop you just throw it in your backpack and your whole layout, multiples of them, are with you without other dismantling and packing, unpacking and rebuilding reqired. even the 'desktop' deskunder minitower actully, i do have, is way more portable then of course any substantial physical layout would be.

=^^=
.../\...
 
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Quiebus said:
Blimey ... the whole topic is a matter of opinion. We are not talking science here do we? Ever tried to pick up one of the locomotives in Trainz with your hands? It is apples and pears my friend. You mistake my comments for them criticizing the simulator. I am not. One is not better or worse then the other; they are different in the core.
Click to expand...
No, I didn't think you were criticizing the simulator...you didn't say that so how could I think that?:hehe: ...you were criticizing the poll and it's relevance...and an apples to pears comparison would be more like comparing model trains and sims to model airplanes and sims....:p The fact that you ask if I tried to pick up a locomotive in Trainz indicates you see that as a advantage for model railroads...something you didn't indicate in your first post. See...? The poll is not useless after all...:cool:
 
I actually like model railroading more than train simming, but train simming is still cool. I liuke model railroading more because I like to do things that are more of a hands-on experience, and make things I can operate with friends. Train simming is hands-on to a certain extent, but model railroading is better. But, that's just my opinion. We all have our preferences.

-quakers1
 
Model railways

The good thing about model railways is if you have to reformat or the computer goes wrong you dont lose tons of saved work. Also on model railways you pay more attention to detail. I prefer trains you can "grab" its like owning your own trains.

Yours klambert
 
Hey, isn't the really good thing that we have the choice, one of them, or the other, or both (or neither, I suppose!)?

John
 
The other thing too is virtual modelling offers much of what is available in the real model world without the added expense, and mess. There's nothing like working on a real layout, and then decide to revamp a section of it. There's that plaster dust all over the place, the wasted track sections, if they've been glued down, and the fact that everything has to be rewired again.

Speaking of wiring... It's easy to add in a wye (triangle for you Aussie and UK folks) in Trainz. In a real model railroad, this becomes a whole bag of worms that has to be dealt with.

John
 
In addition to size, cost, etc. can I throw in physics? Model trains never really move quite like the real things, and for all of it being a serious hobby they still look like toys to the ignorant outsider.

Simulated trains, on the other hand, make a pretty good stab at imitating the real thing

Ant
 
I like train simulators because I can easily modify the route. With a model your stuck with the landscape unless you want to do even MORE hours of work.

Another was also time and money. I'm only 15, I have to balance my time to other things and not to mention money!

Last but not least! Animated Cars and PEOPLE! I mean What model railroad has random people walking or driving through your model railroad?
 
for me its both.. yeah i do both when trs acts goofy i go and mess with the models and cool down then come back happier:D
 
-costs -There are so many funtions in Trainz, when I want to make it real than I´m a poor man.
-costs of models
-cost of modelling the landscape and
-easy to build landscape
-not a big room in my flat - only one computer and a PC flat screen or my 40" Sony FULL-HD :cool:
-nothing to clean, repair
-funtions: where have I day, night, snow, rain in real model railroads?
-funtions2: it is so easy to give a train one or more task or industry or turntables or the funtions in a steam depot.
-How many users can have 2 model railroads? - In Trainz I can have 100s of model railroads.
-I have not the trouble with my wife - how my father over 20 years ago.



Summary:
*In Trainz you need only a little bit money for Trainz and a little bit for a first-class-tiket
*and time (that´s the only thing I can become trouble with my wife).

With some words: I can NEVER have a real model railroad, but with Trainz I can have it on my PC and realy better.

Edit: Thank you Auran for this game! With it my childdreams come true. Best wishes - TrainZ for ever!
 
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One of the main features I enjoy about Trainz Simulator, is the ability to build several layouts in different periods of Social History. As an Amature Historian, and having studied Railway History, particularly British Railway History, to be able to re-create a route from the old Broad Gauge days of the GWR is, to me, amazing. It requires study, to get things as correct as possible regarding the trains themselves, the infrastructure alongside the line, the fashions and clothes of the passengers and of other villagers, the vehicles, and, of course the older type buildings.

I can do most of this using creations from the DLS, mixed with some Payware.

Then, I can run Pre-Grouping Companies, and, of course, the "Big Four" themselves, L.M.S., L.N.E.R., Southern, and Great Western.

If I feel like coming more up to date, I can run HST's, and Virgin Pendolinos,
alongside Class 37's in EWS livery.

I have hundreds of different locomotives, and masses of different Rolling Stock in various Time Period liveries.

I could never, ever, do any of this in Model Format. Cost, and Space would preclude it.

So, to sum up, for the Historian and Railway enthusiast like myself, Trainz gives me the chance to re-create many different periods of British History.
 
seward said:
One of the main features I enjoy about Trainz Simulator, is the ability to build several layouts in different periods of Social History. As an Amature Historian, and having studied Railway History, particularly British Railway History, to be able to re-create a route from the old Broad Gauge days of the GWR is, to me, amazing. It requires study, to get things as correct as possible regarding the trains themselves, the infrastructure alongside the line, the fashions and clothes of the passengers and of other villagers, the vehicles, and, of course the older type buildings.

I can do most of this using creations from the DLS, mixed with some Payware.

Then, I can run Pre-Grouping Companies, and, of course, the "Big Four" themselves, L.M.S., L.N.E.R., Southern, and Great Western.

If I feel like coming more up to date, I can run HST's, and Virgin Pendolinos,
alongside Class 37's in EWS livery.

I have hundreds of different locomotives, and masses of different Rolling Stock in various Time Period liveries.

I could never, ever, do any of this in Model Format. Cost, and Space would preclude it.

So, to sum up, for the Historian and Railway enthusiast like myself, Trainz gives me the chance to re-create many different periods of British History.
Click to expand...

I think the history side is important.

Cheerio John
 
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