What do you use Trainz for?

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Peanut Butter
I've often thought about this myself, what is my purpose for investing in the Trainz series.

For me, it's all about recreating scenes. I like Trainz in the way that it's extremely versatile in what you can model. More times than not, I'll just put a single train on a map to pose it in a picture.

Seeing as how the AI drivers make it hard to run a "realistic" railroad, I don't really try to be a dispatcher. I'm just curious how you guys use Trainz.

Brousey
 
One could use Trainz to plan a Model RR to try it out before investing in lumber and chicken wire.

I am trying to get AI Drivers to follow a path, driving at really slow speeds of 15 mph to 25 mph, without reversing and throwing switchs n their own ... so one could just hit "Drive" and have 50 trains cycling back and forth, all on their own, so I can sit back and just railfan Trainz.

When I am done my Horseshoe route, I think my life will be complete ... then the Spiral Loops, and maybe Feather River, Kedie Wye, and Williams Loop.
 
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That's true, I never thought about the modeling aspect. Btw, how is the Horshoe Curve coming? I can't wait to run some 80Mac's out of Southfork
 
It is really comming along nicely ... I have it backed up on a memory stick as a CDP, and on 2 PC's, just in case of catastophic failure ... I had hoped to have it ready for a WIP Beta release by June 1st ... but I am zooming along on it.
 
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For me it's all about operations. When I find a route I like I make all the industries interactive, then set up a switch list program I have to operate it until I get bored, then I find another route and start over.
Someday I might even build my own route. :)
 
I'm with trainz_andrew on this.

It is a never ending hobby for me. Ever since Prowler introduced me to narrow gauge engines I've been hooked. :cool:

I spend all my time modifying std routes to NG routes and running his engines on them.

I particullary love NG mountain routes that follow rivers or lakes.

I will admitt that some times I trainz watch, other times I drive the trains but I spend most of my time in surveyor trying to make the perfect route. :D

Dave

PS: I've often tried standard gauge because of the different big engines out there, but in the end I always come back to NG.:)
 
I use trainz because I can't afford right now a model train set. Virural is cheaper than model verison.
 
Have to agree with you Beattie - Model Raildoading has just gotten too expensive. I have a 14 ft 6 in by 40 ft HOn3 pike I haven't touched since getting TRS2004 and Gmax and all I use Trainz for is testing things I make in Gmax before uploading.

$495 for a HOn3 0-6-0T or $950 for a K-37 is just too much. When I was in high school (way back when, lol) I saw a Max Gray UP 4-8-8-4 in O scale for $325. I thought that was the national debt (I used to mow lawns for $2 each). I'd probably drop dead if I saw the price of one today.

Ben
 
IamKJVonly2 said:
I'm with trainz_andrew on this.

It is a never ending hobby for me. Ever since Prowler introduced me to narrow gauge engines I've been hooked. :cool:

I spend all my time modifying std routes to NG routes and running his engines on them.

I particullary love NG mountain routes that follow rivers or lakes.

I will admitt that some times I trainz watch, other times I drive the trains but I spend most of my time in surveyor trying to make the perfect route. :D

Dave

PS: I've often tried standard gauge because of the different big engines out there, but in the end I always come back to NG.:)
Click to expand...
You said the same exact thing that I do, except coverting standard to narrow gauge. I also use Trainz because I sometimes get problems when building something with my Legos so I take my mind off of it and play in surveyor.
 
Personally, I use trainz for route building. It's the ultimate application of Model Railroader's motto, "Dream it, Plan it (in my case, for about 30 seconds:D), Build it." I always freelance (though i'm building a prototypical route, but i absolutely hate it), and i love the freedom it gives me, where i can dream up something in my mind, like a yard, or a heavy industry, or a large interchange, and, maybe 30-45 minutes later, it's a reality.

But don't get me wrong, i love running my railroads too. I enjoy building sessions for Philskene's routes, and there are those times where, as much as i enjoy building, i want to run through something that has finished scenery:hehe: My favorite routes; the UMR, PO&N, IndustRail, and the multigauge Timber Ridge Line. I've got a big narrow gauge streak in me, spawned by those amazing, beautiful, burly engines at Chama.

as you can see, I love big routes, i love the ability to run long, 70-80 car trains behind big 6-axle diesels (like my favorites, the SD-9 and the SD-45:D) or massive steam engines like 2-10-2s or mallets. Even more than running those, i love running the short wayfreight, switching industries, dodging the trains superior to me, and just having fun. I love switching cars!

so yeah, i vary:hehe:
 
For me it has several different purposes.

One, it is a great way to relax after teaching English conversation all day.

Two, it's helping me recreate a place I lived and railfaned in many years ago and could never afford to build in HO.

Last but not least I will create a fictional railroad to be placed in my families original home deep in the hollows of Kentucky.

Dave
 
A very good question, especially if one attempts to dig below one's mere behaviour with Trainz to the motivations spurring it.

Perhaps at a fundamental level it's about control. We humans do like to feel in control and Trainz provides many modes of control for all sorts of controllable things, from engines to timetables to making whole worlds.

Personally I enjoy enhancing extant routes, not being adept enough to build my own from scratch - although this is a longer term ambition. (I fancy doing the old railways crossing the Settle & Carlisle line, from Darlinton to Tebay, along with the bit down to Ingleton).

Then there is problem-solving. There's a happy balance where Trainz presents a problem that can be overcome with persistence and furtling; and the situation that seems unsolvable. In the latter category lie missing kuids and the more broken assets - although time and more furtling may well have happy results with these frustrations, eventually.

The whole session thing is about dealing with dynamic problems. I often think Trainz would be a wonderful training aid to those who must plan and execute "projects" to achieve this or that complex outcome. Critical paths!? Dependancies!? Not 'arf!

Finally there is the whole virtual reality thing. Dare I mention that some realities are at their best when virtual? Train travel is firmly in that category these days. Have you recently travelled on those so-called trains from Glasgow to London? Bring back the slow chuffing things with corridors and compartments, says I.

Lataxe, usually in his woodworking shed, plucking his guitar or out on a bicycle/archery field doing different species of control, problems and reality.
 
For me Trainz is rather like therapy. After becoming disabled in 2003 and not being able to do a lot of the hobbies that I used to do (radio controlled flying) I really needed something that I could do that could at least keep my mind occupied where I wouldn't focus on physical pain.

Trainz actually fit that bill pretty well, I can combine a hobby with what was my craft (computers) I started off in 2004, I actually got into doing some route creation around 2006-2007, then I beta tested TC 3, after that I bought 2009 and before the service packs it was really a crapshoot whether or not the dang thing would even load without a database repair so I kind of drifted away from Trainz for about a year. I guess I kind of needed that time away because when I came back 2010 had been released so I bought that, I bought my first few pieces of payware, and I bought TransDem.

To say my eyes were opened would be an understatement, why I hadn't done this before is really beyond me because TransDem opens an entirely different world. Then I decided to branch out even further and take a look at content creation so I settled on 3DS Max 2009 at I've been having an absolute ball ever sense.

So I guess you could say I use it for fun, relaxation and therapy, and to keep my mind focused and sharp and above all to keep learning. Now I won't say that Trainz is everything in my life because it's not, but it is something that I enjoy doing that I actually can do.
 
I use Trainz to play on and have half started some routes just to delete them and strat over may some day finish one to my liking....:D :D
 
Route building - route building - route building... I love trainz (although a little frustrating with my c**p computer)....
The routes I have underway are:

Downtown Seattle and Beyond (US)
Shoeburyness - Fenchurch Street (UK)
Sheerness Branch - Sittingbourne hoping to go to Chatham (UK)
Banska Byalska (Slovakia)
Himalayan High Plateau (China)
Lilford Warlf - Lombourne (UK Fictional for when I haven't paid virgin media and my Internet goes off lol)
And my 5 year old is doing a multi-national route that needs a bit of editing mainly to get rid of the very sharp corners (it always amazes me how they can pick it up so quick)

I'll be well over 100 by the time I get these done lol... I've always wanted a good sized model railway but due to the size (or lack of( of UK housing and the cost of a good model layout, trainz more than makes up for it.

Thanks very much N3V for this wonderfull peice of software, give yourselves a slap on the back.

:Y::Y:

Andy
 
I like to build prototype routes, especially ones that are no longer in exisitence. I enjoy doing the research required to determine just where the tracks went and what industries were serviced. The cool thing with Trainz, is a route can be historically modeled. Every few months, move the calendar forward to when that next section of track got laid (or abandoned) or a short line railroad was purchased and merged into the route.

I enjoy developing the operations for a route. I use the Official Guide to schedule passenger trains and then create freight operations that might be appropriate for the period.

And, I like to switch cars. Yard operations, terminal railroads and way freights are a delight for me.

I figure I spend an equal amount of time in Surveyor and Driver.

I have yet to warm up to content creation. I have used CAD software for the last 25+ years and have found the the user interface for gmax & Blender to be so counter intutitive there is no enjoyment to be found. I have created a few things in CAD and have found a friend that can convert them to a finished Trainz compatable asset. And occasionally, I'll attempt to write some code.

Why do I do it? I like the challenge of learning new things - and with Trainz, it is a never ending process.
 
lorenw said:
For me it's all about operations. When I find a route I like I make all the industries interactive, then set up a switch list program I have to operate it until I get bored, then I find another route and start over.
Someday I might even build my own route. :)
Click to expand...
For me is also all about driving inside my cab, with a good view of rails and gauges, and a nice engine's sound. And a lot a hard-duty work. In 2007 (with TRS2006) I run a scenario almost 12 hours long without breaking, it could be played in 10 or 12 parts, but I did it at one shot, except 10 minutes when refuelling locos sometimes. LOL

Hey lorenw, what's the switch list program you mentioned? Is your own? I am interested in it.

Cheers.
 
For me it's about bringing all the dreams you had as a kid about model railroading to life. Now I can build a route I could only dream of because of cost and space restrictions.

I can remember spending hours thumbing through Model Railroader daydreaming that someday I'm going to build a layout like this. Well now I can. Does anyone remember spending hours at the local model train or hobby shop walking the isles? I never came home with much but it sure was fun to look. Well now I can browse the isles of the internet looking for content, getting excited about the smallest piece because it's just what I was looking for. Then I can take it home right then.

I'm also working on a proto Frisco route from the state of Missouri. The route is now abandoned but runs through lands I spent a lot of time at as a kid with my grandparents and family. I have had just as much fun doing the research for the route as I have building it in surveyor.
 
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