I heard from him just after Christmas. He said he was busy with a bunch of home repairs, RV repairs, post hurricane cleanup, and not doing much Trainz stuff. He was also making a transition from GMax to Blender and relearning animation for some boxcar doors.
Rene' is a RV person, although in Australia we call them grey nomads, and is often away for weeks at a time. I did send him an e-mail but it wouldn't surprise me if I didn't get a reply for a while.