Some advice please-where to start?

[BVM]

I have had a model railway for over 60 years moving from a very small room to much larger rooms and finally to half a small study. However we have now made our final (?) move into a retirement village and into a compact cottage, which is suitable in every respect except that there is absolutely no room for a model railway!

So I have been investigating options like Trainz but have no experience with such systems. So I need some advice and this seemed to be the best place to seek it.

1. I haven't downloaded anything yet so the first question is which version? (Cost isn't an issue as I sold my railway for several thousand pounds.)

I spent the last half of my career in the computer industry so I am confident with IT.

I have an Apple MAC desktop computer with a 21 inch monitor currently running MACOS Catalina and I have plenty of hard drive type storage as well as separate backup storage.

2. Once I have downloaded whatever, what is the best way to start-any tutorials etc recommended?

3. There seem to be a lot of add ons-are any of more importance than others?

4. I am not entirely sure how I would use the system, I have always been keen on operations so might in the first instance favour a yard with shunting type operations-are there any "layouts" already assembled that one can add on and play with?

My name is Brian and I have an engineering background and live in Hampshire in the UK.

Regards Brian

[gamerouche]

Hello Brian & welcome to the British Trainz forum. Have a search on YouTube for Trainz 2019. There are some videos & tutorials which will show you what can be done. Although Trainz 22 is on the way, you can obtain the UK 2019 version for only $20 from the official NV3 site. Once you register your copy, 1000's of other items, locos, rolling stock, buildings etc can be obtained free from the download station to add to your collection. A First-Class ticket is recommended for faster download speeds, it costs but it's well worth the outlay.

Don't forget to check the Screenshots forum on here to see what our talented creators & route builders can do. Help & advice is always available.

Good luck & I hope you find many hours of enjoyment. I've been a trainz user since 2004.

Regards Gam

[BVM]

Thank you for your guidance.
Brian

[ScottAS2]

Welcome, Brian!

1. I haven't downloaded anything yet so the first question is which version? (Cost isn't an issue as I sold my railway for several thousand pounds.)

If you haven't yet bought Trainz, I'd hold your fire until next week: there are bound to be Black Friday/20th Anniversary deals. You should know that N3V have a habit of pushing new versions out before they're quite ready for primetime, and the community therefore keeps playing with and making content for older versions for quite a while after they've supposedly been superseded. To give you a guide, I think TRS19 has only recently overtaken TANE as the most popular version of Trainz to play (rather than just own), and it's been out for several years. That said, new versions are mostly compatible with content made for earlier versions and, unlike the other sim, new features are usually paid upgrades (through buying a new version), so if you're completely new to Trainz, you're probably best waiting for Trainz '22 as gamerouche suggests. One other warning: if you're getting Trainz to replace a real life model railway, don't be sucked into thinking that Trainz Model Railroad 2017 is the best version to get; all versions of Trainz can be used to make and run "tabletop" layouts (and "full scale" ones) just as well as each other. TMR17 was a matter of branding and bundled routes, not features or capabilities.

3. There seem to be a lot of add ons-are any of more importance than others?

I think the best thing about Trainz is that (unlike the other sim) it's not too dependent on payware. Once you own Trainz, you'll get access to the Download Station, which has everything from rolling stock and trackside objects to complete layouts and sessions and scenarios to play on them. You can build quite an extensive Trainz setup with only the free content from there. I'd recommend you stick to the DLS until you've got a feel for Trainz and figured out what content you already have (many of the "DLC" routes on the Trainz store are bundled with some versions of Trainz). There's no need to rush into payware unless you particularly want the item it offers. DLS content than needs payware certainly does exist, but the vast majority don't. The possible exception to this is the Settle and Carlisle route, some of whose assets have snuck into a fair number of good DLS routes.

One extra that is probably worth buying is a First Class Ticket for your first month or so. It significantly speeds up downloads from the DLS. Without one, a route and its dependencies can take overnight to download - if it doesn't get stuck halfway through. Once you're more established and not hoovering so much down you may be happy putting up with slower downloads - I certainly am - but it'll be useful to build your collection up at the start.

4. I am not entirely sure how I would use the system, I have always been keen on operations so might in the first instance favour a yard with shunting type operations-are there any "layouts" already assembled that one can add on and play with?

Yes, lots! In what era do your interests lie? Here's a couple of suggestions to start you off:

• The ECML route, which you'll probably get bundled with Trainz when you buy, contains the entire East Coast Mainline(!) in the 70s, including the appropriate yards. There's a payware session available that focusses on shunting in the Newcastle yard, but I don't own it and can therefore offer no opinion on it.
• Midshire and Rosworth Valley Lines <KUID:298788:102631>* is the premier fictional modern route, though in line with its era there aren't many yards.
• Duchy Days <KUID2:340226:100129:2> is an excellent, fictional 80s route somewhere in the south-west of England. It has lots of branches serving various aspects of the china clay industry, and at least one yard.
• 1930s Cornish Mainline and Branches (not to be confused with Mark's excellent and extensive modern rendition, <KUID2:179051:100421:7>) covers the route from Truro to Penzance in, as the name suggests, the inter-war era. I think it's bundled with TRS19.
• There are also a number of "tabletop" layouts, but they're not really my thing, so I'll leave it to others to make suggestions.

Unfortunately, the DLS's Layout section is quite polluted with rubbish that's been semi-accidentally uploaded by people with iPads (if the description begins "A simple yet elegant circular route based upon the rolling fields of the British Midlands...", run away, fast), but there are some real gems in there once you've sifted through the dross.

* A KUID, which apparently stands for Koolthings Unique Identifier Data, is a unique identifier that every piece of Trainz content has. You can use them to find and download them from the DLS, if they're on there.

[BVM]

Thank you Scott most helpful and I suspect saved me a lot of time!
Brian

[LandYRailwayMan]

I run TANE on older Apple hardware(Mac OS 10.11 and 10.13). Mostly Mac Pro's with a half decent graphics card in them. I have a MacBook Pro with 10.15 Catalina, but I really don't like that version and am planing to downgrade to 10.14 when I get round to it. TANE did run on the laptop but it gets very hot!

It is still possible to buy TANE https://store.trainzportal.com/products ... -a-new-era and there is a lot of content available and some lovely routes, though I sense the movement to the newer technologys among some modellers. The Settle and Carlisle route mentioned by ScottAS2, is quite old and runs fairly well in TANE, it was in fact the whole reason I got Trainz in the first place, as I grew up traveling the line.

The screenshot I submitted to the competition was taken in TANE running he beautiful Lavenham in Winter route available on the DLS.