SteamTRAIN - 3.1.0

too bad, it looked like it might be fun. Total DOA.

I've had a play with googolChooChoo3D and was very impressed by its ingenuity; however, I shan't be buying it as it's a totally different animal from SteamTRAIN. I don't want to design track and just have a RUN button to make the train go round it. I want to be able to really drive a train, to experience its inertia, the loss of traction on slippery rails, the problem of shunting cars into the right order without blocking the main line with its speeding Express, to use my skill to stop in a passing bay with feeble brakes on a downgrade, to take my mouse lantern on a black night to make sure the tail end is not sticking out into the main line, to economise on fuel so I don't run out before I get to a refuelling point etc etc. SteamTRAIN was designed to include users' ideas so it IS what they want already, but will certainly get better as it develops. It is also a very compact file for what it does. My grandchildren just like to make the wheels go round, watch the smoke, blow the whistle, ring the bell and chortle with delight as they crash it.

I've had a play with googolChooChoo3D and was very impressed by its ingenuity; however, I shan't be buying it as it's a totally different animal from SteamTRAIN. I don't want to design track and just have a RUN button to make the train go round it. I want to be able to really drive a train, to experience its inertia, the loss of traction on slippery rails, the problem of shunting cars into the right order without blocking the main line with its speeding Express, to use my skill to stop in a passing bay with feeble brakes on a downgrade, to take my mouse lantern on a black night to make sure the tail end is not sticking out into the main line, to economise on fuel so I don't run out before I get to a refuelling point etc etc. SteamTRAIN was designed to include users' ideas so it IS what they want already, but will certainly get better as it develops. It is also a very compact file for what it does. My grandchildren just like to make the wheels go round, watch the smoke, blow the whistle, ring the bell and chortle with delight as they crash it.

I'm amazed at the (supposed) adults who post here as if this were not the most fabulous occupation for a SIX-year-old ever designed. Intelligent, witty, a few scares ... it's been a pleasure to see this app evolve as my grandson has grown into this challenging game, and I thank the developer for this unique app.

This provides that diversion for me. After hours or design or writing it all builds up and I need to just fiddle with something else. This is it. I paid my shareware after I tried an earlier version and the upgrades have been nice. No - it's not a complex simulation - but if you go to dispatcher mode it can get tricky and difficult with some thinking involved. I give it a thumbs up - and it works nicely on a dual 2ghz G5.