We've posted our September 2026 Development Update! Have a look:
Spoilers follow!
We plan to release the update to an Experimental branch on October 27th! Watch the video for the full background, as well as a preview of our upcoming equipment customization and map editor features, just to name a couple. Until then we'll be working on gearing up to support all of the new modding features, as well as preparing resources and documentation.
As listed in the video, here's the high level list of features coming to the experimental branch:
Maintenance of Way
- Track wears with traffic and must be maintained
- Construction milestones built with MoW work cars
- Vegetation crowds track as time since maintenance grows
- Temporary speed restriction boards on worn track
- Construction Difficulty and Track Wear settings
Physics/Simulation
- Improved slack action from a rewritten coupling solver
- Tonnage ratings in the HUD, purchase screen and placer
- Diesel-electric simulation rewritten
- Steam cutoff and tractive effort overhauled
- More realistic coal consumption
- Handbrakes apply gradually
Auto Engineer
- Rebuilt train handling: stops within about a meter
- Improved brake handling on steep grades
- Added stall detection
- Waypoints across turntables
- Waypoint route preview while picking destination
- Engaging waypoint mode now keeps speed
- Pick waypoints using map window
Equipment
- G-16 Prairie
- L-27 Articulated
- EMD F7 A and B units
- Selectable tenders for the C-40, P-43 and P-48
- Others to follow
- Specs updated to match real life counterparts
- Multicolor paint schemes for diesel engines
- GP9 and SD7 detail customization
- Customization for select steam engines, more to come
- 80T Ore Hopper
- 40ft Maintenance of Way car
- Southern Class SU 36ft boxcar
Equipment Features
- Paint maps with crisp stripes, heralds and lettering
- Customize your equipment's paint, lettering and finish
- Metallic and polished metal finishes
- Spectral whistles and horns with editor
- Whistle & horn distance rolloff
- Selectable bells
- Revamped wheel clack, rolling sound and flange squeal
- Load models, more to come
- Load density accounted for in car capacity calculations
- Diesel cab Ammeter and lit gauges
Operations
- Freight rates adjusted to reward longer, heavier moves
- Loads inventory
- Industries order by quantity
- Purchased equipment delivered to an interchange of your choice
- Equipment purchases now take delivery time
- Cancel equipment orders for a full refund
- Locomotive prices adjusted based on performance
- Purchase screen shows what an engine can pull
Map & Environment
- Added McClain interchange and engine service
- Added Rock Products at Dillsboro
- Added Scott Tie Plant at Sylva
- Reworked Whittier Saw Mill trackage
- Reworked Walker Lumber trackage
- Expanded Nantahala Talc & Limestone industry
- Track realigned across most of the line
- Protected grade crossings with signals and bells
- Turntable control window with automatic lining
- Diamond crossings
- New vegetation system
- Vegetation Richness setting
- Ground and vegetation follow real-world land cover
- Completely new higher resolution terrain data
- Reshaped roadbed fill/cut profile
- Procedural, moving weather
Modding
- In-game mod manager
- Relay scripting language for mods
- Custom maps
- In-game Map Editor
- Real-world elevation and land cover
- Make map mods of other maps
- Data mods can patch existing content instead of replacing it
- Build custom windows and console commands with Relay
- Industries and freight loads defined in JSON
- Car Style system for paint schemes
- Mods can declare their own reporting marks
- Managed DLL mods (opt-in)
- Asset Development Kit for building mods
- Modding documentation site
- In-game Message Log for mod and content errors
- Articulated steam locomotives with independent engine sets
Everything Else
- Improved terrain loading performance
- Faster air brake simulation
- Additional performance enhancements
- Upgraded engine to Unity 6.3
- Volumetric headlights and signal lights
- Camera inertia
- Revised color grading for significantly improved color reproduction
- Re-enabled anti-aliasing (MSAA)
- Night Brightness setting
- Water spouts no longer lower through high tender decks
- Redesigned multiplayer hosting: open/close game from within session
- Redesigned save system with multiple saves per railroad
- Fast Forward (singleplayer only, highly experimental)
- Revamped map window for performance with zoom momentum
- Discord Rich Presence integration
- Built-in web server for companion apps
- Crouch
