September 2026 Development Update

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