User Guide

MICROSOFT TRAIN SIMULATOR ENGINEER’S HANDBOOK
THE ACTIVITIES | 73
Speed limits
Speed limits exist to protect railroad workers, passengers, freight, and equipment. You must
obey all permanent and temporary speed limits as you drive.
Train handling
As you operate a train, you must keep passenger comfort and freight durability levels in
mind, accelerating and decelerating carefully to avoid disturbing passengers and damaging
merchandise. These levels are different depending on exactly what (or who) is on your train.
In Train Simulator, lumber and commuters are more forgiving than new automobiles and royalty.
If you jostle the passengers or freight beyond acceptable limits, each error is logged.
To learn more about proper operating procedures in Train Simulator, see Chapter 9, Operations;
the three How to Drive... chapters; and the onscreen Help (press F1).
Using driving aids
Popup driving aids can help make up for the sensory limitations of a computer simulation. For
example, the Track Monitor shows the signals and speed limits along your route. Other driving
aids help you read signals, manually throw switches not controlled by the dispatcher and follow
your timetable.
To learn more about driving aids, see Chapter 4, Tools for Driving.
Note: The keyboard commands that bring up the individual driving aids can be found on the
Quick Reference Card, on the Key Commands tab of the Operations Notebook, and in the
online Help (F1).
Using the Operations Notebook
You can review your briefing, timetable, work order, locomotive operating procedures, and keyboard
commands at any time during an Activity. Just press F11 to display the Operations Notebook. To see
how well you’re doing, click the Evaluation tab.
To learn more about the Operations Notebook and driving aids, see Chapter 4, Tools for Driving.
Saving an Activity
Some Train Simulator Activities are quite lengthy, simulating an entire real-world railroad shift. The
good news is that you don’t have to sit at your computer all day or night (unless you want to)! You
can easily save an Activity-in-progress to finish another time. Just press the ESC key and follow the
onscreen instructions. For details, see the onscreen Help (press F1).
If you want to save your Activity without interrupting your run, just press the Quick Save key (F2).