The Steam Train Fest runs through July 27, giving you the opportunity to save money on games including Train Sim World 6, Victoria 3, and, er, Thomas & Friends: Wonders of Sodor.
As a small-town boy I like catching the train because it reminds me I live in a proper grown-up city now. I feel the same about graffiti and spotting a big rat on the street. This feature by Andy Kelly, which originally ran in issue 317 of our print magazine back in May of 2018, presents a more jaded view of the humble rail journey, and of the simulators that recreate it.
I’ve taken the train from Bath to London hundreds of times in my life, usually to visit game developers in the capital. And while I enjoy that part of the job, the journey itself is a dispiriting chore. Rail travel in the United Kingdom is a chaos of delays, overcrowding and overpriced sandwiches. Yet when I saw Great Western Express on Steam—an expansion for Train Sim World that recreates part of that route—I felt compelled to play it.
Videogames are a powerful form of escapism for me, but what if I played one to achieve the complete opposite of that?
Train Sim World is primarily a game about driving trains, but it’s unique in that it also lets you be a passenger. Bath isn’t in the game yet, so I start my journey at Reading, and I’m immediately struck by how well they’ve recreated the station. I’ve spent many hours here over the years waiting for delayed connections, and the layout is perfect—although the lack of a pasty shop is jarring. The pasty is a station staple, and I will forever associate the smell of hot pastry with waiting for trains.
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On Rails
I get on the train and it’s a strange experience seeing something so mundane, so tediously everyday, replicated in 3D. I walk through the buffet cart and can almost smell the reheated bacon rolls. I go through a vestibule and think of all the times I’ve sat there on my suitcase because the seats were all reserved. It’s a bit too clean, though. It needs a layer of grime to capture the experience, and perhaps some men drinking tins of Carlsberg and shouting.
I find an empty seat, which knocks some serious points off for realism, and the train pulls out of Reading. Next stop, London Paddington. I watch the city give way to the countryside through the rain-spattered window, and I do what I always do when I’m on a train: I listen to a podcast and eat a Twirl.
And, honestly, it’s just like the real thing, which I guess is the point of any simulator.
The grey, misty gloom streaking past me is authentically British, although it’s far too quiet. No one is talking loudly and no children are screeching. I think about how much more atmospheric it would be if you heard the train manager piping up over the intercom. But these minor criticisms aside, it’s the closest any game has ever come to replicating being a passenger on a train in the UK. So well done for that.
Knowing that there’s no manager on duty, I relocate to first class. But it feels wrong. I don’t belong here. I should be in standard with the “real” people. But before I head back down the train pulls into Paddington, which is as accurate as Reading. This isn’t an experience I’ll be hurrying back to, but it was an interesting one.
I’m fascinated by games that recreate real life, especially if they capture the rubbishness of the UK. And I’m glad sims like Train Sim World exist to fulfil this very specific desire.
