Pro Train 2: Microsoft Train Simulator Add-On

Unless you want to stay around the year 2000 with the era of the add on I recommend German Railroads 2 instead.


Attention to detail pays off   December 23, 2002
 30 out of 30 found this review helpful

Without a doubt, this is the best add-on for Microsoft Train Simulator available on the market. It's got everything you could want, a selection of powerful and interesting engines, beautiful rolling stock and one of the most scenic and in-depth train routes ever to grace a PC screen. Plus there are over 30 activities to keep you amused, well over what most other add-ons provide.

What makes this the best add-on for me though is just simply the superb and glorious graphics, they are the best I've ever seen for a MSTS add-on. Big congratulations must got to Bluesky Productions for producing such a gem. The attention to detail is phenomenal, sometimes it's almost like you are really there and driving the train. Leipzig station is a wonderful departing point for your journey and on all the subsequent stations the detail in design always stays. You can even see the timetables and ticket machines! Another neat touch is the train having an announcer telling you the train is about to leave the station.

The route itself is one of the longest, if not the longest, in any add-on. It's from Leipzig to Dresden and it's a lovely route where you will reach speeds of upto 160km/h. Watch out for many interesting surprises in the scenery along the way! Though a German made add-on, the manual is in perfect English and the messages and information on-screen are in English too, so there's nothing for us English only speakers to worry about!

Get this now and it will show you what Train Simulator can really do. The best package!


Drive through the European countryside...   October 27, 2002
 24 out of 25 found this review helpful

The Train Simulator is among my means of "meditation." Maybe it's where I wish I were. Oh, well...

As with the other extension of the Train Simulator, I wish there has been slightly more instruction as to how to use this one. I had to call the manufacturer after I had installed it--and installation is remarkably simple. The same instruction the manufacturer gave me applied to both extensions and was simple in itself (to the point that felt a little like an (...)So that's a minor criticism.

The program itself is fine, better than the other extension because it gives not only new engines and cabs that weren't in the original simulator, but also places and "scenarios." Do you want to drive a passenger train on an early morning route? And keep to your schedule? This has that and other scenarios. And the situation is appropriate to Europe, i.e., kilometers as opposed to miles.

The only slight reservation is I have of this is the expense. It costs almost as much as the original program. I think it's worth it, but, then, I use the program fairly frequently. You might be put off by the price. If not, maybe I'll see you on the rails one of these days.