Train Simulator 2012 Meanderings

My grandpa used to be heavy into collecting and setting up model trains, and, while I was always interested in this, I never had the money or the space to actually follow through on this hobby. Well, for $7.19, I've now got the electronic equivalent to model trains: Train Simulator 2012. Here's some of my thoughts as I first experienced this game.

First off, I decided to try the tutorials. After all, all I know about driving a train came from Captain Kirk (new) and Denzel Washington.

Was very happy to find out there was a Simple Controls control scheme. This will make things a lot easier.

I did great on my first tutorial! I'm gonna skip the second one for now (harder controls) and I'm going to derail a train!

This thing takes awhile to load. That makes me sad...oops, here we go! Going to try to derail a train on a run from New York to Boston.

Couldn't figure out how to get out of the station. There wasn't any instructions about switching tracks in the one tutorial. I'll try one more scenario before I try another tutorial. This one starts in Philly, so hopefully it will be less confusing to get out of.

It is! After a tight turn, I see a long straightaway. i'm gonna see how fast I can get this Acela Express going after that turn! Looks like I've topped out at 100 mph. The scenery and sense of speed is pretty good!

Now that I'm perfectly straight, I'm doing over 120. I just made it through a small turn, but I see a tight one on the horizon with a 50 mph speed limit.

I did it! That was fun! Unfortunately, when I tried to take a screenshot, it just took a picture of the setup menu instead. That sucks. Oh well, maybe I'll learn how to play properly now.

I've decided to just try an easy scenario. Maybe later I can do a tutorial.

I'll try a regular Amtrak train, like the one I've ridden on a dozen times in my life. It has an easy scenario, so hopefully a rookie like me will be able to succeed. Okay, I just stopped, and I don't know why. Now I'm going again. Now I'm stopped again. I have to Google this. This is frustrating. I'm going again, but I'll probably be late. Stopped. Turning this off for google.

Couldn't find anything. Guess I'll just have to try this again, and be more aware of what I'm doing.

This time, I got an alert before it stopped. This sucks. Maybe the game is mad after I derailed a train last time. I can't find anything. I'm going to go cool down (literally, in a pool) then come back and do the other tutorials

UPDATE:  After swimming, I turned off "Simple Controls" and tried this scenario with the intermediate ones.  The train didn't keep stopping when I did it this way.  I felt a strange sense of accomplishment when I finished the 40 minute scenario.  Still hundreds more to try...another day.  I've had enough driving a train for today.  Don't want to end up like that Crockett fella.