Exactly ten years ago this very day...

[rufuskins]

I can't compete as I didn't acquire mine until the beginning of 2008! I bought London South East as my first add-on and oh what disappointment when it wouldn't run. But then I joined UKTS and discovered Train Store and the rest is history.

The investment in the add-ons and membership of UKTS should serve me well in my forthcoming retirement - only hope that the computer hardware survives!

Like others many thanks to one and all for add-ons and advice.

Alec

[NiallGray]

Late comer to the party, only picked up a copy in 2005. Was about to ditch it until I found UKTS. Rest is history.

[250787]

Had it on the first day of release in the UK which was near the end of July 2001. Still got the original disks and last time I used them to install they still worked.

[aj52mdy]

Not quite 2001, but not too far behind. Aquired my copy in 2002 The reason?
Well on a holiday/vacation to western Canada in 1998, we drove down to Wyoming for the BNSF and UP coal trains.
On the way we spent a couple of days at Glacier on Marias Pass, As well as the new BNSF Dash 9CWs there were still plenty of
BN and Santa Fe liveried SD45s as well.
Went back and did the complete MSTS default Marias pass route in 2002, from Shelby to Whitefish and yes the MSTS route is very basic by todays standards but even so I was able to find and idendify locations just the same.
I have a few Canadian routes and am familiar with Kicking Horse pass, Rogers Pass and points westward.
Thats how it started.
Cheers
Andy

[mickrik]

Hi There,

Happy 10th Aniversary to you

I bought my copy off Amazon in 2002 and quickly got bored thinking " Is this it!!!"

Then surfing the web with "Dial Up" I came across Richard Garbers Work which opened my eyes a bit, but I was longing for something British.

I came across a link to UKTS in the Microsoft's Train Simulator page and I haver not looked back since. I am still using My 2002 discs on my fifth PC since then

750 duron, 1200 Athlon, 2600 Athlon, 3500 whatever, AM2, IE3 Fast Twincore.

I would not like to run Scottish Central Plus on the old 750 with 500mb of memory.. I think it may have cause for self destruction.

This may be a part of why the sim has kept going, It still works with each operating system upgrade and performance has generally been smoother with each major hardware upgrade.

I think the most wobbly operating system for it was ME.

There you go, thats my story, I have enough models to build to see my discs through to 10 years old. They are carefully stored in a dark box so I hope they will not degrade.

Mick

[Hymek]

I Bought my copy from my local "Game" on UK release day 2001 in the box with the cardboard sleeves the disks came in, and has been installed on four of my computers since then. (i remember the days of TSF where the only addon loco available was the class 47. How things have changed

I still have the two original discs, and the one on my main PC is running my original copy (obviously chopped and changed alot with the brilliant MSTS mods from here. I also bought a second copy of the two discs about six months ago from the erlstoke manor fund on Bewdley station, as a backup copy as my original discs had become slightly scratched. They have since been installed on my laptop after it went t**s up before xmas.

My first copy must be some of the oldest UK version discs still in use today

[Hymek]

I was amongst those invited to the release ceremony at the Kings Cross Model Railway club. Got a teeshirt but alas still had to go out the next day and spend £49.99 in Game to purchase the sim.

An interesting take on perceptions there too... Even after allowing for ten years of inflation, who now would willingly go out and pay 50 quid for a game? Yet back then we lapped it up like a rare German beer!

some Xbox games are getting close to the £49.99 mark now (i think). Doubt you would get a good 10 years use out of one of them, Usually about a month or two at most!

[pendolinobasher]

$50.00 for a Train Simulator Im suprised the game shifted many copies at that price, Im guessing the year it was released it was a revolutionary step forward for the simming world.

I bought my copy from Amazon a few years ago (Xplosive version) for a couple of quid.

[armchairengo]

$50.00 for a Train Simulator Im suprised the game shifted many copies at that price, Im guessing the year it was released it was a revolutionary step forward for the simming world.

It appears that MSTS tapped into a previously underestimated niche market which has now outgrown its "niche-ness".

For most of us, MSTS is the way that we run routes and stock. However, we have to remember that MSTS also comes with the somewhat maligned tools to create the routes and stock that we enjoy. As such, MSTS was also designed to be a platform for content creation and I suspect that is where much of the development budget went.
The routes and stock that come with MSTS out of the box are just examples of content creation which thankfully have been improved upon by countless talented people over the years.

OpenRails may well be the future of MSTS, but for the forseeable future and for better or worse, the dear old Route Editor is the software that will be used to create routes.

[home1]

i got my copy on day of release way bay in 2001.paid £50 for it from game went to brighton to pick up on day off.just like to say a big thank you to all the guys and girls over the years keep up the good work.

[bigvern]

It appears that MSTS tapped into a previously underestimated niche market which has now outgrown its "niche-ness".

Urban legend has it that Bill Gates discovered the Polish freeware "Mechanik" driving sim and was so hooked he commissioned MSTS...

[johny]

1st August 2001, Software Warehouse (jungle.com) £39.99. Software Warehouse is no more but MSTS lives on.

John

[dennisat]

My copy appeared as a "stocking filler" at Christmas 2006 I think. I sometimes feel my wife has regretted her impulse to buy it ever since.

Dennis

[NiallGray]

OpenRails may well be the future of MSTS, but for the forseeable future and for better or worse, the dear old Route Editor is the software that will be used to create routes.

That for me is the only thing that holds back openrails. While you still need MSTS software to create routes, it can never really take off. I hope in time a new OR route editor is devised as RE is a pain in the butt to use and always has been!

[almark]

Christmas Present in 2001,although the original disc only lasted about 4 years,had another 2 copies since then! Sadly neither of them work now either!