I've been reading the fascinating and free google e-book Catechism of the Locomotive and am wondering how detailed the modeling of steam locomotives is in RS2012. It seems the standard controls are there- throttle, reverserer, multiple types of brakes. Do you have additional controls for water flow into the boiler, etc?

Do the different wheel configurations play differently?

What are the challenges you as the player face? Do you have to watch water-levels and will the boiler be damged if it runs low? Are failures modeled and trigerrable, like in a flight sim?

Mostly importantly, is it a fun way to learn more about the mechanics and operation of a steam locomotive?

The steam locos are a lot of fun to drive in 'driver' mode (you worry about driving while the fireman is AI) and an interesting exercise in mastery as you learn to get the optimal performance from the various machines modelled. You can choose to operate the fireman yourself and that adds a whole new layer of complexity of fire box stoking, coal/oil/water management. As far as I'm aware, the AI fireman is not very efficient with things like fuel management and is minimally efficient in general (not a slight against RSC as I'm inclined to think that they want the player to take up the challenge, or at least offer the challenge of performing multi-roles) but will get you through. Each class operates differently, so the settings you find working well in the Black 5 may not be as efficient in the Hall and vice versa. The 56xx model is probably the most complex of the modelled locos and it's very easy to blow cylinders, lose plugs, and generally have a very short trip by not opening valves etc at the correct time, closing other bits off and so on, but once some semblance of skill appears then it's a joy to drive (the 56xx comes with some decent tutorial scenarios to help). Hope that helps a bit,

Kind regards,
Leaf

Thanks Leaf, that seems pretty comprehensive.