Railfan Technology > One More Run 8 ?

What happens in an Extra Board Activity. Do you just sit there and wait for the train then take control of it or what?

Not quite sure I have seen those. Everything in Run 8 starts with you taking control of a train.

Click the Select Route/Train button. Select a route (upper left corner, Mojave, Needles, or Barstow-Yermo). Select a train from the Train/Session list in the center for that territory (say, the BNSF H-BARKCK manifest from the Barstow-Yermo route). Then click Run Simulator button (upper left corner).

Once in the session, click the lead loco to highlight it, then click the Auto Start All Locomotives button. Wait a few moments, then click the Auto MU All Locomotives button. For more detail of subsequent steps, see their step-by-step instructions, which are decent.

You're right, the learning curve is steep. Just take it a bit at a time, be patient, and you'll eventually get it all down.

If you selected a session instead, what will happen is that various trains from a saved scenario will be populated at different locations. You should be able to see any of those on the dispatchers' screen (F3). You can then jump or "teleport" (yes, just like from the Starship Enterprise, complete with sound effects) to that location to take control of a train. The documentation describes how to do this -- it takes just a bit of practice to get the hang of it with the mouse. (No, there is not Mr. Scott standing at the transporter pad to beam you down). It's totally inauthentic, but in a sim environment is extremely useful. And it beats the heck out of the two hour ride in the crew van any day of the week, and ten times on Sunday.

There are no automated or "AI trains" which run on their own in Run 8, as in MSTS and TS 2014/Railworks. If you want interaction with other trains, join a multiplayer session, which can be much, much better than AI trains if there are a bunch of people running. Or kinda lonely if there are not. So if you load a previously saved multi-train session, you get to operate one train of your choice, unless in multiplayer and someone else chooses one of the others.

Hope this helps. Enjoy.

MC
Columbia, Missouri