The news that Microsoft had abandoned another Train Simulator sequel didn’t dismay the entire rail sim community. Many would have been more disturbed had the mysterious code samaritan behind openBVE announced he was walking away. Michelle appeared from nowhere a year ago, declaring he was going to modernise frumpy-but-faithful freeware train sim BVE by rewriting it from scratch. True to his word, he’s done just that. Improvements include finer physics, external views (BVE is strictly cab-based) and animated scenery. Barring leaves on the line at Surbiton or escaped pumas at Chessington North, the first non-beta version of openBVE should enter service today.
