The BR285 (TRAXX) Diesel Loco

[BigVern]

It has been announced on Facebook (but not yet here on the forum), that the diesel version of the TRAXX will release next Wednesday 30th September.

Undoubtedly a Day One purchase for many of us, but information about the loco is surprisingly elusive. What type of diesel engine is it equipped with - GM, GE, Caterpillar or something else? How noisy will it be, both externally and in the cab? Will we be able to substitute it widely in Single Player? Which services and how many will it operate in the multiplayer timetable.

Some information from the developers on this would be appreciated.

[jmluengor]

That date is also confirmed on Steam. Let's hope they include that information on the SimRail Wiki.

[Bulbulator]

I doubt it will sound as powerful and immersive as diesels in other sims due to the sound engine used in SimRail (Ty2 loco is extremely quiet and buggy regarding sounds, so most-likely BR285 will not send shivers down the spine either).

Let's just hope they will rework sound engine some time in the future so it will be able to play many different sounds at the same time without crashing out and the sounds will not sound as flat as they do right now.

 

[jeroezie]

I assume singleplayer SimRail made scenario's will get Br285 option soon. I I rememver right, most scenario's work with Eridor libary and then (if I am not mistaken) the locomotive menu is run from the libary instead of the actual scenario. So its relifivly easy to add Br285 in bulk to scenario's. Only the timetable would be off and then their is of course the wagon/carriagre train composition.

 

Obviously will add it to my own relevant scenario's. I really hope the big virtual dispatcher bug gets fixed since it causes mayham to lots of scenario's.

Edited Sunday at 05:12 AM by jeroezie

[Mr Murphy]

 

[jmluengor]

Thanks for the video. It's clear that it's not very noisy externally. I hope it comes with a tutorial scenario. 😉

[BigVern]

Well at least it hasn't got that awful buzzing of the CD 163! 🙂

Hopefully this will be the usual pocket friendly SimRail DLC and other than preferring it was an older diesel loco, I can't understand the hate I've seen for it elsewhere. Unlike TSW stuff, SimRail DLC is generally good quality and nicely priced, usually with a discount for buying in the first few days.

[Mr Murphy]

4 hours ago, BigVern said:

Well at least it hasn't got that awful buzzing of the CD 163! 🙂

Hopefully this will be the usual pocket friendly SimRail DLC and other than preferring it was an older diesel loco, I can't understand the hate I've seen for it elsewhere. Unlike TSW stuff, SimRail DLC is generally good quality and nicely priced, usually with a discount for buying in the first few days.

IMO CD 163's sound is very realistic. I've watched different videos and nothing wrong with it. Those old thyristors were very noicy and cabins not well isolated. But I like this loco model, well done. Top notch physics, functional train length button (unfortunately key command missing for that), nice cruise controller (tempomat).

Exactly like You I don't understand this endless negativity around new DLC-s. Yes, we haven't seen serious core updates for core software for long time now and secondary mainline (Sosnowiec-Tunel) needs lot more work to do (some important signalboxes still missing) but still - SimRail is currently the only train simulator I'm playing. And I'm enjoying it very much.

[BigVern]

On 9/28/2026 at 11:01 PM, Mr Murphy said:

IMO CD 163's sound is very realistic. I've watched different videos and nothing wrong with it. Those old thyristors were very noicy and cabins not well isolated. But I like this loco model, well done. Top notch physics, functional train length button (unfortunately key command missing for that), nice cruise controller (tempomat).

Exactly like You I don't understand this endless negativity around new DLC-s. Yes, we haven't seen serious core updates for core software for long time now and secondary mainline (Sosnowiec-Tunel) needs lot more work to do (some important signalboxes still missing) but still - SimRail is currently the only train simulator I'm playing. And I'm enjoying it very much.

Realistic, but in an entertainment setting painful to listen to constantly. It needs some sort of option to mute without having to isolate the traction motors. IMHO anyway.

Back on topic, the big diesel is out and currently downloading. Great price as expected and looking forward to jumping in and thrashing the guts out of it shortly.

[BigVern]

Well this does appear to have launched with a few issues, nothing too major but need looking at.

1. Probably the major one is no diesel smoke from the exhaust. I know this is a modern low emission loco but you would still expect to see some visible exhaust effects, particularly under full power.

2. There is a rather annoying loop on either the running or motor sound,  like scuffing or someone talking.

3. Cannot always get power from a stand even with the brake handle in Drive. Need to keep going in and out of dynamic braking before it eventually responds.

4. The diesel engine sounds could do with a bit more bass.

[BigVern]

Further to the above, if you load into a save game in SP (submitted as bug waiting publication) you cannot take power at all no matter what you do. Appears the loco simply does not reinitialise.