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 September 27 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.

[Moooritz]

vor 16 Stunden schrieb 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.

1. this was fixed in a patch last night

2. Okay weird, I don't hear it somehow. But to be fair I am not very sensitive in topic sounds xD

3. this is also an issue in E186 - you need to wait until brakes are fully released (you see this in upper manometer)

4. I already proposed that to the devs

[Mr Murphy]

I think the biggest problem with this add-on is soundset. It's not good at all. Lets start from the cabin and in case of diesel locomotives many things are different compared to electric ones. Inner engine sounds (in cab sound) are usually completely different so You can't use outer engine soundfiles with just some filtering effects. This doesn't work. Special in-cab sounds have to be recorded. The same about engine room sounds (if it is modelled). They are way different. That makes diesel locomotives soundsets harder to work with from the beginning. Different sound recordings for inner and outer view (plus engine room, passenger saloon and so on). Modern locomotive cabins are pretty well isolated, that's why engine sound has completely different character in different views and You can't simulate it using just outer engines waveform. Simple as that. Another big problem with SimRail - completely wrong sound fading effect. Some sounds should be heard from the very long distance - for example horn more than 3 km:-s (even sometimes 5+), rail joints over km., higher pitched engine sounds from 800 m. and so on. I think SimRails soundguys tried to experiment a bit with Pendolino and expanded sound range but still that's not enough. And work was unfinished. So I really hope sounds for the BR 285 will be reworked and improved. Electric TRAXX sounset was also not the best, maybe even most weak for this game. Around ten years ago I tried to improve many train sounds for Train Simulator Classic (DTG). For example - when Stadler/Vossloh Class 68 (modern diesel) in ScotRail livery came out I found the sounset been surprisingly well recorded by DTG ... but lot of mess was made with those recorded sounds. And I started to build up my own soundset from the ground zero. There were different engine sounds recorded - separate in cab and outside versions ... but for some unknown reasons (probably the lack of time) inner sound files were ignored and only outer ones used with filtering ... which didn't work at all. I added all in-cab sounds, worked on balances, edited some soundforms and the locomotive started to sound like real machine, different in outer and inner view. Watch this video. In the beginning and end You can find good examples how different in-cab and outer sounds can be ... and how to achive right sound fading: 

 

Edited Thursday at 12:51 PM by Mr Murphy

[Bulbulator]

Godzinę temu, Mr Murphy napisał(a):

I think the biggest problem with this add-on is soundset. It's not good at all. Lets start from the cabin and in case of diesel locomotives many things are different compared to electric ones. Inner engine sounds (in cab sound) are usually completely different so You can't use outer engine soundfiles with just some filtering effects. This doesn't work. Special in-cab sounds have to be recorded. The same about engine room sounds (if it is modelled). They are way different. That makes diesel locomotives soundsets harder to work with from the beginning. Different sound recordings for inner and outer view (plus engine room, passenger saloon and so on). Modern locomotive cabins are pretty well isolated, that's why engine sound has completely different character in different views and You can't simulate it using just outer engines waveform. Simple as that. Another big problem with SimRail - completely wrong sound fading effect. Some sounds should be heard from the very long distance - for example horn more than 3 km:-s (even sometimes 5+), rail joints over km., higher pitched engine sounds from 800 m. and so on. I think SimRails soundguys tried to experiment a bit with Pendolino and expanded sound range but still that's not enough. And work was unfinished. So I really hope sounds for the BR 285 will be reworked and improved. Electric TRAXX sounset was also not the best, maybe even most weak for this game. Around ten years ago I tried to improve many train sounds for Train Simulator Classic (DTG). For example - when Stadler/Vossloh Class 68 (modern diesel) in ScotRail livery came out I found the sounset been surprisingly well recorded by DTG ... but lot of mess was made with those recorded sounds. And I started to build up my own soundset from the ground zero. There were different engine sounds recorded - separate in cab and outside versions ... but for some unknown reasons (probably the lack of time) inner sound files were ignored and only outer ones used with filtering ... which didn't work at all. I added all in-cab sounds, worked on balances, edited some soundforms and the locomotive started to sound like real machine, different in outer and inner view. Watch this video. In the beginning and end You can find good examples how different in-cab and outer sounds can be ... and how to achive right sound fading: 

what an immersive sound, love it, that's what I want to hear in a sim game, you instantly believe that you're driving a real thing.
Only thing we have is just hope, that Simrail devs will someday be able to record full palette of real sounds, from real locos, without having to artificially "fill gaps" by creating and mixing fake sounds (BR285 engine startup sound is a joke).
Also I completely agree that the whole sound engine needs a complete redesign, there's no depth, no bass, no wind noises and weird sound fading, sounds are extremely muffled/quiet - I remember that when I was a kid, during the night/early morning in hot summer's weather I could clearly hear the 2TE10M and M62 engine bass sounds from ~3km away that were pulling heavy freights.

Edited Thursday at 01:31 PM by Bulbulator

[BigVern]

I don't mind hearing some external sound in the cab, or it would get quite boring - I'm quite pleased most of the classic diesels in TSW allow you to hear the "thrash" while in cab view.

 

With regard to the power handle and brake release, I can understand that as I described continuing on from a station stop in the original session, but when I reloaded the game it was not coming back even after ten minutes. So I maintain there is a bug there with the scripts not restoring properly, maybe even the engine had shut down - can it even be restarted by the player. If/when the devs post my bug report, let's see what they have to say on that.

[BigVern]

I can see what the issue is now. The save game is loading with the engine shut down. So how do I restart it?

[jodbara]

13 minut temu, BigVern napisał(a):

I can see what the issue is now. The save game is loading with the engine shut down. So how do I restart it?

 

[Mr Murphy]

1 hour ago, BigVern said:

I don't mind hearing some external sound in the cab, or it would get quite boring - I'm quite pleased most of the classic diesels in TSW allow you to hear the "thrash" while in cab view.

With regard to the power handle and brake release, I can understand that as I described continuing on from a station stop in the original session, but when I reloaded the game it was not coming back even after ten minutes. So I maintain there is a bug there with the scripts not restoring properly, maybe even the engine had shut down - can it even be restarted by the player. If/when the devs post my bug report, let's see what they have to say on that.

Thrash ... hehh. Vern, I remember well the discussion where Richard Armstrong from Armstrong Powerhouse (creator of many sound expansion packs) explained what can be heard in the cab of Class 37 (famous for it's "thrash") and what You can never hear. The first what he said - when they had recording sessions this so called "thrash" was audible only outside or when You opened the cab window. In cab (windows closed) he didn't hear any "thrash" at all (or absolutely minimal). And afterwards, when listening recordings at his home studio, he was really surprised how well Class 37's cab was isolated so engine sounded completely different from what he was first expecting. In SimRail's BR 285 the difference between outer and in-cab engine sound feels not realistic. In-cab sound should be much softer, low frequencies dominating. Question is not only in sound level (volume) but more in different sound character. That's the point. And the more I'm listening different BR 285 cab videos the more I understand what's wrong in SimRail's version. Plus horn is not loud enough (just very old and known issue in almost all train sims) ... Been honest I was absolutely sure the biggest sound problems will arrive with first diesel engines. And they arrived.

[BigVern]

At least we have a workaround now, until/if the devs fix it...

tl:dr to restart the engine, you first need to stop the train. Then go into the engine compartment and switch on the Webasto train heat.

Back in the cab you need to operate the engine on switch on the RHS of the desk - I also found I had to press the generator and electric bus buttons too for the starter to work.

[Mr Murphy]

I can confirm now that BR 285 engine sounds in cab are completely wrong. Maybe they didn't have enough time to record everything. Maybe they didn't obtain access to locomotive to record everything. I don't know but in current state it's not something that would be called finished product. It's lacking in cab diesel engine sounds. Sound engineer has used outer sounds for replacement. In-cab and outer sounds are two completely different things. Ecpecially in case of diesel traction. So ... waiting for the SimKol-s reaction.  

[BigVern]

4 hours ago, Mr Murphy said:

I can confirm now that BR 285 engine sounds in cab are completely wrong. Maybe they didn't have enough time to record everything. Maybe they didn't obtain access to locomotive to record everything. I don't know but in current state it's not something that would be called finished product. It's lacking in cab diesel engine sounds. Sound engineer has used outer sounds for replacement. In-cab and outer sounds are two completely different things. Ecpecially in case of diesel traction. So ... waiting for the SimKol-s reaction.  

I have got to be honest, it sounds more like a DMU or at least the MTU engines under the Class 800, 802 etc. dual mode IET's here in the UK.

Oh as regards restarting the engine due to the save game issue, you can do this while the train is moving - just stand up, go in the engine room, switch on the Webasto then return to your seat.

[Mr Murphy]

3 hours ago, BigVern said:

I have got to be honest, it sounds more like a DMU or at least the MTU engines under the Class 800, 802 etc. dual mode IET's here in the UK.

Oh as regards restarting the engine due to the save game issue, you can do this while the train is moving - just stand up, go in the engine room, switch on the Webasto then return to your seat.

I recommend to swap between view 1 (cabview) and view 2 (outside, very close to the cabin) and listen carefully what's the difference. That's not the case only with BR 285 - electric TRAXX (E186) has similar problems.  

Edited Saturday at 08:07 PM by Mr Murphy

[Moooritz]

To be honest, I don't understand complaints about the sound. When surfing through YouTube videos, you are finding sounds of our BR285 loco, for example: 

 

Timestamp included where he stands next to the engine. In my opinion sound in SR is pretty close (not 100%, but at least 80%). Same with cab sounds, he is in the cab at the end of the video.

[Mr Murphy]

On 10/3/2026 at 11:54 PM, Moooritz said:

To be honest, I don't understand complaints about the sound. When surfing through YouTube videos, you are finding sounds of our BR285 loco, for example: 

Timestamp included where he stands next to the engine. In my opinion sound in SR is pretty close (not 100%, but at least 80%). Same with cab sounds, he is in the cab at the end of the video.

Looks like You didn't understand my point.at all - I was talking about how different diesel locomotive sounds (engines, converters, motors, compressons ...) should be in a) cab, b) outside (standing by the locomotive) c) directly in the engine room. In reality those three are completely different. But nothing like that in SimRail's BR 285. Go to outer view nr. 2 and stand as close as possible to drivers window. Now move to cabview (view nr 1) and start to swap between those two views and find differences. Cabin of the modern locomotive is usually heavily isolated from the engine room by at least 2 walls which filter out higher frequencies and distort sounds. For better understanding I'm adding video with expert TRAXX locomotive model (BR 145) created by German developer for Train Sim World. I haven't played this sim for a long time but those German guys are doing fantastic job on they expert series locos and soundwork is carefully done. Listen those sounds and feel the diffenece. It starts from around the min. 2 where driver opens cabin door and exits the loco. Sound change immediately when door is opened - developers have recorded separate sounds for cabview and outer view. Later in this video driver is entering to engine room. Sound changes again when engine rooms door opens. Now You can hear the third different soundset - recorded specially for engine room. When returning to cab You can hear changes in sound again - everything will be much softer, higher frequencies cutted off. That's what I meant - different sound environment for cab and outer view. In SimRail's BR 285 in-cab sounds are just missing. Another problem with SimRail - opening cabin doors or windows doesn't affect sound at all. Try to move from the cab to engine room and watch when sound starts to change. That happens when approaching to the engine room door!!! Sound should change when You open the door, not before. And so on ... Lets say honestly - Your BR 285 (E186 as well) needs lot more work on sounds. I'm absolutely disappointed. For example sounds for 36W Impuls and CD 163 are very well done and I enjoy them. Please ... entire sound system needs updates. Distance fading is wrong as hell. Horns are not load enough. Plus many more problems. 

 

Edited 10 hours ago by Mr Murphy