Trainz Simulator 2009: World Builder Edition of (TS2009) includes everything you need to build and operate your own dream railroad. You can build a fun layout in minutes, faithfully recreate a steam railroad from days gone by or develop a fully fledged 100+ mile prototypical route; the choice is yours.

As Engineer, you can climb inside the 3D cab and take charge of a wide range of diesel, electric or steam engines. Using Driver Commands, you can operate multiple trains by setting orders for computer AI Drivers to follow. Using Rules you can set up Driver Sessions, and give instructions for other Trainz fans to follow.

TS2009 includes the traditional Surveyor, Driver and Railyard modules, an updated, more user-friendly Content Manager V2.0. There are powerful new graphic features that allow higher resolution terrain and textures and more detailed scenery items and trains. In the Surveyor module there are new tools for manipulating your terrain and improved search and filter capabilities to find the content you are looking for. In Driver there are new commands to tell your Drivers where to go and we've improved their driving and stopping capabilities. (Engineers Edition will add even more Driver related improvements).

Trainz 2009 also introduces Trainz Online*, a new in-game web browser that is your window into the wider world of Trainz. This is a community driven environment that will connect Trainz users through chat, galleries, tutorials and more. You can upload screenshots to your own Trainz Gallery and view thousands of screenshots from other fans. By tagging each screenshot you can search for your favourite railroad or region. Trainz Online also has a new community-driven online Help system where you can ask questions and search for hints, tips or even add to the Knowledge Base yourself.

TS2009 will include new assets that illustrate the new graphics capabilities and over 13,000 legacy items to ensure maximum backwards compatibility. We've also put over 50GB of Download Station assets through rigorous error checking and made updates wherever possible.

Thanks to the hard work of thousands of content creators, it has taken seven years to reach 100,000 items on the Trainz Download Station. With new 3D model exporters and the TrainzDev.com website support we expect that by 2010 we will have many thousands of new routes and items that take full advantage of higher resolution graphics and other new TS2009 features.

Existing owners of Trainz will be able to import their favourite content from previous versions of Trainz using the new Content Manager V2.0. Old routes can be loaded and upgrade work can commence in TS2009 straight away. For example, using the new "Replace" tool, just select an old piece of track, a tree or a building and replace with a new high resolution TS2009 version.

(Official site)