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The MS Train Simulator gives you options on how much you control a steam locomotive. The main engineer controls you have are the regulator (throttle), reverser, brake, cylinder cocks and sanders, plus the whistle, headlight and even a steam heat pressure valve for the passenger cars. In trying out the program, I never tried the last. Let the passengers freeze. You also have the option of using the fireman controls yourself, or delegating those controls to the computer. Microsoft says the computer is purposely programmed to not be as efficient as a human could be in running those controls, but for me at least, it was enough just keeping the locomotive going with the engineer's controls. Besides the fireman controls you mentioned (actually these locomotives seem to have dampers instead of air pumps), you can also control the amount of coal shoveled into the firebox, and drop the water scoop to pick up water when passing over water troughs. There are of course several gaugues to cover most of the controls, and the smoke coming out of the exhaust stack changes from black to light gray to white to indicate the efficiency of the fireman's efforts (very light gray is ideal). Clearly the two steam locomotives depicted are the most challenging to operate. While there are enough controls and guagues for two to handle, at this point the game is only set up for one player. You could enable simple controls for all the locomotives, which gives you just three key commands, "D" to increase power, "A" to decrease power, and "S" to change direction. But what fun would that be? Tom Chmielewski Associate Editor, Trains.com
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