Payware for Trainz

By John D'Angelo

WELL, YOU GOT ME! I went out and plunked down my hard earned cash for payware locomotives for Trainz. I have been doing this for some time now and although my purchases have not broken my piggy bank they have given me lots of pleasure. In the past I have written primarily about freeware on Download Gold. I have also purchased payware items for my personal use and I feel that it might help you to know about some of the payware items that are available and how to make purchases.

There are two types of custom-made items available for Trainz. One type is called freeware. You will find freeware at the Trainz Download Station (DLS) and at the individual websites of creative people who issue their items at no cost to the user. Payware, on the other hand, is not free and is sold via the Internet. You will pay a fee to get the product, which will then be sent to you on a CD or available for downloading directly to your computer. The normal payware purchase via the Internet requires the use of a credit card and/or Paypal.

Paypal is a service for making purchases on the Internet. There is no fee for buying via Paypal since the seller is the person who is charged a fee for using the service. When you join Paypal, you register your credit card with them. They issue the payment to the seller and then bill your credit card.

Payment via Paypal is instantaneous and your personal credit card information is not visible to the seller. Paypal will also assist you if you experience a problem with the seller.

The Trainz payware prices that I have seen have been quite reasonable and have been in the range of from $6.00 to $18.00. You pay the fee asked and then download the item to your computer where it is then installed into Trainz. You will need to be sure that the item you are ordering will run properly on the version of Trainz that you have.

The Gear

Some of the most popular items in the payware field seem to be the big steam locomotives of Union Pacific prototypes. The 4-12-2 Union Pacific locomotive has been created for Trainz by The Cowboy and is available from his website (The Cowboy's Old West and Locomotive Works). He is finishing up a rewrite of the 4-12-2 to make it run properly in TRS2006 and that revised model should be available soon, perhaps by the time this article is released.


Union Pacific 9000 4-12-2 by the Cowboy.

The Cowboy has made a special effort to get the detailing and impressive sound of the 4-12-2 modeled properly. I have the earlier TRS2004 version and I am waiting to get the revision for TRS2006 when it becomes available. The Cowboy's locomotive is now available in four versions at $6.00 each or a group price for all four of $18.00. If they are ordered before January 1st the group price is $12.50 for all four versions. [The original version was reviewed in the October 2004 issue of Virtual Railroader – Ed.]


Trainz Italia Union Pacific Challenger in Grey by Rudolf.

Trainz Italia has a number of payware and freeware items for different countries. The Union Pacific locomotives by Rudolf are among the best I have seen and the detailing is excellent. The Union Pacific Challenger is available in grey, black and black weathered. There is also a Union Pacific FEF 3, 4-8-4. I have the weathered version of that locomotive.


Trainz Italia Union Pacific FEF 3 Weathered.

Navigating the Trainz Italia website takes a bit of getting used to because the primary language is Italian. A single Union Pacific Challenger from Trainz Italia is $7.50 and you can order all three versions of the Challenger (grey, black and weathered) for $18.00. You can order the Union Pacific locomotives at the Trainz Italia English language "Trainz Shop Corner" here.


VMD SD9.

VMD stands for Virtual-Motive-Division. They carry freeware and payware items on their website. The above Norfolk & Western EMD SD9 diesel locomotive is one of their payware offerings and costs $7.50. It has extensive detailing, and the interior detail is amazing. The locomotive has a great sounding engine and the fans in the roof are animated. Their website is located here. [Continue]

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Article and screen shots ©2007 John D'Angelo. All rights reserved.

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