I began my journey many years with Microsoft Train Simulator (MSTS), which I played for HOURS whenever I could. I bought addons, downloaded stuff and much more. I was totally hooked on the game, but after O/S upgrades, I found that I couldn't play it anymore. I tried other train sim games, but none of them never lived up to my love of MSTS. I gave up on ever finding a train simulator. I had gotten into playing American Truck Simulator, as I was looking though the streamers on Trovo one day, I come across a few people playing Train Simulator 2020. I found myself enjoying what I was seeing. After checking out the system requirements, I gathered the money to upgrade my computer, and got myself a copy. I have been enjoying TS2021. I have been playing it for over a month, and now myself creating scenarios and just simply having fun. From time to time you can find me on either Trovo, Glemish or DLive either driving a train or creating a scenario. I hope to run into you online streaming.
Welcome to the community! I dabbled in MSTS for a while after it's EOL and finding a copy super cheap online, but had some of the same issues as you with newer OSs. I got it to run but then after some frustration gave up. Years past and I tried again and then found this. I couldn't be happier. TSW2 is much better in graphics and my comp will handle it but it is so limited right now, and with skins and such not even being an option I am loving TS2021. See you on the tracks!