I've been debating with myself whether to post a thread like this, but basically i'm a woman who plays Train Sim World, I have since TSW2020. I know this hobby is a predominantly male environment (which there is nothing at all wrong with that of course!) but I thought it would be nice to highlight the women who play this game, as well as the women who are part of DTG too. So basically i'll go first: my name is Katia (my full name is actually Katarzyna, but i usually go by Katia). I'll also be honest i'm not massively into trains as such (i know that's a strange thing to admit here!), but i just really love driving. What I love most about TSW is being able to drive so many different places across the UK, i really like to feel like i'm there and to feel immersed in the route (it's why for years now i've advocated for a 'front nose' camera view option, and it was nice to see that brought up in the recent survey). I think what i appreciate the most about what TSW provides, is the ability to sit down for half an hour or an hour or so, and drive a real-life railway route and just kind of forget my actual real-life for a while! Sometimes on this forum and in this hobby in general, it can feel like i'm a little outnumbered as a female player of TSW, but at the same time i feel there's a lot of really knowledgeable and helpful people here too which is great. I just wanted to create this thread as a space for other women who are a part of this community to speak up and share their own experiences and reasons for playing this game and being a part of this community, as i often feel like i'm the only woman here but i'm certain that i can't be the only one here! i'd like to tag DTG Harry if that's okay as i'd love to hear your experiences too. I remember Natalie from a while ago and it was always really refreshing hearing her take on things, it was great hearing from Daisy lately with her real-life experience of WCML, and i know there are plenty of others in and around the world of DTG that make a really positive difference to community and to the game itself, and i just wanted to shine a spotlight on the women involved in this game, both those who play the game like myself and those who are a part of the making of TSW. My hope is that this thread can bring the women of this game together a little, and make those of us like myself feel a little less alone here!
I know TSC has DrTrenchcoat who roams around over there, there is also Yuri, who helped out with the freight side of things for the recent MBTA Boston Worchester route, those are 2 that I can name off the top of my head atm.
I've got a baby due in February, and my girlfriend decided to not know the gender until it is born... I'm hoping if I have a daughter I can get her into railways as an enthusiast like me, as it would be a nice bond to have together and also be one more female in a male dominated hobby... One can hope!
KatiaBLR meet Princess Entrapta , Princess Entrapta meet KatiaBLR KatiaBLR meet Sharon E , Sharon E meet KatiaBLR KatiaBLR meet Daisy S , Daisy S meet KatiaBLR I'm basically like Cilla Black or something
Slightly OT because not "Sim", apologies, but that woman is great. She bought an E94 Crocodile and founded her own transport company. German, but subtitles should work. A nice documentary.
I would bet there's a lot of women that play tsw. The same as a lot of women work on the railways. Commercial and heritage. Some of the older folk still look a bit shocked to see a woman operating a steam train but this is the 21st century, the whole this is not a girls sort of thing is long in the past.
Definitely a few ladies that play TSW. I know that from my YouTube streams, I have lots of regulars that are female.
There's also daisy and cat who have been involved in dovetail streams etc in the past. Daisy was in the BCC streams for example and the wcml route preview also.
Nat is a producer working on other projects. Cat is working on various things including the VR project. You'll have seen her in some of the recent videos along with another producer too. Matt.
KatiaBLR meet -_-LivvuAurora-_- , -_-LivvuAurora-_- meet KatiaBLR Princess Entrapta meet -_-LivvuAurora-_- , -_-LivvuAurora-_- meet Princess Entrapta You'll all 'ave a lorra lorra laughs
I'm sure there's thousands of women into TSW. Given there's over 100,000 players there must be! Serious question though... is there a significant difference between male and female gamers? Something that's more than just individual preferences? I have no idea what that would be and don't want to generalize. Just curious. Like you can guess that British fans tend to gravitate towards British trains (but not everyone of course, and not entirely, just in general) Or American fans tend to be more into freight, but again not everyone and not entirely. I find people fascinating. Tiring and frustrating at times at work, but fascinating in general.
If you want more women playing TSW I always put on a blonde wig, cute dress and high heels. Only on Friday evenings though, I need to see my therapist on the other days.
I'm a train driver and I'm OK I sleep all night, I work all day I drive my train, I eat my lunch I go to the lavatory On Wednesdays I go shopping And have buttered scones for tea I drive my train, I brake and shunt I like to press wild flowers I put on women's clothing And hang around in bars I drive my train, I wear high heels Suspenders and a bra I wish I were a girlie Just like my dear papa
There's indeed plenty of women in the Train Passion space whether that'd be in the actual field of railway of Train Simming. I don't know how many of them frequent the DTG forums, though there's alot that I've met on Reddit or Discord. It's always fun to find more and more as it does indeed feel somewhat lonely to be one of the few. My experience as to how I got into the Train sim hobby is actually pretty simple. Even before I got adopted into a European family, I've been somewhat familiar with the JR East Network and Shinkansen Trains as my mom had to travel by train alot. It's been a long long time from home, but I can still remember it pretty well. Europe however, specifically Switzerland was a real eye opener to my Train loving brain. Since the school I went to at the time was pretty far away, I used the train alot. It became a comfort space for me, especially after a hard day or whatnot. It quickly turned from just a form of commute to a genuine interest. I spent lots of time traveling to different train stations or locations, just trainspotting. My favorite line as some might know would be the Bözbergstrecke, while my favorite train stations are Winterthur Hbf, Zürich Hbf, Basel SBB and Oerlikon Bahnhof. My first ever train simulator when I first learned what WiFi is extremely late in my life was MSTS Gotthard Route I. Though I never managed to fully play through it till this day. After that point, it's been a very long time where I would spend trainspotting in different countries from the fabled SNCF network of France to the giant trains of the RZD. Unfortunately, now that I have moved to Norway, I don't actually get to see too many trains as my residence isn't close to the main train network of Oslo. Getting into TSW is what really kicked off my passion for train simming when it first arrived on Xbox via TSW2020. I have a ginormous amount of hours on Main Spessart Bahn lol. From TSW2020 to now, as I wait for my PC to arrive so I can expand my library on TSC and SimRail. It's been a journey, a wonderful journey. I'm willing to bet, there's plenty more stories like these. I hope that more and more women will end up discovering the same passion for the railway as many of us have as I do sometimes feel like girls are sometimes pushed away from it due to outside factors.
Then you should definitely come visit my neck of the woods! On the high speed electrified route, with a bunch of branch lines, a local light rail network, and of course multiple rail museums each a short train ride away, and three local heritage lines..
Wow this thread went a lot better than i hoped for, it's really nice to know i'm not alone in this community! I didn't think that i was but it's lovely to see so many others on here i really liked this message, i know growing up i'd have loved something like this to bond over, i think this is a really wholesome thing to hope for! Thanks again everyone for the really lovely responses!
I hate women gamers... Ok not really but I hate my Wife gaming.. Problem is we both used to play a LOT of Call of Duty (MW2 original) together, if we were on the same team she'd steal all the kills and I'd be running round like a headless chicken trying to get to the respawning opposite team, and if we were on opposite teams I'd be the one respawning all the time.. Women should know their place!!! That place being anywhere they want and often most at the top of the leaderboard, go girls!
Geeze, where to begin? My interest in trains goes back to when I was a young girl, and my father was into steam (I am old enough to remember active steam in the US). We would go see the Norfolk and Western trains most, at that time, pulled by massive steam, well massive to me, The classic J, Y and A class locomotives, not to forget the class M 4-8-0, one of which still runs to the day on the Strassburg Railroad in Pennsylvania. This is the seed to took years to grow and bloom. I started into simming with early MSTS and wrote many activities for it, especially once the modder Bin came on the scene and opened up all the abilities in the game that MS never did. Moved over to TSC, then TSW once it was released. I never got back to writing for it due to how stunted the early scenario planner was. My main interest is driving. I do not spend much time with the outside cameras unless it's needed for what I am doing. This is why much of the 'bugs'; noted by others like missing things and funny acting things do not bother me at all. I will only say something if the 'bug' in question effects the actual performance of the train. Outside of playing TSW, I love to cook, get dressed up with all the makeup and glam available. Used to travel and have been to the Cumbres and Toltec Narrow gauge 5 times and love those 3 foot gauge steam locomotives that traverse the 63 miles of the line. The attached picture is my computer wallpaper. DSC_0102.jpg
Speaking transparently, I was concerned that it would be very male-dominated. That isn't something I can't handle, I grew up in an ex-mining town where people had some more old fashioned views - but I was pleasantly surprised to see so many other women working at Dovetail and so many women, non-binary and LGBTQ+ people integrated into the game and wider train enthusiast hobby. I've been accepted as a relative train newbie into the community, and now I enjoy going into TSW to relax and take some screenshots (usually of a Class 66). I now love seeing trains in real life, and I love hopping into TSW to blast through a US route on a giant train that I have NO IDEA how to drive but I learn by watching others on YouTube. If I've made a mistake or asked a question that might seem to have an obvious answer, I don't get told that OF COURSE I'm asking that because I'm a woman. I just get told 'ah, easy mistake to make, you just missed this thing on this screen to make the train move'. Good feels.
I think it's great that ladies and everyone else not a typical stereotype male train enthusiast get into TSW. Train enthusiasts very often become rail industry professionals, which means more diversity in train drivers, signallers, engineers, etc. to the benefit of all.
i love this Harry, and it's really nice to hear your experiences (i also grew up in an ex-mining town in Northern England myself), and i think we have had similar experiences, when i first joined these forums i was a little hesitant as i thought it wouldn't be a place to express my views and ask for help when needed regarding the game, but despite a lot of us having different views on different issues regarding TSW (which is totally fine and perfectly healthy, we're all never going to agree on everything!) i do feel overall a good level of support, which as a woman entering a traditionally male-dominated forum is a real positive. i personally really value seeing and hearing your input on things Harry, just as I did when Natalie was around here too, so long may that continue and i'm happy i've found a game and a community that makes women like myself feel included.
Fascinating stuff. Great thread. I think it's good that we are reminded that gender equality is still not firmly established even in Western society in 2024 and that women can still feel at least partially excluded from some experiences. There's really nothing in the world that women cannot do just as well as men. My wife is living proof of that. ( And shame on those few posters who thought this was the right place to make silly chauvinistic jokes about a serious subject.)
One of my greatest online friends loves her trains too. She recently got back into playing TSW with the free TSW5 starter pack and absolutely loves Blackpool branches and WCMLoS because it's BR era with IC liveries and reminds her of childhood. She has always been into trains and even made locos in Little Big Planet and Dreams. She makes trainspotting videos from within TSW and edits them to make it look like the old 80s VHS tapes and her brother does the commentary. Also, in general and not just within TSW, there are a lot of female trainspotters/railfans out there and a lot of female drivers/volunteers at heritage railways as well as on the mainline railways. Having volunteered at a heritage railway for 9 months, it was great seeing ladies and girls being interested by the trains/locos both volunteer wise and customer wise.
Your comment was great until you wrote this nonsense… How is women liking trains or women’s equality a serious subject in 2024? This isn’t the 1930’s women have a lot more independence last time I checked. Also your choice of words is confusing. Chauvinistic? Where is anyone in the comment section showing excessive prejudice against women or thinking because they’re male they’re superior to women? Only thing I’ve seen is a couple of light hearted jokes from myself and a couple of others, but somehow in your way of thinking this is attacking women. Yikes! Btw Girl power
A nice youtube channel of a female Norwegian driver https://www.youtube.com/@RailCowGirl driving through the mountains and snow (lots of snow) I think she even tried TSW in one of her videos.
RCG has tried TSW, but is really into Flight Simulator and does frequent live feeds of her flying it. Nothing smal for her she does commercial stuff like the Air Bus 320 on flights around Scandinavia.
Probably will end up doing so eventually, I've got alot of relatives that arrived in the UK so some visits over there will likely happen.
Why I'am playing TSW is simple. I grew up in a Railroader Family and of course worked long for a Railroad Company. After some trouble with my health i needed to change to Software QA. Now i'am retired and TSW is both Simulator and good example for bad QA.
I've been trying to brainwash mine and it doesn't seem to be working (she likes cars though), although I give you the best of luck and congratulations
Just curious... how many got into train sims from sims vs how many got into train sims from train spotting/model railroading?
