Download > Versions

Three Versions of Open Rails

Three versions of Open Rails are readily available to users, as shown below:

For first-time users, we recommend the Stable Version which comes with an installer.

Updater

Whichever version you choose, Open Rails has a mechanism to notify you of new versions and to update Open Rails for you. You will find the settings for this mechanism in Menu > Options > System

Open Rails will check for updates at most once a day. When it finds one, it raises a red flag in the Notifications icon.

Use the "What's new" button to find out more about an update or the "Install" button to launch the automatic update process:

Testing Version

If you follow the Open Rails project on the forums, then you will hear about bug-fixes and new features. These are included in the Unstable Version for developers and testers to try out. Once they have been checked and approved, they are published (on most Fridays) as the latest Testing Version. Any user can easily update to the current weekly Testing Version and benefit from these improvements.

For reference all the Testing Versions (executable and source) can be found in our archive.

Recent Code Changes

• T1.5.1-2012-g2eb7441b0 Merge pull request #1143 from sweiland-openrails/WorkOrdersStatusDoneFix
  Status in Work Orders popup set too fast
  • 36327c4e removed the check on first and last wagon as it will block too many activities
  • 36d87c32 - functtion matchesConsistNoOrder now returns train when train contains the wagons of the activity drop off wagonlist
    - Some actvity lists may only contain the first and last wagon. Check that first and last wagon match with those two wagons in the activity list.
    - check if drop off train is a STATIC one
  • ba9e40a2 If the Work Orders list in the Help from (F1) is larger than the form and scroll bar was used to scroll down, status changes make the Work Orders tab go to the top again. Disturbing... This fix makes the form stay at the current scroll position. Also the case when switching tabs.
  • 84f72b8d Some lists may only contain the first and last wagon. Undone the previous change in matchesConsistNoOrder.
  • 1ad59d77 Fix on previous fix. Now siding check is done on wagons dropped. And amount of wagos dropped has to be exactly the amount on the activity asked list.
  • 71e57d23 status in Work Orders popup set too fast, see https://bugs.launchpad.net/or/+bug/2118776
• T1.5.1-2005-gede96ba17 Merge pull request #1152 from twpol/feature/data-logger-columns
  fix: Clean up multiple issues with data logger
  • 66dfd096 fix: Clean up multiple issues with data logger
    - Add explicit setting for steam power curve data
    - Label and make steam data options properly exclusive
    - Correct mismatched columns (multiple)
    - Fix memory column
• T1.5.1-2003-gae57adebf Merge pull request #1155 from cjakeman/fix-for-illegal-characters-in-reference-to-Shape-file
  fix for illegal characters in refeerence to Shape file
  • 40f8c342 fix for illegal characters in refeerence to Shape file

See more code changes

The current Testing Version can also be downloaded as a Zip archive:

05 September 2025, 106MB

• Installation Guide (English)

The documents included in the Testing Versions downloads can be found on-line at:

• Architecture Diagram V1.pdf
• Contenct checker.pdf
• How to Provide Track Profiles for Open Rails Dynamic Track.pdf
• Installation Guide En.pdf
• Localization Manual.pdf
• Manual.pdf
• ORTS Trackviewer manual.pdf
• Processor Flow Chart.pdf
• timetable-editor_de.pdf
• timetable-editor_en.pdf

Note: Multiple versions of Open Rails will not interfere if they are saved to different folders.

Unstable Version

To support development, the latest unstable version is also available, which is updated whenever a developer publishes a change. The unstable versions are more likely to contain serious bugs and are only recommended for users wishing to help with Open Rails development.

The Manual for the Unstable version is not included in the download, but is available on-line.

For reference all the Unstable Versions (executable and source) can be found in our Unstable archive.

Improvements

Improvements to Open Rails are drawn from several public sources as shown here:

We try to make sure that these changes all work and fit together by reviews as marked in orange in the diagram.