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

• T1.6.1-492-g6b2e724be Merge pull request #1122 from SteelFill/size_centering
  Thanks Roger, merging Improve Center of Gravity Adjustability
  • 18f8dc3f Improve behavior of ORTSShapeNudge, add some additional code comments
  • a20e508d Remove some additional unneeded changes
  • eaf2e22a REMOVE auto size/auto center
  • e57da918 Merge branch 'openrails:master' into size_centering
  • ebe6df9d Merge branch 'openrails:master' into size_centering
  • 73c47b4c Merge branch 'master' into size_centering
  • a8f3ed26 Add manual bounding box definition
  • b9b077bd Rationalize CoG parameters
  • 25ac5e0c Merge branch 'openrails:master' into size_centering
  • 9426e58e Merge branch 'size_centering' of https://github.com/SteelFill/openrails into size_centering
  • 4b892a4b Clean up code from cherry pick
  • fe2433ba Forgot check for MSTSFreightAnimEnabled
  • 40a9064f Use freight animations in auto size and auto center
  • 5c427fb7 Improve utility of verbose logging, expand capabilities of automatic friction calculation
  • a5ff1815 Add parameters to define center of gravity dimensions individually
  • 41382f28 Automatically calculate wagon size and centering
• T1.6.1-473-gb2467e088 Merge pull request #1240 from peternewell/Aux_Tender
  Fix bug with auxiliary tender
  • 231979e1 Changes based upon feedback.
  • 48bd2733 Update comments for future changes.
  • b3b8aa03 Revert "Fix wagon classified as a tender without an attched locomotive attached."
    This reverts commit eb75595a24165f08f6668c3d8480dcb069576bf9.
  • eb75595a Fix wagon classified as a tender without an attched locomotive attached.
  • d1b15d1f Fix bug with auxiliary tender - https://www.elvastower.com/forums/index.php?/topic/39811-aux-water-tender-problem/page__pid__327586#entry327586

See more code changes

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

25 September 2026, 98MB

• 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.