Though it has not been classified or recognized by either the NMRA[2] or MOROP,[3] the term Vscale has gradually taken on widescale de facto use in railfan and model railroading circles.
Among them are the aforementioned MSTS, Open Rails (which currently uses the routes and rolling stock from MSTS), Auran's Trainz, Rail Simulator, published by Electronic Arts in partnership with Kuju Entertainment, and its successor Railworks, published by Rail Simulator Developments Ltd. With these programs, virtually any type of locomotive (whether it is powered by diesel, steam, or electric) or piece of rolling stock can be created to run in any combination of train-cars (consists) (unless limited by the software).
Likewise, routes (or layouts) can be created allowing the virtual consists to be run as closely as possible to real world train operations.
One such program, Train Player, allows one to build virtual track layouts as though they were built in real life.
A second Macintosh computer program, TrainPlayer-TrackLayer, allows one to build a virtual modem layout in conjunction with RailModeller.