Switchman mode?

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

While nearing the end of a long and slow service from Rockwood to Cumberland I got bored and started playing with the keyboard, having fulfilled all the objectives save the final one.
Suddenly I was not an engineer in the driving seat anymore but rather a passenger trapped on a ghost train.

Pressing the arrows, numbers and + and - keys made my avatar move along the train, being able to run in the upper deck of the auto cars, hanging off the ladders in switchman mode a few keypresses later.
Key 1 brought me back into the cab, but I was unable to move any controls, nor take a seat, nor jump off, I was truely trapped this time.

The ghost train sped up more and more, broke the event horizon and drove me off into the great white void that lies beyond, first trashing through a forest of tree without any tracks for guidance.

Then suddenly when I thought all was over, I was back on foot near the south end of Cumberland yard but unable to move.

Was that an out of body experience or a hallucination? Or did I accidentally discover a function that has not been made public yet?

[NYWhiskey]

LOL

I was struggling up the east side so I got out of the seat to check if the switches were correct in the other loco. After making my way back to the other cab I heard two bangs. On the third one I was knocked through the loco and onto the double stackers behind me. I could inch my way down the side of the stackers but couldn't get back on the locos.

On a runaway train I went.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

More unexplained phenomena worthy of X-file investigation ....

Now the main question is: is it a bug or is it a feature? The engineer can leave the driving seat, one can climb ladders of freight cars ...

Presuming there will be multi player coming, will there be a switchman role, i.e. multi person crews doing yard jobs, switching local industries, etc.?

In the steam era, a brakeman could walk all the way from the locomotive to the caboose over those running boards on the roofs of boxcars.

[RudolfJan]

More unexplained phenomena worthy of X-file investigation ....

Now the main question is: is it a bug or is it a feature? The engineer can leave the driving seat, one can climb ladders of freight cars ...

Presuming there will be multi player coming, will there be a switchman role, i.e. multi person crews doing yard jobs, switching local industries, etc.?

In the steam era, a brakeman could walk all the way from the locomotive to the caboose over those running boards on the roofs of boxcars.

The game has a number of game modes. You can change game mode using the E key or the Y button at the XBOX controller. Sometimes, the game does not prevent you to land in other game modes avoiding theis instruction. E.g. stand before a running train. You will not get killed, but instead land somewhere on this train. But, you landed illegally in this game mode, so you're stuck. In update 3.5 ctrl+0 should make you land in the driver seat. This is not yet the fool proof solution. It will be iteresting to check how and when this actually works.