I Won't Play That Route Because...

What's the various reasons you don't enjoy or no longer play a route in TSW that you own?

Any reason, whether it's a legitimate reason or there's something - even bizarre - that puts you off running it.

I'll start.

Most of mine are due to layers.

For example, I won't play Cross City because Birmingham New Street is empty. Ghost Town.
Same with Glossop Line at Manchester Piccadilly. Even a 390 added as AI would help a little with both of these routes.
Brighton Main Line again because Clapham Junction being so empty kills the immersion every time and no 700s either.

I had stopped playing Cathcart Circle due to the emptiness at Glasgow Central but since the extra layers and the 380, it's now my most-played route in TSW.

NTP and Tees Valley, because they look so dated now. Would love to see them reworked.
West Cornwall Local, because it's an awful route and the one I most regret buying. Just glad it was in a sale.

And perhaps the weirdest reason (for me, anyway) is I can't stand the GWR route because of the random catenary placement. I know why they did it as it represents the time it was being upgraded, but for some reason it just annoys me so much! I was desperate for the new updated version to be either fully electrified or nothing after Airport junction, but alas it won't be the case.

Anyhow, over to you...

 

US:
Cane Creek, lovely scenery but very slow and tedious.
Sherman Hill, very bland upland prairie style US scenery. A to B up the hill then down again.
LIRR2, can’t stand the finicky safety systems.

Germany/Europe:
Rapid Transit. Really don’t know why I rebought in a sale.
RRO, just a bit short and I never forgave TSG and DTG for not sorting the broken G6 shunting trips.
HRR, just bland.

UK:
BCC, poor route building on the southern bit, tedious all stations bus service probably longest in the game. Something about the 323 doesn’t gell with me - the prototype I mean to be fair DTG did a pretty good job of the model and sounds.
Goblin and Glossop - more tedious bus stop driving.
Most other routes I do fire up now and again, but as regards Cathcart and the 380 I can’t take it seriously until DTG fix the chronically overpowered brakes.

 

Those brakes are a bit too much.

 

Holiday express. Only got it on sale for the jeep. Other than that it's pointless.

 

Any US route (I only have Sherman Hill, San Bernadino, CSX and Cajon Pass) because it's too boring but I have been considering buying the MBTA and NYC-Trenton.

Blackpool branches. It's a great route but when I want some 80's BR I go for WCMLOS, which is arguably better. Although I still play it sometimes.

Haupstrecke Rhein Ruhr: When I fancy some SBahn I go for Frankfurt S-Bahn.

Schnellfastrecke Köln-Aachen: The lighting is outdated, Epic hasn't got the timetable yet and when I want some German high-speed I prefer Schnellfastrecke Kassel-Würzburg

 

US: The two Metrolink routes. A lackluster view of LA plus tedious, often single line and straight desert driving. Compare unfavorably with Penn Corridor and LIRR.
And Cane Creek - induces " tollway trance ".

UK: Any of the electric bus stop routes, especially Goblin, BCC and Glossop.

Germany: Most routes acquired by default and rarely played. Too much " red ". I am playing Frankfurt S- Bahn a lot though.

 

NY-Trenton, because the signaling is hopelessly borked

 

US : I'm not a fan of US trains and I find the routes boring even though I liked Penn Corridor and I'm waiting for a promotion for LIRR2

Germany / Europe : -
- Kassel Würzburg , literally tunnel bridge tunnel bridge tunnel bridge Fulda tunnel... And when you have the security system activated you almost don't need to do anything.

- LGV same but with bad scenery. Yeah I'm not a fan of high-speed routes only.

- Rapid Transit, why I never paid it back? I find the route too long and boring for a rolling stock, moreover (it's been a long time so maybe I'm wrong) but I think there isn't too much traffic so boredom comes quickly. Afterwards it's personal but the livery of the trains gives me a headache (literally it's not an attack, it really gives me a headache).

- RRO It was one of my first purchases and I was a fan of S Bahn but I realize that it is extremely short so we quickly go around it.

- HRR just for BR 101 and I find the route incomplete

UK :
- Glossop and Goblin I like electrics bus stop routes but it's the kind of routes I won't repeat or I would play out of boredom and sudden desire

- ECML a high-speed route as I said above I'm not a fan , I bought it just for layer

 

WSR i have no interest in or love of preservation railways. I only purchased it on release for the Green Brush Type 4.

 

Yeah it would be very nice if the could do a Remaster for SKA

 

For me:
US LIRR2...the safety systems are something I can't wrap my head around to use properly lol
GER Anything ICE...I enjoy seeing them, just not driving them. Bought for layers.
UK West Cornwall, and getting rather tired of the short bus routes.

Otherwise I really enjoy the drive on all the rest of what I have access to.

 

I only have US tracks from the basic game, but the reason I don't play them is that I don't like the USA tracks and I only play them once.
UK: Glassgow-Edingborow, I don't know why but I quickly get bored there
Blackpool Branches. It's beautifully designed really, I don't like the era that much. (So in UK or USA, German line like Niddertalbahn I like very much)
EU:
S-Bahn Vorarlberg: I played it very often but without Railjet I get bored quickly
HRR: If it had a modern timetable e.g. 2024 or so I would love the line but it's okay as it is, a TOD 4 update would be nice to have but not necessary
RRO: The same problem as with HRR. The modern timetable is missing and depending on the TOD 4
Left Rhine route: Very nice but has a bit too many bugs, at least for me
Maybe something will change with the BR 194.
SKW: There are phases when I play the route almost every day and then it sometimes takes weeks until I play it again. Hopefully the new TSG timetable will make a difference.
SKA: Still waiting for the new timetable for PS5, could be played very often afterwards

To summarize. I never play USA because I'm not interested in it
I really like modern routes in the UK, but I'm not very familiar with them.
EU is mostly due to a lack of vehicles or poor timetables

 

Fife circle.

Running sounds were okay at launch when i bought it on Xbox SX, rivet later released a "patch" to fix a few things but completely broke the running sounds. Get a bit of speed up, cut the throttle and the only sound you'll hear is the engine idling

How this "patch" got through dovetails QA I have no idea especially as they recently said they check every patch to make sure it doesn't break previously working things. I guess "does the train still sound like a train" isn't part of their QA checks.

Given that it's still broken and has never even been acknowledged by rivet or dovetail i haven't played it since. And seeing as they're happy selling faulty products, I'm happy not buying any more until they have the decency to go back and fix things which originally worked when I bought them .

 

I forgot to mention the Goblin, in fact I forgot I had it!
Got bored so quickly with that one, glad it was heavily discounted in a sale. Another lifeless void, in this route it's Barking because the layers that would give it life don't exist.

 

Yes That's why Goblin cooled me down more quickly than Glossop, even though I love the 710 and the scenery, It's linear and the only major station on the route is empty.

After I bought Goblin for the layer in WCML mainly and not for the route itself unlike Glossop.

 

yeah

 

Rapid transit and arosa. Both showing their age way too much

 

San Bernardino Line, it lags and stutters like hell on my machine, unlike any other route.

The rest of the routes, I do play every so often. And I do have a fairly large collection.

 

From the ones I own, If I don't play them it's usually down to layers or lack of them, such as Manchester-Glossop, or Cross City.

Or repetition of services. The GOBLIN line has no variation in passenger services, no ECS moves, no depot moves, no shunts. Just back and forth between Gospel Oak and Barking with the most interesting services being the layers.

 

I tend to avoid (reluctantly) the older routes where the cab lighting is broken by the new core platform, e.g. Bakerloo or Tees Valley on TSW5 - the contrast is horrible (to my eyes) - I know, I could reinstall TSW2/3/4 and have the DLC spread across the versions that it looks best in, but disk space (I’m on PC) is limited.

Shame - there are some really good routes that don’t see much action these days, but I tend to spend most of my time pratting around in Carlisle, Carnforth, Preston or Blackpool anyhow, and with the 86 pack due “soon” I’ll probably be happy sticking with those routes. I quite like mucking about on the Euston-MK route in an 87 too

 

OldVern Going by your logic, every route in the game must be a bus stop route.

ECML - a long distance bus stop route.
NTP - A long old fashioned bus stop route.

Last time I checked it was definitely a train I was driving and not a bus…

 

I’ve parked GWE up until the updates

Cane creek because I’ve completed it.

The original Isle of Wright and the 1938, the quality just isn’t there so neither are enjoyable.

the original LIRR because the 2nd one is far superior

everything else gets played on a cycle

 

I don't really play routes that are pre-TSW3 much because of the lighting and often times lack of detail, this is unless they have been remastered like Cathcart or WSR. I don't really enjoy the BR routes because although the trains are usually quite fun to drive, I find the scenery quite dull as its often just sitting watching fields with the occasional grey, dull station. I also rarely play ECML because of it only being 5 stations and scenery that isn't very interesting. I sometimes play American or German routes but far less as I'm not very familiar with most of them.

 

What layers? The only thing missing is the 378’s and you’d only see them at Gospel Oak (end of the line).

 

BCC - needs layers and a timetable update. New Street is nothing like that in real life.

 

He mentions Barking being a lifeless void and it is. In real life you have tube trains and C2C services as well as the LO services.

 

Oh I see, yeah I’m picturing the section now where you come out of Barking and the ton of empty tracks, where some AI traffic could be added.

 

Yes, exactly that.

 

Cane Creek...

To quote Captain Shack from XPGamers, "I would rather watch paint... not paint dry, paint..."

 

If you are on PC there’s a great mod timetable which brings NS to life.

 

l will only play this route at night as the scenery is completely inaccurate and an insult to the cornish community.

 

The majority I own are purely for layers and nothing else.

Older routes tend to gather dust, especially if they don't provide any layers or substitutions.

Some I've barely even touched. I only really play SEHS and the two JT ones. Although I do like Conductor Mode on Cardiff City.

 

I don't usually play routes with EMU's because there are so boring. Especially the ones in which nearly all services are repetitive back and forth. Nothing interesting about it.

 

San Bernardino Line: If you have trouble falling asleep at night. Play this route. You’ll be sleeping in less than 30 minutes as it’s that boring. Like listening to your grandad talking about the war.

 

Most UK routes, because of getting claustrophobia from those small cabs and frontwindows a lot of UK trains have. I really can't stand those small cabs, I feel sorry for UK train drivers.

 

Trains like the Electrostars, 380 and 385 I tend to drive from the 3 camera for that reason.

 

The much lauded E94 on Mittenwaldbahn is also better driven from head out view. The standing position of the driver has the eye point too high to see comfortably out the window and can't be adjusted. Made worse if it's raining (as it seems most of the Journey choices are) as the wiper sweeps well below the eye level leaving the player looking at rain spattered glass.

 

Appreciate those conversations whilst they can still be had

 

It wouldn't be a problem if you were shorter, Vern

 

Cane Creek to me is like watching paint dry & it needs a major over haul. Clinchfield is quite neat visually but getting old and the journey mode is long as hell.
Frankfurt S-Bahn & WCMLS crash like hell on my Xbox X. No other routes do, not even Frankfurt-Fulda or WCML South.
NY-Trenton is buggy and the brakes on the bi-level cabcar are so ridiculous I cant even be bothered with it.

I have about 30ish routes now i think and I came up with a good way of playing them. I just put them in alphabetical order and start at A then do a service on mostly each one till i get to W then start again.

Keeps them fresh in my mind and helps with variety and getting good use out of them.

 

I do pretty much the same thing, except I put them in random order before I play the list

 

Luzern Sursee because of the broken ETCS

 

Despite being British, I hardly play UK routes in general nowadays. Why?

Well, in recent years I think many UK routes have:
- Been uninspiring
- Too short in length
- Dull timetables
- Empty terminus stations or lifeless routes in general
- Lack of rolling stock
- AWS etc does not add any overall challenge
- Lack of service type variety
- Every modern route having Class 66 for freight
- Modern UK commuter routes tend to have more slower speeds which isn't that exciting
- Many routes seem to be in isolation; What do I mean? Well, unlike say German routes, many locos for UK routes can only be used for just the odd one or two maximum

I've not always felt like this regarding UK routes though. In the days of TSW past, there have been some fantastic examples such as BML, SEHS, ECW, plus even GWE despite its age etc. TSW needs more UK routes like these instead of Glossop, Goblin, Mildmay, Cardiff etc.

In contrast, my favourite in TSW are European routes (although Germany and Austria in particular). The reason is because they are busy, have so much variety, PZB/LZB makes every service feel challenging but rewarding, many locos can be used across nearly other route, and so on.

 

US - Boring! The only route I find interesting are the suburban metro routes (Harlem & LIRR2).

UK - The only route from my entire collection would be BML, the lightening is terrible, No Class 700’s and parts of the route feel dead especially around Clapham junction.
If I wasn’t able to drive the Class 101 on WCL I’d probably add that to the list too.

German - Tharandter Rampe, again suffers terribly from poor lightening. To me this is one of TSW’s best and most challenging German routes in the game, plus it introduced the first tilting train to drive. Her sister (Nahverkehr Dresden) managed to get the TOD4 treatment, but TR never did which is a shame.

 

Bakerloo. The lack of AI even though all the appropriate stock is available doesn't help. And on a personal level it's just one of the underground lines I am least interested in

 

GWE - awaiting the remaster so it feels as brand new as possible.
BCC - same as above, hoping for a TT improvement or 2.0, including new layers.
CCC - haven’t got the 380 so old TT only.
WCL - forgotten about.
NLL - awaiting extension / blur fixes

 

Bakerloo also now two tier. The overground section has TOD4 (not a 100% blessing) and bridge reverb in WCMLS along with all the main line and Class 710 layers. On the original Bakerloo, Queens Park to H&W is still dead as a dodo.

 

I own literally all available continental Europe routes now, except Luzern-Sursee and Bernina.
There are a couple of them which I don't ever use, gotta separate them into three categories:

Category 1: Routes I just bought for layers
That's pretty much self-explanatory... I just bought it (usually on a heavy discount) because the rolling stock layers into something more exciting.
LGV Méditerranée
S-Bahn Vorarlberg
Semmeringbahn

Category 2: Routes which don't scratch my itch
Some routes I tried a little, but they just didn't fit well for one reason or another.
Hauptstrecke Rhein-Ruhr (I'd even call it the most forgettable of the German routes)
Rhein-Ruhr Osten (With a remaster/remake, this one could turn out to be quite good)
Nahverkehr Dresden (Shocker, I know. The route overall is well done, but its main players are the BR 143 and 442, which I both don't like.)
Arosabahn (Ripe with bugs, the Ge 4/4 is a hassle to drive, very unfortunate lighting)

Category 3: Routes I played for a while, but became boring
These are the ones I got more deeply into, but after a while just simply lost interest.
Rosenheim-Salzburg (I don't know if it's just me, but those slightly-over-one-hour services feel like 3 hours to me. And 4 hours in the Dosto cab.)
München-Augsburg (A shame, because it's basically the closest to home I can get in TSW. It's pretty faithful to its real life counterpart, and that's the problem: It's just a very straight racetrack. And riddled with bugs at times. For some reason, Kassel-Würzburg is more entertaining for me than this.)

 

Yes and there are still problems with Bakerloo trains on WCMLS. Trains without interior lighting and they are only sporadic when I assume service is pretty frequent for a subway line.