I Won't Play That Route Because...

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.

 

UK
Great Western Express - Mainly this is because with all the pictures of Liam's upcoming remaster, the current version just feels unbearably dated.
Isle Of Wight - Not a great fan of the very short and isolated route. Once the novelty of it wore off my hours on it slowed down a long time ago.
Spirit Of Steam - A lot of people have issues with this route's scenery and only using two train classes, but what kills it for me is the timetable itself and how dead it is. Almost every service I've used on there is lucky to pass just one other train coming the other way. Peak Forest for all its faults is vastly superior for a steam experience.
West Cornwall Local - Rivet. Just Rivet. You know.

Germany
Main-Spessart Bahn - Quite dated with a limited timetable considering its early development.
Rapid Transit - The above turned up to 11, sometimes I wonder why I even still have it installed.

USA
I've become more distanced from all US content lately, in fact I have uninstalled all of it. I think as my interest grew in European content it just gradually faded from US, not that there's anything specifically wrong with it. I will also hold my hands up and admit that I suck at dynamic braking so that impedes a lot of my enjoyment of any freight route. I will however highlight one from back when I did still play it more often:
Horseshoe Curve - That overcooked lighting is terrible even for pre-TOD4. And the lack of timetable variety is also a factor with every train being pulled by the same two classes, always in NS livery. At least Sand Patch Grade had four or five classes if you got all the packs and different variations of the CSX livery.

 

A few weeks ago I went on Spirit of Steam and looked at Liverpool Station.

It was actually disheartening to see on the 2D map that the majority of platforms didn't have any scheduled services.

 

I have played this game for a little under two years now, and I own every bit of content except Frankfurt S-Bahn (yeah, console). I honestly have to say that most routes get more or less shelved and rarely revisited after I play it a lot at first (all scenarios and a decent amount of timetables). Some routes I have barely touched since buying (most US freight routes tbh). Only a few routes qualify for frequent revisits: mainly SEHS, Dresden-Riesa, both WCML's, Ruhr Sieg Nord and Brighton Main Line. Others get much less playtime.

 

BCC - empty
OSD - no passenger services even though there are stations. (Prefer routes with both)

 

Please post in English!

 

It is annoying!

Translated

Maybe you can try Zwolle-Groningen then

And if you find that something then you can drive that route more often with the icm or sng

It's a Dutch route if you didn't know that yet

 

I have all the routes , so generally everythinmg kinda gets broken down in to two sectors. When I stream and when I dont stream.
When I stream its anything goes*. Even the routes I hate, which are a few. Most I bought, and some are ones I get keys to.
When I stream I go with the Route lucky dip. All the routes go into a bag, known as "The Bag O' Routes(tm)" (basicly 60+ pieces of paper with the routes and some with the extra timetables like GWE 1970's, Isle of wight 2024, Cathcart and WSR remaster). What ever I pick gets driven. Only rule with that is if its close tot he time where I will be finishingthe stream tand I pick something like Antelop Valley or Cajon then I try to see if I can do a service less than 30 minutes in length or I pick out another route.

If its just for the enjoyment of me then I have goto routes. Some German but mostly UK routes. Not all UK routes.
Some of the routes I wont play when I am not streaming.
Cane Creek
Birmingham Cross City
Dresden Chemnitz
Arosa Linie and the other one like it
West Cornwall Local.

Hentis

 

Can’t remember the last time I played a US route. Need more historical content like Clinchfield, the modern US stuff isn’t as interesting.

With UK content, I mostly feel disappointment at the lack of polish in DTG’s recent releases. I think it’s down to them commissioning Rivet to make their routes… Look at the difference in quality between Cardiff and the Dutch route. DTG need to get back to making the UK a main focus again with in-house development and stop using the worst received third party to make the routes.

ATS’ first route looks really good and everything JT has put out so far has been a smash hit! They’re the standards DTG need to be hitting with their own content, put Rivet to work elsewhere if you have to, just keep them off UK content…

Most of my sessions nowadays boil down to Blackpool Branches or Shap. Those routes hit differently. The pacer bounce is so immersive and with Shap, you get a good, long run to stretch the wheels.

 

I think it would be better if DTG got them to do better work, rather than send them off to poison someone else's routes.

I'm surprised their reputation in TSW is so low. They did good routes in TSC and some of what they did was genuinely ground breaking. Their high level snow in autumn on the Swiss routes comes to mind.

 

Why surprised? Although they did some good work (Island line 2022 and Berninalinie come to mind), they really botched fife circle's initial release. Rumours of their involvement with WCML south (initial timetable) and Cardiff city also didn't help them. On average, they made the worst content of alle developers involved in TSW.

 

Similar reasons, lack of varied rolling stock that should be there. Some I play a bit, but not as much as I'd like as it just breaks the immersion

* HRR (ICEs)
* RRO (IC, ICEs)
* HMA (IC, other ICEs and regional trains)
* Cross-City (everything)
* Vorarlberg (IC/RJ services)
* Luzern (any other train)
* Arosa (trains at Chur)
* Main-Spessart (IC, ICE)
* Glossop (more at Piccadilly)
* Bakerloo (mainline trains)

NTP and TVL could do with some more stock too. For Koeln - Aachen and GWE I'm waiting for the new timetable, and for Frankfurt S I won't purchase it until it gets one.

 

I don´t understand why Rivet did not carry on doing RHB in Switzerland. I think Bernina was Rivets best route and they did several rhätische bahn routes for TSC before. Why not go back to doing that and leave the UK stuff to others?
Rivet could start by re-releasing Arosa to current day standards and extending Bernina Line to St. Moritz. Afterwards do the rest of the network.

I am mainly a TSC player, but for Bernina Line I go to TSW because of lidar mountains. I think TSW can really play out it´s strengths here.

 

You posted this literally minutes before Köln-Aachen update was announced for PS5. So that wish of yours was granted rather quickly

 

Wonder what else I can do with this power...

 

Not sure how much connection (if any) Thomson have with Rivet these days, but their Surselva Line in TSC was very nicely done and a great scenic drive, especially with the 7xx series (Ge6/6?) locos. Mighty machines!

 

These mountain lines are a nice little niche where they make good stuff. They should indeed focus on that.