I remember during Covid watching videos of Stratford and I was fascinated by the variety. Slightly off-topic but the South Western lines near me are also soon to see the end of variety with the 701s coming in, though the transitional period has been quite interesting with 450s, 455s, 458s (both refurbished and unrefurbished), and the 701s all on metro services.
Enjoy while you have it. I wish I'd got out and recorded some videos of local places with the old trains trundling along even just in the background adding to the atmosphere of the place. I took them for granted, just as I took the old slamdoors for granted. Though admittedly some of our classic traction disappeared during lockdown, there was no way I could have envisaged my Dec 2019 trip behind a Class 90 followed by the Class 360 connecting train would have been the last time I'd have either for traction.
Yes it’s strange how perception changes. I remember during my cranking days in the early to mid eighties, the dismay and disappointment when a Highland Line express rolled in with a 47/4 on it, or getting restless doing Norwich to Peterborough with a 31 gurgling away on the front of the train. But, hey, I’d readily trade the modern rubbish we have now to get those back. I’d even take a MTU HST over a Hitachi GWR Cucumber or a nice Class 310 out of Euston instead of a 350!
I'll never forget one of my last trips on a non-Renatus Class 321. For whatever reason, we had a rather spirited driver, and arrived into Shenfield a good two or three minutes ahead of schedule, the thing was bouncing around and lurching about all over the place the whole journey, and we can't have hit a single yellow from Stratford. Windows all open on the coach, and the doors shaking and rattling the whole way. In practical terms, it was a truly awful passenger experience, that journey, but I had a grin on my face the entire time
Still, I hope to see the Philadelphia-Washington section (well, at least Baltimore-Washington) with the new Avelia Liberty P. S. It would also be nice to have a route from Alaska, from Anchorage, if you know what I mean)))
Not a prediction, but I hope that the US route is Miami - West Palm Beach (BL36PH as the loco) and P42DC as a separate DLC loco.
Pretty sure there's been rumors of a Tri-Rail licence, so you might not be far off. Personally for the US route I'm hoping for the Hudson Line.
Sorry, but, if it's anything like the same run in TSC, it's really dull and sleep inducing. Same for Baltimore - Washingtion, by the way. The locos though - spot on. But someplace else.
The BL36PH is unique to Tri-Rail though, so it wouldn't appear anywhere else, like the F125 to Metrolink or the HSP46 to the MBTA weirdly enough....
I mean, looks cool from the outside and I know 82 mph or so is enough for most commuter routes in the US, but still, the performance figures / speed etc for a loco built in 2010s are rather underwhelming would rather have Chargers in the game as they are the future backbone of Amtrak commuter and long distance fleets and many others are also taking orders
The 455s seem to be vanishing out of thin air!!! It was only 2-3 months ago the majority of them were still in service, and all of a sudden they are being sent off to scrap on a weekly basis!! Although it's nice to finally see the back of them from a commuter standpoint, the train lover in me will miss them a lot. I especially love how each subclass was different in a way, with the /7 having a coach from a PEP(?), the /8 having the different front end and the /9 just looking great. Hopefully DTG will cover them one day.
It just has to be done, and you never know, I feel there's a smallish chance of it appearing for TSW6. Last time I was in Waterloo there was 3 701s lined up in the Eastern platforms. It was such a strange sight. That being said there were still quite a few 455s knocking about, I think the Woking service hasn't seen a 701 yet.
I wonder if the All Aboard Studios content will feature the Class 195/331 as their LinkedIn banner shows a 3D model of one or the other... It may be completely irrelevant and nothing to do with TSW, and could possibly be 3D content from some other unrelated project they are on.
I don’t know if this wishful thinking but I think GWR remaster will be an extension and has taken so long because the TSW6 core route has stock that will layer onto the remaster… Hopefully…
The European route will be Austrian and feature the railjet and the 1216 for power. Hopefully it’s the brennerbahn Kufstein to brennero
I'm not sure why but I have a strong gut feeling about Chester to Holyhead with 175s and the deluxe edition being a 221
If they’re going to put out a Voyager one would hope for a route with at least 80 miles that you can have a good run on
I would pick a different route but yeah... maybe Wien - St. Polten, old Westbahn and new one, so we would have variety... or at least the new Westbahn, in which case I would love to see it extended to Amstetten (I believe thats the next station after St. Polten)... that way we could have Desiro ML and RailJet, and utilize RailJet's highspeed capabilities... plus ICE-T could layer there
Yup, Im expecting another Austrian route too, but I'd bet on Vienna Airport to Vienna City (an incredible route) and/or with a connection to Wiener Neustadt from their earlier DLC
One of them was the A373 which could points towards a class 373, though I struggle to think of a viable route for it.
The A373 is also outside Exeter, so a route based in the SouthWest? Rivera line? Could feature a GWR 150 and 158, alongside the 166, 43, 80X and the XC fleet? Seems like all the puzzle pieces are in place
Genuine question around the Riviera line as I don’t have an awful lot of knowledge around it - would it have an interesting timetable?
Hopefully a bit longer down to Southampton. Basingstoke would be one of those weird places to stop a line, possibly more weird than Milton Keynes. Alternatively, if it stops at Basingstoke then I'd hope we'd get a decent branch line, like down to Alton so that those of us who prefer to do a realistic driving shift can have a there and back option.
I think it could at least be pushed to Winchester as that's about 65 miles in total, and you'd also be able to drive over the flyover at Worting Junction, which is west of Basingstoke.
My thinking was to get Eastleigh Works in there too. Lots of shunting of withdrawn stock, unusual workings and general movements you get at the larger works. I remember when Doncaster Works was released in TSC, a great idea but unfortunately the lack of a Timetable in TSC means you're dependent on creators making additional scenarios to keep it interesting. In the case of Doncaster Works, that just didn't happen.
I accept there are limitations, but if the routes are shorter I think Network style routes are more appropriate. But where mainline routes are involved I think they do need length... For example Waterloo to Basingstoke just seems underwhelming... Although a large task the entirety of the Portsmouth Direct line would need to be created to appeal to me personally. If length is an issue because of time and development funds, Waterloo to Reading would be a more appropriate route and at least would have a good end to end feeling to it. I've always thought a SouthEastern network type route would be appealing. For example, Charing Cross to Sevenoaks, with the Hayes branch, and Dartford via Sidcup possibly. Or is that asking for to much and being unrealistic?
Totally agree. Portsmouth Main Line is a really enjoyable run, lots of gradients to tackle nice difference in scenery and a good end-to-end run with fast and stopper services. I'd be happy with modern or Network South East era. Likewise Waterloo to Reading or just the SW London network with its various branches. Either down to Dorking, Chessington and Guildford or the northern section to Windsor, Shepperton and the Hounslow loop.
I think the main constraint of routes these days is number of stations rather than route length. I don't think we've seen a route with over 30 stations, which is annoying because network style routes often have loads of stations. Network routes would be good if done right but I wouldn't be interested if they're all going to be bare-bones like Cardiff.
Repeating ad nauseum but for £30, Cardiff should have offered at least twice the mileage rather than being a glorified upscaled model railway.
I couldn’t agree more, whilst quality is good the quantity severely lacks and DTG need to get a grip of this going forward. If you’re going to provide minuscule track mileage and incomplete routes they have to charge fairly! Cardiff at best was a £14.99 DLC
Next Rivet route is the Northampton Loop, where services are playable between Northampton and Long Buckby
Didn’t buy Cardiff because it lacked appeal for me. It was an odd choice as that line is in a transitional phase, with the second gen DMUs on borrowed time and the South Wales Metro rolling out soon. It won’t feel very ‘real time’ playable in the near future.
Sorry, I missed this comment when first posted. It really was a plan. 10 745/0s aren't enough to cover all of the turns from Norwich to London and would have really stretched those units further if the planned 20 minute all day timetable made it into reality. Originally one train per hour from Norwich was going to be a Class 720, but then it was decided not to train Crown Point drivers on the Aventras. Meanwhile on the West Side, 745/1s were suffering with reliability issues and were running a lot of dead miles to and from Norwich for maintenance. So the plan, as reported by Rail Magazine at the time, was to make the final 20 Aventras with a different interior layout for Airport services, move the 745/1s to the East Side, upgrade a couple to 745/0 with a buffet car and first class and use the remaining 745/1 units on a couple of Ipswich peak services and all day on Clacton - London services. Ultimately three things happened; 1 - The 745/1's reliability improved and they now get light maintenance at Orient Way. 2 - Due to cut-backs to the original GA plans for rural services, there's a surplus of 755s so it's possible to pad-out the Norwich services with them. I still see the Stansted units on Intercity workings though, so only having 10 745/0s is clearly still an issue. 3 - Someone from the DfT and/or The Treasury refused funding for any alterations to what were then brand new trains.
Would have thought something with a license for the uk route, and the only TOC without a dedicated route that they one for is XC? That fits the Riviera Line with a XC voyager as a new train with GWR 158s, 150s or 80x reworked for the route as extras and the obligatory 66. Other option is the North Wales coast which would work with Avanti and TfW (both held). 805 and 158 re liveried as above along with possibly a 197 as a new train. Both core TSC routes as well.
Personally, I'd prefer a 221/175 era instead! Even better if set in 1990-93 (Regional Railways). We'd need a 37+Mk2s for that! Don't know if 1st Gen DMUs ran there, back then. Think I've seen some 116s on photo.
Better again in the late 70’s! As regards DMU’s, prior to Sprinters taking over mainly 101’s and 108’s though go back a bit further and the Chester based Class 103 Park Royal units also put in an appearance, though more common on services to Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton.
101s did which exist in TSW, as do 150s, 153s, 142s, 158s. Only 156s missing and various diesel locos types for freight.
Of course that's less than 40% of the real life number on the network. It needs some serious extensions.
According to the post on the announcement forum, only one week to go! Let’s hope they don’t overpromise and under deliver on TSW6 this time next week. The cynical part of me wonders, if it was a huge improvement, why continue with the TSW franchise and not start from scratch with a simulator we’ve been asking for?Featuring improvements and bug fixes and not just DLC, one or two touch up patches and then just forgotten about.
I think the folks at DTG are still committed to TSW for a while yet. I would guess that in a few years development will start on the next generation of Train Simulator possibly aiming for 2030/31 release. By which time there's hopefully a way of using a stable AI program to speed-up route and traction development and there's also a game engine that can cope with the demands of a highly detailed (possibly also VR) railway simulator. For the time being TSW will continue to be enhanced and re-released every year.
That would be great. The funny part is that the current total represents the route after it was already extended once! Unfortunately after the fiasco that was associated with LIRR Commuter's release, I don't anticipate any more MTA routes. But, expect the unexpected, as they say.
