Introduction Manchester Airport commuter is a newer route released by ATS, it has recently been one of my favourite routes in tsw due to the good scenery and variety arround the route, in addition to the 2 diferent directions you can go out of manchester, However similarly to the mild may line I neleive this could benefit from an extention. To where? Although some of theese stations exist in past decades I beleive an extention to Blackpool North will benefit the route, this will bring the length up to a simalar distance to the longer TSW routes and will take arround 1 hour 45 minutes to do a full run between Manchester Airport and Blackpool. Why? This route is already a good quality route however I beleive a bit more distance and the ride to the modern day Coast of Blackpool will add to the immersion as we would then be able to do a full run of the route through the Manchester City into more countryside scapes then back into city shapes in Preston and Blackpool. Paid update This extention will be paid via a loco dlc which will also introduce a new timetable and the expanded version spoken in more detail below. An ideal price for this would be £25.99 due to the extra distance in addition to getting a loco and added layering. Loco? The loco would be the northern 331 in both 3 car and 4 car variants this is commonly seen running the Blackpool North- Manchester Airport services. A common problem in this unit is issues with he toilet door getting stuck inside the coaches idk if this could be used as a fault however as that would mean the dreaded toilet modeling... New Layers The new timetable would also bring additional layers including: Class 220 running services to Bournemouth and Bristol temple meads Class 331 running other ai services out of manchester picadilly and empty stock moves from the relevant yards. Additional scenarios 1) Light up my life - drive a busy night train full of tourists to Blackpool North where they will be seeing the Blackpool illuminations catch sight of some of theese lights and fireworks on your approach. 2) Voyager in trouble - the ever reliable voyager from Bournemouth into Manchester picadilly has gained a train fault which the driver is unable to repair use another 220 to drag the unit into manchester to evacuate it then repair the fault. Thank you for reading, let me know your thoughts and if I missed anything.
As much as I appreciate the suggestion and welcome it, I would still prefer the Crewe extension more. It seems more realistic and doable at the present moment.
That just doesn’t make sense, if anything it’s an incentive. It means that the scenery and station detail can simply be reused, AND it adds a route hop portal.
But then how long would it be before it then becomes criticism of reuse just like the dostos and 66 I man already people levelling accusations of nothing new with the 802 and 150/2
So reusing assets from one station is wrong but recycling the entire mainline from Preston-Blackpool is ok? I’ve not heard any complaints about the 802 or the 150. Neither of which are complete copies btw, the 150 has new sounds and gameplay features and the 802 is a completely new unit. And you can’t really compare reusing stock (Dostos, 66) with route scenery. How do you think the public would’ve reacted if they didn’t implement the Watford DC line on WCMLS because “we already have it in the bakerloo line and dtg shouldn’t recycle route assets”
ATS openly admitted that modelling Crewe was the main issue and why the route never ended there. Crewe (modern) has been designed now by all aboard sims and all third party support each other. So what’s stopping them now? Not to criticise the MAC route, but the stations on the route all look very similar, so the remaining stations from Alderley Edge wouldn’t be too difficult to model.
