So I was just playing some classic BR routes, passing my night and I started thinking about the eras actually depicted in the game, and moreover the massive gaps that exist between them. There are quite a few eras even within the span of TSW itself which are actually really underrepresented, many just not represented whatsoever. I initially started thinking of this because I was driving on WCMLoS, where you get both BR Blue and Intercity liveries. I sat there and realised that the sectorisation era is one of these underrepresented phases as we basically get the start of it with the JT routes, and we get its latter phase between West Cornwall Local and Tees Valley. TVL does a good job with the feeling of sectorised freight but the true spirit of those final days of BR was in the passenger operations, where Regional Railways and Intercity filled stations, and none was perhaps more well known than Network Southeast. I've lost track of the times I've seen NSE era suggestions on here. But then you have eras which are completely absent from TSW even after so many years. Pre-BR Steam is an obvious example. And then there's my own one which would be a dream to have in a route - early privatisation. I believe that for a lot of people on here, myself included, this was childhood. I'm talking about Southern mixing shiny brand new Electrostars with old slamdoors which are suddenly painted up in their new modern liveries, a strange paradox by today's standards. Virgin trains running a mix of 86s, 87s and 90s with their iconic original black and red livery just as the very first Pendolinos and Voyagers arrive. The ECML being inhabited by HSTs and 91s in the GNER era along with its more unique oddities like the 373 and 89 being there. The list goes on and on, the era was all the variety of the privatised system but still filled with the classics of yesteryear. This was just the sum of my random thoughts late in the evening, but I'm curious to what others think. What 'lost' eras are there which you think deserve more, either never having been done before or just deserving of better than the game actually has given them?
Good idea I particularly see what you say about the south east however steam is very unlikely to happen given dovetail don’t work on any more steam things and it’s a very risky niche thing to do as a third party dev project but that’s what I love about just trains I remember when Blackpool branches there first tsw route came out and they said the future depends on how products sell understandable given they’re not a big studio so can’t afford risks that others like focus entertainment can the now parent company of dovetail games but that’s what I like about just trains for example this years route is another awesome BR blue era one but with twist of not only branch lines as well as main route corridor but the addition of the power station and 2 coal mines for merry go round train services
Another great era would be the early to mid 60’s. BR Green on the locos (apart from the Southern where everything was green!) and a mix of maroon and slightly lesser crimson and cream coaching stock. Diesel and electric starting to dominate but steam still holding out in many areas. Wagon load freight was still a thing with many commodities that moved over to road in the 70’s and 80’s still being transported by rail.
It would be really good to see some more eras, it feels like we only get modern routes and BR blue with JT's yearly release. There is so much more interest and variety outside those two eras. We haven't seen any Network Southeast routes or early privatisation, which in my opinion is a lot more interesting than BR blue or modern, as the railway was going through quite a big change. A BR green route would also excel in terms of variety as you had steamers as well as early diesels/electrics.
The 2000s feel oddly underrepresented. Most routes are set within the last 5 years, and we’ve got some stuff from the late 80s as well. But apart from Bremen Oldenburg I can’t actually think of a route set in the noughties
Pre-grouping is missing in all train games. That Riviera route would have been sublime in BG with the necessary loco's and rolling stock.
It would be really cool if they took something like the Riveria line and sold us train packs from different eras. It would probably sell at lot better than Diesel Legends did as those locos looked completely out of place within the modern Reading station whereas the Riveria is made up of timeless station architecture. Of course even better would be scenary asset swaps depending on the era you are playing, but DTG avoid doing anything that involves doing historical research so the best we could hope for would be era specific rolling stock.
I'm sure that there are people in the community that already have the skills needed to take a finished route and make the scenery changes to backdate it 20-30 years or so. Perhaps it would be difficult to change track layouts but I'm sure that scenery and buildings would be a bit easier. DTG could sign up these people, NDA them and have them tweaking the route whilst they worked on putting together a matching loco pack. It will probably never happen because it requires a lot of thinking out of the box.
Is there a big interest In older emus? Like PEPS, 317/318/319/320/321/322/442/455/456? Would love to see more of these soon and I feel its bound to happen. We haven't seen one since the 314 and 313 which was a couple years ago now. They ran/run on some interesting routes which I've seen the community ask for MML/ECML/PDL& SWML could get to see some northern 319s 322s or scotrail 318s and 320 even a southern 455 I'm hinting at a modern representation of these units 2010-2025
The era I most want to see is when steam, diesel and electric shared the railways. Southern region would be best suited as you had steam heading out of London to the branch lines, electric heading out of London down the main lines and diesel in-between. Mostly third rail with a few freight yards using ole.
There is some pre-grouping in TSC. Plenty of locos and carriages, not route so much but there are one or two albeit fictional.
Something set around 2003 on the Southern would be great. Something like a 421 running alongside an Electrostar where you get the contrast between different periods of traction. Throw in a 455 and you have something in between too.
Yeah bit jaded with TSC at the moment. Waiting on Golden Age to release their BG route buddy. https://www.golden-age-developments.co.uk/g-w-levels-1882.html
I keep going hot and cold with TSC. If TSW had a couple of fulfilling steam routes and a couple of logical longer modern routes I'd uninstall TSC. But there is lots of great steam content and you can drive from Euston to New street. I am looking forward to the Golden Age S&D route.
Would be nice to see some older post-privatisation era UK routes - mid 2000s GE would be good - Anglia liveried 86s with Mk2/DBSO, ONE 90s with Mk3/DVT, 315, 317 etc. Or late 90s West Mids with the tail end of VT loco haulage and HSTs, along with 37s on the Birmingham-Holyhead etc. I'm guessing there would be issues around licensing for liveries etc - not sure how that works. National Express would probably prefer to forget their time as a rail operator for one thing...
Funnily enough. having been to Cardiff today I think DTG could also push on with contemporary TfW. Quite impressed to see their loco hauled push pull set (Class 67), Class 197's on main line services and a Flirt (what's that odd bit in the middle?) on the Valleys. the current CCN is a bit no specific for era. So add a bit more of the Valleys, the main line from Newport to Swansea which would also give the 802's (in lieu of 800's) another route on which to operate.
So TfW has the 756 and 231 with those but out where I am in Norfolk, we actually had the 755 with that same unit first. That middle car is the power car where the diesel engines are stored, 2x on the 3 car units and 4x on the 4 car units. They put them in a central unit to free up the room beneath the carriages so that the floors could be lower, the UK's FLIRT family was basically designed from the ground up with disabled access in mind. It's the same reason they went for wide corridors between coaches, all ramps inside with not a step in sight, and the extending step that comes out from under the doors. To me they're probably the most impressive modern units when you really look at what went into them.
Would love that route, but anything but 197s, they look absolutely ghastly. I'd much prefer a 175, though I can imagine they'd reuse voyager sounds for it.
I wonder if we'll get to see an NSE liveried Clacton electric (CL309) at the new Crewe station when it is released? It did happen in real life And then DTG will have a good excuse to make GEML A win win methinks.
Nooooooooo Vernon, i could live with it in early privatisation. But not with all that plastic 197 and 800-802 junk.
I'd love to see pre-grouping stuff in TSW, particularly in the period from 1900-1914, some of the most elegant liveries and locomotives to grace the rails and the zenith of railways in GB... although sadly I think it'll be very unlikely to happen.
Early privatisation would also be very interesting to see - the original Virgin & GNER liveries were fantastic. Unfortunately I can see lots of hurdles with licencing around that era.
Well that's why it would be very unlikely it'll ever happen, even if steam makes a comeback it's much more likely to be BR steam.
The thing is... where do you put it? Is there a route set in 1900? Is there a market for 1900 stuff? I think what you want is an entirely different game. There are a growing number of early steam games out there if that's what you're looking for. Otherwise it's a bit like the guy asking for buses in TSW.
Not sure what you mean by "where to put it"?, nor do I see any 'early steam' games out there? I agree though it's most likely too niche, if it ever happens it'll almost certainly need a third party developer.
I think any steam content will be a third party developer. There are a couple of promising possibilities in the creators section.
What 1900 route in game does a 1900 steam engine run on in TSW? That's even too early for Spirit of Steam to be accurate since that's late 50s/early 60s.(ie it has automobiles in it and such) And there are a bunch of games with steam engines out there. Train Sim Classic Trainz Railroader Railroads online Derail Valley Spirit of Steam could be even better but it's not out yet. It promises to be the most realistic to date, but it's being made by I think 3 guys who worked on actual railroads and volunteer in heritage museums. If they're already doing it and it makes more sense there...why does TSW have to do it too? Do it less accurately too given a different game engine limitations.
For an original condition locomotive from that era, then clearly there would need to be an appropriate route to go along with it. However, if we're talking about just an additional loco for an existing route it should be said there were many pre-grouping locos still on BR's books into the early 60s. For example, the LNWR G2 0-8-0 and it's derivatives would have been around on Spirit of Steam. Indeed, the LMS 4F we have was really a minor update of a Midland Railway. There are some things that TSW in particular does well, such as being able to walk around and interact with the rolling stock (such as applying handbrakes and opening individual doors) and environment that you can't get in say Trainz and TSC, and these are both quite long in the tooth.
You'd have to accept steam in the current way it's represented in TSW, of which there is already 3 of them in the game if you really need a steam fix in TSW. As for walking around... I use the other games for even better immersion since they fit better. Railroads Online is set in the pre-diesel era and you have assets you can build your own routes with on an open map. Derail Valley has a backstory for the use of steam locos in revenue service on a fictional line (but based on real world Eastern European railways) Railroader is historical on a route made for mostly steam engines on it in that transitional 1940-1950 era (with diesel being at the very end, but most of the content being steam) So those work BETTER than TSW if you truly want immersion. Steam is a gimmick in TSW, but it's not where I feel those locos fit. They FIT in those other games in an appropriate setting, not just as on occasional steam tour or put into free roam for giggles.
It wasn't supposed to be a gimmick. A lot of historical research went into SOS, there was a long running thread, much of the community got involved and invested in it. When it was released it was a promising start. However, they never fixed bugs like the AI sounds and after such a big build up laid it to rest with a timetable a shadow of what you would have seen on the route in the 1950's. They then chose a route with very questionable beginning and end points and did the same, a timetable with many services missing and AI steam engines which sound like a Pendolino, they even talked about the DLC possibilities, then abandoned it. There could have been myriad DLC opportunities for both routes. I personally don't mind the state of the steam engines in TSW, if only they would fix the Ai sounds. However the Liverpool to Crewe route is like driving the London to Brighton route with only the Gatwick Express services or New York to Trenton with only the ACS64 and the Acela. TSC, MSTS and even Trainz have had a good steam representation, TSW which is supposed to be the pinnacle of simulation has steam as a abandoned side show. Yet steam engines shaped the railways and the railway network we see now and yet it seems DTG are trying to pretend they don't exist, all this in a milestone year for railways where they could have took advantage of the celebrations and publicity.
Compare to: Hyce is an experienced steam railroader and his videos on this (his game with a couple friends) and Derail Valley, Railroader, and Railroads Online show other games doing it better. So... again... why push for a less detailed copy in TSW where it's shoehorned in, rather than games originally built for steam in an appropriate setting built from the ground up? Plus you can get a whole game with a BUNCH of steam locos for the price of ONE TSW DLC with maybe 1 or 2?
Personally when it comes to steam my interest is in prototypical UK operations. SOS would have been fine with a couple of extra engines, local services added and some shunting and trip/local freights.
