Just want other players opinions on the subject. I only have the standard edition of Train Sim World 6, and I'm considering buying the DB294 DLC.
The 294 is great (although still has some bugs), but I think the most rewarding shunter DLC is the German BR 363 (the red one), because the services are an integrated series which tie in to the ongoing freight services on Ruhr-Sieg Nord (one of the very best of the older routes). Second would be the Heavy Freight Pack for NorthernTrans-Pennine, which includes the Class 08 shunter with some really interesting services. Third would be the Vossloh G6, although some scenarios are bugged. Fourth, the MP 1500 for the Peninsula Corridor route.
If you are looking at german content, I fully support the Ruhr-Sieg Nord and its red BR 363 addon. It is very old content, so it's worth to wait for nearest sale and grab it for half or less, but it is the most varied shunting timetable so far. And the route itself has tons of industries where you can freeroam whatever you want.
Yeah the 363 is really good. The class 08 is quite good but you need to own multiple routes to take advantage of the various shunting tasks.
G6 is good and still slightly better than the 294 (IMHO). However as noted some of its timetables are bugged including those in Journey Mode, possibly as a result of issues on the host route (RRO) itself. Also due to the scripting it doesn't always play nice with the save game and advisable to come to a stand before doing an exit save.
Do you mean the best locomotive for shunting... or the one with the best scenarios to do shunting with? Many of the best shunting scenarios aren't on "shunters." Oakville and Sand Patch have some great shunting and they both use the GP-38. For German routes, the 363 has probably the most mission variety. For the UK.... there's only the 08 that's actually a "shunter" so that's decent, especially on WLC and ECW. However, you get some stuff for the Class 20 which sorta has that role too, like on TVN. Having said that, TSW doesn't have a LOT of shunting stuff in general. Most of the "shunting" in stuff after 2022 is just doing A-B runs with shunters and a few cars.
For the US I'd recommend Oakville and Sand Patch. For the UK I'd recommend WSR and TVN. I haven't run into any GOOD shunting on the German routes. RSN maybe? Niddertalbahn does have a couple runs where you pick up a load of sugar beets from a siding, so I guess that counts although it's not complicated. The lack of proper freight shunting has been a criticism of mine for awhile now, but it's apparently a very niche thing, so I don't expect much for the future. On a side note, In a way, the Thomas the Tank Engine stuff is almost entirely "shunting" in a cartoonish way. The whole story is about moving and organizing cars. I won't get into the silly implementation in game of "Thomas" but I just thought I'd throw it out there. Honestly if you could swap in a "real" locomotive for those it'd be so much better. That level of work on a proper realistic shunting scenario "pack" for a route is something I'd pay a few bucks for, like the $4.99 scenario packs in TSC.
I second this but would add that on PS5 some of the 294 timetables are also buggy, notably on SKK where the G6 and 294 services both spawn the player at a random station along the route.
