The Problem As of today, it will now officially be possible to drive from Euston to Crewe, however this will be spilt up into 2 at Milton Keynes. It also opens up the potential to services via Birmingham going as far as Rugby. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to do these services without exiting the train, hopping to a different route, waiting for another train and then setting that one up. Not only is it completely immersion breaking, it would also be extremely annoying. The Solution The solution I’m proposing is to have an option to continue a service by pressing ‘yes’ on a prompt. You may say, ‘but they’re on different timetables, you can’t just continue on a service that theoretically doesn’t exist’. There’s a solution for this as well- if you choose to continue the service, the game would automatically load you into the next soonest service. For example, if my Euston-Milton Keynes service arrives at 11:34, and I wish to continue, the train will reload, already setup, on the new route at 11:56, for example, following the new timetable. Whilst this isn’t prototypical, it is probably a good workaround for changing services when that’s completely different to real life.
Yes, obviously, timetables should match. If that isn't the case, your solution seems fine (example BML/ECW). Otherwise, then I cannot help to think it's shooting oneself in the foot (as for AABS) not having concordance...
Since there's a new timetable in development for WCML South, the timetable with that and Milton Keynes to Crewe should hopefully line up. Problem is though is that the new timetable will only be for people that own the class 805.
Will route hopping at Crewe work with two different eras being ohle’s and steam to Liverpool Lime Street? Should they look at remastering Liverpool to Crewe? Keep the timetable with steam trains but include ohle’s for Avanti.
I’m honestly not sure whether Crewe is currently equipped with route hopping, but even if it was then the suggested feature wouldn’t really work here- the intention of it is to carry on the same service with the same train
Not just that, but you’d need the same year WTT, regardless of era. There may be some services in one timetable which don’t appear in the other and may I’d assume wouldn’t be in with one another.
I think scenarios are the answer. Scenarios have their own smaller timetables so its possible to build scenarios for different routes that have timetables that mesh. A run with one service across multiple routes could be planned. It would also enable routes from different eras to be used for a service from one era. If the scenarios for the different routes could be be put into one journey then it would be a more seamless experience.
Scenarios would absolutely not be the answer. I purely play timetable mode like many others, and scenarios would take longer to create as well. Besides, creating a scenario wouldn’t change the fact that the two routes are seperate
I don't think I made myself clear I am not suggesting using the creators club. I am suggesting DTG make journeys support scenarios from different routes and DTG and third parties then have the opportunity to create these journeys as part of route releases or updates. As I understand it joining routes is not on the table for technical reasons and so within the current game mechanics I think journeys might be an achievable way to have a service cross multiple routes, especially when the routes are set in different eras. It would take less effort to create a modern scenario timetable for Preston to Carlisle as opposed to a full 24 hour timetable. Journeys still have a loading screen between scenarios but you do get taken from cab to cab.
They may as well make a modern era version of the route from scratch, it's not just as simple as adding OHLE to Spirit of Steam, there's tons of track in the yards and buildings that would need to be removed and replaced. Plus, why ruin a 1950's era route with modern stuff? I wouldn't be happy with that, likewise a modern fan likely wouldn't be happy with modern traction running in a 1950's setting. Personally, I'm hoping JT eventually do a BR era Liverpool to Manchester with a 304 EMU.
I never said anything about creators club????? That’s also not what I’m suggesting. I didn’t intend for my idea to cover switching between routes set in the modern-day and routes set in the 80s. The service would be on a much different timetable in different rolling stock. A modern WCMLOS timetable would likely be a gameplay pack, so I imagine that the offer of some money would be good enough incentive to not enhance route hopping on this section
+1 Route hopping has so much potential with a few tweaks. It's just generally too much hassle right now in most circumstances.
I've not used route hopping in a while but from memory, you could only hop to the default timetable on each route? Pointless when you have multiple (and better) timetables
Indeed. Even having the marker on the platform next to your cab when you finish the first leg (say in Milton Keynes), you would still have to set your cab again when you spawn in the next route. Plus, suppose you're arriving late, then the "next" service would already be gone...
What we need is basically smart route hopping with trains, as this would allow for epic multi-route scenarii. Timetable mode could also be supported if it was able to generate station stops between A and B and could handle reversals (currently its two most limiting missing features, IMO). - Load up WMCL Preston-Carlisle and choose (or set up) a service from Carlisle to any destination on a "linked" (same-era?) route, in this case Crewe. It could of course also be a destination located on the Blackpool Branches route. - Pull into Preston, arriving at 10:23 on Platform 3. - Perform the last action on the first route, in this case unlocking the doors. - The game then fires up the second route using the same time, location, weather conditions and train configuration (formation, safety system status, lights...). - Proceed to Crewe. At worse it might need to delete a service or two in the "target" route to avoid any conflicts, but I can't imagine this would be problematic or even noticeable for the overwhelming majority of players. It'd be a great feature if DTG were to develop it. JB
Very unlikely unfortunately. The routes will be set, albeit not by much, in different years. The timetables also won’t match. And the elephant in the room is that a route that big would completely fry our machines
Think the key is, we’re getting what everyone wants… a long joined up network; DTG ideally will think of a more seamless way to integrate Euston to Crewe journeys, but I think that solution is the existing route hopping mechanic which… I recall when south launched, Matt mentioned they had big plans for WCML, and I assume we’re seeing that ambition play out (and I think it’s awesome btw). My gut is route hopping was the forward looking solution, but agree, if it can be somehow even more optimised, would be amazing. But I guess manage expectations around what we currently have.
I'd rather have *proper* random events than this (where other services are randomly delayed etc), and they're pretty much mutually contradictory sadly (as keeping the two timetables coherent is one thing if everything's running to time, another if they aren't). So if that's the choice then I don't support this, much as I agree it would be nice.
To my knowledge nothing much has really changed between 2024 and 2025 in terms of infrastructure. We are getting two 2025 TTs for both routes too. The killer is your final point.
That's because Mildmay came out after WCMLS, so the latter won't have route hopping to the former as it didn't exist. And so far, there hasn't been a push to go back and add route hopping to a route once a future route comes out that could link with it.
I doubt you will ever see a seemless route hop with WCMLS and AABs routes. Not to the extent of being able to non stop all the way. Not unless there was an incab route hop. As others have said the timetable is the big issue. How would you align both routes to trigger said option to carry on. Getting the same train and all the other service to be in the correct start point and at the right speed It would require a good amount of a work around to get them to fit seamlessly. That said I did post about route hop in the Preston crewe thread where I do think that route hop will come in play, where everything fits seamlessly. I know there isn't as much non stop traffic but it would be a better place to try and implement it. As a work around that might work with what we have currently is invisable route hop makers by the start signals at preston to save you running up the platform. I did do the shunt move for the Euston Blackpool on WCMLos and used the hop to take said train to Blackpool which was fun. so it's got its potential.
Yes, I too am leaning more towards a "Route Hopping 2.0". Route merging was a workaround for TSC. You would have to block the spawn point of your train on the second route (say at Milton Keynes on the Trent Valley route), so if you're late on the first route (WCMLS), no one will take your place and you can resume your service (on to Crewe). Exactly that !!! Getting your train and the AI ones at the correct place when you spawn in a route ? It's already done every time you play the timetable mode ! (True, it's done half-hour by half-hour, not to the second...)
in cab route hop yes i'm a big fan of... but on start on foot every AI service on the JT routes start at 0mph not the speed they should be doing. it has, as i have found had some rather unusual results like a service stopped at preston with the loco and 2 coaches stopped at the platform and the rest of the train hanging out the platform with the doors open because the AI train followed the instruction to stop at platform on start up rather than running to the stop point at the end. trying to get 2 service doing 125 past MK and have all the AI doing the correct speed may be an issue. i still back it though inter cab or station. i did make a few comments on the winter survey about this and is worth further development
Yes, to begin with, we can "chain" only those services that stop at MKC. Or have the non-stop services to stop (false unexpected red).
thanks i hadn't noticed it in any other route "yet", but its a major under lying issue if we want a seamless route hop on any route. also another good point by DMY is the ai starting a service when you route hop. when i did it as i mentioned above the train was next to the hop marker so just walked over and took over the train and had plenty of time to set up. but if your coming from the route hop marker as they are now going to platform 6 at preston from the marker the AI might of already set off with the train
