West Coast Main Line: Trent Valley From All Aboard Studios

Just looked at some trainspotting videos. That will be a very nice one to watch trains at

 

Yep. Almost forgot to mention Tamworth too, they get a few more XC passing there.

 

Ohhh ofc I totally forgot about that. It’s gonna be incredible having Lichfield Trent Valley and Rugeley Trent Valley. Wonder when it’s due for release.

 

To answer Question 1 for you, the idea is that you can pick up a service from its starting point on foot as well as from the menu so ideally it needs to be ready to be picked up from an accessible walking area for the player. Having it start at a signal prevents this but also can have other ramifications to the timetable itself so its much safer to start a train at a platform

Question 2, can't answer as of course not our train.

Question 3, ask anyone in the team this question and they'd have a different answer haha! This is one I'd have to have a think on though

 

Thank you very much Kezz for those answers really appreciate it! Fully understandable with Question1. Now I see your view point it helps me understand it.
Have a great night!

 

I think Milton Keynes - Crewe is the safer option.

The TT for WCML:S also includes the Bakerloo and London Overground, and probably some extra Euston - Milton Keynes services. I think a lot of people would have a worse experience.

 

It is tbf. Do
Agree the performance could be disastrous if it
Was London Euston to Crewe. At least we got route hopping but I hope Dovetail do add a route hop marker onto the WCML Route at MK. DTG Matt Will you be able to do this?

 

To go further, I hope the route hoping feature would evolve into something more convenient, so as to stay sitting in the cab at the end of a run before continuing on the next leg of the journey...

 

That’s what it should be. And have the same Unit. Shame you can’t do a Non stop run pass MK and then it pauses and then loads the second part of the map of MK to Crewe. But yea the Cab route hop should be a thing.

 

Sadly I fear neither DTG nor the capabilities of the software are good enough to make that happen.

 

When you spawn at Milton Keynes on the Trent Valley (bound for Crewe), it doesn't matter if you chose the service in the game menu, or if you've just arrived from Euston on the WCMLS, it's a simple loading.
What differs are the parameters : time, weather, etc, and, what interest us here, your cab settings.
But I do not see any technical limitation.
What's more problematic is if you're arriving late at MKC, say 10mn (for example 1430 instead of 1420).
By this time, the platform you're spawning at may be occupied by another train (according to the Trent Valley timetable).
At this point, we have two solutions : either you force the spawning on the second route at the punctual expected time (so 1420 ; that's the easiest solution by far), or you create a marker preventing AI trains to get to the spawn place of the player train...
I don't know how the respective positions of AI traffic are calculated when you spawn on a route (so the latter may not be that easy to implement), but what I know is that it works half hour by half hour.
As in TSC for QuickDrive some years ago.
Now you have to make the same step that was done in TSC, ie that you can choose the very minute for spawning...
I hope DTG will dig the matter, that would be a solution for those who are looking for long drives !

 

I do hope in the future there is a way that both parties could create extra revenue like "WCMLS Merge Pack" which could be an additional cost to the DLC but for us to do extended runs for WCMLS. I think this would be the right way to go forward so that all aboard studios can make money via their product and DTG with the WCMLS and perhaps a % for revenue. As this route would have to be put into sections as it's not their product, but I hope in the future for routes that connect with each other. I hope this could be the right approach so that both developers can create revenue on their. But I hope this is possible, this ultimately speaking probably after the release as it's still being worked on. But I'm super ecstatic for this route to be released and it'll be super fun to play.

Some services don't stop at Milton Keynes should it would be nice to get the playability which could help players have incentive to purchase it as additional content.

This is going to be an amazing route and I can't wait to see it

 

Sorry for that, I've just realized this wasn't correct.
First, when you choose to spawn on foot (wherever you want), it's not half hour steps but 5mn (from memory).
And the game can already calculate respective AI positions to the minute (it's the case when you select your service directly from the menu).

It was the old TS20xx QuickDrive system, for which there were indeed half hour steps, that misled me.

 

I hope a solution for merging the routes can be found. In the meantime I think we should get some extra calls at Milton Keynes and Crewe, like the XC 170 that calls at Bromsgrove on BCC. I had a look at the December 2025 timetable and the current timetable is as follows:
Birmingham
3tph: One that stops at Milton Keynes and Rugby, the other 2 don't stop until Coventry
Manchester
3tph, One calls at Milton Keynes and Rugby and then non-stop to Stoke-on-Trent, One runs non-stop to Nuneaton and then on to Stoke, the third, via Crewe calls at Stafford and Crewe.
Liverpool
2tph, One calls at Milton Keynes and Crewe, one at Tamworth and Lichfield Trent Valley.
Chester/Holyhead
1tph, stopping at Stafford and Crewe
Birmingham to Scotland
1tph, stopping at Stafford and Crewe
Glasgow
1tph, runs non-stop to Warrington Bank Quay.

There are some different calling patterns during peak services, but during the day, this would leave 3tph drivable between Stafford and Crewe (which is already in game), 2tph between Milton Keynes and Rugby, 1tph for 7 minutes between Tamworth and Lichfield, and 1tph non-stop for the full length.

 

Just one question, obviously it would appear that recently DTG have decided that most new larger route add-ons being only available for Gen 9 consoles, do we know if this route will also be following that pattern as I play (well heavy quotation marks on ‘play’ here, more like buffer and crash) on PS4, and don’t have enough to upgrade to PS5, and this route was always one I would’ve liked to see, so I would be very disappointed if I couldn’t get it. Will this route be available on PS4 or not, and if so, how badly will the timetable be cut (Like in WCML south)?

 

Your console would go boom, like seriously just the route without locos probably wouldn’t be able to run well

 

Presumed that would be the case, well, thanks for the help.

 

Sorry

 

and the console certainly wouldnt be able to handle the textures its blurry enough on the route already

 

A pack with a class 730 i'm gonna maybe make a interesting suggestion for the future of TSW 6 i'm pretty sure that's DTG can make something big with WCML maybe a branch via Birmingham and Manchester too

 

Put it in the relevant suggestions category

 

What would be nice is if we get somebody from DTG to comment on the feasibility of continuing a journey without leaving the loco and using the route jump beacon, the main hurdle i can think of is the timetable of each route, but a comment from the devs on the technical aspect of such a feature could be helpful, we have some great moders out there that have already made some fantastic timetables.

 

Doubt that'll happen because they technicalities of it. Plus I don't feel like route hopping was made with that in mind so much as a way to spin the reusing of stations into a positive marketable feature to distract from a lack of making new areas in tsw

 

If the two timetables match, there's no problem.
If not, ie if there's a small difference, say you arrive at MKC at 1620 but you have to leave at 1600, then you go back in time 20 minutes after the loading screen (works the other way around too).
Better that than nothing I guess.
And it can work in free roam too : you arrive at a marker on track that trigger a pop-up asking you whether you want to continue on to the next route...

It's just all about a marker and loading a route.
The game already does this.
What difficulties do you have in mind ?

Maybe !

 

What happens when/if you are late and you arrive at a time when another train should be in the platform if you held it up? How does the second timetable handle that with the other train

 

Maybe the easiest way is to make you spawn on the second route as soon as the platform has been freed.
But again, there could be a "time glitch", ie you go back in time, and you spawn at the expected time.

There are many solutions, some more realistics than others, some implying more work.

In any case, I think something imperfect is better than nothing at all.

 

I don't mind the fact the times may not match to be honest, as long as it's not hours, if the rough time and weather carries across i think the continuation of the journey takes precedence over small timing errors and the like.

 

Absolutely, would be immersion killing otherwise.
Add cab setup to this.

 

It's nice to see UK getting routes longer I wonder where All Aboard Studios will go next on the wcml xD.

 

Without stating the obvious, one would think north and not via Manchester. Looking at the length of their routes they may even do the full hog crewe Carlisle

 

Hopefully AABS will stretch their legs and visit an area of the country/type of train that's not represented in TSW yet.

I get it, there are some people who go on holiday to the same place every year, but I'm not one of them.

 

If they do a new area, I am personally hoping they do Chiltern (with a class 68), or c2c next

If they are sticking to existing areas, I would like to see more routes for the class 395, 465 and 700

 

And here's me in zermatt switzerland for the 10th year since 2015. keep sayin I'm not coming back but it draws me in every year. I do however visit a few other places whilst I'm here.

 

Ha, I do understand, I get incredibly nervous before every holiday new place but I keep challenging it as there's so much to see on this planet. That said, I returned to a European city for the first time ever in the Autumn, Berlin, and had a big neuropathy flare-up which lead to a panic attack on the last night. Maybe I was worried I'd outstayed my welcome.

 

It's the people out here that I've made friends with that keep me coming back and a respect to them. However I do have the itch to explore more of the world but i also get nervous about it. One good thing is I have been on some stunning rail trips out here and I'm on another next week when I travel over to grindelwald.

As a point to where AABS may go next as I don't see them doing crewe Preston or Carlisle this close to JTs release, however North Wales coast would be a seemless fit now with a new TFW unit.

 

The 730s are yet to appear to complete the WCML... Unless ABS does MK to Birmingham New Street via Northampton or a 730/0 pack. As a unit I work everyday, they are good units.

 

I have travelled on a 730 on the Cross City and was quite impressed although I didn't think the seats were great, okay for the Cross City but I wouldn't like travel on one on a long journey.

As they are 3 and 5 carriage units I don't beleive they can be substituted for the 350 and therefore would need a new timetable if they appeared on the existing WCML routes. I can imagine another WCML South timetable being greeted with incredulity on these forums. It wouldn't bother me, but I suspect some would rather not see a new train released as opposed to getting a new timetable.