DVTs were to save attaching and detaching locos time, capacity, workload and cost at West Coast destinations. Not for any particular type of loco. The 90s were designed for mixed traffic use which as sectorisation took its hold became less likely for individual locos as a sector would be allocated for each. Hence the first batch being IC, middle batch was Parcels and last the Freight. The locos main aim was to eliminate the 81s/85s and allow some 86s to go East Anglia. Also in 1991 Speedlink freight was abolished so the 90s already had lost some work. If Intercity wanted rid of the 86s and 87s (both still in the heavy maintanence cycles and long term strategies of the time) then many more 90s would have been needed. BR was run on a shoestring and wouldnt have probably ordered the 90s had 81s and 85s been younger and /or East Anglia not been wired....
I still find it strange that such an Intercity outpost like the Anglia mainline become part of Intercity and thus it carried-on using locomotives on such a short mainline. I suppose when planned Norwich and Norfolk were seen as a mostly leisure destination but thanks to high property prices in the South East and "the sparks effect" there was a surge in commuter traffic from Suffolk and Norfolk through the late 80s/90s. I'll have to read Ian Cowley's excellent "Anglia East" book which chronicled the electrification from Colchester to Norwich. Maybe I'll find the reason but you really could make a case for the newly refurbished 309s covering Norwich services, they weren't that much older than the 86s and Mk2s that we had and were perhaps underutilized on the sub-100mph Clacton branch. If East Anglia had been given to Network South East we would surely have seen an AC version of the Class 442 "Flying Pigs" in Norwich. Anyway, sorry, I drifted from Class 90s there.
Don't forget that the Class 93 as part of the Intercity 250 project would have primarily replaced the 87s and some 86s (the ICXC 86 fleet would have been replaced by the 87s or 90s) but John Major's privatisation killed that off.
To be fare all government administrations have never really been pro rail. Apparently the northern powerhouse has been kicked down the road AGAIN!
Looks like the 90 is in the upcoming release section of the new roadmap…although no word from ATS or any new screenshots. Very much looking forward to this, although a real shame it won’t feature on the upcoming Trent Valley section of the WCML (developer ‘politics’ I assume??)
No, apparently nothing sinister. One of the Trent Valley team confirmed that they didn't have access to the 90 when creating and testing the route so the 90 won't appear in the timetable that will come with the route's release. Something will happen in the long term I'm sure, the Class 90 and Trent Valley are meant to be together.
I'm hoping if All Aboard have to update the timetable for their Class 70, they can add the Class 90 then. Subject to the Class 90 being out.
So long as the 90 doesn't break the timetable. I'm sure it'll be fine but computer game development usually throws up some random issues sometimes.
If only the problem were just about adapting. This situation arose due to different matters and different problems. It has no connection to ATS and ANDGames or coding/development topics.
No news is good news. Seems the road map was all about all aboard studios surprise surprise. Let’s see if they are as quick to fix current issues with content already released. Only about a 30 second mention of that. Rather they fixed the issues we currently have on released products than shove out new content for more money and more bugs to be backlogged
An a former organisor of big events, I have experience of problems that usually arise for a multitude of unforeseen reasons and sometimes some forseeable ones too. If the holes in the Swiss Cheese decide it's time to line-up, then disaster is all but certain.
Looking forward to seeing this in action. Hopefully some good runs from MKC to Wembley and then detaching and going into the holding sidings at Wembley Yard.
Should be noted the preview is on Alan's personal Twitch (from the way the post's worded), so not as imminent as normal.
Class 66 says “Please don’t forget about me” . Don’t worry we won’t as you’ll be on another 10 routes in the future. No doubt about that. Anyway I’m really interested in seeing this one. I hope the sounds are really good. And I’m sure they will be. It’s about time we got a new UK freight. Been looong overdue.
Your telling me add to it The Bus releases on console on the 26th $54, WWE 2K26 just came $124 out MLB The Show 26 $90 and Thomas comes out tomorrow. I thought I was in the clear with the Czech route $60, the 145 which I wasn't interested in and Thomas not sure how much in CAD yet. Now 2 more routes and a train may be coming as well. That will probably be at least another $150. This is turning out to be an expensive month.
I have £32(ish) pounds uncontrollably shaking in my hands ready to hand over for the Medway Valley Line
A bloody pricey month for me too with the amount of content coming out this month! Although I'm sure it'll be worth it. Very excited for the Class 90. Although Medway Valley is number one on my list.
Ok we have the date, 24th March! but if i read right, no substitution on all maps? only a Timetable for milton keynes its really not a lot
Hope substitution is enabled on all routes that have OHLE. This DLC will have very limited use at release without that, making it another "wait for a sale" DLC on my wishlist. If it substitutes in other routes it would make it an interesting day 1 buy just because there are so many Class 66 services that would be revitalized by the class 90.
I wonder if they didn't want to risk it turning up on an unelectrified route or section of route so found it easier to just leave it off all of them.
Pretty sure any journey over 90 minutes that was limited stop express fell under the Intercity branding, also I believe that GEML service still technically came under East Coast operations during the early electrification before they decided to go to Anglia during privatisation.
No, the London to Norwich service was it's own sector within Intercity, prior to that it was just an Eastern Region (South) route, though it did later get lumped in with the Gatwick Express within the 1990s Intercity organisation. The 90 minute rule didn't exist either, under BR the "inter-city" moniker was initially a fairly loose branding, there were also Pullman services of course. Later under sectorisation it was the long-distance services and others that used express coaching stock that fell under Intercity (hence Anglia and Gatwick) but there were plenty of Provincial, Scotrail and NSE services that were limited stop and over 90 mins but from an operational point of view were kept within those sectors. It had more to do with chopping the network up into saleable chunks in the 1980s ready for privatisation.
I'm not sure if that's possible, but if not then it's an improvement DTG need to make. The 66s run under wires on a LOT of routes.
Not really - Network South East stretched as far as Birmingham and Plymouth IIRC - both firmly in Provincial/Regional Railways territory, and both very much NOT in the south east.
Now that we know all the details, I'm going to stick with my original plan of a sale down the line. I'm so happy we're getting a new loco but I've always preferred passenger operations over freight and I'd really wanted an IC version to layer into the Just Trains routes (and before anyone says they weren't out then, neither was the withdrawn class 40!). I was tempted at one point but given the only gameplay is on the WCML Euston-MK route - which I don't really rate, I'm going to pass for now.
I'm hoping any new InterCity class 90 for Shap would have a brand new timetable rather than layer in. Seeing the 40 is bad enough but seeing one alongside a class 90 will really mean we've entered fantasy land. For this version of the 90 I'll be getting it pending any unforseen issues which I would say is unlikely. I do like WCMLs and I like class 90's. I hope in future it can appear on other routes and timetables. It would be great on Trent Valley.
Also they haven't mentioned which TT it will go onto as their are a few with WCML Sth, the Original, Intermodals and the new 2025 TT.. Hopefully its across all 3 or at least the original and new 2025 version but I have a sinking feeling it'll be the original version only and not on the new 2025 version...
Due to a pricing error, the Class 90 pack will now release on Monday 30th March. The price will be £12.99/€15.99/$16.99.
