West Coast Main Line: Trent Valley From All Aboard Studios

I'm also confused with this route now, following new roadmap 1st paragraph.

"We have a further update from All Aboard Studios on the progress on their Lichfield Trent Valley route. This more comprehensive update covers route hopping, gameplay experience and timetable details."

https://live.dovetailgames.com/live...ng, gameplay experience and timetable details.

So is it also a new Lichfield Trent Valley Route in the making with Trent valley?

As we already have this under Birmingham Cross City.

Besides it why mention Lichfield & not Rugeley Trent Valley both have it in name.

 

No, it means this route. Lichfield TRENT VALLEY

Lichfield Trent Valley lower level is an intermediate stop on the Trent Valley line. Upper level is the northern terminus station on the Cross City line

 

So have we been calling this route the wrong name all this time. WCML Trent Valley route when we should be calling it Lichfield Trent Valley.

Don't forget Ruegley Trent Valley is on this line too, albeit flatter it seems. Also subject to a line name for Ruegley Trent Valley to Birmingham International.

 

WCML Trent Valley is the correct name for this route.

"Lichfield Trent Valley" and "Rugeley Trent Valley" are just stations along that route.

 

Love is a name, sex is a game.

Forget the name and play the game.

 

In much the same way as Tamworth is called Tamworth, but known in the trade as Tamworth Low Level, Trent Valley platforms, and Tamworth High Level on the Birmingham to Derby line.

 

Correction -

Tamworth has both sets Class 170s (Nottingham) 220 / 221s (rest of network served at Tamworth).

 

The line splits at roade cutting and Northampton is on the slow lines I'm just guessing they had to choose one route and went for the fast lines maybe to much extra delevopment time .
lm interested myself to see how they implement services beyond Milton Keynes on the slow lines ,I'm guessing again and saying it's just AI traffic from that point on and you pick it up and it becomes driveable at rugby

 

It will just add more playability as you will be able to drive the Euston to Birmingham services from
Milton Keynes to Rugby via Northampton rather than 1 stop yo Wolverton.

 

Maybe those services will appear twice, first Milton Keynes to Wolverton only, and then from Rugby onwards ?

 

Most services on the Northampton loop go to Birmingham, so it would just be driving those services for the one stop. Honestly, I think it would be best to include the Northampton loop on a Birmingham to Milton Keynes route, if it ever happens.

 

Yes, it wouldn't surprise me if that were the case. We already have a lot of very short services in TSW.

 

Am I right in thinking there was no mention of Trent Valley in last week’s roadmap? Notice it’s moved to the 0-3 month category, but no screenshots or updates.

 

Unofficially delayed to TSW7 is my suspicion.

 

Odd that it’s been moved to an imminent release though. Having said that, if it was delayed to address the bugs with B’ham-Crewe, I wouldn’t mind.

 

They have made the timetable which suggests it's far advanced. Presumably if it was to be a TSW7 route they wouldn't move it into the 0-3 months category.

 

I do recall this happen with at least one other route, that was ready to release but was held back for TSW6.

 

Well I guess we'll find out, seems very odd to move it to a different category now if it's a TSW7 release!

 

Given the B2C issues I’m still a bit wary that AABS may have bitten off more than they can chew with this huge route, even with 20 or so miles pasted in from their earlier work. So regardless of whether it releases next month or in October think I’ll be waiting for the unofficial/non ambassador streams and feedback before buying. Unless of course they surprise us by going retro and throwing in a class 304 or 310!

 

Guess you'll be waiting then!

For myself Im looking forward to the new DLC and hope it is released in the next month..

Be nice to run from London to Crewe with the addition of another variant of the 350 and 807 to fill in more of their 2025 WCMLsth and B2C TTs.. from there bring on their 70! (be nice if something can be done for the 90 to be integrated such a waste its not)

Personally Im holding out hope that modders will modernize the new JT Preston to Crewe similar to what we have now for the excellent scenery of Preston - Carlisle so we can go a little further with the pendo's (just wishing they would create a 2025 TT to mirror the AABs TTs, even though the 2019 does fill the void for now)

 

A 304 would certainly be interesting. I think a BR era Liverpool - Manchester route by JT would be the perfect opportunity for that.

Personally, I'm looking forward to this one. Really enjoyed the AABS 805, so having the 807 and a long run for them both should be fun! Hoping Kezz also managed to get the speed limiter functionality added too

After this and JT's upcoming Preston - Crewe, I'm hoping we move away from the WCML for a year or two and get something different.

A BR era ECML with proper traction in the Deltic & Valenta HSTs is very much needed!

 

I would too love to see a suitable BR route for a 304. Possibly id prefer Coventry to Wolverhampton but a BR Crewe to Liverpool would be nice too. But as you say somewhere different would be nice.

The AAB Birmingham to Crewe route is one of my most played and I feel one of the best in the sim so far, after a less than smooth start, I know part of it very well. I'm certainly looking forward to their latest.

 

I for one loved B2C and I’m pretty happy with whatever we get for Trent valley. The route gets a lot of flack for performance but the actual quality of the route is very very solid. I think my only issue with AABS is the rocky launch of the 805

 

i suspect we’ll be hearing lots more about this in the may roadmap given it moved into 0-3 months in the april one a few days ago. i’m hoping AABS have made plenty of optimisations so that the route runs at a respectable framerate and without blurry textures, if that’s not the case then no purchase from me at full price. the 390 could also do with some qol improvements, such as announcements, train faults, and tweaks to the running sounds although i’m aware this is out of the control of AABS. what i would also like to see is cruise control usable on the 807, its a key feature which has been missing from every IET so far in tsw. overall im really excited for this route, it should provide something familiarity, plenty of variety and hopefully better route hopping (i believe this has been mentioned? someone please correct me if i’m wrong). but i still have my reservations about whether the route will run without becoming a blurry mess

 

No.
The route hopping principle will remain the same.

At this stage, all we can hope for is that the marker will be correctly positioned... namely, at the end of the platform at Milton Keynes, so that you can jump in the cab of the train you came with (you'll need to set the cab again, at least partially, to resume your drive).

 

On another note, I'm hoping AABs can get on top of issues that plagued WCMLsth TT and not being able to add in as many freight runs or what seemed to be a lower peak hour number and ensure not only is the TVL as jammed packed as can be but updates to WCMLsth 2025 and B2C TTs.. One thing that I dislike with TSW is sometimes TTs just dont have the same punch as what you might expect vs real world counterparts especially for something as busy as the wcml (even with missing rolling stock!)

Its time to go in the same direction as was done with GWE-remaster and start adding in unbranded ops and utilizing rolling stock available in game. ie Unbranded network rail HSTs..

You could also add in class 37s hauling 350s for storage or 378s to Widnes Transport Tech along the WCML as many a YT clips have shown, even putting in OG 378256 which did the run itself... can we start thinking outside the box with TTs, IMO its a big reason many of us enjoy TSW!

 

I asked over on discord with the release of TVL upcoming will there be an update to the 805 dlc /WCMLsth TT to add it more services for freight amongst an increase to the Peak hour numbers, along with some unique type services like class 37s hauling 350s for storage or 378s to Widnes Transport Tech and felt that sometimes TTs just dont have the same punch as what you might expect vs real world counterparts especially for something as busy as the wcml (even with missing rolling stock), with AABs replying on the following:

1) More Freight services to 805 TT's, the reason there are gaps is due to the allowance of the Class 70 so both TT's will increase in freight when the 70 is released

2) I dont cross compare other routes TT's as its virtually impossible, some routes naturally have more variation than others, ultimately we tried to bring the most intense TT we could to both these routes and give consoles a chance at the same time, there are additional services coming to both so they match up perfectly with TVL as Avanti added additional services in 2026 that we have been able to include with TVL

3) So elements like unbranded NR HST's isnt possible as it doesnt exist as an asset, we can't use mods as developers or used moded content, however we do try and include the more peculiar moves like you hint at, we try and include railtours where possible such as the 323 Railtour, 323 Northern to Wolverton etc, I know on TVL we include some 37 ROG work along with a TfW 153 run from Derby to Chester and said 323 Northern to Wolverton, so where possible we do try and include a few peculiar moves where we can.

4) The other element to remember is the draw count on Playstation, we can only draw so much content as is the reason the Class 86/87 stock has been removed from our TT's to fit within the draw calls so this also affects the variation we can offer on the TT's

From this I did ask about 2 separate TTs one for PC with all the bells and whistles and one for console to aid in Memory issues from a poor core with a response of:

This is what we are looking at for the future patch and we are currently testing some updates, as its easy to remove a bunch of services but what we are trying to do is fine the right level of reduction to ensure console players dont get hugely affected, also note we cant remove playable services only Ai

It was mentioned that the 390 pendo currently in game is a bit of a memory hog and they've had to take some ai services out to try and aid this for consoles...unfortunately they cant fix this issue as its not theirs to fix, so unless the original designer gives it an update expect less pendo's in a TT (this is a DTG original?)

 

Good to know it sounds like a waste of money for console players

 

At least you can make an informed decision of what to expect based on that.

Any console players that will inevitably buy on Day One, then it does seem a case of buyer beware but they’ve been upfront and stated the facts. It shouldn’t be this way, but at least they’ve stated the issues.

 

I don't really think the railtours are necessary if it makes performance worse. The more trains you have in a timetable the lower the performance is gonna get and the odds of getting blurry textures goes up, yes you can disable them but even the data just existing can cause memory issues.

I can simulate a rail tour using free roam if I want to.

 

The blurring issue with Birmingham-Crewe is main the reason I will not buy Trent Valley on day one. One would expect the latest lessons regarding textures will be applied to this release, but I will wait till I see some evidence of that before buying.

 

Did the textures issue get resolved on PS5 do we know? It’s difficult to not be pessimistic about any new releases, which is sad really. But then, we’re hearing it’s going to take a month for a patch to be released regarding the class 90 debacle lol. Wrong build they say

 

only half answers the question but on xbox series x it’s still the worst route for blurry textures. i’m bored of everything looking a mess as soon as i leave the new street tunnel

 

As a PC user I want them to load it up with as many services drivable and ai as possible..Im sorry that the core is that bad for the console users but one of TSW main selling points was the ability to have a working 24hr Timetable and don't want to see a one in all in situation.
Personally would like to see them do go down a 2 x TT path so we don't get a WCML ghost town, just look how bad the 90s TT is with there small number..

For me B2C is probably my go to route and is a fantastic DLC and from their work there, Im really looking forward to TVL and hope it isnt too far off from being released

 

Ditto here, 1000%
Can't wait for it !
The Pendolino will at least stretch its legs.

And no more incessant back and forth, friday evening/night will be Euston - Carlisle et basta !

 

If our fantastic modders mod JT Crewe - Preston like they did the JT OS version with their modernization pack, then we are going to need a mod 2025/2026 TT to mirror AABs WCML TTs so we can run a full service from London to Carlisle across the 5 DLC..That would be fantastic.

Im trying to learn how to create TTs so I can do one for myself, would like to try and get an updated MAC version as well so it mirrors even though it doesn't go to Crewe or via Stafford - Manchester line..

On a side note OTS just updated their 2019 WCMLsth TT with the introduction of the class 90 to take their drivable service total to 1556, and we dont see to many if any bottle necks here or big drops in frames despite the dated scenery so it can be done!

 

4 DLCs (Stafford - Crewe will be duplicated).

Matching timetables would be a good thing, but the journey will be fantastic anyway as soon as the routes release, you just have to spawn your train and let's go.

Ideally, there would be markers on the track at the ends of the routes, portals that put you directly on the next route.
Perhaps that will happen someday...

 

Ha that's right, 5 if AABs end up finishing the link between MKC and Birmingham

 

That would be fantastic too (much to the chagrin of those who are fed up with the WCML...)

 

I know but this will introduce the 730 imo, which has been heavily requested on the DTG discord and feel this could be their TSW7 Rolling stock reveal.. and if AABs are making good coin from their WCML why change as those who got B2C and TVL will more then likely get MKC-Birmingham (with Northampton loop incl)