Let me start by saying, that I absolutely love how Dovetail made the CGI coaches wider and more realistic, making them feel much more like proper coaches for the Express. However, I still think they could be a little wider, as they look slightly too thin behind Gordon. They look great behind James and Emily, but behind larger engines like Gordon, the proportions seem a little off. I also feel that their current width slightly hampers the overall Express experience. I understand that the coaches don’t have a visible corridor, but the TV and CGI series rarely showed much of their interiors anyway, so I don’t really fault you for that. My main suggestion is simply to increase their width a little. I’ve discussed this with others, and we all appreciate that the coaches are already wider than their CGI counterparts. However, we feel that making them slightly wider would make them more appealing and better proportioned, especially behind Gordon and other larger engines. I genuinely like the CGI coach design, so I wouldn’t want to see the design changed. I’d simply love to see the width increased a little. I know Dovetail is receiving a lot of feedback, but with the upcoming Direct and more patches on the way, I thought it was worth putting this small suggestion out there.
Yeah I do think the express coaches look thin. Actually I first noticed how thin the coaches are when I was driving James months ago.
Thank you! I’m glad you agree, because I honestly expected people to think I was being overly nitpicky. But looking back at the show, there’s actually some precedent for it. For some reason, during the CGI era, the producers made the coaches essentially consist of bench seating throughout, without corridors or compartments. When you combine that with how narrow the coaches already are, they start feeling more like branch-line coaches than proper Express coaches. The TV/Model Series coaches had compartment-style interiors with benches, doors, and a corridor, which feels much more appropriate for a British Express coach. I especially like the Hit Era versions because they look polished, clean, and immediately recognizable as Express coaches. They’re a little shorter, but I think Dovetail could work around that if they ever expanded the coaches, HOPEFULLY. I also remembered that the show had a dining car, which I love, but it creates a funny problem: without gangway connectors, how are passengers supposed to get there? Adding slightly wider coaches, corridors, compartments would make the Express feel much more authentic while keeping the CGI exterior designs intact.
