What's Your Favourite Route, And Why?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Pookeyhead, Jul 10, 2020.

  1. Pookeyhead

    Pookeyhead Well-Known Member

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    What's Your Favourite Route, and Why?

    For me it's Woodhead in Blue. It's a famous, well loved piece of BR history, and I remember seeing the 76s crossing Godley viaduct from my Uncle's house at Newton Hurst when I was a little kid in the early 70s. I often regret not going back when I was a little older, and before the line was closed through the tunnel and the 76s were withdrawn in '81. Playing this route is kind of like making up for that... kind of.

    I like the scenarios too, and the 76 model is nicely done and looks fabulous compared to the older Woodhead route. It's also kind of sad seeing Sheffield Victoria closed and litter strewn. They've captured the atmosphere of the time and place, and the arse end of the Woodhead line really well I think.
     
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  2. Doomotron

    Doomotron Well-Known Member

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    I love Riviera Line in the Fifties, with its period design and clothing (as expected). I also really enjoy the Isle Of Wight; I think it's aged pretty well (mostly because it doesn't use that many Kuju assets) and because it loads so quickly it's usually what I use to test new trains.
     
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  3. michael hooley

    michael hooley Well-Known Member

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    Leeds Lines, because it passes my home. but just best by a whisker and the one i drive most, North Lincolnshire, it is so natural.

    Mike
     
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  4. theorganist

    theorganist Well-Known Member

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    Riviera in the 50's it captures the feel of the area well and we have so much GWR stock to run on it. Followed closely by the Weardale network. I am getting Stainmore soon which I suspect will be up there as well.
     
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  5. Pookeyhead

    Pookeyhead Well-Known Member

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    I know what you mean.. a close second for me is the Northern Lines V2 from On Track Simulation. I've only had it a few weeks, and I've driven the wheels off it. The Fylde Coast line goes past within 300 metres of my house, and I know the route from Blackpool to Preston like the back of my hand... well, as it is in the route I do... they've changed some stuff in real life since it was electrified, and I've not actually been on a real train on it much since.
     
  6. Pookeyhead

    Pookeyhead Well-Known Member

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    You're the second one to say this... I'll have to seek out some video of the route.
     
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  7. theorganist

    theorganist Well-Known Member

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    I have a very interesting book called "The Day of the Holiday Express" which is a day in the life of the Western Region on a summer Saturday in 1958, where of course most expresses were heading to the English Riviera and queued up at signals all along the Dawlish sea wall. It is great to try and recreate that atmosphere, although the buggy signalling means you can't get it quite the same. Why they supplied signals which were coloured lights dressed up as semaphores I'll never understand as they don't work correctly as semaphores should. Still it doesn't detract from the route really as far as I am concerned, I just work round them.
     
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  8. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    I like running a number of different routes
    The Weardale route is nice and I have a Workshop version that has third rail electrification
    Hamburg to Hannover is a long route with a number of different variations to make it interesting
    For the BR Blue era the Ay Valley is a great route and now it has been extended so much it's fantastic and Free.
    I have a good Dutch Freeware route which is great to run
    ECML - London to Peterborough is also quite good.

    But the Woodhead BR Blue route has so many errors that I have given up on it - don't run it as so much need fixing

    Peter
     
  9. Pookeyhead

    Pookeyhead Well-Known Member

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    Well I love it, warts 'n all.
     
  10. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    On the Woodhead BR Blue you have a Signal at Godley Jn which never clears as the track link is on the wrong track
     
  11. Pookeyhead

    Pookeyhead Well-Known Member

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    Oh no!!!!1111 I WANT MY MONEY BACK!
     
  12. LargeInjector

    LargeInjector Active Member

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    Can it be corrected in the editor?
     
  13. Doomotron

    Doomotron Well-Known Member

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    Probably, but I assume that it would be reverted any time there's a file verification.
     
  14. Cat

    Cat Well-Known Member

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    Clone the route, edit the error and create your own scenarios. Simples.
     
  15. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    :D
    Someone had a go at me for suggesting you can swap locos in a Scenario as requiring Expert Knowledge to do so
     
  16. LargeInjector

    LargeInjector Active Member

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    I have many favourite routes for different reasons.

    Perhaps the oddest current favourite is the BR blue East Coast Mainline. This is the the original Railworks one (which out of the tin looks very dated) but I have family and personal connections to the area and I love improving it in the editor. I limit myself to only using assets already in the route, but it's surprising how much you can improve it. Either by adding missing features or by taking more time detailing parts of it.
     
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  17. LargeInjector

    LargeInjector Active Member

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    It was a valid criticism. I don't think the editor is something most players know how to use. The documentation is poor and at first sight it's very intimidating.
     
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  18. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    So it would be easy for somebody to create their own scenario but difficult for the same person to change a loco?
     
  19. LargeInjector

    LargeInjector Active Member

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    No, I didn't say that. Both are impossible to do if you don't know how to use the editor. Suggesting the use of the editor to solve problems won't help most users. The editor shouldn't be seen as a bug fix, though it can be used by an expert player to fix certain types of route bugs.
     
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  20. Cat

    Cat Well-Known Member

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  21. Cyclone

    Cyclone Well-Known Member

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    You mean it doesn't? :o
     
  22. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    Not according to Matt P who demonstrated it on YouTube

    No fancy tools or programs required
     
  23. Cyclone

    Cyclone Well-Known Member

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    Just FYI, my comment was a joke.
     
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  24. tommydee

    tommydee Well-Known Member

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    I didn't know you could do this, but with the pointer hot spot problems and program crashes he didn't make it look easy.
     
  25. JJTimothy

    JJTimothy Well-Known Member

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    The Weardale and Teesdale Network in the '60s is the first route I drove and still remains my favourite. It's big, varied, detailed, obviously of historical interest and captures the bleak beauty of the area (that I live in so there's that too) very well.
     
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  26. Pookeyhead

    Pookeyhead Well-Known Member

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    I've nearly pulled the trigger on this so many times, but £25 makes me pause and think what else I can buy for £25.
     
  27. dunkrez

    dunkrez Well-Known Member

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    I'd wait until you can get it for sub £15... as nice as it is, it feels so much better getting the route for £12.50.
     
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  28. Pookeyhead

    Pookeyhead Well-Known Member

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    There was too many other things I needed during the sale. I'll grab it next time around.
     
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  29. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    I like the version the Weardale and Teesdale Network I got off the Workshop :)
    Screenshot_Weardale Electric_54.66693--1.72986_12-05-56.jpg
     
  30. Cyclone

    Cyclone Well-Known Member

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    Wanna link it?
     
  31. Cat

    Cat Well-Known Member

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  32. JJTimothy

    JJTimothy Well-Known Member

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    It was £7.50 in the last sale and has been 75% off (both IIRC)- bargain.
     
  33. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    Nope.
    The only 3rd rail electrics were in the Newcastle suburbs running around the Tyneside loop via Whitley Bay and to South Shields
    And I have never heard of a 3EPB?
    http://www.emus.co.uk/zone/tyneside/tyneside.htm
     
  34. JustWentSouth

    JustWentSouth Well-Known Member

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    It is quite easy! For me, it works well in career, standard, and workshop scenarios.

    I can’t imagine running TS without it; there are too many locos with serious sound, function, and physics flaws. A select few excellent ones are out there, both as DLC and third party add ons.

    With a simple scenario clone, a loco swap, and a save, you never spend time driving a poor locomotive.
     
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  35. Cat

    Cat Well-Known Member

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    Corrected again Peter, but I've never heard of a 423 on the WVL either. ;)
     
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  36. Plastic Pal

    Plastic Pal Well-Known Member

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    I found this video to be a bit strange. It was designed to be a tutorial, but the main take-away was how flaky TS1 is, when (in this example) doing the loco hot-swap. And the strangest thing was how Matt P says "The game is about to crash".... presumably because he has seen it happen so many times before... and then it repeatedly crashes. More time is spent on dealing with the crashes than demonstrating the hot-swap.

    And instead of saying "This crashing is completely unacceptable, so I am going to do something about it to fix it for everyone"..... Matt P just laughs and seems to blame the universe, or bad luck....... but it it isn't the universe or bad luck conspiring against him.... it's simply the unacceptable state that the TS1 product is in.....and it really isn't at all funny... because this is software that is currently on sale on Steam, in a state that is not fit for purpose. It isn't some old clunky freeware dug up out of a drawer - it's brand new software being sold right now at premium prices, as a flagship product.....

    I find it all to be utterly baffling.
     
  37. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    What makes you think a game a Game from 2007 is brand new software?
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_Simulator
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_Simulator_(video_game)

    The problem with the game is it's age - as was pointed out in another thread they made it 64 bit by editing scripts
    But to go to Direct X 11 or 12 would mean rewriting the entire game

    The ONLY thing that happens when the game changes from TS20xx to TS20xx + 1 is the Core Engine is updated
    That way we are all using the same software so if people report a problem they are not saying I'm on TS2018 for example

    Peter
     
  38. Plastic Pal

    Plastic Pal Well-Known Member

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    Because it isn't sold as used or second-hand, or as retired unsupported software. It isn't listed as abandonware, yet it appears to have been abandoned when you actually start to use it.

    Because it is rebranded and re-sold every year, so a new user would get the impression that the game would be supported. Sometimes the package is dated for the following year. TS2021 will presumably be launched very soon.... fresh from the fire....

    A new customer would not expect to find out that the UI and the key feature Editor in TS1 have been broken for five years, and left unattended to rot, to spoil the online tutorials given by one DTG's producers...... and waste everyone else's time.

    TS2020 is sold as if it is conspicuously new and actively supported. It is sold as "brand new". That is why I think it is being sold as "brand new". That is why I used the phrase "brand new" and not "purple monk" or "ready salted".
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2020
  39. JJTimothy

    JJTimothy Well-Known Member

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    Part of the line (to Newport) was electrified by the NER and worked by a fleet of specially built locomotives. The NER had ambitions to electrify at least its main lines and used the Newport line as something of a test track but the economic downturn after WW1 made it unviable. By the '30s under the LNER the catenary needed replacing and the expense wasn't justified so it was just taken down instead making the Newport line the only one in history to go from electric traction to steam.
     
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  40. Plastic Pal

    Plastic Pal Well-Known Member

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    Weardale is currently £6.24 in the Dovetail Showroom.

    Let me get out of your way as you pull that trigger.... ;-)
     
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  41. Pookeyhead

    Pookeyhead Well-Known Member

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    Done. :)

    The AP Class 37 is on offer too.. so much for not buying any TS stuff for the rest of this month!
     
  42. martschuffing

    martschuffing Well-Known Member

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    My photo aside, it has for the British scene got to be RoDaC, the level of detail is superb it's immersive and atmospheric and a joy to drive imo.
    European? There's so many, but for a similar immersion to RoDaC, the Koblitzer mountain route with STWS's Rinckentalbahn upgrade takes a lot to beat.
    And most of the Swiss routes especially now they have been merged but if I were to choose one it would be the Chur to Llanz route by Fredbull, not Rivet, although theirs isn't bad Fredbull's has gone the extra mile or would that be Kilometer? A vid:

    Edit: The route has been upgraded since that video was posted.
     
    Last edited: Aug 10, 2020
  43. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    What is RoDaC?
    You gave us names of the Koblitzer mountain route (IKB) and the Rinckentalbahn?
     
  44. martschuffing

    martschuffing Well-Known Member

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    Railways of Devon and Cornwall.
     
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  45. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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  46. dunkrez

    dunkrez Well-Known Member

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    This, and Leeds Lines.
     
  47. Iskra

    Iskra Active Member

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    I always liked the network routes so;

    1) WCML over Shap. It's a fascinating line, I went to uni in Lancaster and lived in Carnforth for a bit so has plenty of local interest for me. The scenery is well-done and there is loads of operational interest and different scenarios you can do. Obviously it is not up to the standard of more modern routes, but at the time it was ground-breaking.

    2) Western Lines of Scotland. This route has a bit of everything: mainline, secondary mainline and country branch line with plenty of depots and sidings. It contains challenging gradients and some stunning scenery.

    3) South Wales Coastal Bristol-Swansea: Again there is a huge variety that you can do on this route, plus I think it has the best quickdrive AI so you can jump and an enjoy it with fairly realistic AI.
     
  48. martschuffing

    martschuffing Well-Known Member

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    "What is the Rinckentalbahn - I have the Rodachtalbahn Plus 2.01
    And have you seen the Ay Valley if you like UK Routes?"

     
  49. olsbyn

    olsbyn Active Member

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    At the moment it's Heidi Express, though with the unofficial patch from Rail-sim.de, simply because I love the Swiss routes.. I went havoc under the Swiss sale :p
    On second place is the Gottard bahn from Rivet games, it's a nice and scenic route, the reason I like Heidi Express better is because it's narrow gauge and there's MUCH more to do on that route.
     
  50. JoeWhittaker

    JoeWhittaker New Member

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    To many to choose from.
    Gottard Bahn for quality and it brings back a visit over there 10 years ago.amazing route in game and for real.

    WCML over shap ,another well built route and accurate and well placed period and stock when it was brought out.

    and the 3rd goes to the wonderful Wear Valley Route,being from the NE of England and know that area well,cant praise this route enough for accuracy and overall feel for that period,spot on.
     

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