Volunteering at a heritage railway - I have had a fair few bacon/sausage sandwiches cooked on a shovel
I am reading a book about a Saltley driver in the 50's, it seemed very common, I did wonder if it was a bit of a urban myth but evidently not. I would love to try some sausages cooked on a shovel.
I've worked as guard with a train crew who cooked various full meals on a loco - making use of the smokebox as well. I've seen them have Salmon, and even a Turkey Dinner at Christmas time. (At the end of the day - theres a fire - its not that far removed from a stove) (Just make sure the shovel doesn't get used for removing "fertiliser" from the four foot...
No not that one, although I will have to check that one out. It is "A Locomans Log 1937-85" by Bill Alcock, he starts off as a cleaner at Ryecroft then moves around a bit.
Here's another one- it seems that, quietly and without fanfare, TSW2 recognizes divided speed limits! This is one small step for Sand Patch, one giant leap for Train Sim-kind..... I don't think this was true in the TSW2020 version. Certainly it's not true in GWE. But I just ran a light loco service, and the HUD and game system were giving me the upper limits, not the lower: I was able to run a pair of SD40s up to 70! (limit was 79, but loco vmax...)
Thanks for this one. I would like to use it in the upcoming Route Guide for SEH, of course giving you credits for this information.
It's just a number, like you may number the ground floor with zero which is very common at least in the Netherlands. By the way, the most strange is you are talking about platforms, while you mean track. In the Netherlands in my young years we did tell the traveller to move to platform x and then you needed to find out by yourself which track was applicable. Someday this changed and now we say the train leaves from track x. Maybe in the UK people did the same, but kept saying platform.
No we’ve never called the point where you board or disembark a train in a station a track. Always platforms. And yes there are quite a few platform 0s around the UK as stations are developed and extended they are used increasingly more often. I know of a couple within a few miles of myself that have been in use for around 10-15 years.
These eastbound helper returns are great, aren’t they? You can also take a 2x2 DPU up the grade from Cumberland, stop at Sandpatch, and wait to uncouple the helpers until after another eastbound service takes the signal. That way you can enjoy the high speeds and some adverse signals.
I'm pretty sure divided speed limits existed on Peninsula Corridor in TSW 2020. I was, however, pleasantly surprised that they were implemented on SPG, given that the route only comes with freight.
There's a twice a day Amtrak service that shares SPG's tracks. It's not modeled in the game, but realism dictates the split speed limit. And, as was pointed out, some light engine moves can use the passenger limits.
Note to yourself is there’s always a logical reasoning behind such operational movements. When Lockdown is over, come to the UK or EU to experience such operations
If you look closely, you can find people walking up and down the streets of Cumberland (and maybe other settlements on SPG).
True. Although I do wish they had yardbirds all over Cumberland- or in the vicinity of all those seemingly abandoned pickup trucks.
Yes. Seeing people walk through the towns of SPG is really cool. There is a pedestrian path tunneling under the ROW just west of Yoder if I recall. Whenever I drive by, it is fun to see if people are walking the path; it makes for a good screenshot!
I think Sandpatch is the only route with this feature. originally there were no moving cars, but now it has some. I still think if you look at Sandpatch it is the best route for me, if you look at the amount of innovations and features it has. Over time some were removed for various reasons but it still is a great route.
Rain in the class 43 windscreen flows down or up according to speed and towards the left or right as the train turns. Never noticed before on GWE as the track is fairly straight, but truly noticeable in a home made scenario in WSR!
Platform 0 is because of something to do with changing all the "paths" for trains and the signallers?
I have a fun one on MSB which I'll call The Hunt For Dumo. Basically there are so many little nooks , crannies and off the beaten track paths on this route. Particularly down at Afschaffenburg and the Dock area (accessible with the 204) there are a tonne of non descript areas which have collectibles in. Half way down to the docks there is a fence that crosses a road and leads to a boating lake with a bench and log collectible. Other areas also lead to just small details like an abandoned house and random junction box. Around these areas I've found a graffiti signature for someone called Dumo. So in my head, I pretend Dumo is willing me on to find their work. I find it really impressive that someone at DTG has taken their time to make these offshoots. Take an hour to chill out and see what you can find. Happy Hunting!
I see you really pay attention to details. That´s very good. One thing I also like is that shadows are casted on engines smoke as seen on the front engine in the next picture, with the light towers structure shadow. This would be very nice when steam arrives. Cheers
I had a quick run on GWE before work this morning. Coming out of Reading with an HST going over the River Kennet bridge, I was surprised to see an AI 166 on the neighbouring (Waterloo line) bridge. I guess it was an Reading - Gatwick Service, never noticed anything on those lines before.
TSW2 always manages to alternately annoy and excite me. Wow and meh are close to each other here. Often I am blown away by lovely details and really great graphics, functionality and immersion, then I stumble again over annoying little bugs and glitches (where I always wonder why no dev goes that very last mile... suppose that last mile means disproportionate workload). I'd say TSW2 is like one of those relationships where on the one hand you're in crazy love with your partner, but on the other hand you're constantly dispute about annoying little things. Life without TSW2 would definitely be less nice, but sometimes better for my blood pressure. Most of the time I really love this software, sometimes I hate it.
I agree, to continue the analogy, I am content to continue to be in love with TSW's mother as it has far more of interest to "say" although can be even more frustrating! I just flirt with TSW occasionally!
Here's something which shows somebody cared- The freight services added to NTP by the Heavy Freight pack aren't just random, and not just the same up-and-down the mainline with slight variations in consist (coughGWEcough). Instead, they create two intertwined little stories between 0430 and 0900, involving two shunters and two freight engines. There's the Vans arc (NH01, NH04, NH08, NH09, HUD01 andNH10), and the Carriages/Newspapers arc (NH02, NH06, RB01, NH07, RB05, RB03, NH03 and News Train), as two shunters* and two Class 40s (or 47s) move the same rakes of cars to various points, ultimately all to Leeds. *Actually a third shunter has a brief service at Huddersfield
Another small detail I found in the latest Class 465 model is the working door levers textured on the exterior of the units, below and infront of the cab door. When you open the door to unlock it, the lever mechanism is shown moving between positions, same when you close the cab door. Just a cool touch everytime I drive the 465 in timetable mode and swap cabs or trains See in the lower left corner for the lever switches.
You can actually "Kick" cars and somewhat use the Hump Yard on Sand Patch Grade (Though you have no way to slow cars down once they get away) This was not possible on TS21 without a mod.
I played tees valley yesterday with the chopper, one of the scenarios. I have heavy freight too. I was really impressed pulling into the yard to see how much life there was In terms of trains and wagons. Would be nice to see npcs wandering about their day
Inspired by this thread, yesterday I decided to try "Exploration on foot" for the first time ever. I started after dinner, the next time I checked my watch it was 01:00 in the morning. In short: I completely rediscovered the game. Normally I'm the type who always sits in the cab, grumbling about little errors on the PZB and switches that have no real function. Yesterday I realized that in TSW2 I was always looking for some kind of "Zusi 3 with better graphics" - which TSW2 obviously isn't at all. My little "exploration tour" drastically changed my image of TSW2 - when I first noticed the amount of detail in and around the stations and along the track. Even at West Somerset, which I don't particularly like, I enjoyed wandering around, looking at the lovingly designed old stations in the evening sunshine (with birds chirping), walking through the grass and strolling at any nice little details (and I collected a lot of collectables). On the TGV route, near Marseille, I found an old abandoned station with a messy pedestrian underpass and lots of scrub on the platform. I think the name "Train Sim World" says it all.... it's not about the last little detail in the PZB, but about the whole world of railroads, with all this "railroad romance" and all this diversity in all the different countries. The developers do not work "laxly", as is sometimes said. I was sometimes a bit overcritical in this respect too, but when I noticed yesterday the effort that is partly behind the routes, I was honestly a bit embarrassed about how I sometimes thought and talked about DTG. Now some things became clear to me, e.g. why even "short routes" mean such a massive development effort. And if I take that into account, the prices for one route are really absolutely fair. After all, with all this graphic quality and all the little details, one have to keep in mind that railroad operations are still depicted at a high level. The German safety systems in particular sometimes have their little problems, but overall they are actually well represented. However, I now understand that the sim does not focus on this, but that this is only ONE aspect, and there is much more to the "world of trains" than a perfectly depicted German safety system.
YES THANK YOU!!! I like to say that TSW is also for those who get confused with Ebula and Ebola, so not only the ones who know everything about every knob or what to do at a Signal Zs3, when going backwards on the opposite track in summer in the 90s, but more the common Player who is interested in Trains and appreciates the beautiful Landscape.
Indeed game offers a lot of possibilities if you enjoy railways. You can drive, travel as passenger, visit infrastructure and scenic places or just sit to watch trains passing by in stations. The last one is something I did a lot when I was a child in my family town and it´s possible thanks to the timetable feature as you can pick the time of day you want and trains will be there as expected. If you visit a depot you can find trains shunting wagons (like in the latest blue lengends DLC). By the way, now the AI also uses horn while shunting in that DLC I noticed it yesterday while doing one of the shunter services as another shunter was doing a service as well next to me and it used horn before coupling to wagons. Cheers
I echo comments above, the TSW2 experience is not the same as say ZUSI which is very technical and great from that perspective. TSW is good chill out for me, can drive, can observe or can ride as a passenger. I think a lot of folks want more and more trains and no bugs at all nor errors which given the complexities of what is produced isnt realistic. It has a bit of ramdomness to it in that locos can sub for others and timetable mode is great to just drop in and out of the sim. I would like more randomness if at all possible so I think the signaller needs to be worked on for that (different routing/platforms) etc.
Variety is the spice of life, and simply adding dynamic weather or variable events of some sort would infinitely increase replayability imo. Especially the signaller and (lack of) being able to drive down every track hinders the natural flow of things, instead dictating the run the same way every single time. I do hope we get features to either diversify what exists currently, or create content to an extent that more caters to what we enjoy within the route. I love timetable mode and all, but many of the services are the exact same run in every aspect aside from the position of the sun, and that can make a 400 service timetable only enjoyable for maybe 30 or 40 drives.
2 things i want to share: 1: Altena Castle on RSN The first pic was taken by myself. Actually I saw this castle first in TSW and was like "Oh it is not too far away from me" - so I vistited it last year. And although the Ingame Screenshot is not the best (i might do a new one) - they've bulit it very well!! And thank you DTG for giving me the idea to see this castle in reality. A nice example of life imitating art, I would say Edit: When I took the pic, i was standing on the bridge you see in the screenshot. Lovely, isn't it? And 2nd: The BR 155. I bought it just 2 days ago in the sale and I love it (though the sound and physics seem a bit out of place.) Still a nice loco, awesome 3D-Model and the cab - especially when it is dark and you turn on the gauge lights - just a piece of art. Then I found out: You cannot just open the windows (like close to open) - there is a little side window you can open without opening the whole window. What a lovely detail. Continue with that high level, DTG and we are happy Or at least I am.
If you are stationary and a train rolls past in the next track, notice how your train rocks ever so slightly due to the earth compression under the passing train. A nice little bit of attention to detail.
I played one of the Rhein Ruhr scenarios yesterday and at one bridge crossing where there are two other bridges there was a train crossing on all three at same time. Couldn’t get a screen shot quick enough but it looked good.
Okay, this is awesome. In the Class 20 Chopper, exploring the cab pops up an interaction indicator, "Hotplate." If you click on it, the game sends a HUD message "WARNING: surface may be hot!"