Stats For Tharandter Rampe Now In Steamdb

First look at the BR612.
https://live.dovetailgames.com/live/train-sim-world/articles/article/tsw2-making-the-db-br-612-dmu

 

Well, with no new articles and no preview next week it seems like we will not see this route this year. I'm a bit sad about that, but at the same time I'm very happy that the route is not rushed to release and hopefully gets the time it needs to be good

 

Might want to wait 2 more hours at least just saying

 

https://twitter.com/tswleaks/status/1469281290138624003?s=21

 

2022.1.21

 

Still even with those leaks, and an article today (which would be unusually late, usually they're published by this point of the day), the lack of a preview stream in next weeks schedule makes me think we won't see it before DTG's holiday break.

 

I have to say, I’m kind of hyped for this DLC. Recently took a look at the route’s layout as well as its history and I was very impressed. Coupled with the introduction of the tilting BR 612 (arguably the first completely unique new German passenger driving experience since the release of the ICE 3M), this is shaping up to be a splendid addition to the game.
Just wondering what’s going on with the marketing campaign & release behind the scenes. The route stats and trophies have been on the steam database for quite a while now, we got an article on the seemingly finished & polished train, and some very official-looking screenshots were leaked today. All of that is clearly pointing to a release before the end of the year. Yet, there’s no trace of a route preview stream. Even if the route gets released in January (no problem, means it’ll be more polished!), I do hope we get some more articles and maybe even a stream this month!

 

I’m not sure why anyone would expect a new route less than ~ two months after Sherman Hill. Look for it either side of February 1.

 

Well, I remember that one reason for cutting the branches on Nahverkehr Dresden was that elsewise they won't release another german route this year. Seems like even with cutting the branches they don't succeed on this...

 

I beg your pardon? I'm sure you have not forgotten that we got the Meißen-branch after the initial route release? So following your argumentation it's 'legitimate' to not release a german route this december.

 

Also I don't remember anything about it being so there could be another German route, but to help with the quality of Dresden itself. There could also be a myriad of reasons as to why Chemnitz isn't coming this year, assuming it was originally meant to.

 

I'd say because of econimical reasons. Trying to get a bit of the huge christmas sales cake (and what could be better than a frech route release for it? We don't get sales anyway although I'm noticing I'm at the PC forum right now), LGV was released before christmas last year as well and since August we had a new route release every month.
And to be honest, DTG (and the game industry in general) has quite some history in releasing stuff quite early because quick cash is better than future cash...

 

Looking at DTG's historical release pattern, since they started releasing to all platforms on the same day, route releases have come pretty reliably in even-numbered months, or within a week of them:

Route | PC release | Console release, if different

SPG | 16 March 2017 | 20 August 2020
GWE | 14 Sept 2017 | 9 March 2018 (XB)/24 July 2018 (PS)
RT | 14 December 2017 |24 July 2018
NEC-NY | 20 March 2018 | 24 July 2018
WSR | 24 May 2018 |11 September 2018
TSW | 24 July 2018
RSN |16 August 2018 | 9 October 2018
LIRR | 20 November 2018 | 27 November 2018
NTP | 13 December 2018 | 15 January 2019
MSB | 21 February 2019 | 12 March 2019
TVL | 23 May 2019
TSW 2020 | 15 August 2019
SFSJ | 15 August 2019
RRO | 10 October 2019
ECW | 12 December 2019
OSD | 20 February 2020
HRR | 24 March 2020
TSW2 (incl. BKL, SKA) | 20 Aug 2020 (planned for June but delayed)
HMA | 22 October 2020
LGV | 17 December 2020
SHS | 4 February 2021
CRR | 8 April 2021
HBL | 13 May 2021
GCC | 10 June 2021
NEC-BP | 19 August 2021
DRA | 9 September 2021
BML | 7 October 2021
SHL | 25 November 2021
DCH | ?
MTN | ?

Nothing really breaks this pattern (if one keeps in mind that the three Rush Hour routes were supposed to release together in August), except for the anomalous release of Hamburg-Lubeck in mid-May. Perhaps Matt might chime in on why three routes came out in consecutive months last spring, but my best guess is simply that HBL was developed quite quickly and was deemed ready to go.

Keep in mind that last January, the DTG Pooh-Bahs gathered and chose this year's (presumably) six routes to develop, the first of them being NEC-BP. We have seen four of them and know what the fifth and sixth will be; if DTG were to release DCH within a month of Sherman Hill, that would leave them with only Metro North to tide them over until the first of next year's routes appear in late summer. One route in 6 or 8 months? Not likely. (Especially since I expect next year's summer bundle will be Spirit of Steam, and 3 steam routes could very, very easily get delayed).

 

Pictures popped up in the dev store yesterday so it won't be long.

 

I'm sure this has already been talked about, but I assume this route will be more winding and hilly like Ruhr Sieg Nord and Main Spessart Bahn? Besides those two routes, I find the other German routes in the game flat and dull long straights with not much variety between them.

 

Yes, in route layout (the amount of curves, gradients and max speeds and the frequency of max speed changes) it is pretty comparable to Ruhr Sieg Nord, which to me makes it really promising.

 

Yes of course.

Starting at Dresden, there are a few large, old industrial areas. Then the route winds through a valley, next to a river, which should look pretty scenic.
From Tharandt onwards, a steep gradient begins, which in the past could only be mastered with a pusher locomotive. A few bends later, a large industrial area (Muldenhütten) follows and then - about halfway - the old mining town of Freiberg. From there, it goes with many curves and bridges (low mountain range!) to Chemnitz. Shortly before Chemnitz there is an old abandoned shunting area (Chemnitz Hilbersdorf).
So the route should feel quite varied. It is part of a very old railway line with a lot of history (railway museums along the line, narrow-gauge railways, steam). Unfortunately, you don't see much of the many old, beautiful places. Freiberg, for example, has a beautiful old town (similar to Meißen), but you don't see much of that at the station.

In the past (GDR), there were gigantic and widely branched shunting areas and branch lines along the route, some of which had sidings right into the cities and directly to factories, because in the GDR, everything was largely done by rail. Unfortunately, not much of that is left.

I hope that the route feels "complete" and gives the feeling of "travelling" because it connects two larger cities and does not end / begin somewhere in the wilderness.

 

Ok, that's good to hear!

 

For everyone who is interested, here is a quite long wikipedia entry:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden–Werdau_railway

By the way: at this route is a station with a village called „Frankenstein“…

 

TSW2 Was planned to be released the 6th of august but delayed to the 20th

 

Hoping we’ll get a bit of AI action at Chemnitz Hbf. Looked up a few images of it and definitely saw some locos that are already in the game. Other than that, the station itself seems to have a fairly unique configuration. Some tracks end there while others continue to the south, and there’s a giant disused yard (including a museum) to the north.

I think it’s a bit sad that not many people are talking about this DLC even though it seems to be quite anticipated, with everyone welcoming a unique German route and train after 1.5 years of big city 1 -> mainline -> big city 2 with often re-used locos (which does not take away from the great quality many of these routes have had, but it’s nice to finally mix up things a bit). This thread right here seems to be the only somewhat active topic on the DLC, which is a shame.

There’s so much to learn and discuss! The route is very historic, with lots of unique towns, buildings, bridges and so on along the way. Due to its high gradients and tight curves optimized for tilting trains, many locos traverse it during their development and testing process, which surely opens up tons of opportunities for unique services in the timetable. For example, here’s a German website/forum with lots of pictures of testing along the route: https://bimmelbahn-forum.de/forum/i...elle-testkandidaten-auf-der-tharandter-rampe/

 

I think we'll see more discussion when they officially release the screenshots.

 

Thank you for the interesting link. I didn't even know that the route serves as a "test track". I've never seen such trains pass through in Freiberg - I probably always look out of the window at the wrong moment.

 

The trains were ÖBB1216 DB BR183 neu BR462 DB BR1440 and if DTG has Veolia Transdev license BR1440 will get Tharandter Rampe destinations Riesa Chemnitz & RRO

 

Just wondering how will the freight services be handled for this route or will there be none (at start at least)? I know we have a couple of diesel shunters now, but the only "proper" freight diesel locomotive is the upcoming Ludmilla, and that seems to be a while away yet.

 

Good question. For DTG/Rivet Games they can make DB BR204 fit here because it's a Deutsche Reichsbahn DDR Shunter that originally worked the Tharandter Rampe local shunting freight services pre German Reunification. In the DDR era, DB BR204 DR V100 do local shunting & Mainline job while DR BR 132 all network freight/intercity if electrified DR BR250 & 243 do that job. On the other side of the Inner German Border, DB BR363s do that Job in game theory.

 

The section of line we get is fully electrified, so there could be a freight layer from Dresden-Riesa for example. We know the G6 gets a layer, so that could do the last mile diesel only shunting

 

I wouldn't expect this too soon. I'd envisage all the horseshoe curve stuff is being finalised in terms of promo etc to land first

 

The BR204 (V100) was even used for small passenger trains, e.g. the branch line from Freiberg to Holzhau (i still know the route from my childhood - as a small boy I always thought we were traveling extremely far away, but the train was just so slow that it took forever to get to Holzhau).

Right now, I don't think there's much freight traffic on this line - quite the opposite of what there used to be. As a child, I was used to hearing the shunting traffic at night, so when it was quiet sometimes, I couldn't sleep. In Freiberg, there was another large freight yard (east station) and shunting areas - that was all torn down and deconstructed in the last 10-20 years.

Some time ago, however, a wood depot was erected besides the track in Freiberg and since then there is always a little loading / unloading and shunting going on there. You could certainly recreate that in the game. But there won't be much more. I think there are still a few industrial areas that have their own operating branch lines (Pyral?). Very rarely, a few freight cars are pushed in or out there. DTG certainly won't recreate every one of these small branches, but somewhere these freight cars will surely be collected or separated, so there must be some freight traffic. But that's more in the ballpark of "one train a day" than "one train an hour."

 

Horseshoe is a Skyhook Route, so that has no meaning for the Dresden-Chemnitz Release. If we're lucky, both could be released almost at the same Time

 

The V 100/BR 204 was built as a dual-purpose loco, so it could go in pulling light freight. Of course, we could also wish upon a star for a V 160/BR218........

 

As far as I know the 218 is on TSG's person wish list as well

 

Well, let’s hope we’ll get some news on the route in tomorrow’s roadmap and the accompanying stream!

Edit: Just realized it’s already “today” for me since I’m posting this at 2AM. Hope I didn’t confuse anyone!

 

Thanks for telling me about this and did you actually live alongside the Tharandter Rampe Dresden Chemnitz route during the German Democratic Republic era. In those times Tharandter Rampe Dresden Karl Marx Stadt

 

I agree and if DTG wanted a retro locomotive for Tharandter Rampe bring in V160 DB BR218 Deutsche Reichsbahn DDR answer DR BR119 DB BR229 made in Romania or DR BR118

 

Yes, I live here in Freiberg since the 80s, 250 meters next to the train station. The track has always played a big role in my life. In the GDR, we used the train very often to get from Freiberg to Dresden or Chemnitz. Even as a small child, I knew all the stations in order by heart.
Today, the route still sort of determines the cityscape of Freiberg (it leads basically through the middle of the city), every walk inevitably leads somewhere along or past the route. One of the bridges over the state road is so low that every truck has to drive through in the middle of the street and this causes chaos every time. And everywhere you can still find the remains of old railroad crossings or branch lines. We are in fact surrounded by railroad history.

As I am a hobby photographer, I have collected many pictures of places along the route over the years (not of the route itself but of the surroundings). I'm currently thinking about making a kind of slideshow of some of my pictures for trainsimmers who are interested. So that one could get a "sense" for the route. Maybe I have some time over Christmas.

 

So in today's roadmap, the route's now in Upcoming. I think, therefore, it's reasonable to assume we'll get screenshots in the next couple of weeks, for release in January.

 

No big news on the route in the roadmap stream! Since it has moved into upcoming and there will be a few Railfan TV streams next week, there’s still a realistic possibility of a preview before Christmas.

 

So, there's no parts where the ingame route isn't electrified (excluding sidings and such)? I assumed at least part of it wasn't, hence the DMU. But I guess then there's no problem with having at least some freight services then if you can use all the electric freight locos.

 

I'm pretty sure there will be a Frieght Layer. Matt has already confirmed in the G6 Stream that the G6 has a Layer on this Route. So if we don't just push Dostos back and forth, it makes no sense to me to have a Shunter layer but no Freight

 

The whole main line is electrified, yes. There are some branch lines in reality and those are not electrified, but the main line is. The DMUs were only necessary from about another 45min down the line behind Chemnitz, that is where the electrification ended back then.

 

I'm really excited. There are a lot of possibilities for shunting. Dresden-Alstadt Dostos. Freital and Freiberg freight. Chemnitz both. It depends on how detailed are sidings and how long are branch lines

 

I hope they don't screw it up. I'm a bit worried about the route building in the first place. If one knows almost every tree and every fence, one might be disappointed if it is too generic and fictitious. On the other hand, they built Dresden-Riesa with sufficient accuracy - so hopefully they'll get it right here too.

 

It's often been said whenever you get your local route in a sim, it'll always be the worst map in your eyes, as you'll see every inaccuracy. Hopefully it'll be as well-built as Riesa-Dresden.

 

I'm "nearly-local" to Riesa-Dresden and while yes, there are areas that could've been done with a bit more love from my subjective standpoint, overall I'd say the route is definitely among the better ones, surely gets the feeling right.

 

That would be enough, as long as the „look & feel“ is ok, I‘m fine.

 

Hopefully, I hope it uses the BRD lighting! But I won't be surprised though if it does not include any of BRD's features such as: upgraded track, new realistic OHLE.

 

That I think hits the nail on the head. DTG, when casting about for a route for its first German road diesel, had to find one where a) diesels have run historically, but b) would not exclude the installed base of electric locos. DB ran the 612s here because they were making the run to Nürnberg, not all of which was electrified.

 

What I would like to know, before the Route was put on the Roadmap, Sam said something like, "We don't know how far we want to build the Route". Does Dresden-Chemnitz now have the Part that he meant or not

 

I've recently discovered that in the recent update that came overnight, it also added support for what I believe is going to be Tharandter Rampe, even though it's probably not coming until next year now, probably as the first TSW2 add-on of 2022 (It's depot ID I believe will be 1664953).

Steamdb: https://steamdb.info/depot/1664953/

I bring this up because the size of this add-on appear the be largest of any TSW2 add-on so far at 6.67 GiB, with it's download size being just behind that at 6.50 GiB. For reference, the previous largest TSW2 was, funnily enough, Riesa-Dresden at 6.62 GiB with a 6.37 GiB download size.

This does leave a question mark as to what in this route to warrant a 6.50 GiB download size.

• Is it because this is a very asset heavy route that has lots of scenery in parts?
• Is it because this route has branches that we don't know off yet?
• Is there something about the available loco/rolling stock that we don't know of yet?

I'll let you decide for yourselves on that matter.