Time To Speculate On The New Uk Route

My guess is it'll be early 1950s, when diesel and electric locos and trains were generally in their prototyping/trialing/experimentationing phase.

 

I'm not so sure. Currently there are no early-50s diesels in the game except the Gronk, which wouldn't be all that thrilling a second loco.

 

What If spirit of steams released as a heritage only line negating time periods? I don’t think that’s impossible as first route with the scenarios being around learning how the beast works on a smaller scale?

(That said , it wouldn’t be the Big Bang of a longer route)

I’m still hopen we get a lot more smoke (but think that risks being like Sherman’s grass)

 

[XBD-E6 01] Expansion Pack
What is that expansion route, they haven't said anything about that?

 

It’s new features on koln, a new livery on bakerloo and something else, basically a big game play pack

 

They mentioned it in the last road map stream. It's an add on for the 3 core routes. Basically one piece of extra stock for klon - achen and sand patch. Also a special livery for the 72 stock and some more services.

 

Do you think it worth it to get?

 

I am going to wait and see, i really enjoy the routes so I might, it just depends on the price.

 

Matt has said that the steam routes will be vintage, not heritage or railtour.

 

I think you have to enjoy the routes. I think I'm a bit of a sucker for just buying new ones. I've completed journey modes on some but I have zero inclination to complete 1400 Brighton services for example (though I do love the volume) .

I can't recall if sandpatch is just a reskin if I heard correct to the silver CSX scheme and the baker loo is a silver/red imaginary one to celebrate 50 years of something.

 

How about SOS being WCML over Shap, Duchess, Black Five and the LMS diesel 10001? Big chunky boogah that, though doubt there’s any sound references for it. Would be spending most of my time driving that, not the kettles!

 

Basically there is a reskin and some new services for each of the base-game routes.

• Bakerloo gets a train in the original 1972 silver with red doors, "as if" LU did a heritage livery to commemorate the train's 50th anniversary
• Sand Patch gets a throwback "gray ghost" or "stealth" livery from the 1980s
• Köln-Aachen does a bit better: it gets a proper 423 Köln S-Bahn, replacing the inaccurate 422s we have had up until now. This is an external reskin of the HMA 423 in KSB livery; however the interior hasn't been changed from the München version

 

Thanks for the info. I'm on the fence with this one tbh. Depends on price and exact details on added services.

 

Likewise I'm on the fence.
Reskins don't do much for me as I spend most of my time in cab

 

I doubt with all the hype over steam & the new route it will be heritage & limited to 25mph! They will want the full potential power of the loco to be used for max enjoyment.

 

I am sure it was intimated it would be a more historic route. I will certainly be disappointed if it is a preserved route, whilst I love them in real life I find most of them not partiticurly rewarding to drive on a train simulator.

I would love to see a proper "light railway" produced though.

 

Bideford to Westward Ho!

 

We do know it's not a huge steam loco as their first one. I'm expecting a Thomas the tank engine sized one as the first foray into it all

 

I wouldn't mind a 2-6-4T either LMS or BR Standard. I always eyed the old Wrenn version...

but could never afford one in my younger days and now they go for over £100 secondhand!

 

Ah okay, I didn't know that. I had a suspicion it would be a Stanier 5mt and something vaguely mainline with some mark 1's and wagons, a bit like the Western Lines of Scotland for TS1 but not that long. Or Riviera in the 50's but with less stock.

Likely a Pannier tank or similar then with probably a branch line, which would be nice.

However, I hope we don't get chocolate and cream mark 1's (a la the TS1 Falmouth Branch) with it, which would be wholly unrepresentative of a Western region branch passenger train.

 

When did they say that?

I was thinking possibly Bath - Templecombe (with Black 5 and green or maroon mk1s, not sure which would be most appropriate), since that's a somewhat legendry route of TS1 that's been there pretty much since the start - They've already done (part of) Oxford-Paddington; the first UK route, and Hagen-Siegen; the second German route.

 

Yes I was thinking Bath to Templecombe was strong possibility. The S & D is certainly on the list of legendary British rail routes and is still much modelled and researched today.

To be honest if they recreated the original Rail Simulator package with the 7F and prefereably a mark 1 brake coach rather than a BG, I wouldn't be complaning, or even sans the 7F.

I think a green, maroon or crimson and cream mark 1 would be okay, some Bullied or Maunsell carriages would be better but I would accept mark 1's for that route.

 

Yeah, with the new route code info, I'm guessing either the S&D or the Riviera Line, both of which have already been researched for TS (and keep in mind how difficult historical research is in the constantly changing world of railway infrastructure) and both of which would form a very good introduction to steam. The Riviera line has my preference (due to me also making a suggestion for it and me just very much liking GWR designs), but I would definetely be excited for the S&D too, as I have childhood memories of playing that one on TS.

But, anyhow, my bets would be on S&D or Riviera line in the fifties.

 

Who knows, they may surprise us. I'd certainly like to see this line in the early 50s, shortly before the end of passenger trains (which was in January 1952): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York,_Newcastle_and_Berwick_Railway#Hartlepool_Dock_&_Railway

Totally not because I can see the old alignment from my window.

 

Either for me would be great, but likewise I would plump for the Riviera in the 50's, it is still one of my favourite TS1 routes. I love recreating those summer Saturdays when there were a procession of expresses from all over passing along the sea wall, often queing up at the signals.

I wonder what would ship with it, the TS1 route had four 4-6-0's and a Pannier? For me a Hall or Grange, definately a Castle and a large or small Prairie would be the best choices. You could have a 14xx and Autocoach for DLC for the Brixham branch. In fact there would be lots of scope for DLC. A class 41 Warship pack would be great too.

 

With TSW's ability to have working mineral loaders, something like that would be very interesting. I wonder what engines ran the passenger trains on it, probably an ex NER G5 or A8 as a guess. Something different would be very interesting, however I suspect the first effort will be something more well known.

There are endless possibilities if there is a will and obviously an interest from customers.

 

I did research it, and I think it was generally V1s, V3s or the tank pacifics on the Sunderland - Hartlepool services, J27s (or J72s, whichever is the tank version) ont he Sunderland - Pittington services, J94s for shunting and I think just whatever they had in the shed on freight.

It could be quite a challenging drive particularly on freight with the steep grades at Seaton (1:44) and Hesleden (1:50), and of course there were some massive yards for shunting potential.

EDIT:
https://www.brdatabase.info/sites.php?page=depots&subpage=snap&id=531
https://www.brdatabase.info/sites.php?page=depots&subpage=snap&id=592

OK, so maybe not V1/3s, although they did run in the area

 

I had forgotten about the V1/V3, I am hoping for one in TS1 eventually.

The J72 were the tank engine version, it would be a nice package with one of the those and a passenger tank. The Raven A8's were huge looking things, would look awesome in the TSW.

The J27 would have been a likely candidate for freight or probably something like a Q6.

 

Same, I don't think there's any LNER/LMS large tanks in TS1 (probably because they were all sent to the scrapheap).

EDIT:
For context of the locos we're on about:
A8

J27

J72

J94

V1/3 (no major visual difference, the V3 is just a higher powered version)

Q6

 

Would love to see a Pennsylvanian T3, but would settle for a reworking of the Falmouth branch.
A gem of a TS route.

 

Meshtools were making a Stanier 4mt, it got as far as getting a DTG article published, but it never appeared.

Caledonian works have a couple of large LNER tanks on their roadmap, one is the forerunner to the A8 I think, also a Fowler or Fairburn LMS 4mt as well I think. They have made the ex GCR A5 which was a passenger tank, a couple were allocated to Darlington so they can feature on the Weardale route until if/when a A8 appears.

 

So is this route code related to its traction in the route dlc pack, or does it close out everything could potentially run with diesels?

Example:
A route based in the 1965 gets released with 2 steam engines. But a diesel loco dlc would still match the time periode for the route and could be released.

 

The Falmouth branch would be a good route to start off with as there are plenty of freight possibilities with the docks. It has some quite steep gradients so can be a challenging drive. But if they do, please no chocolate and cream mark 1's!

 

The codes are.... approximate. For example, Chemnitz is coded DBB, which should mean overhead electrics only, but we know it's coming with a diesel as well. Should have been DDB or DBD

 

I think (assume) it is just the actual pack not anything which might follow. I would imagine if set in 1965 then they wouldn't rule out diesels being added as DLC.

I know it was only an example but personally I would like to see something from the mid to late 50's when there was still a lot more pride in maintaining the steam engines, by 1965 steam was run down and not looking it's best. Certainly for the first iteration of steam in the sim anyway.

 

Agree. For me a steam only route is nice yes, but to intoduce spirit of steam while we have different classis br diesels, a transition era would make more sense. (Also from the business aspect).

 

Of course, then potential layering excludes everything in Blue, and we are left with the 33, 47 and 09.

 

That is such a beautiful loco.

It would be great to see Caledonian works make loco's for TSW, as this is the sort of loco they specilise in, the not so obvious classes.

 

They would need some fairly small tweaks to make them suitable for the period, even in their green livery. The 09 might be okay unaltered.

Although considering the ridiculous layers added to the West Cornwall Route maybe anything goes!

 

The solution would be adding the br green livery with the steam route. People own the cl.31 or cl.20 addon, get the loco with services snd the new br.green livery in the steam route.

So the one only buy the steam routes have the additional br green liveries , but only unlocked by owning the actual loco dlc / route.

In fact dtg should add a pack with all br green liveries to those steam routes, started from the cl08 up to cl.47. So its there for people want to run their classic diesels in the 60s.

 

I think they were added simply through desperation, in fact IIRC it was DTG that added them because people were moaning there were no intercity trains, and a few people said they'd rather have wrong era stock than no ICs (similarly why we have 375s on North Kent services).

 

A week or so before Christmas I'm sure Matt said a steam loco was nowhere near ready and was simply a box with wheels that was powered by steam.
It took them 6 months longer than anticipated to get simugraph to simulate steam properly.

 

So that means the only uk route might come "before the harlem line" is from another dev than dtg.

 

I can understand that and I know the sim is never going to be 100% accurate but that was a fudge too far and stopped me purchasing the route. I don't think the formations themselves are even realistic let alone suitable for turning up in 1990's Cornwall.

I suppose they were caught between a rock and a hard place, the layering system has many benefits, however, in the case of WCL it doesn't really work, not if you want to retain some semblance of realism.

I understand they are looking into the layering system, hopefully they will find a solution quickly so we can choose which layers we want.

 

Let's just hope whoever is doing the consist editing understands loco hauled trains in the UK need a guard's brake vehicle of some description. I would also hope the opportunity is being taken to include some catering vehicles and even sleeping cars if possible.

 

I reckon it will be a route involving the class 98

 

I certainly hope so too.

 

I have some photos taken by my parents of them in 1978 painted BR blue, we were on holiday at Devils Bridge. I don't think it looked to bad on them.

It would be a bit niche but I suppose you couldn't rule V of R out as a possibility.

Personally I would rather that isn't the first steam route although I would definately purchase it.

 

Hmm, having a bit of a neb through my 60s SR timetable, may not be Bath-Templecombe, unless they split the services (probably at Evercreech Junction).
All the passenger services take over an hour, the stopping ones are getting on for 100 minutes for a 37-mile route. The singular express service takes 80 minutes. It's another 80-100 minutes to complete the other 34 miles to Bournemouth.

 

The service was run down by the 60's, most expresses including the famout Pines Express got diverted. As far as I know they didn't split any services at Evercreech. There was a reversal required to get in or out of Templecombe Upper. But yes it would be quite a long journey even just from Bath to Evercreech, the S & D was often (unfairly) nicknamed the slow and dirty, probably by the Western region for whom it was a thorn in their side. When they finally took it over they got their revenge by closing it, with help from Beeching of course but I can't imagine they argued to much in favour of keeping it!