I went into Clinchfield with the intent of just playing a journey chapter or two as a break from Ghost of Tsushima. Instead, I got completely hooked and ended up playing straight through all six journeys. Especially, the long, multi-part "stories" that involved doing pretty much every type of task in the freight playbook were an absolute blast. If a New Journeys type pack containing more of these were released for Clinchfield (or any of the other U.S. freight routes), I'd buy it in a second. I think my favorite part was the logic puzzle aspect and being forced to think outside the box. Just keeping track of whether I was moving forward or in reverse became head-bending sometimes, because that had nothing to do with where the locos were in relation to the consist I was pushing/pulling, as I would normally think. And then you have ridiculous configurations like driving a 40-car train with locos in the center, 20 cars on each end, and the caboose leading the way, because that's just how things ended up. Very entertaining stuff. And speaking of the humble caboose, I soon came to appreciate why the railroads wanted to do away with it, as lovable as it is. The numerous extra moves (and thus time and fuel) required just to get it out of the way and end up with it back on the end of the train were considerable. So to those who worked on Clinchfield, take a bow. I had a great time.
Totally, agree, Ive said it before and I'll say it again. Clinchfield Journey mode should be the template journey mode for ALL DLC, do a full service shift pattern run. It could and should have been done in London Commuter and Boston Sprinter to name but 2. Indeed any route where you can run a full service, journey mode should be reflecting the full shift pattern running up and down the line.
Clinchfield ticks so many boxes in my book that I like, that it makes me happy to hear that such shunting services exist. I didn't came around playing them yet, but reading this makes me want to try them tomorrow evening myself. And a New Journeys DLC for american routes would be amazing, we already have the MP15 in PC, I'd love that to be reskinned / updated and used for shunting on the routes like SH, SPG and the newly released HSC.
I stopped paying Clinchfield at night ... has there been some improvement or workarounds for the absolute darkness?
From your keyboard to God's eyes.... Unfortunately, this is probably true to life. While the moon and stars can be surprisingly bright when out in the middle of nowhere, the lack of moonlight can also be surprisingly dark. There were some brighter journey segments along with the dark ones, though for no reason I could see. One even suddenly brightened up while I was driving--moon coming around the mountain, maybe? With that said, I was able to do everything even when the darkness became challenging (my one attempted 10 mph coupling notwithstanding, but that was more me losing focus because it was late). The HUD and on-screen markers are a big help there.
In several of the darkest, I had to get down and walk back, with flashlight on, to see what was happening.
Thank you, I'll come back to my unfinished business in Clinchfield and don't try to avoid my night shift duty anymore
It really is a fantastic route. Really hoping we get a loco DLC someday. I'd def pay for a GP7 with a bunch of yard switching services.
Even this one could use some little tweaks, but yes, it was overall probably the best journey mode. It is sad that Clinchfield has many times been mentioned as an underselling route. Probably limits the possibility of this template ever being repeated.
Unfortunately, this also limits the possibility of DLC specific to this route or a modern day CSX timetable. I would be all over seeing either as purchase options!
Threads like these might help. If it turns out not many people bought the route, but all of them want extra stuff to do on it, things might turn in our favor I would love to see more locos on the route (my personal favorite would be the Haysi F7, which would be A LOT of new gameplay).
Gotta love the Haysi F7 Source Talk about thinking outside the box, converting an F7B to a RCL switcher.
Clinchfield was a good route, but could of been so much more...... The lack of any Loco DLC to date. Plenty of locos to choose from to add to various parts of the route. -SD45-2, U36C for more variety of mainline freight (And new period accurate stock) -GP7, GP38 for local freight duties. -SW7, NW2 for yard switching. The lack of the additional paints for the F7's and SD40's, you can't tell me DTG can't easily throw the Black Paint for the F7a, or the Grey and Yellow Paint for the SD40. The possibility of other roadnames for boxcars, now this is a bit of a stretch, but adding other roadnames that fall under the CSX license would of been a big boost for the route, even though it adds nothing gameplay wise....
hits nail squarely on head. All those tipples and a yard with no way to utilize them for any sort of operation.
Well, HRR No 1 only ever operated up the Greenbriar spur (in the yard, not as line power) and would never have been on the Nora.
