https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2905241934 EDIT 14/04/24 V.2.0 released: North Kent Line Deptford to Swanscombe. New requirement: South Western Main Line. Updated Quick Drive will come later EDIT 19/02/23 V.1.1 released: Swanley to Sevenoaks completed. Eynsford, Shoreham, Otford and Bat & Ball added. WIP Southeastern Network: SEML, Mid-Kent Line and Bromley North Branch This is a work in progress route, in a close to finished state. A lot of effort has gone into to trying to make the route look as accurate as possible, but do not expect payware quality/perfection. This is an entirely freeware project, performed in my spare time. Please do not redistribute the route elsewhere in any way shape or form. Route description: This route adds The Southeastern Mainline from London Charing Cross and London Cannon Street to Tonbridge/Paddock Wood. It also includes The Mid-Kent Line to Hayes, and The Bromley North Branch from Grove Park to Bromley North. v.1.1 adds Swanley to Sevenoaks. This has been achieved by merging the new Chatham Mainline (excluding anything east of Faversham to improve stability), the northern part of the South London Network, the Medway Valley Line and parts of London to Faversham. The missing pieces of track and scenery has been added in between, and equates to about 38 miles worth of new track. The route has been worked on for two years and was initially just going to be The Bromley North Branch but has since expanded to encompass more than that. Track for parts of The North Kent Line is also included, although without scenery or signaling at this time. This will hopefully come at a later date. Track has been relayed in some places where the merges has had overlapping tiles. The setting of the route is between 2012 and 2022. This is due to the span of where references has been taken from, and the fact that the merged routes are set in different years. London Bridge is also in its old layout which complicates things a bit. Original post: Here is a summary of a project I've been working on for the last 18 months. I haven't posted anything about it the forums so far, but I thought it would be nice to share. The project initially started with the intention of making the Bromley North Branch to learn how to use the editor, but the scope increased from there to include the Southeastern Mainline. The project is still WIP. The route now consists of a merge between the "Chatham Mainline: London Victoria & London Blackfriars to Dover & Ramsgate" (+ the Medway valley) and parts of the "South London Network". I have added track and scenery in between, making it possible to drive all the way from Cannon Street through London Bridge to Orpington. That includes the addition of a budget version of London Cannon Street. Other stations added are St. Johns, Lewisham, Ladywell, Hither Green, Grove Park, Elmstead Woods, Sundridge Park and Bromley North. I have also layed track down to Hayes, but there is no scenery past Clock House, where the CML route ends. I want to be able to add finishing touches to the parts of the route I have built so far, as well as adding scenery to the Hayes Branch. Also on the wishlist is connecting Orpington/Swanley with Tonbridge through Sevenoaks. This might be far into the future, as it will be a time consuming task. Cannon Street to Orpington will probably be upload before then. I hope to upload the route to the steam workshop at some point, no timeframe. To run the route one would of course need to have all the requirements, which are all DTG routes. I am not sure whether I need to ask for permission first, so I will not upload anything until I am sure of this. Here are some screenshots of different spots along the route. Will probably post more later.
My favorite part has to be the amount of detail and density of vegetation, something that I feel is lacking on many routes. As for the uploading, I wouldn't worry about permissions since DTG allows their routes/assets to be used as DLC requirements, especially for the Steam Workshop.
Thank you. I try my best to add a varied feel to the vegetation, while also trying to match what I see on google maps and in cab ride videos.
This map doesn't show the whole route with merges etc, but the track marked in pink shows the track I have layed. All of it has scenery except 2/3s of the line to Hayes, and Blackheath/Lee. The pink lines aren't 100% accurate where it meets default routes, as this was made quite quickly.
The Mid Kent Line pretty much complete in terms of lineside scenery. That doesn't mean I'm ready to upload the route to the steam workshop just yet. I still have to do scenario tests to make sure that everything is working, and I'm also considering adding a "Budget Charing Cross " to the route to allow for more variety in services. The route size has become quite big, so a workshop release probably wouldn't include anything beyond either Rainham or Faversham. I said in the first post that the merge I had done included CML - Dover/Ramsgate, but one can instead do 2 part scenarios on my route and the original route if one intends to go from Cannon Street to Dover for example. Thus I can increase the stability of the route a bit. We will see what my next step will be, but I will say that I'm happy with what I've achieved!
Here's the addition of London Charing Cross to the route. With it part of the route now, I have to consider whether I want to rebuild London Bridge into its modern version or not. From experience with making scenarios London Bridge becomes very clogged due to not having as many through tracks as IRL. We'll see what I end up doing. It's not easy to come up with a simple solution to that problem!
Why may I ask are you so hellbent on uploading it to the Steam workshop? There are plenty of other avenues of sharing your work, I personally find the WS wholly unreliable, it's easy for your route to get lost in the abysmal search function, many people will not touch the WS because of potentially introducing oom errors to their otherwise working game. Not saying you can't upload it to Steam WS I just wondered if you considered other avenues like ATS, OTS, UKTS and the plethora of other reputable sites that would be happy to host your work. And as mentioned previously if it's only DTG released routes and assets used then you DO NOT need to gain any permissions wherever you choose to upload it, if you have used 3rd party assets then they usually always come with clear instruction on what can or can't be shared and how to go about integrating them or linking them into your project and of course what credits need to be given.
I definitely agree with Reef, the Workshop isn't worth it. It also means you can't add custom assets, such as signs and buildings, and these could be very valuable to the route. What you have done is amazing, far better than I have ever done, and custom scenery would seal the deal for me.
Some of the track included in the New CML that is used in the merge has track that Danny has added from previous projects as extras to it and is thus those pieces of track are not DTG's property, but I can use that track if it's just a workshop release, as long as credit is given. If I had custom assets without those pieces of track then an external site would have been an option, but I'm keeping it simple this time.
I have been busy in the last a couple of days, so I'm happy to see that people have been enjoying the the showcases in the meantime. Here's a few screenshot from one of my scenario-test
Here's a snippet of how the route is currently looking like. Added stations now includes London Charing Cross, London Cannon Street, Deptford, St. Johns, Lewisham, Blackheath, Hither Green, Lee, Grove Park, Elmstead Woods, Sundridge Park, Bromley North, Ladywell, Elmers End, Eden Park, West Wickham and Hayes. All these stations have scenery. The newest edition here is that I've built track from Orpington/Swanley to Tonbridge. This part is currently lacking signalling and scenery, this part most likely won't have either by the time I intend of uploading the first version of the route next month. This will all come at a later point, as I imagine it being a timeconsuming task.
That looks fantastic keep it up mate especially with Charing Cross and Canon Street you were able to pull them off without the need of custom station models.
Loving the look of this, always wanted to be able to replicate the run out of Charing Cross, across the Thames, Waterloo East and then London Bridge (and onwards), such a fascinating bit of railway and so busy too - if you do eventually get scenery to Tonbridge, then a full Hastings run will be possible - but look forward to the first part of the release, the screenshots and video have certainly interested me greatly.
This is great. Love that someone is working on this route! Danny's one to Sevenoaks was OK but unfinished. Obviously it would be nice to have proper custom models and everything, but then it would probably be a payware route. In the absence of that, I'd take this version any day. Nice track work and foliage especially. Great to have more routes to drive 465s on! One of my favourite units of all time.
i know that someone has done a route with a modern London Bridge and bermondsey dive. Perhaps could try getting in contact with him regards changing the london bridge section. Pretty sure its a route on ATS.
Thanks guys! I sadly think this isn't possible, as London Bridge is within the same tile as Cannon Street and half of the section between London Bridge and Waterloo East, which would mean I would have to rebuild those sections if I were to merge that London Bridge. Rebuilding London Bridge and bermonsey dive in the future is probably much more viable option.
Looking very very nice. Can't wait to play this. May I ask what other routes/assets would be requirements for this to work?
Chatham Mainline - Original, Medway Valley and the new one Portsmouth Direct Line - The new one London to Faversham South London Network
ah ok. Im not familiar with how pulling tiles from other routes work. I guess at the end of the day its whatever is easiest for you to do.
These screenshots make me really appreciate how nice the new 465 model is... (Bar the incorrect moquette of course)
My intention was to upload the first version of the route this week or the next, but after I realized I'm only missing 3 miles worth of scenery to Sevenoaks I have changed my mind. Sevenoaks makes more sense to terminate at than Knockholt. So, this means a couple of weeks longer until I upload the route. Here are some screenshots from the Northern portal of the Pothill Tunnel.
Ah, so we have to wait a little longer, not a problem in my eyes given the quality of what you are producing
Enjoying what I'm seeing here, keep up the good work. May just bring me back to train sim as not been on it for a good while haha. By all means release the 1st version when you're happy with it
Will you eventually fill in the bit Between Swanley and Sevenoaks via Otford? It would be brilliant for the Thameslink services from Blackfriars all the way down. Other than that tiny inquiry, absolutely outstanding work! (PS: Don't mind the inquiry actually, I know it's on your Wishlist)
I hope to and want to do it. It's all about time. After completing the section down to Tonbridge I'll evaluate what to do next.
I think that section between Swanley and Sevenoaks would be the best option to do next as it is only scenery work compared to other sections like London Bridge to Gravesend for example
The only problem is the lack of reference material for Swanley to Sevenoaks. The area lacks 3D view in google maps, and there is no cab ride video that I know of from it. So, it would not be up to the same sort of quality as other parts of the route I imagine. It's going to be either that section of some part of the North Kent Line after, we'll see.
I've shared this with another group (which was shared beforehand weeks back) but it could spring some assistance hopefully to get the Bat & Ball area done too. But loving the work and I cannot wait in the upcoming weeks to do some magic with the route
This is looking awesome. What performance do you get? I can imagine my PC struggling a bit with the scenery density here.
