Manchester - Glossop & Hadfield Announced

In all my years here, I can't recall a time when the suggestions thread has had even a mention of this line? Yes there have been for Woodhead and associated DC traction but never this.
Got to admit, I was hoping for something less vanilla but how less vanilla can you get!
If you wanted a short route out of Manchester then surely as you already have Victoria modelled, 3rd rail to Bury would have been viable.

 

What’s disappointing about it?

 

At this rate, the next US DLC would be -

TSW3 : Bayside Canadian Railway

Spoiler: For those who don't know

It's a 70m long piece of railway track & some utility rolling stock, operated to bypass some wired laws.

 

So the route will be £20

 

At one point i have to defend DTG, the community asked for more routes outside london and we certainly got them. If this will be a high quality route and real ending points, then i can also enjoy even a short route like this.

Also to mention just from the rolling stock side, the 323 is a very high quality EMU.

But my overall complain is the lack of quality in basicly most tsw3 releases (3rd party included). What a punsh in the face when the TSC counter part of a route has not just more mileage, but also more details scenerywise (and more accuracy on top). What the hell is going on in DTGs house?

 

Now we know it is £20 it doesn't sound so bad, it could be a nice route of contrasts scenery wise and the 323 is one of the best trains in the sim.

Hopefully this will be followed by a summer route which will seem rather more impressive.

 

If there will be a lot of traffic or some other "specials", I wouldn't lay much weight into the shortness of the route. For instance, I like the Isle of Wight-route, as well as the Niddertalbahn (great scenery and scenarios) or Bremen-Oldenburg (many different vehicles and services) , although they are quite short.

 

Up until now i have bought every modern-era UK dlc, but i think this is where it stops for me now.

the idea of having Northern Rail routes in TSW is such a positive, but of literally all the routes that could have been chosen for this, they have chosen not only such a short route, but one with almost no variety in calling patterns, with almost all services calling at all stations.

i love modern-era UK dlc, but this is genuinely underwhelming, which is such a shame but it is what it is.. i'm not usually negative about these things but it can't justify continuing to purchase dlc anymore, this route will get very old very quick with such a predictable service pattern and short route

There were so many other Northern opportunities, including more interesting routes out of Sheffield for example, but ultimately that's just my opinion

 

£20.00 is the top end of what I think is an acceptable price point and as along as the route is of good quality then it will find a home in my collection.

 

yup

 

This is a filler route, which is going to cost £19.99 and basically gets a modern day Manchester Picadilly into the game. Adding to Glasgow (both stations), Edinburgh, Birmingham New Street, Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, multiple London termini and the basic message is to join the dots...

The summer bundle will be interesting.

 

Hmm.

 

I'm going to look on the positive side and hope that this, although quite short and boring route, will open up other opportunities, particularly concerning Manchester Piccadilly as it is the main station serving the city and therefore will open up other, longer routes in the future.
Then again, considering their track record lately (pun intended), probably not.

 

At £20 I think I could see myself picking this up - if the quality level is there. Sincerely hope there's a more ambitious route in the planning that utilises Piccadilly though!

 

Modern ntp maybe

 

Also forgive me if this sounds negative.. but there's always so much talk after almost every uk new route announcement about future add-ons, route extensions etc.. not only do we not even have this route yet but so far we have never had route extensions (SEHS excluded).. i never understand why there's always so much talk about one route being a foundation of another route.. the same was said about glasgow central, birmingham new street etc, i personally never expect a route to be a building block for another route, as ultimately that has never happened so far

This is why i always hope for interesting dlc at launch, as the likelihood of future extensions etc are very remote

 

It did occur to me that developing this route is a way to get Piccadilly into the game. I would certainly consider it if it was priced at £20, and somewhere else to drive the 323 would be welcome. I just really hope that there is a plan for all of these stations. Adding in something like Birmingham to Derby with a Class 170, and then maybe something like WCML Trent Valley with a 350, new 66 livery and a Pendolino as a loco DLC and that's a good start for both WCML and XC services. Then, I dunno, Crewe to New Street with a Voyager? Something similar for the other major stations would get UK content into a similar position to Germany. That or something similar has got to be years of work though. I hope DTG are thinking big .

 

I think we have to be slightly careful in criticising big, empty termini too much. If we want trains which complete their full journey and we don’t want ‘nowhere to nowhere’, then we need big termini, and until the route and traction structure builds up, that’s usually going to mean a big station with only this one route running into it. If DTG include AI 323s to Crewe, Stoke and Deansgate and 158s to Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester Airport, running into and out of Manchester Piccadilly, it could look quite busy.

I think having another route with the 323 on it is a sensible move, as it’s a well made train. Man Picc to Glossop/Hadfield is a very attractive route towards its eastern end, so there’s scope here for some impressive scenery (including the spectacular Dinting viaduct). At the Western end, the route is complex and interesting, with various junctions, yards and stations. Another positive - for me - is that it’s a route where you can drive the full length of the train’s route (and back, if you wish) as a real Driver would.

There’s no coupling or splitting, and every train is the same formation (3-car 323 - the platforms at some stations are not long enough for 6-cars). There is some small variation in stopping patterns at the Eastern end of the route (Gorton and Ardwick have some trains calling, but not all). Also while the standard route is Man Picc - Glossop - Hadfield - Glossop - Man Picc, at peak times some trains go Man Picc - Hadfield - Glossop - Man Picc or Man Picc - Glossop - Hadfield - Man Picc. This means you get to use the North side of the triangular station at Dinting. Other than that, though, variety is a bit limited.

I can’t think of any freight you could run on the line. 158s run Man Picc to Stalybridge on this route as far as Guide Bridge, but they don’t call at Guide Bridge, so you couldn’t drive them (perhaps they could be on in as AI). If DTG wanted a very small route extension which would add variety, adding the Guide Bridge to Stalybridge section would enable these services to be drivable.

My overall feeling is that it’s in some ways an interesting route - if a little similar to Cross City. The fact it’s short doesn’t particularly bother me as the journey time is reasonable. It could have been a truly fascinating route set in an earlier era, but as a modern route I’ll probably struggle to justify £30 for it. Probably one for a sale, unless some particular unique feature - such as randomised signalling delays - is announced.

 

Well consider away, price is confirmed as £19.99

 

Seems fair. I’ll buy it at that. An interesting change of approach.

 

It is £20

 

As Matt says on the stream, length isn't everything. Sometimes a short route is nice as well. And hey, it's only 20 Quid!

 

I'm pretty easily pleased when it comes to DLC, but even I'm like, huh?, really?

 

Germany got KWG, America got NYT and an updated boston sprinter, and we can’t even get an ECML south, where dtg already has most of the trains. They didn’t even have to make it in the modern era, i would have taken a 1980s-1990s ecml but oh no that’s too much to ask for, and the thing is if we got an ECML south we would have finally gotten a busy london terminal, but here we are with a 12 mile route and one reused locomotive, DTG have quite literally gone against their LAMP algorithm as this route is not anywhere as close to popular as say an ECML or even a WCML. How long are DTG going to keep ignoring the elephant in the room. UK fans have been crying for a well done mainline since BML came out and still yet we don’t get it. Honestly feels like DTG isn’t really trying to acknowledge it, even though hundreds if not thousands of suggestions have been made across the forums, the discord, the YT channels, Twitter, facebook and etc. it just feels unfair, and i can almost guarantee this route will not work well at all, this is not fair on uk railfans honestly

 

How can you almost guarantee that this route will not work well at all? Do you think this is the last UK route DLC by DTG this year. There may well be something bigger round the corner, maybe a larger summer release? I was disappointed at first but at £20 I think it is good value and at least it is a complete route.

 

Also adding Northern , this may be a short route but they've definitely been listening to a lot of people, so part of lamp has been ticked off.
.....
After seeing that this route is gonna be £20, I'd say that's a decent price for a route of this length.

 

i’m going off the past honestly, we say this about every route but my optimism about new routes has dwindled

 

we had the northern license (fair enough) but couldn’t it have been used a bit better, i wouldn’t have complained if we got say Hazel Grove - Blackpool via bolton (about shy of 50ish miles) and we got a 319, that would have been a very good release IMO

 

yep definitely

 

there’s so many good AC northern routes, honestly it just feels like a bad choice, OR we could have gotten the woodhead line (backdated) from sheffield to manchester

 

Agreed.
Personally, the northern ac route I would've loved is the airedale and wharfedale lines

 

I wonder what user poll led to this choice ...

 

TSW is starting to look like a TSC that has been put on a crash diet but the diet food is that super expensive yuppy stuff you get delivered to the door. Personally I'd rather have less dlc but much longer and more detailed routes with 2 types of rolling stock minimum bringing the whole thing to life. Driving the one train on a short route just sends me back in wonderment to TSC where I can drive virtually everywhere these days and routes were so long you have to divide them up into 3 chunks! If DTG plan to break up all the TSC routes into little bite size chunks - a. I'll be 6' under and b. I'll have to remortgage the house.

 

It wouldn't have been my first choice at £30 but for £20 I think it is okay. If done well it should be a nice route.

I would rather they had recreated one of the TSC versions though.

 

Least yea all forget RG did the short route thing several times already,so shorter routes are not new.Beside not ever route needs to be 100 miles+ long.This game just doesn't cater to those who want the longer routes,they want those who don't have the same amount of free time to have a fulfilingly positive time and experience as well.Plus a route that cost less isn't bad either.

 

I'm of the same mindset but it's got to be good quality. I'm not expecting Niddertalbahn standards as I think that would be unreasonable and unrealistic but it's got to be of a higher standard then recent releases straight out of the gate.

 

I wonder if the sudden price announcement is in response to the raised eyebrows in multiple threads! I suppose if there's a pre order discount it will be £18 and of course by Christmas it will be either £12 or £10 in the big Steam sale, at least for PC users.

It still doesn't seem to be a very ambitious undertaking and while it is a tad more tempting this does feel like something that was cobbled together to fill a gap.

 

Plus with scenario planner one could put other trains that would fit of course on this route so the 323 not the only option.

Plus this is a less expensive way to get the 323.It like a loco add on with a free route.

Not to mention there has been a lot of grumbling about how most of the newer routes are over priced for what your getting(perhaps so).But heres a route that not long(13miles) but it's also less expensive,i have been critical of dtg about many things,but when they do something like this it's worth considering before poo pooing.

 

I very much doubt that the pricing was changed in such a short period of time especially as the commercial team no doubt finish at 5pm or 5:30pm at the latest.

They may have brought forward the announcement, but again getting authorisation to do so in such a short period of time would be unusual.

Is odd that the price wasnt mentioned in the original article however.

 

I do like shorter routes, particularly when they offer complete end-to-end drives when you don't have a lot of time to spare, but I also want another ambitious UK route like the Brighton Main Line, something to push the known limits of what we can expect from TSW.

To be totally honest, this route announcement is a bit underwhelming, and whilst I'm happy to see another route (especially for a reasonable price) I can't help but think the time spent making this could have gone into building something more substantial and maybe getting that sooner.

 

There may well be a new exciting feature in this route- if so it would make sense as big, highly requested features are probably best trialled on smaller routes and locos instead of throwing things at massive projects

 

I'll definitely be getting this as I've ridden it to Hadfield a few times for League Of Gentlemen fan meets in the past.

While it is short it's still a good route that'll keep any driver on their toes with the stop-start nature plus the switching of ends at either ends of Glossop and Hadfield break up the driving dynamic.

It's good for DTG to have the Northern License as it has some really good routes in it's portfolio, I've mentioned a few times I'd love them to do Liverpool to Blackpool as the variety on that would be pretty big, who knows though as the opportunities for Northern lines could be big, Leeds to Carlisle via Settle is a Northern Line service!

 

Well right now they dont have the license, if Ive understood Matt correctly as they are still in negotiations with the TOC, so I suppose there is a small risk that this may end up as another Island Line.

EDIT - Matt has confirmed below that they do have the license and it is just the livery waiting sign off.

 

I rather this line be including the Hope Valley line

 

As I said in the other thread I will pick it up for 20 quid providing it's high quality. After a bit of thought I am disappointed that it wasn't a route in the old eastern region which is still missing from the game.

 

Although the Woodhead route was operated by the LNER and became part of the the BR Eastern Region at nationalisation, so in the strictest sense what's left of it should be considered an Eastern Region route!

 

I shall expect to pay no more than twelvety pounds in that case. I can I can’t.