Hi, With the revelation that JT's new route is 48 miles, there has to be more track than just Preston - Blackpool. With that in mind, I think its likely that route will include Wigan - Blackpool North/South, and Poulton-le-Fylde - Fleetwood. Preston - Blackpool North is 17 miles Kirkham - Blackpool South is 12 miles Wigan - Preston is 15 miles Poulton-le-Fylde - Fleetwood is 5 miles (This extra branch might not be added, and the spare 4 miles left over might be due to yards and depots, increasing route distance) This would bring the total to 49 miles. Let me know what you all think.
Someone in the roadmap thread suggested the bridge looked like some on the Preston to Ormskirk branch
Possibly, that’s an interesting theory. I’ll look into the bridge see what I can see. Thanks for your input.
Also, there are 2 hints of the upcoming train that will come on the JT route. Ngl this looks like a Pacer in the provincional livery!
JT route is Preston Network with OHLE on the WCML section. If there is a nuclear power station then it's a line to the Heysham power station or Springfields Nuclear Reprocessing/fuel site. This means we get Pacer and Class 20 with FNA flasks. If you are wondering FNA Flask was crash tested in the 1980s the news report is this
Wasn't this a part of bigger tests of it? Btw the crash test was called as the Operation "Smash Hit".
I forgot to add it originally to my post, but the reason I think we're getting more of the WCML than just Preston is because of the Roadmap. In the article, it says that they are placing the OHLE now. It seems like a strange thing to write if they are only doing it for one station, as this wouldn't be that big of a milestone to warrant them using it as timestamp in the development, in my opinion. If the OHLE is as big a job as it being referenced suggests, there might be more of it than just Preston.
If it is a 142, it would be great to see it on TVL at some point, though I’m not expecting it at launch (very nice surprise if so and I would most likely pick it up at launch if so..)
Thought we already had a JT thread but anyway… Regardless of the exact extent of the route, think this may be a Day One purchase for me, maybe even a preorder. Pacers may have been hell to travel on, especially with the original bus seats, but by goodness think they will be fun to drive. In theory if this route is set in the late 80’s I would expect considerable sections to still be jointed track so it should be bang and bounce all the way!
I see, I wonder why they decided to build it like that considering most trains have eight wheels per coach
It was very much only meant to be a stop gap so was built on the proper cheap. They are basically just Leyland buses in an old truck.
Reminds me more of the old LBSCR 4 wheeled coaches that were billed to be just as bad for their ride although they were nearly a century earlier at least. Any excuse to dig out a picture of a terrier too
For those questioning Ormskirk - Blackpool South as it’s not a complete route, in the 80’s and early 90’s. Pacers used to work as a sort of triangle from Ormskirk - Preston - Blackpool South - Preston - Colne - Preston - Ormskirk it was changed to Ormskirk-Preston and Blackpool South - Colne until around 5 years when it was split up once again. With until the last few years, Pacers being the main units.
Stroudley coach although younger people refer to them as Annie and Clarabel from Thomas and Friends because they are the only characters in that children's tv programme to be based on that carriage type. You actually put the faces in front if you can paint them. What we have in game are Pip and Emma HST twins MML and GWML GWML Legends TVL Huddersfield line NTP Class 101 Daisy TVL Class 08 GWML London Paddington to Reading legends TVL and Huddersfield Line HFP Paxton Deviouse Diesel. I wonder if this will come with a Boco or not?
Now you can combine it with the class 150/2 just like how it's done two years ago because Class 150/2 is RVAR Compliant but Pacer is not
Just looked at a provincial liveried pacer of this class and there is something odd. In the image here on the top left their is a box that perhaps is a button to open the doors for passengers. However when I stare a a few images I've found there is meant to be a white strip cutting halfway through the button but isn't shown and the space between the br logo and the button is smaller than the actual gap I've found through some images. Also the actual button looks off as their is no outline of the button which can easily be seen on inspection of some photos. Overall it might not actually be a pacer due to the livery and some aspects.
A 150/1 perhaps? Anyhow after reading the Roadmap article, mentions of Class 31, substitutions, etc. I am positively drooling in my morning coffee at the prospect of getting hold of this. Realistically though think we are looking at a late summer or even autumn release. 10 miles of scenery placement still quite a bit to do assuming this is being worked on in spare time, plus all the train physics to set up and everything to be tested. Sportsman’s bet - I will go for late September or early October with the actual reveal and announcement in early September.
It's rare to get anything fully complete. Most Blackpool North services started at Manchester Victoria or after Castlefield and Windsor Link was put in Stockport or Liverpool or York/Leeds. Some extras from London and other places depending on the year. The earlier gone back in the 80s sees trains from Scotland, Sheffield etc.
Looking at various maps, going to Ormskirk probably easier scenery wise than going to Colne might have been. No really big townscapes to model and the stations are paytrain shacks. Whereas the other route would have required Blackburn to have been represented around the line.
One of the odd wordings in the article on the roadmap was 'Hellfire'. Perhaps I am over thinking the use of this word, but I get the image of the Orange and Brown GMPTE livery in my head. Could this be included as well as the Provincial Blue that it is obvious we are already getting? The single line in one of the screenshots could be part of the Blackpool South line. Last month we had our first teaser screenshot which appears to be a short distance South East of Poulton Le Fylde Station with double track. Both lines would be fantastic as would both liveries.
Puts me in mind of the Railrover "bashing" game. Maybe an achievement is seeing how many locos you can scratch between Preston and BPN!
Wonder what the dilapidated station would be? Maybe the Burn Naze halt but not sure what else at that time.
Each to their own, but I really do not get the love for the Pacer, or any old DMU`s for that matter. Hateful buses on tracks. It's probably because my Dad hated the things. If he had his way, Everything would have been loco driven.
It couldn't be more obvious that we will be getting Class 142 Pacers with previous clues, plus the latest screenshots not to mention 'Land Lyes' in the text, which is of course a anagram of Leyland.
Like I said earlier, love them or hate them they were a unique and iconic part of the UK rail scene for over 30 years. And will be fun to drive I think too.
With regard to the hellfire clue, wonder if this is suggesting a Class 37 - pretty sure they would’ve been going to both Burn Naze and Springfield at this time, presumably in the same livery as Tees Valley.
It’s just where the image is cropped, below the white strip and only showing the very corner of the button housing. It is the Pacer as seen in the photos people have posted.
The Ormskirk branch, branches off the WCML further south of Preston station so you will get a run up the WCML for a short distance. Maybe that stretch was what they were referring to when adding the OHLE. I can't see them putting a longer stretch of it in without any AC electrics, unless they are going to Lancaster and Heysham and Morecombe but that would go over the 48 miles surely including Blackpool and Ormskirk.
Has anyone managed to think about a time period yet? I've found these great images from the 70s. If my research is right pacers were built in the 80s? Although I'm not sure when this particular livery ran? I've also seen a few images of what looks like 101s in the 80s in BR blue. I think the 40s ran until around 1985 and the 45 not long after? They've already mentioned the 31 haven't they which to my research seems similar but slightly longer lived? Trying to think what possible layers could be added in from what we already have
I would imagine certainly from NTP will be the carriages and class 08 and 47 and TVL will be 31 and the 20's. I would imagine one of the 37's will feature. I don't know what the chances of there being any reskins of stock for the route. The 40's were gone by the time the first 142 entered service in 1985, I think it was. Four or so survived for the Crewe remodelling in departmental use until around 1986/87, plus D200 of course. The 45's might layer as they were in service till 1988. The class 101 might layer in too, they would have been in blue/grey as already in the sim. I doubt many 101's got past around 1982 in BR blue as they were one of the first classes to be refurbished. As long as they don't do a WCL on us and put anything in, which from what I have seen from JT they won't. Of course liveries were changing by the mid to late 80's and as well as BR blue still being around, you had large logo blue, railfreight grey with red solebar and without, railfreight two tone sector livery, intercity executive which gave way to intercity swallow livery. Most DMU's by then were blue/grey apart from most of the class 104 fleet and the remaining class 100 and 105 units. On summer Saturdays by the late 80's even NSE liveried rolling stock might have turned up in places like Blackpool, certainly not an impossibility.
Also seen this video from 1987 in Preston: 10 minutes in and 47s, 142s, 150s. As said in multiple different liveries
If the period between the Class 40 ending service and the Pacer starting service is only a short one, then IMO it would be fine to have them both working in the TSW route, as we should not really be aiming for an exact replication of one specific day in history. Having the best mix of trains is more important. I’d hope to be able to see all the NTP and TVL locos appear in some capacity, as it would make the route really special. I’ll accept whatever comes though. I think it’s going to be great in any case. Can’t wait to drive the 142.
Well they wouldn't really have been seen together at all certainly not the class 40's on passenger services alongside the class 142, there would actually be a years difference. Personally it would bother me as it is unrealistic but probably not enough for me to not purchase the route. This is why selectable layers are desireable and something Matt appears to have acknowledged. We both get what we want then.
The BR scene had gone from "drab" blue (although I like it) to being quite colourful by around 1987 onwards.
Absolutely correct and I wonder if the area has class 150s combined because we would have seen the 2021 combination which was combining a Pacer with Sprinters.
