So as we all know Antelope Valley is the main U.S route with TSW4 and it seems like DTG is hyping up this route a lot and comparing it to another route which is Pen Corridor. Penn Corridor has CalTrain passenger services, but also has some freight trains scattered in between the various yard along the route and some services with the UP GP38. I’ve heard many people say Penn Corridor is one of the better U.S passenger routes and for DTG to compare Antelope valley to it seems like this route has a lot in store for it. I personally think this route is going to be a pretty good route although my main concern is the lack of services with MetroLink. So my questions being, do you think this route will be the same, if not better than Penn Corridor?
Apart from Penn Corridor scenery being dated and rather weird looking in places, it is quite long and has nice variety. If this new route is like a more modern version of the Penn Corridor style I think those that get it will be happy with it.
Better than Caltrain and for gameplay wise BNSF/UP Cajon Pass meets Caltrain San Francisco to Gilroy via San Jose
It depends on how freight is handled on the route, and the amount of post release DLC it gets. Penn Corridor got Caltrains full modern day roster, we'll see if DTG ever puts the Metrolink MP36 and F59PH in game......
this line has 9 trains daily its going to be empty regardless https://metrolinktrains.com/schedules/?type=station&originId=107&destinationId=162&weekend=0
Nope. I believe it has ~10 trains a day, can't remember if it means each direction. On the other hand we might actually be able select all of them in the menu.
It’s certainly going to offer more scenery than the Caltrain route which is also fairly straight and level. It’s a route I’ve wanted to see in a train sim for a long time and I’m hoping once we get the consist and timetable editors it will be possible to emulate the old BKDOU/DOBKU oil cans up and down the pass.
I dont think it will be better in terms of variety as there's less services per day than pen corridor,not sure how much freight traffic there is a day
If you go to the full schedule PDF, you'll see that there's 11 trains in each direction Mon-Fri, so 22 trains total. So "9 trains daily" just isn't accurate. There's also 12 trains Sat-Sun, 6 in each direction. Trust me, there's plenty of trains on this route. Future plans call for service expansion as well to add back some of the trains that disappeared during COVID and haven't returned yet.
It was my understanding from what I've read that they're "redoing" the MP36 and assumed the Bombardier cars and releasing them as a DLC at a later date. After all, there's zero plans to retire anymore Bombardier coaches. They're having them completely rehabbed by Talgo in Milwaukee currently so they're gonna stay and would be worth the effort including them. A 4 car straight Rotem set is actually quite uncommon in the Metrolink system. There's almost always at least one or two Bombardier coaches in the consist or more depending on how long the train is. I've seen 6 car trains with 4 Bombardier coaches and only 2 Rotems. Most AV Line trains run with 4 cars and it's usually engine-rotem coach-bombardier coach-bombardier coach-rotem cabcar. Or 3 Rotems and a Bombardier coach. But it's quite rarely ever 4 Rotems by themselves. With the new scenario editor, it would be easy to modify the consist to make this happen. As well as using free roam. I'm sure someone will also reskin the CalTrain MP36 and Bombardier cars as well. The CalTrain MP36 uses the same horn and is basically identical to the Metrolink units. Whether the CalTrain stuff would actually work properly and not be majorly bugged out is the question. It never worked right after TSW 2020. I'd say an F59PH is a long shot, especially with only 4 left in active service, although I certainly wouldn't be disappointed if they did. And I guarantee it would be very popular. I've already seen it requested numerous times. I just hope they fix that bell on the locomotive. They literally recorded the real bell from an actual F125 and somehow managed to mess it up with how slow it is. I just do not understand that. Especially considering stuff like the CalTrain MP36 uses the exact same universal e-bell and it's correct on that locomotive. There have been no previews of the cabcar yet but it too uses the exact same bell. I'd imagine it would be an easy fix before release. Let's hope it is.
We can’t really have every route being ‘better’ than the last as an ongoing theme. It’ll be a different enough experience and that’s what it’s all about.
The Gamescom preview showed 79 services + 5 scenarios. Some of these services have 2 parts. This is ONLY for the F125 and Rotem cab cars, there were no additional layers activated in the video. Source with a timestamp (2:37):
Looks to me like kind of a standard timetable: half of the services driving on the actual route and the other half being in and out of depot.
Interesting tidbit in that regard: About 44 minutes into the Roadmap stream, a question about the Baby Bullet on Antelope came up. Matt smiled and said “We’ve got other plans for that!”. So something is definitely coming at some point I guess?
Just pulled up the Metrolink schedule for this line. Monday to Friday there are 11 trains each way, though all don't go all the way to Lancaster The full run is carded for 2 hours 15 minutes.
As stujoy says, it's unlike anything we have at present in terms of scenery and rolling stock. Its success depends on how well DTG create the varied environments and how engaging they make the gameplay. I don't believe the number of services is necessarily a limiting factor.
I'm looking forward to this route but I'm not sure the scenery will please me. I'm expecting too much a Wes Anderson feel so I suppose I will be very underwhelmed. Damn trailers trying to evoke emotions from movies
Who else remembers (from the late 60s) Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in, "brought to you from beautiful downtown Burbank"?
It's still a major media center with many current TV shows recorded there. I found it a fun place to visit. Nice looking town
I'm intrigued and excited about him saying this, too! I'm still skeptical of an F59PH but never say never I suppose. If I had to guess, it'll be remade MP36 and Bombardier coaches! Would be even cooler if they included a working Bombardier cabcar, too. While those have been retired from the fleet for like 12 years, it would still be cool to have! And in the early days of the Rotems, you often had a Rotem coach or two behind the locomotive with a Bombardier cabcar leading. Plus some sets with Rotem cabcars leading a train of Bombardier cars. So there was definitely an overlap period. And the sounds like horn and bell could be taken off the CalTrain one as those too like the MP36, have the same horn and bell as the Metrolink Bombardier cabcar did. So you'd get the modern fleet released with the route and then like, a retro fleet released later as DLC with the Bombardier cars and MP36. MAYBE even the F59PH... and dare I say an F59PHI? Wishful, hopeful thinking! I spend a lot of time on TSC because of the Surfliner route and all the latest expansions and mods bringing it to 2023 standards with new everything, especially the route update release 2 months ago. But this is about TSW. I've seen a lot of negative comments surrounding another release of TSW and in a way its kinda upsetting to me. Yes I realize a lot of people JUST got TSW3 and feel gouged for money with every release. I understand that. I've been out of the loop on it because after TSW 2020 released, all I cared about was CalTrain. So TSW4 will be my first TSW purchase since the original 2020. I'm especially excited for the Antelope Valley Line and Metrolink AND all the possibilities it could bring for future expansion.
In my personal opinion, Antelope Valley would have to be absolutely amazing if it were to better Peninsula Corridor. I'm currently playing Peninsula Corridor and despite it being a very old TSW route, the route is a real gem thanks to a busy timetable, a big amount of service variety with passenger and freight while finally, and best of all, it has lots of loco DLC thanks to both the brilliant MP36PH and MP15DC etc - so I can't really see at this point how Antelope Valley can be fairly compared to Peninsula Corridor other than that both are in California.
I will note, that the freight side of things are pretty poor on Peninsula Corridor, the UP GP38-2 that comes with it is has issues, only 2 freight cars, it lacks alot of the branch lines the route IRL has, and it has no freight layers from Sherman Hill (Yes, large road power does run on this line IRL)
Of course, while it does have limited freight services depicted in TSW, I do still quite like the smaller, extra variety to complement the passenger services nonetheless, especially with the MP15DC. Though, perhaps the solution could be for a completely remade and/or extended Peninsula Corridor (like SEHS) so that it has a timetable that is more realistic regarding freight etc.
A line Johnny Carson was also fond of using, after the Tonight Show moved to CA from New York. IIRC, NBC's main TV studio was in Burbank.
California is a big place. Bay Area is very different than la and west into the desert. I’m not trying to say this is a good or bad thing but antelope valley will not be Peninsula corridor. The further you get from la the more it turns into cajon pass. Peninsula corridor is flat through suburbs. Antelope will be hilly once out of the city. It could be quite fun
Point is from a variety point of view there isn’t really a route like it in the game. On a micro level we need to see the stream ie variety of services and trains etc
I don't see how it can compete with NEC in terms of service variety, if it's at the same time expected to be realistic. NEC has way more traffic IRL, and way more different types of trains running across it. It's like comparing Niddertalbahn to Riesa-Dresden or Cologne-Aachen. Well okay, not quite, but you get what I'm saying However, there are other factors (in my opinion at least) that determine whether a route is "good". Like the scenery, whether the services in themselves are actually enjoyable to drive (how challenging they are for example), the quality of the rolling stock etc. We'll see.
