Perhaps a daft idea but just thought I'd open a petition to see if DTG would (with Just Trains blessing) add a Class 142 Pacer to Tees Valley Line. I consider myself signatory number one. Feel free to add yourself to the list.
i hope they do other improvements such as add AI ecml services at Darlington if they go back to TVL to do this
Might be a bit tricky if the substitution system still works based on the number of cars in a formation. The Saltburn services are operated by 3-car Class 101s and a 2-car Class 142 might not be able to replace that. Should be fine on the Middlesborough - Darlington services however.
As much as I think this is a fantastic idea and would really love it to happen, it all depends on whether we are talking about adding it as a layer or via substitution. It we're talking about substitution then it might be feasible. AFAIK, JT would need to add the appropriate tags to the loco to allow substitutions with the 101. It would only substitute with the 2 car versions of the 101, not the 3 car version since substitution needs to have the same amount of vehicles. I recall that the the 3 car varient isn't actully prototypical for the route but when Adam removed it on a Pres Crew pass there were an outcry due to loss of gameplay so it was added back. This would limit the 142 to just under half the services (36), the actually amount depending on the percentage chance the sub was set to. They may also be other things needed I don't know about that are requred which may or may not be feasible. If we're talking about as an additional layer then I just don't think there's enough potential additional income for DTG (or JT) to make this worthwhile. I would guess that that vast majority of players that will be buying BOP will either already own TVL or will buy it anyway, without the additional 142 layer, so they can access the Class 20 and 31 layers. While not all players that own TVL will necessarily purchase BOP, adding the class 142 as a layer to TVL probably won't convince many that weren't going to buy it already. Either way, probably not enough guaranteed additional revenue for the work required to make this happen. Of course, they could do this out of the goodness of their hearts or to gain favour with the community hoping they will buy more future DLC but I don't feel this is very likley. This is where I see the editor coming in. Hopefully community members / modders will have sufficient time / inclination to create a new timetable for this route, adding in additional rolling stock from more recent routes. At first these would only be available for PC users, bit if the content reaches a certain standard and relationships are built with DTG, I can see them co-ordinating rolling out these sort small gameplay updates to all platforms either for free, or possiblly as DLC at a small cost, with the revenue shared with the creator. Players would then seen a new timetable added, in the same way there are multiple timetables for BKL so those don't want it can simply ignore it. A few hurdles to overcome for sure, but fingers crossed this happens one way or another.
It should work because in 1989 Pacers are starting to replace the ageing Class 101s assigned to the Tees Valley Line
Pacer is confirmed with JTs Blackpool route https://www.justtrains.net/in-development/tsw-blackpool-preston-ormskirk-route-addon
