There's rather more than one station though, with local services from Newcastle out to Morpeth and Alnmouth. Some of the long distance services call at the above plus Dunbar, as well as Berwick Upon Tweed. The section north of Newcastle is quite curved with many changes of speed limit and some great scenery too.
Yup, it’s almost as busy stops wise for the Azuma there as it is in the TSW section. Speeds wise, as you say it’s more varied too, whereas in TSW the section will be almost entirely 125MPH. There’s also the addition of actually having a terminus, which for me is a massive factor, I like to feel that there’s a point to my runs, as opposed to a random chunk. Either way it’s either the section we’re getting (mostly) or the NCL - EDB, as they are the only real sections of ECML where LNER makes its stops. Now what I do find strange is the exact section we’re getting is abit out of sync. In TSC the ECML is in 4 parts, with our upcoming section being PBO - York, cutting it at Doncaster doesn’t give me much hope we’ll see a full ECML, at least not without very short & strange sections with not a lot going on in them.
this is true.. and even though some lner services run non stop between Newcastle and Edinburgh (roughly 1hr 25), there are a lot that do call regularly at Berwick, same with Alnmouth, and some early morning/late evening calling at a combination of Morpeth, Alnmouth, Berwick and Dunbar.. so the variety is there. it's a scenic and also varied route that curves through the hills and the forests and along the coast.. but with all that added to the fact it's 100+ miles, that's probably it's limitation in terms of coming to tsw.. not just the mileage but the fact the scenery would be amongst the most complex created in game, especially for a uk route. then there's the gameplay time, where almost all (i think literally all except one lner service which starts at berwick early morning heading south) use the entire edinburgh-newcastle section.. so 98%+ of all services would be 1hr 25 minutes MINIMUM.. which for long term playability would likely not suit the majority of players. Peterborough to Doncaster however is around a maximum of 50-60 minutes (full length and all stops).. but there will be plenty of services that only run Doncaster to Grantham, or Peterborough to Newark, both around 30-35 minutes each.. the gameplay variety is much richer on this section, with a more 'user friendly' timeframe for services I'm personally not opposed to 1hr 30+ minute services at all.. but they definitely won't suit a large portion of people with other commitments throughout the day All in all.. just more reasons i'm 100% happy with the choice of ecml section we have coming next week!
Actually there are services that stop at Dunbar and a couple other places u believe. There is also commuter runs for that reason. Yes, it would only be the Class 380 that would layer back to CCL.
I work for LNER and that route is part of my diagram. All of our calling points between Newcastle and Edinburgh are as follows - Morpeth, Alnmouth, Berwick upon Tweed, Reston and Dunbar. So no, there’s not just one intermediate stop at all. You do have fliers and stoppers. Heck, 1E30 (Aberdeen to Leeds) calls at all points. Some fliers south of Newcastle call at Berwick and some stoppers south of Newcastle are fliers to Newcastle.
BCC is a struggle to play because the majority of those services are around this length and it's alot to commit for one play session I'm sure, when I have suggested a 380 to layer into CCL before, that I was told that the route is specifically "just before the 380 entered service, so the signs are there, but the trains are not". So, as much as I'd love another scotrail train, I doubt it'd layer back Fair, I have to travel up north alot for work, and I can't ever say I've been on an LNER service that has stopped at any of these stations, Other than Berwick, which even in itself is a rarity for me.
Trust me. Alot of services stop there. It's pretty much just a few LNER ones that don't and ofc the lumo services.
Again, I'm speaking from experience and out of the 15 return journies this year, not one stopped at any of these. Soo, Maybe I was just lucky?
Leeds would be a very odd place to extend it to, since its off the mainline on a branch and would be alot harder for dovetail to make than just the sprint up to york with nothing in-between you would also only be able to run an hourly lner service (edit: its 2 per hour) along it in each direction, with the rest ending at doncaster.
yes its twice an hour, sorry for the mistake. but its still not much, its less than half the services
yes, but leeds to doncaster would also have potential for a class 331 added for the leeds to doncaster stoppers.
if it included both towards leeds and to york then it would be great. but im unsure if DTG would make such an extension and then also decide to make a whole new train for it
It’s not only a 1 station run, there’s a lot more variety, as well as scotrail and northern runs to be honest
Do you typically travel on the same time train each time? Because like I said, there’s a mix of services. Some are fliers to Newcastle, 1E22 for example. Then you have 1E23 which calls at Berwick but is a flier after Newcastle (only Darlington and York). Then you have 1E30 which calls at Dunbar, Reston, Berwick upon Tweed, Alnmouth, Morpeth, Newcastle etc. Heck if you want Northbound, 1S12 is non stop from Newcastle to Edinburgh but then you’ve got 1W22 which calls at Berwick. I could go on but I’m speaking from experience of working these diagrams.
Definitely it would be perfect for Peterborough to Doncaster and Leeds but that will be in TSW 5 imo.
Lincoln and Leeds would be the go to places for extensions personally. As I said on previous pages I think we should focus on getting the 800 and 225s for this section first.
Was never the same time, mixture of peak and off peak. Although it was usually an Aberdeen or Inverness service, whether that makes any difference.
Yup! Any service coming from the Highlands usually is very fast after Edinburgh. The ones terminating/starting from Edinburgh will usually call at more stops.
Would be nice to see some highland services. Maybe a line from Dundee to Aberdeen could make good use of the azuma Scotsman service.
I'm cool holding out for a York-Newcastle stretch down the line. Would rather it happen *after* there's transpennine stock to layer into it though.
going to jump in and recommend that be a Doncaster to Newcastle in order not to leave out that stretch into York. would seem to be strange if all other parts and not that part got done.
that would make it 180km with alot more stations than peter-donc, it would be odd to divide the sections of the ecml like that. why not just extend the existing route to york rather than including it in a separate route? wouldn't it make more sense to do it how tsc did? London - Peterborough, Peterborough - York, York - Newcastle, Newcastle - Edinburgh. with the leeds branch seperate?
It's the ECML. It's gotta happen at some point surely. Dtg proved they could do it with sehs. Why not give ecml some love? It's a far better line that deserves alot more attention imo.
Agree with you that I’d LOVE to see it extended. But, this is probably years away or at least until another iteration of the game. TSW5 at the very least! SEHS wasn’t an extension although I get why people call it that. Calling for an extension when DTG aren’t working on extensions is pointless. Best thing people can do is vote with their wallets, which lets face it, won’t happen either. My guess is we will be waiting years for another stretch of ECML, never mind extensions. Id like an extended section of stream/dedicated stream explaining why extensions either aren’t possible or can’t/won’t be worked on. Without the answer, “we want to work other routes”
DTG added an 'extension' prefix for suggestions on the forums. so maybe they are now willing (or looking into) extending more routes. otherwise why would they do such a thing?
God knows. What I do know is that they’ve said on the streams, they aren’t working on them and there are no plans to do so, so can only go by that and not a suggestion. If you want to go by that, then every route suggested is up for grabs. Matt has said he would have liked Newcastle to Edinburgh when ECML was announced, did it happen?
just because they aren't working on it now doesn't mean its not possible, or that there is no point in suggesting it for the future.
Agreed, which is why I feel there should be a stream on it discussing these points, clarifying extensions, why it isn’t happening and what the plans are for the future, specifically regarding extensions.
Yup. A brief section of the stream to explain the cons of doing extensions would be nice and would clear things up a bit. Maybe we won't get the full ecml for tsw. We might get it in separate sections maybe. But at least we got it at all.
it would just be a matter of Doncaster to York if York to Newcastle was already on the approval for doing, it may well work better with the extension, however if their isn’t a will to do extensions it would become it’s only chance.
would be quite a fair compromise if things didn’t go particularly ideal to just go back to main menu and continue on the next section, who knows maybe even in the future after that, DTG could find the solution to route connections or of course before, it’s probably going to be sometime in the meantime before ECML has a chance at completion.
Extending it (whether northern or down south) would be absolutely popular with everyone. It would be more popular than SEHS. Plus DTG have extended NY-Trenton so I don’t see why they can’t do it with the ECML, it’s not like GWE that would need a whole rebuild, it’s a new route. Anyways hopefully within the next two years we get an extension of some sort
Just saw the vid on social media showcasing the Azuma. 801234? Really? The 801s only go up to 801230. This is basic, like a 2 minute google job to get set and vehicle numbers. Heck I’m betting LNER provided you with info when you began modelling the trains. Sheesh
No NY Trenton wasn’t extended the tiles from the original were used in its development is how I know it was done only current way known to us players is to sort of re do the route, I don’t mind which way they do as long as it works it’s purpose, but it’s a put off for several reasons from a DTG business perspective type deal.
Likely a fleet extension for the TimeTable sake, they had to do this before with 377’s. In any case, it’s best not to get caught up on these specifics, they don’t get them right & it really is quite annoying when you’re hands on with this stuff IRL.
