PC Hidden Tsw: The Tracks That You Don't See

This is something that I've been looking forward to talking about for a long, long time...

Train Sim World, in it's various forms, has now been out of over 5 years and it's fair to say that it's been quite a journey to get to where we are now. There have definitely been highlights and certainly a lot of low moments. But it seems for the most part, we come to know the game (again, in it's various forms), it's features and most importantly, it's routes, and it's seems like the routes have been so extensively covered, we seem to know them all too well at this point...

…or do you?

It turns out that there are some routes, particularly those that have been released in recent years, that along with having a main route, also have entire sections that are completely covered over on the map, locked away behind invisible walls. Some are as small as yards or sidings, while others are entire routes that either run alongside the main route or branch off towards another destination. Some of these can tell stories of what was once planned to be part of a route, but then was scrapped. While others can often be hidden waypoints that could have been a helpful waypoint to tell what that location is. There's even some that while a long shot, could hint at future opportunities that a route may provide.

Which leads us to this thread that I have for you today. You see, I've been covering these areas for many years, but I feel like now is the right to finally give them a major spotlight, especially in the light of a new tool that finally gave a proper uncovering to these areas. Even if I was never really going to use it in a major way, if there was one thing that I was really excited about having the full PC editor in TSW, is that it would finally give us the ability to see the full map and finally be able to go back and see all those hidden tracks that I've explored over the years and see them in full detail.

So here's how this thread will work, in order to keep this straightforward and to make sure that one post doesn't go on forever, I will make one post documenting a hidden area of a TSW route and showing it's full map from the editor. It will mainly be talking about the story behind it, what might have happened to the point it was hidden and whether it would be likely that we will see it unhidden or even in some cases, it fully done up and be made accessible. I will leave a link to that particular post on this first post here, so you can easily find the one that you want to go and read about. Some of those post will even have links to past threads that I've done about them, were I go into more detail and have a little explore of them. This also will now be my home for whenever a future route just so happens to have a hidden area that is worth exploring.

So I guess that's it for now, but down below will be all the links to the various posts talking about these hidden areas, so without further ado, go out there and have a read I guess.

Routes with Hidden Areas

• CN Oakville Subdivision
• Bakerloo Line
• LGV Méditerranée
• Hauptstrecke Hamburg-Lübeck
• Nahverkehr Dresden
• Brighton Main Line
• Sherman Hill
• Tharandter Rampe
• Harlem Line
• Schnellfahrstrecke Kassel-Würzburg
• Cajon Pass
• Birmingham Cross-City Line
• Bahnstrecke Bremen-Oldenburg
• ScotRail Express
• S-Bahn Vorarlberg
• Berninalinie
• Bahnstrecke Salzburg-Rosenheim
• Fife Circle Line
• Kinzigtalbahn: Frankfurt-Fulda

It would also be nice to know which of these are you favourite, or which you would most to see unhidden or even fully done up. Let me know in the replies down below.

 

CN Oakville Subdivision: DTG's Greatest PR Blunder (Click this link to have a further explore)

Okay, it seems a bit extreme that I'm starting this entire thread with a pretty radical take, but here me out on this one.

This is something that a lot of people who have been around TSW for a long time might know about, but is probably not well know by people who have joined since TSW2, 3 and onwards. But to basically explain this one, during the build up to Oakville Subdivision's release, one of the big selling points of the route that was heavily promoted during articles and what not, was the vast Hamilton Complex, and it seemed from those articles, that the entire complex was going to be fully done up and be made accessible, even being described a 'a route unto itself'.

But when the route actually came out, while all of the trackage for the Hamilton Complex was fully shown on the map, only part of it was actually accessible, mainly the sections that were actually used by services on that route. You could probably imagine how people felt after being constantly told as if the entire complex was going to be fully made and accessible, when in reality, it was only a small bit that was actually accessible. It the equivalent of finding out that the Dresden S-Bahn branches had been cut... on the day the route came out. After the dust had settled, DTG did try to cover over all the inaccessible parts on that map and would later go on to try and be more honest about what was actually in the route and what wasn't, as well as going through a brief stint of cover over vast areas that were relevant to a route on the map, as well will get too.

But believe, despite being covered over, those inaccessible areas never went away. In fact, those area still there to this day and thanks to the editor, you can now see them on the map once again.

But believe it or not, while it was necessary for these areas to be covered over, when they were, DTG also covered over far more areas than what I think they probably need too. This is true for the area around Bayview Junction:

Or even for this junction around Burlington:

To be honest, I think they could have been kept on the map, as they are not as a visual distraction compared to the Hamilton Complex and it's just nice knowing that they are there as some visual waypoint.

I think it's fair to say, after everything that has happened regarding this route, it's pretty unlikely that we will ever see the whole of the Hamilton Complex fully done up and be made accessible, not only because it would require a lot of work (I mean, from having explored myself, there are a lot of areas that would need major work) but also, there would need to be a good reason to come back to this route, especially when it's one of the older TSW routes and not a very beloved route by many, even if you ignore the controversies behind it (and that's putting it nicely). The only excuse I can think of is if this route gets a loco add-on that utilises these areas, But other than that, I think it's probably for the best to just move on from this route after the Baby Bullet layer eventually comes, if-or-when it does, and more focus on bring more Canadian routes to TSW that would hopefully be far better and much more worthwhile than this one (which we haven't had since this route).

So that's Oakville Subdivision. Again, definitely worth bringing up, not just for the hidden areas, but also the controversy behind it, that I feel many people, especially those that have joined since TSW2 (and the Rush Hour), 3 & so on, probably never even realised that all this even happened. But it did set some important implications for many future routes, as evident by the new one on this thread...

 

Bakerloo Line: The hidden iceberg that is the West Coast Main Line (Click this link to have a further explore)

You know, instead of giving an introduction, why don't I just show you the map, because I'm pretty sure you want to see how the WCML portion of the Bakerloo Line looks like on a map, so without further ado...

…here it is!:

So remember what I talked about how the Hamilton Complex on OSD was covered over? Well it led to this weird portion of TSW lift were DTG covered over vast areas of the map that were relevant or accessible, even if it felt either unnecessary or a bit extreme. This is particularly the case with the Bakerloo Line or more specifically, the outdoor WCML bit.

Now admittedly, at the time of this routes release (around the time TSW2 came out) it did make some sense to cover it over, as nothing was using it and DTG thought at the time that there was anything worth putting on it. Plus, the fact it wasn't really relevant to the main route, so it may have made sense there.

However, this came with a slight flaw. DTG didn't take into account at the time that there might be a day in the future that AI services might use this section on some way, and sure enough, that's what happened eventually. When this route got that big timetable update, it also added AI freight services that used these areas, along with adding a ton of static stock dotted along along various points.

…and at that point, it kinda makes the original decision now feel invalid. At this point, even if it's not relevant to this route, or even accessible, it's probably worth just unhiding everything you see here, just so you can see the AI services as they go about there journeys, not to mention getting to see all that lovely static stock that was placed along this part of the route. I would even go a step further and say that some of these areas should be made accessible, especially the section between Wembley Central & Harrow & Wealdstone, which I feel blocking off the WCML bit was completely unnecessary.

But as I alluded to, this wasn't the only route that had vast sections covered over at the time, there was another route that had this two, which leads us too...

 

LGV Méditerranée: The importance of visual references

I was going to a do a full thread on this, but I never got time to do so, not to mention the arrival of the editor made doing to redundant as now the full map can be accessed and has made my life doing this a whole lot easier.

So this was the second of the three routes that had vast sections covered over at the time. The last one was the OG Southeastern High Speed, which I feel at this point, the whole covering over was starting to get excessive, which eventually lead to DTG starting to show a bit more areas from the likes of Clinchfield onwards (and lead to SEHS getting fully uncovered when it was extended as part of TSW3). But back to LGV, this is another route that I feel could have more areas uncovered, especially around Marseille Saint-Charles.

In the actual game, most of what you see above, isn't even shown, which can lead to weird moments like a Toulon bound services appearing on the map halfway across a junction, which can feel pretty awkward to watch.

But that's not the only area, there's also the junction where the LGV line diverts away from the normal line, which the later isn't even shown to begin with.

Than around Cheval-Blanc, there are some tracks going under the main route, and a small line diverting off towards it (but doesn't join on strangely enough).

Then around Avignon, there is way more trackage than compared to what is actually shown in game, especially with the AI runoff's which can go back quite some way (so having that on the map would be quite helpful to see how far it goes back and most importantly, were those services actually came from).

There are also way more smaller locations that I didn't cover here that aren't also shown on the map, which leads me to the biggest point about why it's necessary to have here smaller locations shown and that is for waypoint reference. These locations could offer a bit of guidance as to where you actually are in the route, which without them, you would kinda be at a lost of where everything actually is along the route. plus, it also makes the map just a little more interesting a less thin and dull.

But now we've covered this little era, there's one small thing I want to show you with one specific route before we get to the big one...

 

Hauptstrecke Hamburg – Lübeck: This one piece hiding in plain sight

This isn't anything major, it's just to point out a few small things that aren't really shown on the map. The first is just to the east of Rothenburgsort, where freight services terminate, were there all these unconnected tracks that are hidden on the actual map

Maybe you could get with covering them over, as they aren't that relevant, but you have this one, that until I seeing a glimpse of this in the Editor preview stream, I had no idea this existed, and that is this little bit just south of Ahrensburg station.

This in real life is actually part of the U1 line that makes up the Hamburg U-Bahn network and from seeing it in the preview stream, I had to go and see if I could actually see this, and sure enough...

…I could! (Just underneath the route).


What really makes this one is really the fact that, I'm pretty sure that because this isn't shown, many people have probably driven/ridden past this area and have probably never realised this bit even existed. This certainly something that, maybe it doesn't anything meaningful and will probably never get used, is still worth putting on the map as a visual reference and to show that it does indeed exist.

Okay, I think I've put this off no longer, it's time for this big one!

 

Nahverkehr Dresden: Pretty Self-Explanatory

As the title suggests, you don't me to tell you what happened here. We all know about how DTG wanted to added the S-Bahn branches to Nahverkehr Dresden, we all know how they ended up getting cut and we all know how one of them was later reinstated in a post released update. It is a story that has already been beaten around the bush more than enough in this forum by now.

But going in the subject of this post, the S2 Flughafen branch, like with the Hamilton Complex on OSD, it was never fully removed. Infactt it still exists, even to this day, and thanks to the editor, we now see in full on the map.

I haven't really done a thread on this, because honestly, a lot of people have already done such thing, and I don't think there was really anything for me to add that hasn't been said about this branch.

However, I will say that, compared to other hidden areas, this one seems to be in a better position, as some scenery was already done by the time the branch was cut. Plus, AI S2 services not only use it, but travel the whole way to Flughafen airport, so in the event that this branch was to be reinstated, all DTG would have to do is finish the scenery, install the stations, added the tunnel around the end station, updated the existing services so that they go all the way to Flughafen and most importantly, remove the invisible walls.

However, it's pretty certain it would be happening any time soon. I mean bringing this route to TSW4 as part of the deluxe edition was such a golden chance to do such a thing, but DTG didn't take it, probably because they were more focused on giving this route the new lightning, skies and also new services provided by the Vectron+Eanos wagons.

But either way, this would still be worth doing at some point in the future, so that this route could finally be like what was once promised years ago when this route was properly announced. Plus, there are also some services that use this section that don't go to Flughafen, but turn off Klotzsche, services that are operated by DMU's such as the BR 612 or even the 642 that's coming with Maintalbahn, something that definitely spice up this area of the route and give it more variety.

…and even at that, I would even argue why stop here? If I was in charge, I would go and make this route even bigger. Not just by adding the Flughafen branch, but by also adding stuff like:

• The Freight/RB31 line that goes via Friedrichstadt
• Continue the avoiding line north of Großenhain to Elsterwerda
• Extend the route west of Riesa to Leipzig (as well as including the S-Bahn lines around there).

Seems extreme but something like that would make this route even better than what it already is, and it's already a pretty solid route in my books, even without one of the two S-Bahn branches.

I also want to bring up one more thing, and that is regarding the third Dresden S-Bahn line, S3. There's actually a little bit more trackage than what is shown on the map, as seen below.

Seems a little weird seeing the AI runoff that diverts off while the S3 lines continues away from it, but it's seeing this, when the next German route after this one was Tharandter Rampe, that basically was an adaptation of this very route, almost like a foreshadowing of what was to come.

Speaking of Tharandter Rampe, we will come back to Dresden later, as the Flughafen branch isn't the only hidden away area on a Dresden route, nor is it the most interesting. For now though, lets head to another big one, and arguably the one were it's absence is most felt.

 

Sherman Hill: The one that hurts the most (Click this link to have a further explore)

Yes this is not only a big one, but also a rather sad one. You see, say what you will about some of these other areas, but at least the most you can say about them is that there not that important to the main route, they are just something a little extra that they would have provided. Here though with Track 3 of Sherman Hill, this is one that definitely affects it's route as it is such an important piece that is missing from the Sherman Hill experience.

It also leads to other problems with the timetable where you can tell that some services that were suppose to head this way, were sent along the main route and you can tell that they weren't suppose to go that way, as they end up going up the hill at a snails pace. Which believe it or not, was the whole point of Track 3, to allow heavier freight trains to go up the hill at a more gradual, bit twister gradient.

This section, like with Nahverkehr Dresden, had a golden chance to add this section with the US bundles, but it wasn't taken, I guess a small UP Livery pack wasn't enough to convince DTG to do up this section in full. Which in fairness, it would have been a huge task to do so anyways as this section basically has no scenery that would have to be installed.

But despite the challenges, it would be worth doing, in order to help complete the Sherman Hill experience, and was as presenting some new service opportunities. Of course, some of the more heavy services could be rerouted to take this section, plus you could also add some new services that join the route at Speer that either head towards Cheyenne (which one already does coming from as AI), goes along track 3, or joins the main route via the Borie Cutoff. This would at least make the route far more complete and far more worthwhile compared to what it is now.

So that's the two big ones done, but let's go back to Dresden (or the other Dresden route), because it is home one of the best hidden gems that TSW has to offer.

 

Tharandter Rampe: What was almost TSW's greatest easter egg (Click this link to have a further explore)
This was also on Nahverkehr Dresden,but it seemed like it was removed when it came over to TSW4, so it's just Tharandter Rampe that has this now, but either way, I just love want I see here.

That right there is the entire Dresden Park Railway, all fully laid out. I first saw this in a image that was showing an unofficial editor and I just had to see if it was actually legit, and sure enough, it was.

But from having explored, this did raise an interesting question...What was this doing here? Why were the tracks even laid out to begin with? It wasn't long before someone had an answer.

According to someone who allegedly worked on the route, this was originally going to be some little Easter egg and that a lot more work was actually put into it than what you can find in the final route, and even a loco was partly made. This would have also been accessible via a poster on the wall at Dresden Hbf that would have teleported you over to this area. Unfortunately, the team ran out of time in order to finish this up, not to mention that the track layer didn't really like the incredibly narrow-gauge that this provided, like seen in the image

I did think when first seeing this that the chances of this becoming relatively are incredibly low, and while it may still be the case, it would be fascinating to know what work was actually done on this, that's if it still exists of course. It would interesting to know how much scenery work was completed by the time it was cut and more importantly, what was the loco that was planned for this area.

…and even still, this still would be fascinating to see happen because this would be quite a good way to bring a miniature route in TSW, as very few of such could ever make their own standalone route (maybe apart from the RH&DR) attaching it to a larger route could help make it more worthwhile. Not to mention it would be a pretty amusing thing to see with all the crazy things you could with it.

Now we are finally done with the Dresden routes, lets move on one of my personal favourites and one that brings up an interesting debate.

 

Harlem Line: Abandoned Plans or Future Proofing? (Click this link to have a further explore)

This is the spiciest one here, and one that feels very different to the other ones that we have covered so far. But first I just want to point out that, while it is not accessible, the yard at Highbridge, located just beyond Yankees-East has all it's track done up, even if it isn't shown on the in-game map.

There are also 3 trains that are stored here throught the timetable day, which is probably why is wasn't fully done up, as it seemingly deemed not worth it for a handful of services.

But that's not why I've brought you here, because this route has a even greater secret. Part of the New Haven Line to New Rochelle.

Now up till this point, it can be argued that there might have been plans to include some of those other sections as part of the main route, but ended up being cut, but this one has a different feeling to it, one that gives the slight impression of futureproofing. Why? Well first off, I don't really remember it ever being said that DTG wanted to include this section as part of the route. There might have been a brief mention of 'This is the line to New Rochelle' but nothing that really screamed 'we wanted to include it, but it ended up getting cut'. Not to mention that this is a Harlem Line adaptation, not a New Haven Line adaptation, meaning this would have simply been an extra bonus.

But the biggest reason why this might be future proofing is that the train that runs on this section (The M8) doesn't yet exist in TSW. It can be argued that the M3 could have been turned into an M2, but I feel like an M8 would have been the preferred choice of many, which was why in the preview stream for Harlem Line, Matt publicly said if anyone wants to see an M8 in the future, let your voices be heard.

Whether this section ever gets added in the future, or an M8 at that, we will only find out in time, It might even be that US loco add-on that's on the roadmap, but I doubt it right now. But would be interesting concept that would both enliven this route, add more variety, and another location to visit on this route, even if is a short stubby bit. I would even argue that you could take it further to Stamford, to make it level with the Harlem Lines end point at North White Plains, even if is a bit more ambitious of a task, but something that would definitely make the M8 experience on this route even better, not to mention being able to drive Amtrak services between New Rochelle and Stamford alongside the Metro-North stuff.

With that out the way, onto the TSW3 stuff, and boy, what a big chunky hidden area I have for you next. In fact, this is easily the largest of them all. Fitting considering it's also on the largest TSW route ever made.

 

Schnellfahrstrecke Kassel-Würzburg: Even more to the biggest TSW route ever? (Click this link to have a further explore)

Would you believe that the longest TSW route ever made could have been even bigger? Well, done at the northern end of the route, between Burgsinn & Würzburg, is actually part of the Main Spessart route that runs alongside the high speed line, all hidden away and covered over.

As you can see, the general Würzburg area actually has a lot more trackage that goes around and actually underneath the main route. I don't know why this area was covered over, as it would have been nice just as some visual reference, but it's still worth highlighting regardless.

Now the section between Veitshöchheim (located just north of Würzburg) and Gemünden (Main) is actually not connected to the main route, but is all there as if there was an idea to bring them in to the route. It's that later location that is alos the most interesting, as it brings us to familiar territory.

Even Lohr Bahnhof is in this route, which by the way, all of what you've just seen here is actually used by AI services that can even be seen running underneath the big viaduct located just west of Gemünden (an area that I feel should be on the map, again for visual reference and to see the AI train running underneath.

It's also worth mentioning that the line heading west of Gemünden, that joins up to Burgsinn, is also featured and feeds back to that location.

It seems like a mighty challenge to have it be fully done up and made accessible, but it actually might be worth doing, as it brings up a very popular subject that I feel could really turn this into a route like no other...

Merging this route with Main Spessart Bahn.

I'll admit, when first exploring this area, I did half expect to see the entirety of MSB here, until learning it only when to Lohr, but the general is such a fascinating one, because out of all the possible route merging ideas, this is the one that seems to make the most sense. Not to mention that it would give a good excuse to bring in a modernised MSB that features the updated section between Laufach & Heigenbrücken, and considering the newly announced Maintalbahn route that is basically an extension of the existing Aschaffenburg dockyard section, could you imagine what a merger between those three routes would be like? It would truly be a sight to behold. But alas, maybe it's for the best we stick with what we've got here.

Now we are past the biggest one, I want to bring up another route that actually has more trackage than what the in-game actually shows.

 

Cajon Pass: Did these areas really need covering over?

This is quite a questionable one, as Cajon Pass, while having no major covered branches, actually has alot more trackage that isn't really shown in any major way on the in-game map, like this example around Barstow

The most noteworthy areas is the track leading away to the east at the track leading away from the junction at the western end of Barstow. But that's not all, you also have this situation around Victorville.

Another case at Hesperia (which by the way, it seems the track leading away to the west goes on forever, until it hits the spawnpoint).

...and most noticeably around San Bernardino, where you can see tons of extra track, including a bit that connects the station to the southern end of the South Yard (which by the way, isn't accessible).

I know that some of these areas aren't really accessible, but the main thing I want to bring up here is, was this really necessary? I mean, You don't have to put all of this on, but you could have just put on some of those extra curves or even sidings that don't appear, just to show that they exist. Not to mention that in the case of San Bernardino, in the unlikely event that AI Metrolink are ever added, they could use some of those hidden areas, especially that little southern bypass, which would look really awkward if they appeared at the bottom end of the yard, disappeared again, and then reappeared right at the top as they entered/exited the station. It's these small things that just the map just a bit more interesting and a lot more useful to find out where certain locations are, especially if they ended up getting used later on down the road.

Now with that out the way, let's head to one route that has a section that feels like it's the missing piece that could really make it feel more complete.

 

Birmingham Cross-City Line: The Missing Pieces (Click this link to have a further explore)

This is a pretty funny one, because when I suggested this route many years ago, I had actually suggested it come with some of the hidden areas that you can see right now, and even if they aren't in the final route, they have at least been left as hidden away areas.

Probably the biggest of which is the freight-only Camp Hill Line, which runs from Kings Norton, right up until the Freightliner Terminal at Landor Street. This is one of those that would be a lot of work to big up to accessible levels (especially when the Snow Hill Lines that run underneath it have only been done up to an extent) and would also require a good reason to come back a do up this area. Even if AI services use this part, they come as layered content and not part of the route, so it would probably require a loco add-on or freight expansion pack of some kind in order to get this area fully done up. But again, it's highly unlikely at this time.

Then there's Soho Depot, located just to the west of Birmingham New Street station, which I feel is the most faschinating area, as it seemed like it almost made it into the route, how may you ask? Well look at the image below you, notice how that, unlike most of the hidden areas we've talked about, it is the only one with a name tag attached to it? Which wouldn't usually be there unless the area has a spawn-in walking location? We'll that's kinda a sign that it almost made the route, but got cut at the last mintue.

It's funny because, I did sense something was up when I saw that, despite not being included, the trackage for Soho Depot was done up in full on the mini-map that you see in the menus, making the case that it was a cut location, ever so more obvious.

But that's not all though, because at the northern end of the route at Lichfeld Trent Valley, the tracks of the West Coast Main Line that runs underneath the station actually extends far further than what the in-game map shows.

Even if it isn't all the relevant, it would have at least been nice to have a bit more trackage around here, just to show that there is a bit more here than what is currently shown.

In an, I feel like the only location worth doing up and making accessible is the Soho Depot area, as that location would truly make this route feel fully complete. Not to mention that AI services already use it, so again it's just the case of doing up the area, finishing the scenery, adding those extra services, and removing the invisible walls. Again, it's unlikely right now, but something definitely worth considering at some point. The other areas like the Camp Hill Line are incredibly unlikely right now, especially when it requires a lot more work and a good reason to come back, so it will probably left as is for the time being, with just AI layered services using this section in the meantime.

We are almost there, but this next one I feel is just so petty, and you'll see why.

 

ScotRail Express: The Pettiest Hidden Piece

This is only Third-Party route to feature here, and while it's not a major branch or anything like that, I just feel like this was one area that really didn't need to be covered over.

This you see here is around Greenhil Junction, located just west of Falkirk High, and most of what you see here is covered over.

Honestly, covering this area over feels pretty pointless, not only because it's such a small area that not many people would notice, but it also creates the false impression that Rivet didn't bother laying the tracks for this section and left it empty, which is completely untrue when you go and have a closer look at this section.

It's nothing much, but it's worth highlighting at how pointless covering this section over really is and that it should definitely be uncovered as both a visual waypoint and to show that it does indeed exist. Besides, it's not like the route has other surprises worth mentioning, right?

Now with that out the way, we have one more route to cover, and it's regarding one of the most recent routes to come to TSW as part of it's latest title (whether it actually did need another one is debatable, but hey, we got so anyways), and it's regardless TSW's first Austrian & Cross-border route (or how it almost had two border crossings).

 

S-Bahn Vorarlberg: How it almost took place in three countries (click this link to have a further explore)

This is something that I suspect from the moment this route was announced and when discovering more about it. Considering that services that most OBB services that use the Lustenau branch only go one more stop into Switzerland towards St. Margrethen, I was curious to find out if the tracks for it were at least done up, and sure enough, they were.

There's a slight feeling of pettiness behind this one, as it literally is one more stop that most OBB services take just didn't quite make it to the finish line in Switzerland. But according to DTG, having to learn a whole new country and it's railway infrastructure just wasn't apparently worth going doing the small section into St. Margrethen, which I find slightly weird considering that there is already a third-party with plenty of experience making Swiss Routes in Rivet Games that DTG could have gone and ask for help for (but then again, Rivet were probably too busy with their own projects to help, such as their own upcoming Swiss route, two expansion packs and a UK route in the pipeline).

But that's not all I want to show here. Around Feldkirch, the line leading away towards Buch is actually a lot larger compared to what is shown on the map, and shows an additional station in Gisingen.

It's another case of, even if it's not relevant, it's still probably worth showing, just to show the whole curve exists, and also reduce the time between the AI train spawning and then actually showing on the map, a case that is actually true for a lot of what we've explored in this thread.

But back to St. Margrethen, it's definitely somewhere worth revisiting at some point down the road, especially when all the track has already been laid, with just the scenery need to be done up (I will say the AI runoff/spawn-points will need rejiggling, as there is one randomly placed between Lustenau & St Margrethen that needs to be removed, as well as the fact that the AI runoffs around that area are also pretty small and need extending, but I'm sure that not too difficult of a job to do). The only thing holding this section back is just needing to learn all the right infrastructure need to do this section justice, which again I'm sure is possible if time permits. But again, like with all these hidden areas, it's unlikely to see any time soon.

…and that concludes this thread, for now. If future routes happen to have a hidden away area worth covering, I will make sure to bring it up here. But for now, take a moment to ponder in these areas, and wondering what could have been if they either shown on the map, fully done up and made accessible or anything like that. It's certainly something worth bringing up, as it shows that there's more of many of these routes than what meets the eye.

 

Very impressive, looks to me like a lot of ambitous projects with branches and parallel lines / tracks ended up getting cutted and released as a-b routes.

 

I take from this, that there is a lot of ambition when they create a route, which is excellent. But unfortunately they fall short of time/budget so we get what fits in the budget. Sometimes I wish they could make the route as planned and not as budgeted.

 

Really appreciate you putting so much effort into your posts, always a great read!

 

For me, Kassel-Würzburg would go from being the most boring German Route to being one of the best German Routes if the section between Würzburg and Gemünden/Lohr had also made it into the Game

 

I guess there are a couple of ways this can be seen:

1) Thwarted ambition, with initial plans for much larger routes being cut short by time and budget, or
2) Plan larger than can possibly be delivered, so they can be sure of delivering all they can.

To my mind, it seems better to plan out 60 miles of route and deliver 50 than to plan out 40 and discover they could have delivered 50.

 

I'd recommend you start a TSW page on the Cutting Room Floor website (https://tcrf.net/The_Cutting_Room_Floor) - this is the sort of stuff they're very interested in.

 

I'm in love with this thread ! Very good job . A bit sad that the S2 branch in DRA didn't make it tho... Or even the bridge between MSB and KWB !

 

Bahnstrecke Bremen - Oldenburg: Revealing the secret behind the barges

Turns out, just when you think you've covered just about everything, one return to the editor later and you find yet another hidden area, this time it's for Bremen-Oldenburg and while it doesn't have a hidden branch or anything like that, it does have something that answers a key question regarding one of the routes most noteworthy features.

What I'm talking about is the drawbridge around Oldenburg, and the fact that you have barges going underneath that the bridge must be raised for. Now many of you might be wondering how DTG was able to achieve this, mainly in regards to the barges passing underneath. Well thanks to the editor, we now have the full answer, and it's simple...

…the barges have their own entire railway network!

I did get a feeling that this might have been a thing, especially when a tiny stub of this was for some reason showing on the map, and I couldn't find where that track was around that area, but it all turned out to be for this.

Admittedly, it's pretty cool seeing all the functions of how the barges work around Oldenburg and how DTG was able to pull it off. Of course it doesn't need to be shown, as it just spoil the whole mechanics of how it works. However, there's a part of me that would love to see this in action with the map uncovered and the barges actually running, probably during some livestream or editor video, but I don't know.

I might not be a branch or anything, but it's still worth bringing up to reveal the mechanics of one of the more noteworthy landmarks on a TSW route.

 

If you manage to get in the Water ( with Godmode Mod maybe), can you Spawn Trains on these tracks like in FreeRoam

 

Just went and tried this and well...

… I don't think anything else needs to be said here.

 

I feel like for Barstow, the reasoning could be for AI trains, the track to the East is the BNSF mainline towards Arizona and its where all the trains in game arrive and depart from at the start or end of the time table (If you follow that IRL more east, you would come across a Marine Depot, and UP's connection to the line in Daggett)

The other line is BNSF's mainline to Mojave where it connects to the UP line to go over Tehachapi, not sure if any AI trains use this at all.

The line from Victorville is a 12 mile branchline that heads out to White Rock Mountain, not sure if DTG ever planned on adding this to the route (Given how poor the scenery is in Cajon, this would of been extra work for not much gameplay)

The line from Hesperia is the Cushenbury branch, which is 30 miles long to a Cement Plant out there, and was probably never on DTG's radar due to its length.

And I doubt that DTG has any AI trains running on either of the 2 branches.

 

I think the reason for this is definitely future proofing. DTG have said that the hardest thing when extending a route is adding more track. Laying the track would allow them to come back and do the scenery at a later date (should they ever choose to use that part of the route). It’s why all the track is there for Toton on Midland Mainline, incase Skyhook would ever consider making the depot usable

 

Weren't people saying that they’d rather only see usesble areas on the map back when lgv was the hot topic? Isn't that why it's so linear?

 

I thought it was after the Oakville fiasco. But yes, at some point DTG started to hide unusable pieces of track on the "9" map.

 

Brighton Main Line: What on earth is that?

Well, another peep into the editor, another hidden track has been discovered, and this time, it's a weird one.

Now I've previous done a thread talking about some of the hidden areas that lie beyond the invisible walls of this route, which you can find via the link here. But that's not what I want to talk about here, what I actually want to talk about is something that is just truly weird, and it's not a branch or anything like that. All I can at this point is simply...

…What is that massive straight piece of track doing just east of Gatwick???

…and I later went into the game if this track actually existed, or if it was actually invisible, and sure enough...

...it did.


A short section of straight track, sandwiched by two giant AI runoffs, located just to the east of Gatwick Airport. To be honest, I have no idea why this is here, or even if it has any general purpose. It probably was something that was used for developmental purposes that was accidently left in the route and if it turns out that it isn't used for anything meaningful, it probably should be removed from the route. But I still love to know what this is doing here. hopefully we can answers for this at some point.

 

A very interesting thread and look forward to what other things you find.

 

Possibly something to do with the planes that spawn overhead there?

 

I doubt it, for two reasons:

1: It's oriented the wrong way. Aircraft are seen flying across the railway, not parallel to it. This is consistent with the real-life runway orientation, which is not-quite perpendicular to the railway.

2: The logical reason to make the aircraft into "trains" would be to put them on a timetable, as is done for the barges in BRO (which also have a switched "flat crossing" with the railway as part of making the drawbridge work). But there's no variation in the frequency of landings with time of day (or night); they repeat at regular intervals, which makes it clear that it's a straightforward animation cycle.

More probably this is a fragment left over from early in the route's development.

 

I didn't watch through all of the editor related streams so I don't know if this was something they mentioned there but:
I have a theory about how a lot of the extra unused trackage shows up in a lot of routes, one name, OpenStreetMap.

I've contributed to the OSM project on and off over the years, and one thing I've realised with it, is just how much detail you can get for so much infrastructure, not just roads. Electricity, clean water supply etc, and importantly railways.
Open data, and people's personal contributions have provided enormous amounts of data that you can easily just grab.
It's not always super accurate, but for a lot of Europe and North America, not only do you have the railway tracks, you have plenty of additional detail such as electrification, safety systems, and even signaling.
I would be surprised DTG doesn't use this resource in some form.
Obviously I don't expect importing tracks from OSM to be a simple copy paste, there will still be plenty of work to set up the signals and pathing etc. But some routes such as Kassel Wurzburg are to me a strong sign they do use OSM.

This would explain why we find such largely detailed yards and sidings, the track would all be in the data they could be importing, and they might as well just leave it there, even if they don't intend to signal it. Though I do find it impressive how much they do bother to setup correctly in routes like Munich.
Additionally, this could explain why we see random bits of heritage/miniature railways appear in places that are out of sight of the mainline.

And if you're ever curious to explore maps of the routes you drive in game, I can definitely recommend checking out https://www.openstreetmap.org/ or https://www.openrailwaymap.org/ for a rendering that is designed to highlight railways (though the website tends to be a bit buggy)
I can also do my little plug and say, if you see anything that looks inaccurate and you have real life knowledge, don't hesitate to contribute to the map!

 

Thank you for this Museum of DTGs inconsistency.

 

I love your posts mate!

Yes I was wondering what happened to track 3. Sherman Hill is a glorious route!!

Hope we can see it one day!

Maybe DTG can do a Nostalgia pack DLC?

Dresden Riesa to get some extra, Sherman Hill to get some extra and Bakerloo as well.

I really love to see the WCML sooner or later.

Shap, and Stoke on Trent as seen in TSC. In their full entirety.

Would love a Paris to Rennes route LGV (I wonder if the length would affect FPS etc or would it be no problem as only routes like NY Trenton have issues due to so much in a small area?).

I hope to see Berlin Leipzig as well as I have the Wittenberg section and with the BR101 scenario (I think by JT?) from Wittenberg it is a freight run to Berlin stopping at places to get bypassed which is really enjoyable.

Thanks for your posts.

I wonder if Dresden Riesa caused FPS issues and that is why they decided to not do the Flughafen. I stopped at one station north of the proper route and explored.

Dresden Riesa is an epic route.

When it was first released I was countered by the SPAD bug as Meissen. But now I can run it, it is epic!

I love everything DTG does and I am sure they need to cut and run sometimes just like us real life drivers do.

There is a limit.

I remember seeing your post on Main Spessart Bahn with the Kassel Wurzberg route.

I hope they can touch up the scenery in Main Spessart Bahn as well as Northern Trans Penine which about 5 miles out of Manchester is needing some attention. It looks quarter finished.

 

Currently with the broken substitution and the "new" OHLE which lets the way look like some 3d object failure in the sky (misplaced fences), its another very very nice route, botched by dtg and cant see me playing any more until at least the subs are working correct.

Wow..., just wow...(this route worked rather bugfree in tsw 2/3 except the pis stuff etc)

 

Excellent work again WonterRail!

Has anyone delved into the MML route as deeply yet?
Judging by the in-game map, there's more than just the spawnable depots to explore.. places like Toton, RoS Power Station, the old Brush facility etc.
Are we blessed with a 100% fully accessible route here?

 

I discovered this somewhat independently today after playing around with god mode and ended up checking every route I own for hidden track.

I'm glad (and suprised!) that I'm not the only on who finds these secret areas fascinating. I don't care for collectibles, but the stuff that they REALLY don't want us to see? Yeah I want to see all of it.

Anyway, thanks for compiling it all here, it was a very interesting read.

 

Hello WonterRail would you be able to search the New Frankfurt S-Bahn DLC for Secrets?

I was just trying to use FreeRoam to Travel in a circle from Mainz to Mainz, and the game wanted to take me out of the map at Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, only to come back at a different Station. I then sent a driverless train through that spot, and it arrived at its destination without any problems.

 

I can't sadly as I don't even own that route right now (and while I will get it eventually, it won't be anytime soon).

 

I'm unsure if this has been mentioned or not, but the Fife Circle line has the entire track to Glasgow.

I think that when they've gone to build the Fife Circle they've just used their existing map from the Edinburgh to Glasgow and just added the Fife Circle bits.

It's possible to ride a train from Edinburgh to Glasgow. There's no scenery at all down that section of the route though.

It is also possible to set a route to almost all of the way to Glasgow. A tiny bit of track which is in the tunnels just outside of the station hasn't been hidden on the map, so it's possible to drive to up to that point.

There's no invisible walls or out of bounds session ending warnings.

 

Seems like interest in this thread has resurged in the past few days and I've got a couple of new ones that I've been meaning to post for while. So here they are.

Berninalinie: The other half of the route

What a fascinating tale this one is, as while we all know that the Bernina Line that Rivet made for TSW was only half of the entire route (From Tirano to the highest point at Ospizio Bernina) it seemed like they had plans to do the entire route as the other half to St. Moritz is still there for all to see (for those who can access the PC editor that is).
Some interesting things to note is that this area isn't blocked off that much. On foot, you can actually walk quite a way along this section from Ospizio Bernina (before encountering an invisible wall, but I'd imagine you would be able to pass through them if you took a past this section) but in free cam, you can actually fly all the way along this section without having to glitch you're camera out of the map. It's also worth mentioning that AI train do use this section to escape the main portion of the route that was done up, making as far as Pontresina before turning around.

One other thing that also interesting to note is that the tracks to Samedan, from both Pontresina and St Mortiz, has also been laid out. This place does have a big depot in real life, which was probably why it was done, but it's interesting to see that Rivet did it, especially when it probably wouldn't have much use other than for depot moves (most services that would use this station would simply terminate at either St Mortiz or Pontresina, without actually going down the main portion of the route itself).

But either way, this is something that definitely needs to be looked into in the future Yes there would be a lot of work to do to bring it up to an accessible state as, while the mountains are all in place, the scenery is practically non-existent once you get a good distance beyond Ospizio Bernina, but it would be worth it in the end to have this route feel practically complete. The only thing would be that a complete journey from St Mortiz to Tirano would then take just over two hours, but you could probably work around that by splitting the services up into two, like what you see with the services on Cajon Pass, Antelope Valley and San Bernardino Lines.

Maybe this is something we won't be seeing anytime soon, but it is something worth keeping in our minds going forward, just in case we do want to see this happen in the future.

 

Bahnstrecke Salzburg - Rosenheim: Little Easter Eggs & an expanded Salzburg

While not in the level of other hidden tracks we've covered here before, this one is still worth sharing as this route has quite a few gems hidden from the map. One being that the tracks for the Chiemsee-Bahn at Priem am Cheimsee, has been laid out in it's entirety.
Now I am aware of that mastery tile that supposedly adds an engine at Priem am Chiemsee (I'm sure someone in the replies will have more info on this) but it does make you wonder if DTG had more plans for this section, as if they wanted to do up the entire line and make it drivable as a small easter egg, similar to what we've seen in Dresden Riesa/Dresden-Chemnitz.

But that's not all, around Traunstien, there's actually alot more trackage leading away from the station towards Mühldorf(Oberbay) & Ruhpolding.

But for me, the most noteworthy one is are Salzburg Hbf. The really noteworthy feature being the tracks for the S1 S-Bahn line leading away northbound and you can just make out the markings for Salzburg Itzling station has also been laid out, even if you can't see it on the in-game map.

Most of these are relatively minor and wouldn't make too much of a difference as to whether they would be shown or not. But it is still fascinating to see them here regardless. Especially knowing that Salzburg has actually got quite a bit more trackage than what is currently shown in the map. At least in that case, it would help make that area look a little more interesting. Plus, this route has loads of little yards that are not accessible, but are still shown on the map and this one is really no different apart from having a few stations marked out.

 

This is an EXTREMELY useful and interesting topic, please continue)

 

I tried going down the Camp Hill line on BCC last night, but it wouldn't let me either on free cam or with an AI driver on a 66.

 

Thanks so much for bumping this thread, I haven't seen it before!
Looking at what lies hidden and dormant on some of those routes leaves me stunned

In one of my first posts here in the forum, right after the release of Salzburg-Rosenheim, I wondered why those many little branch lines along the route haven't been given more attention. They would have added a lot of gameplay and variety to the route overall. Seeing now how much of those routes has actually been modeled ingame already makes it even more baffling and frustrating

Some of the other routes are amazing as well... for example, seeing that KWG already includes literally the whole track between Würzburg and Gemünden and onward to Lohr (with working services!) is just nuts. This would have been THE chance to connect this route with Main-Spessart! What a wasted opportunity.

 

Fife Circle Line: The entire ScotRail Express route is here

This is a rather strange and quite baffling one, because this is something you wouldn't expect to see at all on Fife Circle, but when looking on the editor map...

…the entirety of Edinburgh-Glasgow is here!

Yes, the entire route, hidden away and with all the markings showing where stations, yards and more would be along the route. From having actually explored this area in free cam, there is some scenery along this section to begin with (and Edinburgh Park Station is there) but once you get past the junction at Winchburgh (which connects directly onto Fife Circle) the scenery pretty much disappears. I should also mention that AI trains do use run along this line, as I have seen a few from my explorations of this area (mainly the Class 385, which makes sense as it was the main from this route back in the day).

The fact this was left here indicates that Rivet originally wanted to merge Fife Circle with this route, but abandoned those plans to focus on the main route and eventually on the Leven extension that came after the route released, but left this here just in case they wanted to come back and do this up one day. I also believe (and you lot can back me up on this) that the tracks for that Leven extension have probably existed since this route first came out back in March 2024. It was only just a case of doing up the scenery and adding the services that served this branch line.

But that's not only hidden track you can find here, as there's also the abandoned railway line that leads to the Dockyard at Rosyth.

…and finally, on that aforementioned Leven extension, some of the trackage of the Fife Heritage Railway actually does exist. I think some of it can be seen, but there's clearly a bit more can be seen here compared to the actual in-game map.

I think with those two cases, even though they are not entirely relevant, at least it would be nice to see them on the map, just to point out that they do exist and make those portions seem a bit more interesting than they are now.

As for the Edinburgh-Glasgow section, I don't think we will ever see this section done up in full and be fully accessible on this route. Not only would be a lot of work to bring it up to an accessible (which would mostly be copying and pasting the scenery assets over from ScotRail Express) but also, I find it a bit unnecessary now. It's a bit of a hot take I know and maybe it would be great to see back when this route first came out, but I personally believe that the route-hopping feature that was introduced in TSW5 has rendered the concept of route-merging obsolete. I know it's not the same thing, but why go to all the trouble to try and bring two different routes together when you just travel between the two routes via a portal at Edinburgh Waverley station.

Not to mention that the standalone Edinburgh-Glasgow route already exists and you can go and check that route any time you like, as long as you already have it in your inventory.

 

What I'm seeing is consistent failure to understand the basic principle of "delay is temporary, suck is forever." Personally, I know I would like it very much if most of the above cuts weren't done. Yes, I would be willing to wait extra months until release. Yes, I would also stop waiting for a sale as much. As an example, seeing this version of Sherman Hill, I certainly wouldn't have waited for it to be 70% off. I would've waited until 20-35%
Joking aside, that is still 2+ times the revenue. Further, I believe a significant portion of users would behave similarly, if you would stop rushing routes to release. If you doubt these ideas, do a poll or a focus group or whatever your disgusting marketing machine deems soulless enough to be persuasive.

I mean, some of the cuts are almost half the route, like, what the hell? So many routes could've been so much more than same old boring A-B slogs!

What a waste. Of both potential and money.

Ah, who am I kidding. Judging by the transparently greedy display that was rushing 7 DLCs out the door in like 9 weeks ahead of the end of the financial year just 2 months ago, these practices will continue until the whole thing implodes under the weight of its own constant mismanagement.

 

This is the last one I'm doing for now, but boy is it a big one...

Kinzigtalbahn: The tip of the (Frankfurter) Iceberg

You know, in all the years I've been doing this, trying to explore the hidden tracks beyond a TSW route, this has got to be most insane one that I've ever come across. I know going into this that there might be a case that there could be some hidden tracks on the route especially around Frankfurt Hbf, but little could prepare me for what I was about to discover here, and anyone who's already found this will know exactly what I'm taking about.

To understand what I'm about to show you here, let me give you a comparison. This down below is how the section between Frankfurt & Hanau currently looks like in-game right now. It may be straight forward with just a straight A to B between the two station, but that's barely half of all the trackage that can be found in this area...

This is the actual complete track map for that Frankfurt-Hanau area

As you can see, it's absolutely huge. It covers an area from Kahl (Main) in the east, the alternate line that heads via Frankfurt Ost and yards, the S-Bahn lines around Offenbach and the underground portion at Frankfurt and even the area around Frankfurt Hbf is enormous, covering an area that goes right down to the yards at the far western end, with plenty of little tracks connecting in-between that also cover a vast distance.

Like I said earlier, I did have a hunch that there might be some hidden tracks here, especially when the S-Bahn line to Hanau hadn't been done up in full, but when I first saw this, I was just shocked. I couldn't actually believe that this much trackage actually existed, even though most of it is covered over in-game and keep in mind, I hadn't see anything from the forums about this going in this. Me going into the editor map was the first time I ever saw this and I was left blown away by what I saw here.

Now at this point, I want to make it clear that I believe, not everything you see here needs to done up and made fully accessible in the future. The area around Kahl (Main) is AI runoffs and I don't think would add much to the route other than for having another place to explore. But there are two areas that I think would be worth doing up in future. These areas are the underground S-Bahn lines around Frankfurt and Offenbach and the alternate lines and yards at Frankfurt Ost. With the former, it would help make the S-Bahn part of the route feel a lot more complete, as right now, I does feel weird that you have to start/end at Offenbach which is like halfway to Hanau Hbf already and the later because there is a passenger service that runs on this section RE/RB58 (even if it requires a layer such as a BR 425) and most importantly, freight trains use this section and can be seen in yard at Frankfurt Ost.

Do I think this will happen anytime soon? Probably not. But it is still something that it worth bringing up as like I said, adding these areas would help makes this route feel a lot more complete. Plus, I doesn't take away from just how mind blowing the trackage around this area is. I don't even this post can can really do this place justice, I highly recommend you go out there and explore these areas for yourself. I might even come back here one day and give these areas a proper explore to see how these areas really area and how much work would it take to get them up to an accessible state.