Having had a look at the platform signs (e.g. Platform 1 at Gospel Oak), the signs list ALL stations on both the GOBLIN and North London Lines; with AI services departing Gospel Oak either to Richmond / Clapham Junction or to Stratford. I know the usual DTG caveat of "if it's not in the Roadmap, we're not working on it" applies, but could DTG be planning to add the North London Line as a future DLC? Linking existing routes was one of the possible proposals in the recent survey, but this does not imply that DTG will be linking existing routes as a future DLC strategy. We know that the upcoming Riverside Line DLC will link Cajon Pass with Antelope Valley; whilst Glasgow-Edinburgh effectively links Fife Circle with Cathcart Circle (if you conveniently ignore Glasgow Queen's Street and Glasgow Central are separate stations). The North London Line could link Brighton Main Line (at Clapham Junction) with the GOBLIN (at Gospel Oak). It makes you wonder whether a possible future Nottingham - Grantham (or similar) DLC would be used to link Midland Main Line with the East Coast Main Line. Similarly, either Brighton Main Line or East Coastway could be further linked by including the often requested Wivelsfield - Lewes branch extension (although Brighton is a terminus for both routes). What other linked routes do you think could be created?
The thing to consider in the case of GOBLIN is the level of detail in it was immense, and they made a constant point of it being a fully TfL licensed product, I think we all now see why that was. Linking routes is a good point to bring up though, the survey in their own words was consolidating all kinds of different suggestions from the forums into one place to get a better understanding of the collective wishes of the whole community, and it just so happens that an upcoming route is doing exactly what that suggestion was about. With that said, here are some ideas I came up with. They're not necessarily suggestions I would personally make, they're just routes that I thought of which would feel plausible for DTG to do given recent approaches, which specifically connect two existing routes together. First and foremost, Manchester - Liverpool, the original passenger railway. TSC already had it, although that was the secondary route and not the original 1830 one. I would quite wish for the original, not in 1830 obviously but the route itself in another setting. BR Blue or modern. And I don't suggest modern very often at all, but in this case expanding the Northern fleet from just the 323 would be pretty nice. As for whether it ends at Victoria or Piccadilly on the Manchester end, I'm indifferent to either option as in the case of either time period, either one could be either just reused or displayed in an alternate time period to the original. Eastbourne - Ashford would be one good option, connecting ECW with SEHS. Not a whole lot of freight action perhaps, but this is one of (I think, correct me if I'm wrong) only two routes left in the southern/southeastern region which still use diesel power. They have the Southern 171s down there, perfect for DTG's apparent new approach to only one new unit per new route. Southern 377s fill up the line from Eastbourne to Hastings with extra AI going back on the ECW route, and Southeastern AI populates Ashford. The other half of the Chatham Main Line, connecting SEHS at Dartford to BML at London Victoria. Vast majority of the Southeastern fleet is already available, so I would reckon the new train for this one would probably end up being a 376. This one is more doubtful though, as I believe DTG (or at least Matt) said that after TSW2-3 was so focused on it they are giving the 3rd rail regions a break for a bit. Leister to Peterborough, joining MML and ECML. It's on the shorter end with not a whole lot of interesting things going on, but it could be plausible all the same. This route is operated by EMR and LNER, so train-wise a couple of approaches could be taken to deal with the fact that ECML is set in the present day while MML is 2016. In both approaches the new train for this route is LNER. First option, you set the route in 2019 so the EMT branding is still accurate and release it with a reskinned LNER HST. This however has the one downside that there will be no Azuma AI in Peterborough, so it isn't the preferable option IMO. The second option, which ECML pretty much already did anyway, is to overlook the EMT branding (it's easy to pass it off as units yet to be rebranded) and use the route as an ample opportunity to finally get the Class 800 into the game, and I think that would easily drive up the value of the otherwise unremarkable route. Manchester - Doncaster, via Sheffield. Oddly specific choice? Maybe, but there's a reason. This would not only join Manchester Piccadilly from Glossop to Doncaster from ECML, but also features Chinley in the middle of it from PFR. Once again, a good opportunity to show the same station in two different time periods. Trains for this one I believe would most likely be a Northern DMU (A new one and a reskinned 158 perhaps?), however the route is also operated by EMR as far as Sheffield and TransPennine throughout. Those were all the ones I could come up with off the top of my head. I'm sure there are more of them, maybe even far more plausible or interesting than mine.
It's a pity that "this level of detail" also allowed the SAME sign (which has either Blackhorse Road or Woodgrange Park highlighted within a dark blue rectangle as the current station) to be copied and pasted to other stations along the route. DTG have incorporated hints of future routes before, e.g. the D on the ticket on Nahverkher Dresden hinting at Tharandter Rampe, or the image of Salzburg station from Bahnstrecke Salzburg-Roseinheim in the route poster collectibles for S-bahn Vorarlberg.
Sadly, it took DTG quite a while (TSW4 launch?) after the release of the Thameslink BR Class 700/0 before the Class 700 stop markers were finally available on SEHS.
because the car stop signs on the real station say that As for the "North London" on the signs - again that's shown in real life, so it's just like that in game because it's based on reality (photo taken from the research trip I did for TS1 )
I assume that your photo was taken in Wanstead Park station, due to the dark blue rectangle around the station name. At least on PS4 (I'm not sure about other platforms), the sign (including the position of the dark blue rectangle) does not change at quite a few stations along the route. The sign for Platform 1 at Gospel Oak has a partial GOBLIN route (but full North London Line) with the blue rectangle at either Blackhorse Road or Woodgrange Park (the full route to Barking Riverside is not shown). I was expecting, perhaps, incorrectly, based on London Underground knowledge, that the displayed length of GOBLIN route in the sign would be getting shorter as you get closer to Gospel Oak, and that the rectangle would also move accordingly. It does appear that some form of copying and pasting has occurred (as commented by others in the Feedback forums).
Yep Wanstead Park (I did have a photo of the other one, but only shows Barking (because Barking Riverside didn't exist at the time, nor did OHLE and it was still Class 172s when i took the photo ) - I mean i can only comment on the photos that i took - which do show the north london line on those boards .
This could be nothing there was this specific speculation for the class 380 stop markers on Cathcart yet nothing surfaced
