hello! I believe that dovetail should make a train route based somewhere in australia such as the Transperth routes or maybe the gahn as a long distance train or even Vline. Let me know your thoughts on this please
There's an awful lot of talk on the Steam TS forum about this. It seems unlikely that Dovetail will be making any Australian routes partly because of distance (Dovetail is UK based) but also because of licencing- railway liveries, logos and branding are covered by trademark and copyright laws and permission is needed to reproduce them. There are preserved lines which would not have the same issues and would probably welcome the publicity and there's no reason an Australian developer couldn't have a go obviating the distance (somewhat though everywhere in Oz is at least 250km away from everywhere else) but none seem to be interested. Some keen hobbyists are having a go at routes but it's a lot of work for one bloke in his spare time.
I'd be interested in getting involved in a project and share the work. How would I go about finding these people? I don't understand the comment about branding though, that is true for any train modeled. Why would Australia be any different? As to the comment (somewhat though everywhere in Oz is at least 250km away from everywhere else) apart from being trite, it is quite inaccurate. There are a lot of Rural Victorian and NSW lines that represent no more challenge than many US lines in this respect, not to mention the transit systems in the larger cities. I am new to this digital version of RailRoading, having spent decades modeling in Z scale on table tops, what would be involved in doing a community project of a specific railway? Are there resources available to learn how to do this?
Australia is no different regarding Branding - there are some companies that DTG has a License with to create Digital Models and other companies refuse a License or add restrictions. A good example is the BNSF Railroad in the US - they allow DTG to create locos and wagons with the BNSF Logo but have a restriction that the models can only be sold to somebody in the USofA. As JJTimothy pointed out with the company being UK based getting the required info for an Australian route is not easy. But there are add-ons in the game that show routes in China, Japan & South Africa - these were made with the Partner Program and if people in Australia were to make a route, rolling stock, buildings and other assets then they might be able to release it thru DTG. Peter
There's a chap who posts occasional updates on an Australian route he's building in the Steam forums. I don't remember a name but hopefully a search would turn him up and perhaps you could contact him through there if it's a project you're interested in. It wouldn't I suppose but some TOCs are less cooperative than others- BNSF is one example that crops up regularly in discussions. Ah!- I was aiming for facetious... I think the branch line from Goulburn, with its railway museum, past the ATC to Bombala would make an interesting DLC but it would take stamina- it's all but 200 miles long! Cooma and Bombala had their own engine sheds and sleeping quarters for train crews because the journey one way would take up most of if not all of a shift.
