I have been making this route suggestion for over a year now. I'm as happy as I am disappointed. On the one hand, I'm happy to have part of it. On the other hand, the fact that we have Cardiff here probably means we never will get the valley lines further north, and that feels like a major loss especially for Merthyr.
So will the timetable be the new one: Coryton to Penarth Radyr to Cardiff Bay via Cathays Radyr via city line to Radyr via Cathays
The goal with this route was to have something different - a response to the cries of "ugh more one handed EMU's", and the lack of a network style route in the UK. As it is, it stands at 19 stations which is pretty weighty. Being a network route you dont have any single long journey, but lots of different ones doing different things. Being focused around Cardiff, it should be pretty busy throughout, and having shorter journeys means you've got end-to-end type operations going on and you can chop and change amongst all the traffic. It's probably what i'm most looking forward to, both for the traction and for the different experience. I hope you'll give it a fair crack and see how it turns out and then we can take the feedback to figure out how we progress, both in Wales, and also with these kinds of routes in general. Matt.
I think it will succeed in all of the above. Beyond the route itself, I just hope that it won't block the possibility of a route into the valleys from happening. Previously it did look as though the same bit of track would rarely be done twice, although WCML-S with half the Bakerloo line present does seem to prove otherwise. But in regards to having a proper UK network with diesel power on it, I am thrilled and seriously looking forward to it. And being in the region my early childhood was spent is a plus.
Despite my reservations, as a former ATW Duty Control Manager (before jumping ship to NR in 2006), I've got to have this. Certainly a very intensive service as I know from my days in Swindon when covering the VSTP desk on spare days or overtime, they were still doing schedules for Wales and most of the daytime trains were on 3 minute headway coming through Cardiff Queen Street with very little scope for any additional moves. Additional tamper out of Cathays to Shrewsbury - forget it! The Valley Controllers also had to be fairly brutal when it came to managing disruption, too.
Anything is possible. No plans yet, I want to see how this does, but I'm just happy Wales is on the plan (and the track is all down!). Matt.
After five decades living in the UK, I am still no wiser. The whole "beans on toast" thing still blows my mind.
Challenge with Wales is that many of the more scenic routes have a very sparse service. Central Wales would be great, but four trains a day in each direction aren’t going to appeal. North Wales Coast always popular, as we know especially from MSTS. Swansea into West Wales maybe has potential too.
Length is not the goal here, its having multiple intersecting lines to form a network. I would imagine if you added all the different lines up, the mileage would come out about the same as a regular route. Take a long rectangle and count its surface area. Now squish that down and make it into a circle. It looks smaller but the surface area is still the same.
It's going to be a challenge to make, for sure, this is not an "easy option". One of the other challenges with a network route, is that they dont have that long satisfying drive - instead it's a bunch of small drives. If the majority consensus on its launch is that people miss the long straight route and wish for that, then that will steer future dev away from network routes. Please try to like network routes, I love them to bits, but they're much harder for some to see as a fair equivalent Matt.
Hamburg or Berlin S-Bahn Networks want Sell better i think with multiple Lines, if it’s the Full Route and Not Cut. Full end to end drives are better as Short Routes.
Have you ever considered writing these things as suggestions rather than flooding threads of stuff you don't like with repeating posts of negativity?
Just wondered does the Welsh route come straight with TSW5 when its released or will it be an add on later down the line
for what it's worth, i'm really looking forward to this Cardiff Network route just as much as the main WCML South offering, if not even slightly more so! i was literally considering making a suggestion thread for this route, as i personally really wanted a UK network-style route, set in the modern era, with diesel only traction (no overhead wires everywhere!) with ideally at least 3 branch lines extending out of a central area.. this ticks all my boxes! i've thought to myself lately that having a UK network like this would probably be best based in the Norwich area, or the Cardiff area.. so i'm buzzing for this route! can't wait to find out what traction will be included with this (i'm personally hoping for class 153) and really can't wait to find out when this will be released I'm just relieved i have WCML south to keep me busy until this Cardiff Network eventually comes out! i love the longer express routes (ECML is my favourite to date, and my main wish is for that to one day be extended from Doncaster to York), but there's absolutely a place for network routes like this new Cardiff offering but overall Matt this route idea is a major positive for the game, and for sure please consider Network style, modern- era, diesel traction UK routes just like these for future.. you can just take my money now if you do!
I think it'll be huge fun! I'm in. Really well done on the launch too. Polished, in tune with the feedback, bringing people back on board, and your comments explaining stuff on here and other threads has been bang on point. Credit where its due.
I guess it won't be the Cardiff General I remember from the 70s with Westerns, Hymeks, and double headed 37s on iron ore trains then.
I definitely hope for a hst, but I also want to see a lot if trains just like the frankfurt route. Having a big timetable with the hst will make me the most happiest person in the world
I definitely support the idea of network routes to give a contrast to the longer runs. Several come to mind… more could certainly be done with Glasgow, Birmingham and Manchester already in the game. Newcastle has scope either the Metro or diesel routes that preceded it. Merseyrail another option. Even Bristol, subject to licensing could do a small network, Weston, Severn Beach, maybe out to Bath and up to Bristol Parkway and Patchway.
As a Cardiff Mainline/ Valleys Signaller, I’m looking forward to it! To have Wales represented (even in this city network style) has been overdue for quite a while, so I’m definitely optimistic to see how this turns out - for me, day one purchase.
Seconded. I’d even stretch as far as to say the Exeter area could be a future example of a ‘Network’ route too, perhaps - a little more spread out however!
I think it will be nice to have a network style route. That way there's some variety in services and where you go to rather than just A-B-A. Wales will be a great addition to TSW5. Just a shame there's no going to Barry Island.
I'm not to familiar with Welsh routes. Could someone give me an idea of what the longest end to end part of the will be vs the shortest part to drive on the route (in miles).
From the roadmap I found this and it would look like this on National Rail's map ( game route inside the red circle) They also mentioned Transport for Wales Diesel Multiple Units, so it hints 150 and 153. DTG may make Class 153 and use Rivet's 150 but it rquired a major upgrade and improvement since it has some physic and sound issue. Hope that we can see 143, Tfw used it for a short time.
I'm not interested in Wales / Cardiff, but the network style of the route with many possibilites to drive and not only straight A to B seems pretty interesting. Maybe I'll give it a chance some timev
I like both Wales and network routes. My preference is long high speed runs, but shorter runs with multiple stops also have a place. Sometimes time is limited and I think some of the shorter runs in this DLC will be perfect when I don’t have so much time. Really looking forward to it.
Such a shame that DTG didn't choose to go to Pontypridd in the north and Barry Island in the south. These 2 additions would have given a huge amount of additional game play for not a massive amount of additional mileage. Personally I would have paid £10 more to have these few extra miles in game as they are perfect for scenario creation.
I personally think they should have prioritised including the valleys, not just because it would provide a more substantial run but also because it would feel more uniquely Welsh. I know I'm biased because I'm a local, but it just feels like such a missed opportunity to not go to Merthyr, considering it's railway significance.
Got to agree with this, if it’s not too late to amend the scope of the route should be considered. At the least go to Barry Island.
Please don't let rivet do the 150 again I think it does run on Welsh lines the one on WCL is a disaster and still hasnt been fixed after 2 years hopefully Dovetail do it this time
I'm hoping Heath (High Level) and Cogan stations are included, as they are very close to the edge of the map, but they aren't mentioned in the route map.
Shame it doesn’t go a little further east and into the docks for some freight but appreciate that’s not the purpose of this route.
I like that this route isn't a one handled emu. Looks like DTG are noting feedback from us. I enjoy driving them but there are rather a lot of them on linear routes, this answers both feedback.
Thanks for the map, it looks like DTG made sensible choices as to which bits to include and which to cut, ideally we would have carried on down to Barry Island but that's another 7 stations and quite a lot of unique scenery so I can see why they didn't.
I doubt we'll hear more about this route until it's announcement. It's definitely quite aways away in terms on development