Gwe Remaster: Appreciation And Discussion Thread

I've got to say I'm simply blown away with the amount of work that has gone into remastering this very popular route. It looks like a brand new Train Sim World 5 route given the amount of work gone into it, as well as all the extra details added to the scenery.

I'm looking forward to being able to experiencing a bustling Great Western Mainline, with a mix of First Great Western purple and Great Western Railway green HSTs and 166s passing every few minutes. Not to mention to addition of the new GWR Class 387 Hayes and Harlington services, as well as the AI only GX Class 387s flying up and down the line. Extra freight services is another bonus coming to this route. Finally, London Underground stock will be seen at certain stations doing their own thing.

Great Western Express was one of the very first Train Sim World routes to feature passenger trains and NPCs, so it's great to see this route being bought up to modern standards, in terms of both visuals and timetable expectations.

Thank you all for those that have worked on this route and made it all come together. A lot of people are thoroughly excited to get their hands on it as the route now has a new burst of life.

(PC modders, do your thing )

Some screenshots below:

 

Another screenshot

I have to say, this one in particular looks incredible!

 

I haven't played it for ages due to the timetable. It will be like a new route. Glad the 387 is being layered in.

 

I mean, wow, what an incredible result. Liam is a real legend. This route might finally start to feel like the route it always should have been. As a local to the eastern end of the route, I am blown away by some of what I've seen, especially as I have been advocating such an upgrade for so long now. This project alone made dovetail direct worth it and when tied in with all of the other UK content, I will be busy for months to come. Thanks Liam.

 

I agree, wonderful remaster.

Liam really deserves a BR 319 in-game for all his efforts.

 

I hadn't expected this to get announced. I'm very appreciative of the GWE remaster, and in particular the addition of a few more trains in "like" branding. It will be enough to be more enjoyable.

I'm not sure if this has been asked, but will the blue HST have the same engine as the existing GWR set, or are we able to get an earlier screamer engine in it?

 

No Valenta at this time.

 

It's the First Great Western purple HST, which had the same MTU engine as the Great Western Railway HST, so no change in engine type for this one.

 

I did not expect so much to happen...

FOR FREE! I MEAN WHAT?

 

I'd personally love the Midland Mainline route during its mixed traction era phase. So Class 319s, Class 377s/387s and 700s all running alongside each other. The EMT HST can also be layered in too, with the Class 222 Meridian being sold as a separate DLC. It's my local line and have been travelling up and down in since the days of the Midland Mainline HSTs and Thameslink 319s were in operation on it.

(Please make this happen one day, DTG )

 

Will all stock in the GWE remaster have the GWE branding removed or will the legacy stock still retain it?

Basically, will the existing 166 and HST still carry GWR branding in the remaster?

 

It's on par with a brand new TSW 5 route, or perhaps even better, and all for FREE!. The amount of work that has gone into upgrading the scenery, as well as all the extra trains and services, is simply phenomenal.

Hands down to all of those that have made this happen. I know its been in development for a long time now but it has been well worth the wait!

 

So this remaster will enable you to see the older FGW purple liveried Class 165s, 166s and HSTs alongside the current green Great Western Railway rolling stock. So a real mixed bag in terms of variety and what to see whilst driving.

 

the GWR branding will still be on the Class 166 and HST.

 

The amount of work put in to this remaster is just incredible. Thank you to all involved for making it happen.

 

Looking forward to thid

 

There was already a Thread for this...
https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/gwr-remaster.83726/unread

 

Yes must agree, this is certainly going to be something even more special than it is already. It will be an excellent route, with an even wider range of variety. Many, many thanks to Liam & Co.

 

Will I actually get this if I just take the free upgrade?
Thanks

 

Yes

 

Did gwr ever run these units unbranded in the time between change over?

 

Alright I get it, DTG wants me to barricade myself at home and spend hours and hours on this route !

I enjoyed a lot this route when it came out first with TSW OG but throughout the time, I stopped playing it but now it’ll be the same as with the WSR remastered.

A big thanks to everyone involved in that remaster !

 

The timetable should feel busy now

 

Yes I think it will keepbe going until the steam Christmas sale.

 

Not the HSTs but there were a few 166s that ran like that, and for quite some time too albeit not on this line. 166211 was still in unbranded blue as recently as last year. May still be for all I know although GWR have finally gotten round to refurbishing their Networker fleet so maybe not anymore.

Will we be able to completely switch off the the GWR Green livery for the HSTs? There were barely any of them wearing the green livery in this period so I'd rather have them all be blue.

 

This is down to people being relentless and on the case with Dovetail, so well done the community for speaking up, getting the notion through that if upgrading to a new UE engine, anything revamped should be included with the base update; not paying again for the same thing.
Looks impressive, hopefully means now they can add an extension to it *Bristol* Cough, and to say they can’t do extensions is tired. WELL DONE COMMUNITY! About time, Dovetail!!

 

Maybe a stupid question but can someone explain the unbranded trains?

 

What do you want explaining?

 

FGW aren't around to grant permission for their livery on the HST.
GWR don't "exist" anymore so can't grant permission to brand the 387.

 

When I found out about the remaster I fell off my chair. I've always loved this route. Probably because it's one of the three TSW1 original routes! Or simply because it introduced HST into the game... I'm a veteran TSW player! I still remember (when I started, in 2018) both 43 and 166 were also present in the First branded livery! The quality of the remaster is incredible! There will also be a decent timetable, finally! Actually, can't wait for this!

 

what do you mean by GWR don’t “exist”?

 

Terrible explanation. First Great Western rebranded to GWR, and the reason why they are debranded for this is because when they rebranded irl it was happening during development and so the trains for this DLC had to be re-liveried at the request of First Group, with the previous liveried stock left unused. Understandably they wouldn't want to have outdated branding representing them. More so apparently First Group have become difficult to work with in getting the license from them.

 

So I'm not confused that this has become in some way an imaginary route. Not that I mind at all but I was expecting much fuzz about that as normally a wrong number on a train can already lead to hysteria

 

Always loved GWE. It is a great route that I know well so the update is welcome but I have some trepidation.

I got the original Cathcart Circle for TSW2 on the PS5 and rarely play it because of performance issues, stutters and frame rate drops.

When I finally updated to TSW4 (Deluxe for £7.99 in recent PS sales ) I was able to access the new upgraded version of Cathcart for free. Unfortunately the performance issues were every bit as bad as the older version and I believe in some places even worse. Whilst I appreciate the work done on the route upgrade it is still one that I rarely play because the stuttering destroys immersion and the enjoyment factor takes a nose dive.

My real fear is that GWE currently runs very smoothly but when updated on TSW5 will have the performance issues and stutters that many other routes are blighted with. That would be a real tragedy and would mean me rolling back to the TSW4 or TSW2 version. (TSW3 was always a non starter!)

Still, one to look forward to. When DTG did an upgrade to East Coastway the results were a spectacular improvement with little to no performance hits so fingers crossed with GWE.

 

I'm so sorry, I had it in my head that GWR had gone to operator of last resort hence the "exist" in quotes, but this is definitely not the case.

 

Looking forward to it, but has the signalling been enhanced, i.e approach control implemented?

 

I also started in 2018 i got the frist ps4 edition i think the route i played was gwe

 

I'm honestly really happy to see that the DB Cargo Red 66 will finally have it's sounds and all that stuff updated.. long overdue, the sounds for that 66 (and the EWS one) are awful - hopefully it'll be available to use on other routes now aswell, though if not; the WCML one will I'm sure.

 

Ah good, glad to hear that! Yeah, it always annoyed me a bit - since the normal EWS Maroon shed gets quite repetitive after a while so having a mix of Maroon and Red now will be great!
Any idea when the route remaster will be available, I assume it'll be after TSW5 releases?

 

Representing First Great Western who, well, don't exist anymore.

I still believe GWE excluded the FGW liveries in the release build because they wanted to distance themselves from the troubled life of the FGW brand; with GWR a "fresh start."

Obviously, First can't do much about a blue train with pink doors, so long as their logo isn't there. (Which, I assume, is why the DfT can't just give the license, because the First logo is part of the FGW logo.)

So, yeah; mostly just to give a bit of variety while dodging a licensing issue.

 

Ah okay, didn't think it would be before TSW5. Thanks for letting me know that much anyway, looking forward to it once it is released!!
Just to say it in advance; you (and anyone helping if there were others) have done an amazing job on this - well done!

 

Looks really great.

 

Great Western Express, it just got even better. CANNOT WAIT!

 

Nice to see a remaster is underway. I hope however the AWS magnets for speed reduction ahead of diverging junctions will be revisited. In some places the in-cab warning annoyingly activates even if the points are set for the straight through route (no speed reduction).

 

Im super excited for this

 

Every new screenshot shows how much work has been done. This route now seems so much more realistic and I look forward to each new batch of images. Once again Liam, many many thanks.