Somewhat unrelated, but I just watched the part of the roadmap stream discussing this route and the way Matt pronounced "Radyr" and "Penarth" made my ears bleed. Wish I was there live so I could have at least tried to correct him in the chat.
That's mostly an unbranaded ATW livery, so the licensing may be tricky. I'd imagine TFW don't want to be associated with those infamously horrid things. Then again, the FGW HST is back in some capacity so it's certainly not impossible. I'd say it's more likely than the 231 which I must repeat again is only on this network of lines temporarily until the 756s are ready.
They got rid of them almost as soon as they inherited the 143’s. I don’t see DTG doing a new TOC in TSW & being allowed/choosing to do the first route with a train that never made into their livery.
When it gets nearer the time, I will endeavour to make sure i've had some pronunciation training from someone qualified
"As soon as" is hyperbole. Transport for Wales started in 2018 and the last Pacers weren't gone until 2021. It technically moved to operator of last resort in that time but the branding stayed the same. Could be worse, when my father came over to this part of the country he thought "Abercynon" (pronounced Aber-cuh-nun) was pronounced "Aber-sih-nun". To this day we never let him hear the end of it.
DTG Matt I think James might be volunteering. james64 You sound like you’re volunteering to help Matt.
TFW (Wales & Borders) & TFW (Rail Limited) are 2 separate things. It’s like Virgin & Avanti. The original franchisee (Amey) didn’t have the resources ( and likely, intention) to make significant changes, it was the OLR which did that under todays TFW, which did indeed get rid of the 143’s almost as soon as Amey was out the picture.
Personally I've had my fill of Pacers (for the time being!) from the excellent Blackpool Branches. I'd much rather see this set current day with a reworked 150 and a new 153 (including suspension!). In addition, given the general challenges of licensing non-current privatised operators (I think EMT is the only one we've had that was historic at the time of creation), the 150 and 153 should be significantly more reusable in the future for other routes, both in TfW and other guises.
A Class 150/2 instead of a Class 142/143 would seem more likely given it allows DTG to step in and improve Rivet's version, which given the community's repeated consensus these last few years is substandard to say the least. That may not rule out a Class 142/143 layering onto the route as a follow-on DLC however, just that the Class 150 and Class 153 are arguably more useful at this point. It would be interesting to know whether DTG have already decided what rolling stock to include with the route, or whether they are looking for feedback pre-decision by announcing this route release earlier into the development cycle.
Did/do the Class 153's run as single units on this route? I looked on realtime trains this week and all the ones i saw were doubled up units. would personally love to see single Class 153's in timetable mode for this route (i know i'm getting ahead of myself!), as there isn't a single uk route in the game that uses a single, one-car passenger train.. would love to see it on Cardiff Network
I know that, but unlike Virgin and Avanti the branding remained exactly the same and I doubt many passengers noticed the change. My point is that it could still be considered a Transport for Wales route if set around 2019. They did up until fairly recently when accessiblity legislation mandated they run in pairs (I think anyway). I can't remember precisely when the change happened.
I must say it would be nice to see the Cummins variant of the Pacer get some increased use, obviously with the other modern additions. Though, admittedly not as nice as a well done class 150/2 which doesn't sound like the mrs' tumble drier. As long as they steer clear of the Stadler things I'll certainly be keeping a firm eye on this one.
AFAIK the Class 153 are fully PRM compliant as they often run the Shrewsbury-Crewe service as a single unit. The only reason I would think that they would run together is to meet demand.
that's interesting to know, in that case should the class 153 be included with this route i hope timetable mode has them as single units (obviously happy to see them as doubled up units for the variety, but having the single one-car units would be great!)
I would imagine the Cardiff Bay shuttle would be a single Class 153 unit, as mentioned above Transport for Wales are the only operator I believe to have modified their Class 153 fleet to be PRM-compliant allowing them to operate as single units.
150s aren't unheard of on the bay shuttles, so they don't need to appear on the route solely for those services. I'm not too sure why all the valleys 153s are in pairs then. I can't wait to see the back of them though. They're fine enough units but like the 150s they're past their best and need to go, unlike the 150s however TfW don't have plans to replace them, at least on the HoW line.
Would also be interesting to know what, if any, ai services would be present across this network, including if longer distance transport for wales services could be included as ai around cardiff central station using whichever diesel traction ends up coming with this route (for example class 150/153 ai services) along with the potential for long distance class 43 gwr hst services operating between swansea and london
Changed last June and as Coryton now runs to Penarth not Radyr and Caerphilly to Penarth they’ve been using 2 153s Aberdare trains now use the city line and go back up to Merthyr Tydfil via Cathays 150s for Merthyr Tydfil Aberdare and Treherbert to Cardiff 756 or 231 for Rhymney Bargoed to Barry Island and Bridgend
Been thinking about this route for the last few days. As much as I like the concept of short DMU network style routes. It would also be much nicer to have at least one or two complete short commuter lines Cathcart being a prime example, it could have been retrofitted with the Paisley Canal line to add a 4th complete service. Cardiff (hopefully) could be pushed slightly further to include Barry Island so that you have Corytown, cardiff bay, Penarth and Barry services complete
Just including Cardiff Bay would have been an easy win. Not too much work involved in creating that little branch.
Where are you getting this information from? I checked route map and I don’t see it on there. I hope you’re right though.
I can see this being a route with either 150s, 153s or 143s. Not 100% sure what else there could be without having a CPBC which Matt said they wanted to avoid
DTG won't promote another route with a Pacer, they already did that with Blackpool Branches, so I can't see there being a class 143. Class 150 is a Rivet Games asset, so DTG would have to pay them to use it, or give them a cut of route sales, so I can't see them doing that either. My money is on a class 175 "mobile bonfire".
A working multiple unit is on a completely different level to a few trees. Developers don't give their loco models away for free, when Skyhook Games and DTG charge £14.99 for them as DLC.
from what i can find, from the TfW pool, the majority of traffic has been 150, 153, and smattering of 769. Personally I love the 175 but I don't think they have been used (or even suitable) for the valleys services shown on most of the route map.
There are two variants of TFW Class 153. The 153/3 are PRM compliant, the 153/9 are not. So a 153/3 can run on its own, a 153/9 must run with a 153/3. I don't think TFW have more than 20 153's so something else would be needed to ensure there are enough trains for the timetable.
To be honest, the 175s don't actually do anything now, as they were all replaced by class 197s last year... They're less likely to spontaneously combust and burn the whole station down.
That one will be heading to Newport and then on towards Shrewsbury (or possibly Ebbw Vale or Cheltenham).
Well, Rivet Games exist to make money, just like any other developer. So if you watch DTG and Skyhook games selling loco DLC at £14.99, are you really going to say "Here, take my class 150 and add it to your new DLC route, then charge customers £29.99 for it. I don't want paying anything at all. It's all good." If anything, Rivet would sell their class 150 as a DLC add-on, like Skyhook are selling their rebranded class 158 DLC for Fife Circle.
Pretty sure Rivet have used DTG’s locos before (didn’t they do a WCL steam DLC using DTG’s steam loco). Rivet work closely enough to DTG for it to be likely IMO, the same way TSG did a new 101. It’s not like DTG is taking the RR 150 and using it 1:1, it’ll need redoing. There really isn’t many options for a TFW take on this route, considering the way the content has been described so far, we’re getting 2 locos. A 769 is pretty unlikely, as is a 143. That only leaves you with a 150, 153 & 231.
