Not using Rail 200 and growing interest in pioneer railways as a marketing initiative for TSW6 seems a bit of a missed opportunity. Wouldn't it be fantastic if we could have a creative recreation of the Stockton and Darlington in 1825 or the later Liverpool and Manchester Railway? Locomotion No1 or Stephenson's Rocket would be a change from all those EMUs, and represent a new challenge for developers and players alike. Okay, so it couldn't be 100 per cent accurate but there is a huge amount of data and historical information out there. I do think this era has a following - Hornby's models of this era have sold very well indeed.
A nice idea but I don’t think it would really work as dlc. Spirit to steam for example was a big challenge and that route got mixed reactions, I think this would be a lot of work for nothing. Let’s consider: -Locomotives: Sure Locomotion No.1 and Rocket are both historically very important but outside of that are they that popular? How engaging would these be to drive because in actual monetary service they never when faster than 15-20mph, who wants to drive 25-30 mile routes at 15mph? -Scenery: Outside of paintings how will DTG accurately represent early 19th Northern England as well as obviously the track plan, line-side scenery etc? -Timetables & gameplay: What would this look like? Stockton - Darlington never had a proper timetable and was more of a freight line. -Signalling: Semaphore signals arrived in the early 1840s, back then there would’ve been people with flags along the track, how would this work?
They could have created something within a museum setting, similar to Beamish (or the Crich Tramway with its pseudo period street setting) which would have contained the drive time to a realistic length but given something for us to enjoy.
The challenge would be to keep the steam pressure up, manage gradients with little power and careful braking with what amounted to loose coupled stock. They could even do the three locos from the Rainhill Trials and challenge players to rewrite history. Was Rocket the best or just lucky on the day? Imagine how interesting it would be to pass through a 1820s or 1830s landscape at the dawn of the modern industrial age. That's a lot more appealing.g to me than riding the trains I ride every day through London.
Rail 200 includes 140 years of active steam power in the uk, that’s a lot of history and motive power development, it deserves some effort from DTG. Perhaps they'll release a Rail 200 bundle for TSW6, but the OP is correct, its looking like a big missed opportunity
Ngl, calling Railway 200 a missed opportunity for TSW6, when we have no idea of the 'core' routes etc, has me scratching my head. There's no saying that the routes won't centre around that as a theme
Why on earth are we already calling this a "missed opportunity"?? TSW6 has only just been announced and we know next to nothing about it. For all we know, the entire game will revolve around it.
Great, as in Great Western, could even be an original GWR Broad Gauge Line. Complete with Railway “Policemen” signalling the trains and Brunel stomping around in his top hat with cigar in mouth!
