Today I would like to bring attention to the possible collaborative fund raising that could be achieved for various railway charitable projects to help see them to completion. If any of the developers were to team up with any of these projects, it would... Raise public profile with railway minded individuals. Raise much needed donations via sales. Increase our collections with faithful digital versions of the types in question. Assist in making these types a reality in the real world and see these projects completed. A few examples of these projects are as follows... https://brightonbelle.com/ The project to rebuild a Class 403 5BEL Pullman unit. https://www.babydeltic.co.uk/ The project to rebuild a Class 23 Baby Deltic replica. https://www.brcw.co/project/ The project to rebuild a Class 210 DEMU replica. In summary, the first project is nearly complete with funds still required for certification purposes. The second project is largely complete with funds required for the final list of jobs. The third project is attempting to acquire some withdrawn Class 455 vehicles before they are scrapped in order to use them as donors along with a genuine remaining vehicle but requires funds to purchase them. As a point of note, it is important for these projects to gain public awareness and funds as without them there is always a chance that they will fail, exactly as happened with http://project22society.co.uk/. This project, despite having a genuine NBL-MAN engine and many engineering documents, failed due to lack of funds and therefore the lack of motivation to proceed with the engine being donated elsewhere, possibly to never run again. This is despite the fact that this particular engine type (NBL-MAN L12V series 1000hp) was used in Classes 21, 22, 41 and 43 Warship and the Blue Pullmans, of which exactly zero examples survive today. I hope that this post will stir interest amongst developers as well as railfans. Thanks for reading. Class 403 Class 23 Class 210 Class 22 (Abandoned)
As a point of further reference, the BRCW charity had a number of other project ideas on their website that seem to have now been removed, likely due to being too far in the future for the time being. These projects are... Clayton DHP1 BRCW D0260 Lion Brush D0280 Falcon Class 53 Hawker Siddeley HS4000 Kestrel Metro-Cammell Blue Pullman Class 251/261
This would be perfect for both Peak Forest and DLoGW, in original Nanking Blue as Midland Pullman 6 car for PFV and in reverse Blue/Grey BR livery with Western 8 car and ex Midland 6 car sets on DLoGW.
Also surprised DTG haven't worked with more Heritage Railways. Okay, steam traction is a bit of a niggle but that's for them to solve and I'm sure in an era when costs are rapidly rising for the preservation sector some royalties off a route sale would be gratefully received.
Exactly the kind of profit share fund raising I am suggesting OldVern. I am as amazed as you that this has never been a thing. As stated, this will raise funds as well as increasing public exposure/awareness, not to mention that we get some cool trains to play with.
There’s a chicken and egg issue with things like the baby deltic. The loco needs to be fully working before the DLC can be made so sales from a DLC cannot pay for a ‘one of a kind’ restoration. There currently isn’t a baby deltic that works to get good enough reference or sound recordings to make an accurate DLC for enthusiasts to buy. If there’s no DLC then no money can be raised from the sale of it to get the locomotive into a fully working state. TSG recently did do a collaboration but that was because there was already a fully restored, working loco to get reference and recordings from and a portion of the sales of the good quality DLC that resulted go towards its upkeep, rather than its initial restoration.
Severn Valley a case in point, particularly needing funds to repair their land slip. Or Nene Valley, who I’m sure I read a while back had some financial issues. A £5 cut from 5000 copies sold is £25k in the kitty. Not to be sniffed at.
True indeed but still a worthy prospect as funds will inevitably be required for operation and upkeep.
Good point, though without speaking for elarthur this was aimed more at the UK preservation scene. But, that said, there is no reason why DTG shouldn't be talking to heritage groups in various European countries or indeed North America and anywhere else, to see what sort of (sorry to sound like Donald Trump ) deals can be made.
Whether it be the UK or any other country, this is surely a win win arrangement as both organisations stand to acquire cash flow. This is before you factor in the increase in public exposure for the charity in question. Aside to all of this, we the railfans also stand to win with new toys in the box to play with. Unless I am exceptionally shortsighted, I can see no reason why it shouldn't be attempted. Even if the developers were to pick one as a trial to test the water so to speak.
Correct OldVern ,I was speaking more specifically about the UK but I guess it applies to any preserved stock the world over. It is simply the case that I know little to nothing about projects outside the UK, which is my personal limit of interest.
I remember suggesting something similar years ago, now, but yes, I'm absolutely in support of an initiative like this. I'm not too worried about the sound situation being perfect. If there are no running examples of something in existence (if a 'complete' example at all!), then there's not really anything you can do about it. The main thing is figuring out how to implement them into the game. Yes, there's the easy rail tour option, but there's plenty of stock and locos where that would be a complete fiction, and I'm sure there would be those opposed to a fudging of reality to make do, at which point they'd have nothing to do with the locos. Of course, there's the heritage option, but there's only really so many things (and timetables) we can stick on the West Somerset Railway before it just becomes ridiculous. Our current period routes, obviously, have a certain degree of limitation in terms of time period and region in what is feasible to see (plus the question of whether you are modelling the existing project or an accurate period example), and a whole DLoGW-style timetable on any route is an option, of course, but then you would be in need of a 'full' range of appropriate stock. Finally, free roam only is an option, but how much are people realistically going to pay for a free-roam-only add-on? Even if it a year or two down the line, it might eventually fit a timetable.
Actually, in addition to the above ramblings, there are *loads* of short heritage railways around the UK, some with a mile of track or less, and I know many are struggling financially. I'm surprised more modders and prospective third-parties aren't looking at those for a first foray into route and loco building. One of those and the railway's special project, or flagship loco, along with some existing stock, would make for a perfectly adequate timetable for some little runs and shunting puzzle-type things. It would be a nice way to boost the variety of heritage stock available - especially DMUs.
Blue Pullman sounds, think we have mused before that slightly muted HST MTU sounds could work as a decent alias. Archive sound recordings for reference which haven’t been dubbed with something else are elusive so do the best possible.
Alternative sounds to replicate as best as possible is a reasonable solution, at least until such time as a real recording can be obtained. I would be more than willing to accept any of the listed examples above with less than 100% accuracy based on the situation that no real examples exist. This is especially pertinent with Thomas content being in game. Thomas is entirely fictional and therefore can have any sounds and physics and it doesn't matter as there is nothing real world to compare it to aside from the television content. I believe that it is called artistic licence. As stated, once the projects are finished, it would be possible to make updates to sounds and physics as required with stand ins holding the fort in the meantime.
