All Aboards Next Route Is Crewe To Birmingham!

I don't think the Crewe via Stoke service started running via Tame Bridge until after the pandemic. That was quite short-lived, I think. Currently one of the Shrewsbury services runs via Tame Bridge (there are now 2 Shrewsbury service per hour.)

 

I seriously hope ATS are looking into extending their route to Crewe (even as a paid addon). It's insane AAS appeared out of nowhere and have a killer route almost ready to release.

 

AAS could be the modern era JT that a lot of us have wanted. This WCML route, plus the 805 where they're implementing a brand new timetable on WCMLS, plus they helped out with the 802 audio on Riviera...

As well as all these new TSW6 routes just looking great, fans have got to be happy with all these new studios coming on board for the other routes too. It's ramping up the competition. Hopefully that means we all benefit from the top quality that competition should bring.

 

This is why I can't be a tester any more. It sets off a form of OCD.
It's the Crewe station entrance. It looks slightly wrong, but it could be the angle.
It looks great, but from memory that BR sign on near end of canopy doesn't have a full red background.
When I've been there over the years I noticed it looked wrong (was partially on a grey background) and there's no Crewe station sign either along the main part of canopy. Plus the roof is too red, there should be more grey for the time period.

Of course, it's still a WIP route and most people don't/won't care but as soon as I saw the picture, I went "hmmmm..."

It got me wondering if the original intention for this route was to be set in an earlier era?

But that aside, I'm impressed by the level of detail in those pics.
Good work and I look forward to further updates.

 

In the article it said that the route will have all 3 350 variants in all liveries. We should expect:

350/1 in Ex-London Midland livery. Very few if any /1s carried the newer livery in 2019.


Class 350/2 in Ex-London Midland livery. The base coat of grey is slightly lighter compared to the /1s, due to the /1s retaining the same grey from their Silverlink/Central trains livery


Class 350/2 in LNWR transitional livery


Class 350/3 in LNWR livery. I think these were the only units that had the full new livery in 2019.

The variants of the 350 should all have different interiors as well:

Class 350/1 interior


Class 350/2 interior


Class 350/3 interior

 

It also includes the British Transport Police liveried unit

 

We chose 2019 as it was a perfect time to really deliver a diverse timetable with plenty to do. Hope this helps clarify why we chose 2019

 

Both the Class 390 and Class 220 do feature as layers on our route

 

That's excellent news! I'm really excited to see more of the route.

 

This is starting to pique my interest now.

All this content coming out means I’m going to have to squirrel lots of Steam Gift cards past the wife to pay for it all. With this, the JT route plus Tadami, Czechia, Stuttgart and Portugal that’s a serious investment. A bigger HD might be needed too.

 

Honestly very excited for this DLC. With the first images of this route All Aboard Studios could easily become one of my favourite developers, considering this is your first route it looks great. Amazing considering they kind of came out of nowhere.

 

Recent screenshots look awesome, but a bit suprised they are using the default unrealistic UK speed boards. ATS set the bar on this kind of detail, hopefully they'll retrofit them at some point.

 

And boy does the WCMLS need a new timetable, I drove a TT yesterday where my 66 Intermodal started at MK destination Wembley Sidings. To Watford Jc I was thinking “this is better” as I actually saw quite a few Pendo’s, but after Watford I saw absolutely none and that included crawling through the Sidings at less than 10mph. It was like a game of two halves!

 

I wonder if anyone on the dev team will be able to answer if the 350 driving physics have been altered again, as the current one is still awful, the brakes are horrendously sharp and the experience is very unrealistic. And if the 350 subclass variations will layer onto the updated 805 WCMLS timetable?

The 350 driving physics currently are just so off, even after they have been altered for the third time. I'd be so happy if the 350 had the physics redone authentically and with a bit of care.

 

Hopefully they’ll just implement a way for those who own their route to see the 350’s on the new 805 TT, rather than WCMLS. If nothing else the unbranded liveries they’ve got look far better than what DTG came up with.

In any case yes hopefully a route centred around the 350’s will mean they’ve seen improvements.

 

We haven't even got a release date yet, so I don't want to sound like I'm asking for to much...

But I wonder if once released there might be a slight possibility of getting the line all the way to Liverpool Lime Street? That would be such a good end to end commuter route for the 350 and a complete Midlands/NW Network... Would it be impossible? One can use their imagination huh.

It wouldn't matter if we didn't, it is just food for thought. I think the route as it is sounds like a winner already, and the Devs have really put some bloody sweat and tears into into he scenery, detail, and all of sub classes of 350s we have got to look forward to!

Anyway, I'm super excited for this route, just as much as I'm excited for JTs offering. The team look like they've done a smashing job.

 

I'm curious to see how much of Crewe Heritage Centre will be included including any LSL owned stock. Maybe a static Class 370 model? You would surely have some Class 87 or 86 railtours running.

 

If the final product is as good as the images and teasers seem, I'd definitely purchase a LLS extension on day one!!!

 

If a route is going to be modern, then 2019 is usually the best year to go for, before Covid resulted in cuts to the service. Hopefully in the future we’ll see more trains on the network than pre-Covid (some routes are there already, but most aren’t) but for the moment 2019 is the best (modern) year to go for.

 

There's a legitimate argument that anything pre-covid is not considered modern.

 

I subscribe to every word of this citizen - it would be very nice to get all the way to Liverpool)

 

I do hope soon we get an Avanti Class 221 Super Voyager for the route as Crewe will be a little empty without those. Not a lot but be missing those North Wales Avanti services.

But Kezz thanks for bringing such an amazing route to this game. Has to be one of the most complicated routes to do, so many junctions, iconic buildings. Crewe modelling must not be easy as well as the signalling. 1000s of services as well. Like full respect for doing this route. Not sure if it is too early to ask but what was the motivation for this route? Fact we are getting an 1hr Run with the Pendolino is absolutely stunning!

 

Well I’d imagine they’re going to utilise the 805 for there anyway.

 

It is set in 2019 so that be a nope as 805s weren't even a thing at that time as they were built in 2021.

 

Ah yeah, forgot about the timeframe. In any case we’ll see they stay true to that, very few routes in TSW do.

I suspect we probably won’t see anything to stand in for the diesel services then & unless AllAboard have dev plans for a 221, we wont see them for a long time, if ever.

 

As well as the North Wales services the 221 sometimes operated the Scotland via Birmingham service, which is the service that'll be able to be driven along the full Birmingham to Crewe. Though it would need to be in Virgin livery to be correct for 2019.

 

Have to say that is intriguing me too, as the Pendolino shots we've seen show Avanti (which isn't technically correct for 2019) and most of them were running around in a kind of matte blank livery - wouldn't massively bother me if they have Avanti livery but with the 2019 timetable, sometimes we can go too far with realism (artistic licence and to make it look good, best of all worlds).

 

I wonder whether they made the May or December 2019 timetable, as the December timetable change runs until May the next year, by which point, presumably, more 390s would have received the Avanti livery. Interestingly early applications of the Avanti livery had turquoise doors instead of grey. I'd definitely accept artistic licence but it would be great to get the blank 390s as that wouldn't need to be licenced by Virgin.

 

As they don't have the Virgin franchise license, it'll be Avanti.
Annoys me a lot on Cathcart Circle as you've got 314s and Avanti Pendolinos running around.

 

To be honest trying to make UK routes fit into a specific year & stay accurate with rolling stock is a lost cause. We don’t have the rolling stock or licenses in place to make it work.

Personally I don’t have an issue with taking a pre-covid timetable & just adding newer stock to it. Other than the fact that we’ve been told it’s set in 2019, how many people are going to be able to point out that there’s too many services for the 2025 rolling stock. On the contrary you tell people it’s 2019 & you have the wrong ToCs or have to leave things empty.

Even if you had 50 people on the forum (which would relatively be a lot) pointing out you can’t have an 805 here, I don’t think that’s going to reflect at all in units sold.

I’m sure we’ve had this discussion before, at an official level & the community overwhelmingly voted for using the correct ToC with wrong rolling stock, as opposed to nothing at all or the wrong ToC with correct stock. I’m not a fan of going overboard like Rivet did with WCL or ATS with MAC, but in this specific situation I think we have a perfectly reasonable solution available.

 

Yeah I think with the 805s for North Wales Coast, it may not be accurate for the 2019 time period, but it is the correct train used for that service today and the service pattern for Euston to Holyhead/Llandudno/Chester in 2025 is I think roughly the same as was in 2019.

 

I still think route developers would be better off giving an era in which the route is set, rather than a specific year. For a route like this, ‘modern day’ should be sufficient, while for the JT routes ‘late 80s’ is fine. By specifying a particular year the developers just end up getting torn apart by nit-picking about whether a specific train with a particular livery variation could be seen on the precise date they’ve stated. Keep it broad, give yourselves flexibility. It’s the feel and the atmosphere that matter, not absolute historical accuracy in every detail.

 

As the interior on the Virgin (as it was in 2019) units was very close to the XC units, they could theoretically make a 221 by adding a fifth vehicle to the 220 and giving it Virgin colours. This would only come if you already own the 2020 that is.