Why Is Dtg Focusing On Wcml? It Has Forgotten About Ecml And Mml.

I really doubt you’ll be getting anything new, it seems reskins are all the rage lately!

 

While I would certainly like to see a 70s era ECML route, the Midland was fascinating in its own right pre electrification, being a steam era time capsule. One of the last mainlines out of London to be majority semaphore signalled. The 127s would also offer something a little different, being one of the few 1st gen DMUs with a hydraulic transmission.

In terms of reference material, we're quite lucky that a cab ride filmed in 1971 all the way to Sheffield survives and is available on DVD in two parts.

 

I would dearly love to see this. Plenty of freight on that line in that era too. Definitely a route the class 25 would be invaluable for.

 

If another ECML route was set in modern times it would be nice to see a TPE class 68, I think that would be more interesting than more class 80X's

 

I would like Newcastle to York, set in the late 1970s like the classic Rail Simulator route. Deltics, 'new' HSTs in the IC125 livery, and a representation of the transition between Deltics and IC125s. And layering on the 101 and 108, along with a 47 on freight. A nice new BR loco would be welcome, although for me personally I'd be leaning towards a Class 56!

 

One must first go up the wcml to come back down the ecml.

 

Do seem to remember (and before all the updates made), Skyhook were touting big plans for MML… really hoping the cargo line series has been funding a further piece of the route, rather than just the operating model they’ve moved into

 

The MML is desperate for another section to be made. Sheffield to Derby would be the most logical with Leicester to Luton or even a stretch to London St Pancras.

 

i guess the consideration for KGX to PBO is the sheer number of stations so that'd be a good hefty route to be budgeted for

 

Not to mention, scenery wise it makes Dresden to Leipzig look like a run across the Rockies! Alongside Doncaster to Darlington it is a flat, dreary boring section of the ECML that would only be saved by setting it in 1972 and putting Deltics on the man express services...

 

Hopefully if they made that they could also include the bit that branches of to Nottingham via Alfreton

 

I'd guess Just Trains will move to the ECML when the WCML is done and keep it in the 80s. They can reuse a lot of assets and it'll fit in well with the existing 80s era Tees Valley, working down from the north. Not saying it WILL happen, but that would be logical. Could even connect the West and East lines across the middle of the country.

Then again, maybe someone will start on the southern part in "modern" to go with the SEHS. *shrugs*

 

I really hope York to Newcastle is one of the new routes in 2026. They already have the TVL with its branch line to Saltburn, good excuse to update this route. And an even better excuse to have the Class 55 Deltic that soooooo many people want.

 

Absolutely agree with everything you said, this would amazing!!!!

 

The Kings Cross to Peterborough section of the ECML has always been high on my list of what routes I wanted to see in the game.
Although more of the GWR line (London Paddington to Penzance) I’d welcome just as highly. A continuation from the latest GWR route with the Plymouth to Penzance added, or Reading to Exeter St. David.
I can honestly see a 3PD taking on this project eventually.

 

Why all this talk about ECMLs and WCMLs when we all know that the GEML would be the route of choice.
Clacton Electric anyone?

 

Indeed. Class 305 and 309. 31’s, 37’s and 47’s on the Norwich services and Harwich boat trains.
Day One. Take my money now. ‘nuff said.

 

Midland Mainline - Skyhook Games

WCMl South Euston - Milton Keynes DTG
WCML over Shap - Just Trains
WCML Birmingham Crewe All Aboard Studios
WCML Crewe - Preston Just Trains
WCML Milton Keynes - Crewe (trent Valley) All Aboard Studios)

Motly all third parties

Medway Valley coming soon?

I mean if we are talking drought.... How about Southwest mainline Waterloo - Weymouth

But we all know if they venture down the SWMl it will be Waterloo - Portsmouth Harbour.... one of the boringiest routes out!! (been along that route on diverts loads of times so yeah I know).

Hentis

 

Nah, they'll end it at Woking like they did with the old TSC version, with the most exciting part of the route missing

 

I think if you’re asking for things that involve making a new loco/unit you’re out of luck UK wise. Pretty much everything lately is a reskin or a ‘remade’ or ‘updated’ version of something else. See class 20/37/47/142/150/153/800/801

 

I mean a lot is, yes, you aren't really wrong but what about the 220? What did they reskin, remake or update to make that?

 

Fair point re the Voyager. I expect a Class 221 to be on the way sometime though!

There is a Class 90 supposedly on the way.

But no matter how you look at it, there’s a lot more reskin then there is new.

 

You don't really believe it's manageable to do London all the way to Portsmouth. DO YOU? HahhH

 

Not supposedly. The class 90 has been announced months ago.

 

Yes I do. They Have done Kassell - Wurzburg, London Brighton, So dont see no reason why not.

Hentis

 

I wouldn't be surprised if AABS went Crewe to Liverpool after the upcoming release since WCML seems to be their focus!

 

To be honest with you I don’t mind the WCML content we are getting. I wouldn’t be upset with more either , I’d rather we stick to this consistent network building than random routes around the country

 

That's always been the case though. It's a mix of the two. Acting like that's somehow weird is... itself weird.

I count at least 14 "new" locos on the roadmap right now, since many of the new routes are coming with things like the BR 23 and Kiha 40.
Then there's the GP 60 and BR 147 in loco packs.
Now yes there's a like amount of "reskins" on the other routes it looks like...but that's how TSW has always been.

Lots of routes run the same stock as other routes in real life.

A lot of routes run the Class 350 for example. If a new route like Trent Valley uses a variant of the 350.... well that's because it uses the 350 in real life. If freight is run on a Class 66...then that's what you should be getting.
Real life is often boring like that.

 

Hope they now concentrate on GWR Reading to Exeter and add Plymouth to St. Austell as well. JTs may concentrate on MML.

 

I'm leaning more towards an extension of their first route to Crewe, which would be interesting if DTG improves the route hopping mecanism so as to remain in the cab when you arrive at Crewe from the Trent Valley !

 

I think you may be confusing AABS (All Aboard Studios) and ATS (Alan Thompson Simulation) there

 

Kassel Wurzburg is almost entirely blank valleys and tunnells. A dense london scenery on a 75 mile route would never work.

 

Yup.
Kassel is almost arcade-like in it's straight monotony with few stops and very little variety.
Also very few layers, so you're pretty much on your own for most of the run (which does make it run rather smoothly because there's very little for the game to have to render or track)

I can't really call London sparsely populated and low traffic.

 

With respect, I think you’re missing the point I’ve made. I am talking UK content not continental and I did think I’d been clear on that. The point I am making is that most of the new UK routes coming out are not coming with new trains. The 90 will layer into West Coast Main Line. If they were cover there could be a use for it on PBO-DON but UK wise the newest trains we get are a 220 and a 90.

Loco wise there’s no 50s, 73s, DVTs, 91s and units we could have 317, 321, 455 but no. What we get is routes whereby the same stock can be used or reskinned.

 

I'll ignore the narrowmindedness inherent in the original statement and simply point out that several new routes are featuring new locos. Meanwhile, my point remains. The routes being built often DO reuse the same rolling stock in real life. Therefore to reflect real life, you have to use the same content. If Medway Valley uses 375s....then it uses 375s. Should we throw an incorrect loco on there just to have "something new?"

Where would you use a Class 50 on a modern route?
It would only be limited to an 80s route (at best, preferably 70s which we don't have any for the UK)
You might try to argue it for Crewe for maybe 2 runs on the Preston-Crewe.... but when it's only a couple runs by 1986, and there were only 50 made in total.... what you're asking for is very narrowly focused, not broadly usable and not reflective of reality.

Where does the Class 73 run? All 20 or so of them? Not on the routes in the game.
Same with the 30ish Class 91s.

We're GETTING new content in game it just doesn't happen to be a few things you PERSONALLY want, but instead of saying "I have very particular rare tastes" you try to suggest that it's somehow the "fault" of DTG that they're not making exactly what you personally want.

I have no problem with you wanting a specific thing... it's your tone that implies there's a FLAW in in the game for giving other people what they want instead of only what you want. You made a provably incorrect statement to try to justify it.

There are people waiting on the Class 807 and 350/4 on Trent Valley or the 171 or 377. No, they're not totally "new" they're variants of stuff in game... let alone the Japanese stock or the Protuguese stock on the those routes. Those are "totally new" but no... you want more UK stuff...when the game is frankly 40-50% UK stuff.

And yet we ARE still getting new stuff like the Class 108 on the Cumbrian Coast route.
The Class 90 is set to release soon, and you're already crying it's not enough you need the 91 too?
But that's not what you're PERSONALLY looking for is it?

Again... is it about "new" or is it about "I want these specific things and ignore everyone else?"

I can't find fault with DTG simply because they aren't giving me every single thing on my wish list. It's a big world with lots of other players who also want things. It's unfair to judge them as a whole franchise simply by if they don't please one individual person.

Those items you mentioned would likely be released when routes for them to go on are released. When attention returns to the ECML...then it makes sense work on a Class 91 for that route. Wait on the Class 50 for when there's a 1970s route it works better with. Same with the 321... wait for the ECML routes to release next couple years. Likely since they run there they will be released with those routes as "new" and then back layered onto existing routes that COULD use them.

Again, it's normal DTG policy and it makes sense because you have to try to please a number of people...not just one person. It makes more sense to work on stock that will head a new route, not just layer trains for routes that are already out...and if they're focused on routes already, demanding they drop those and work on something you personally want just ignores other players' viewpoints.

The examples you give are likely already on the list for future because they'd be needed for ECML routes that aren't announced yet. New locos DO sell more routes, and they can't just throw a bunch of ECML out there with the same stock... doesn't make as much money.
So those will feature in those new releases.
Have patience.

 

On the other hand, it's understandable that people are somewhat impatient. TSW has been around since 2017, after all.

 

On the other hand....so what?
Brazil and South Africa aren't in the game at all yet, so those players should be much more impatient than someone from a country that has had arguably the most content in TSW.

 

Has ECML southern stretch already been mentioned? KGX-PBO, alongside that 91 obviously!
Hopefully we could get more in the future, will make what we already have less empty!

 

And they probably never will be.
I myself mourned french content when I've quitted MSTS for Railworks. It was then that I started to take a real interest in British railways.
(And forget about those old EMUs on the Montparnasse suburbs or the long drives through the Champagne countryside... )
TSW is all about US/UK/DE. I guess it's take it or leave it.
It will mostly be UK, so be it.
And it's human nature to always want more, a Class 50 for railtours on modern routes, a 73/9 for diverted night trains on Edinburgh - Glasgow, or the Fife Circle, etc.
I'm not justifying the hostility towards DTG, on the contrary, I'm delighted that things are moving in the right direction, especially recently with all the new content announced.
But I'm also saying that almost 10 years after the launch of TSW, it was about time...

 

I think (and I fully accept this must be my fault for not being clearer) that the issue is with the routes being created. Again, I’m only talking UK because UK is where my interest lies. Why are they not making routes that require new trains of some variety and only making ones where what exists already is being rehashed?

91s - PBO-DON
73s - anything on the Southern Region (maybe

a new Medway route?)
50s - WSR, PAD-RDG, any route you want to run a railtour on

Just to be crystal clear, I’m asking for routes that require new trains instead of routes that just rehash what’s already there AND pointing out where said new trains would also be able to layer in.

 

Great Western Express. Which has a 70s era timetable which a 50 would slot into quite well.

 

If they are going to produce a class 50 or anything else historic I would much far they make a suitable period route with it.

The GWML might be the same route the Westerns ran on in the 1970's but with totally new signalling, overhead wires, TPWS ramps, modern signage, it is far from looking like a 1970's route, not to mention the wrong DMU in the wrong livery, and loco's layering in which are not in the condition they would have appeared in the mid 1970's.

I also personally, do not want to see a diesel loco made just to provide railtours.

 

One particular note with JT, I believe most if not all of the development team are originally from that area, hence why whey went to great efforts to get details right (it's the same reason if I was a developer, I'd be doing the Manchester - Atherton - Wigan line set in the 80s, it's my line). Heck on the Shap route there is a little easter egg where they put TSTV's Tom's Gran's car parked up by a bridge that she used to take him spotting too (he points it out in a video).

But yes one of the main driving forces will be that they went to a lot of time and effort to build key stations and they can get more out of them on future routes, I will admit I wasn't expecting the Whitehaven line to be coming so soon though I do think it might be one of two routes for the year (wishful thinking perhaps) as I am sure they will want to make the most of out Crewe with either the NWC or the Heart of Wales line.

I'm not against another South East 3rd rail route but if we do get one, please make it the 70s-80s-90s with proper trains and not this one handed drive LOVE. Heck, I'd happily shell out again for a "new" BML but with 319s, 73s and Slammers.

 

Salisbury to Exeter, please. Lots of gradients, mixture of single and double track, plus an updated Class 33 could layer in on some of the services.

 

Oh I agree. I'm just being pedantic as the poster I replied to seems to like being pedantic.

 

The 50 was just one that came to mind.
It seems I’m of the minority and that everyone is happy to have yet another livery on a 47 and it not even be brought up to modern day standards! Fair enough then. Personally I just think it’s a bit cheeky to push out routes or locks/units that we already have but now with an exciting new livery.

 

Most definitely, I haven't touched the DLOGW timetable (but have it just for the really good BR blue 52 reskin) because the OHLE and current ugly station at Reading totally kills any immersion for me.