I still love firing up Oakville for the loading services. More routes are needed with setup jobs in the timetable for those freight delivery services.
The only ones I can't get to work are the ethanol ones. Totally bugged. The rest are pretty good. I think SPG and WSR are the other ones with decent shunting and scenario moves. Other than that....
Clinchfield would be fine with a remaster. Not a ton of shunting, but there is some loading of coal. The lighting and textures are just VERY dated now. Something is a bit off about the traction too, but it's still playable. Just looking old and tired. Oakville, HSC and SPG by comparison still look good. Clinchfield is about where TVL or NTP are in terms of lighting and textures.
Nothing wrong with Clinchfield that can't be fixed with a lighting update, some minor pathing corrections and the fixing of the notoriously missing banking coms. DTG made a potentially excellent route with some initial errors, promised to fix them in short order......and then promptly abandoned the route ( and their promises ).
Me too. Would also love some cargo variations; some routes where agriculture is prevalent would be neat. Grain elevators are my jam Or iron ore unloading at a Great Lakes port.
There's already a lot of industries on existing routes that just aren't used. Even the sidings are there, there's just no scenarios routed into or out of them. We have Cargo packs, but they still don't do the sidings part, they just go mainline to mainline. We could use something more comprehensive, like you see in the TSC add on packs. For example "pick up these cars from these locations going down the line" or "bring in these cars, swap out for these" etc. It's all right there on the maps. The assets are already built. A FEW of those scenarios already exist (esp on WSR, SPG, OAK, etc) but there's just so much more they could do with simple expansion/scenario packs. All that freight that and all those sidings on the Antelope line for example and there's just one real huge "run" up and then back on the mainline in that whole timetable. What a waste.
-A few of my great suggestions (that would actually make sense): -Seattle Sounder/Amtrak Cascades/BNSF Everett-Tacoma: present-day 81.8 miles of freight and passenger action; include Sounder F59PHI and/or MP40PH-3C and Commuter Coaches/Cab Cars; possible BNSF power: GP39-3 (rebuilt GP30 or GP35), BNSF ET44C4, BNSF C44-9W, BNSF SD75M/SD75I, BNSF SD60M-3, BNSF GP50, BNSF GP60/GP60M-3/GP60B; Cascades SC44 Charger and new Aero Venture Coaches/Cab Car; also needed: BNSF Boeing Fuselage Train for Renton Boeing facility; also Amtrak Empire Builder and Coast Starlight Superliner Trains w/ P42DCs or ALC-42 Chargers -Tehachapi Pass: Mojave-Bakersfield; 68 miles; SP and ATSF 1990s; possible locos: SP/ATSF GP60s, SP SD70M/ATSF SD75M, SP/ATSF C44-9Ws, ATSF B40-8/SP B39-8, ATSF B40-8W, ATSF GP38U/SP GP38-2 -Chicago Metra/BNSF Racetrack (or maybe CB&Q or BN version if DTG can't get Metra licensing); present-day; 37.5 miles; include BNSF Corwith Yard, local industries, Metra shop facilities, and Union Station; include Metra F40PHM-3 (including special units) and/or F40PH-3 and commuter coaches/cab cars and BNSF GP39-3, GP60/M/B, C44-9W, ET44C4, GP38-2, B40-8W/B40-8; also include Amtrak Midwest SC44 Charger and Venture Coaches and Amtrak P42DC or ALC-42 Charger w/ SW Chief and/or California Zephyr Superliner Trains -UP Bailey Yard/North Platte: largest freight yard in the world; possible locos: UP AC6000CW/C44ACM, GP60, SD70M (including Abraham Lincoln #1616), SD70ACe-T4, GP40N, SD59MX; also UP Heritage Fleet: E9s, Big Boy #4014, and FEF-3 #844 -Some longer dream routes that we should get that would require multiple extensions: -ATSF/BNSF Seligman Subdivision: Needles, CA-Winslow, AZ (293.5 miles); also include Grand Canyon RR branch (64 miles); this is one of my favorite train-watching spots; lots of trains (70+ per day!) and great desert/mountain scenery; also Route 66 and lots of history -WP Feather River Canyon: Oroville-Portola; include GN/BN Inside Gateway and Quincy RR; possible locos: WP U30B, GP40/GP40-2, GP20, GP35, U23B, SW9, Baldwin VO1000, EMD FP7/F7A and F7B for CA Zephyr; also include GN or BN power and Quincy RR power -D&RGW Soldier Summit: Helper-Salt Lake City, UT; possible locos: D&RGW SD50, SD40T-2, GP40/GP40-2, GP30, SD7, SD9, SW1200, Amtrak F40PH w/ CA Zephyr Superliner Consist -SP Donner Pass: Roseville, CA-Reno, NV; 140+ miles; 1970s-90s; possible locos: SP SD40T-2, SD45T-2, SD45(R), SD40(R), SD45X, SD38-2, GP38-2, GP40-2, GP60, C44-9W, AC4400CW; could we get SP Cab Forwards in a steam-era version of Donner Pass? -A Couple of Short Lines and Museum Lines: -Nevada Northern RR: include steam and diesel power, especially #250, an ex-SP SD9R -Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge -Cumbres and Toltec NG -White Pass and Yukon NG -Aberdeen, Carolina, and Western; include ex-NS OCS F9s and other locos -Reading and Northern; include Reading T1 4-8-4 #2102 and ex-NS OCS F9s -Route updates and extensions needed: -Cajon Pass: Barstow-Mojave and SP/UP Palmdale Cutoff: Mojave-West Colton Yard -UP Sherman Hill: Harriman Line (3rd track over route)
Some interesting routes in there Jedi, but some really bad ones too =-) Having run the TSC versions and much of the same in Run 8 on those southwest routes, Seligman for example is really BORING, but Tehachapi is much requested, especially if you model the whole part between Mojave to Bakersfield. Durango honestly could be something like WSR for US routes with lots of old "museum" traction, but also it's being done by Century of Steaam much more in depth so.... not good to compete there. A better bet might be adding more layers and content to existing routes to fill them out. Just look at all that you could add to say Horseshoe Curve for rail fans for example. Some are extensions which could be fun. The Palmdale Cutoff could be fun but it's kinda niche. We really have nothing in the Midwest or Southeast, or Northwest so maybe something to represent those regions first?
I have been making do with an F40PH in Phase II livery pulling a bunch of Amfleets serving as my Pennsylvanian between Altoona and Johnstown.
I would love to see a Norfolk & Western route with all three of their iconic steam locomotives (A, J, and Y classes), especially if the German steam DLC proves successful.
I would too, but unfortunately the Virginia Museum of Transportation has trademarked the J-class. Besides, until DTG (or TSG) gets steam simulation sorted, no steam loco is going to be a satisfying experience.
San Bernadino is just as littered with places we could be delivering stuff too/collecting from. I love that we got the freight services for that one, but man they could use so much more of that map. Most of the sidings, etc. are even named. Cajon Pass is similar; Santa Fe pack helped, but there's still quite a few disused places that timetable runs/scenarios could be centered on.
I'd say this is a problem with many routes. There are tons of branches, but very few are used. Sometimes they're not used at all.
There's so much potential on a route like that for adding in some loco DLC along the lines of the Peninsula Corridor MP15DC, with a timetable of services moving stuff between these sidings in something appropriate.
While we're at it, can we ask for slightly better route design? Ran another CRR last night and it was one of them where the end point and SPAD are exactly 4 feet apart. It's an annoying challenge to try to creep that last 2 feet so you're JUST far enough to trigger the ending but not the next 2 feet that triggers a SPAD. (Although it's not actually a SPAD technically because it's not a signal but rather an arbitrary end point that means nothing.) I noticed that with the TTTE content on WSR too...stop and red points far too close together for no legitimate reason. Nothing is added in realism since it's not an actual part of the railway signals, it's just a "stop" marker set in the middle of track by the dev, and it just makes it a less enjoyable run overall. Lose-lose really.
I would be satisfied with even more services on SD40-2. At SBD they tried to use branches more, but it was still not enough. Although, it must be admitted, it's a big plus that they were used. On the German routes, for example, we have a ton of already-drawn branches that are just sitting there doing nothing.
Always felt like that part took almost as long as the run up to that point. I loved Clinchfield and probably came closer to completing that route than any other, but I did come to dread approaching the finish line. On the plus side, if there's ever an emergency situation where they need a heroic civilian who just happens to be skilled at lurching a 10,000 ton freight train just so far and no farther to step up, I'm ready to answer the call.
