Today, I will be suggesting the ECML Expansion to London King's Cross. Reason for the Expansion: The addition of the ECML to London King's Cross would significantly enrich the game world by bringing a major high-speed route into the fold. The East Coast Main Line is one of the busiest and most iconic railways in the UK, connecting key cities like Edinburgh, York, and London. This route, coupled with the Class 700, Class 717, Class 387, and Class 801, would allow players to experience a wide range of modern train services, from high-speed intercity trains to suburban and commuter services. Many players have expressed interest in seeing this expansion in the forums, as it would not only increase the diversity of train operations but also give them a chance to experience one of the most well-known and challenging rail corridors in the UK. The addition of multiple trains operating on the same route would create dynamic, varied gameplay, enhancing replayability and catering to both casual players and hardcore enthusiasts. Here are the trains included Class 801: Class 717: Class 700: Class 387: Scenarios: "The Morning Rush" – Level 1 Train: Class 717 Description: Start your day at Finsbury Park operating a commuter service to Stevenage. It's a busy time, but the schedule is manageable and the route is relatively short. The focus here is on keeping up with the train timings and making smooth station stops. Objective: Drive the Class 717 from Finsbury Park to Stevenage. Stopping at key stations along the way and ensuring a smooth journey. Difficulty: Easy (Beginner-level scenario with emphasis on basic operations.) The Intercity Commuter – Level 3 Train: Class 801 Description: You’re in charge of a high-speed intercity service travelling from London King's Cross, But Due to OHLE Maintenance, you will be running on diesel Power and to as far as Peterborough Objective: Drive the Class 801 from King's Cross to Peterborough, ensuring you stay within time limits and manage speed appropriately on high-speed sections. Difficulty: Medium (Intermediate-level scenario with a focus on speed management and timekeeping.) Afternoon Desiros - Level 2 Train: Class 700 Description: Start your day at London King's Cross, driving a Class 700 on a busy Thameslink service to Peterborough. This is a fairly straightforward commuter route, and your goal is to handle the tight schedule and stop at all stations along the way. You'll experience a mix of suburban traffic and quick station turns. Objective: Drive the Class 700 from London King's Cross to Peterborough, making smooth station stops and keeping to the schedule. Difficulty: Easy (Basic driving and station management.) East Coast Savior- Level 4: Trains: Class 387 & Class 717 Description: Start with a Class 387 service from London King's Cross to Stevenage, managing suburban traffic and ensuring quick stops at intermediate stations. Then switch to the Class 717 for another commuter service back down to Finsbury Park. Objective: Drive the Class 387 from London King's Cross to Stevenage, then switch to the Class 717 and complete the journey to Finsbury Park Difficulty: Medium (Requires smooth transitions between different train types and route types.) I hope all of you enjoy and consider my suggestion!
Not if DTG were making it. Absolutely not. Some other third party dev would have to take up the mantle.
Route length isn’t an issue. The whole map won’t be loaded in at once. If they do run into an issue it’ll be costs related if anything
No, but the average service length is around 1 and a half to 2 hours (in the current route the York services are around an hour alone). Which would be off-putting for many people. Then you've got the London area with many stations. If we were to get a route from King's Cross, it'd be better off being separate.
I don't think any over developer - certainly not the companies (i.e. Rivet, JT, Skyhook) - would be able to either. Even for a solo project it would take forever with no reward so the person who takes up the challenge would probably need to somehow have a good bit of money (if they plan on buying help in certain areas but especially with the new Google restrictions) and a lot of free time.
Hmm, I still think the likes of JT could pull it off. They’ve already proven they’re more than capable of making a 100+ mile route, now if they were to tackle this project than they’d need to take it up a notch. The London area and all its stations heading towards Stevenage is the most challenging part of the route build, again there’s plenty of countryside and they already have start and end point built. After seeing King’s Cross semi built on Mildway, it makes me think a route leaving Kings Cross was always on the cards. Will it be to Peterborough, that’s the question?
Curious to hear what those are? Although I've pretty much retired from any form of route buildings there's always the off chance I might dust off the TSC editor, for which I still have an old API key.
The longer services can be split into 2 parts, and there would be plenty of shorter services as well.
Careful what you wish for. Don’t want Rivet doing it. It would have to be done with love and care and Rivet doesn’t qualify.
Well if JT did it, we would almost certainly get our Deltic and Paxman HST, or Paxman and Class 91 plus Mark 4’s.
Afaik it's a credit system now with a much lower allowance than what there used to be, a few folk on the editor sub forum have mentioned that. I use it for TSC but I use so little of it I'm comfortably in the safe zone so didn't bother to look into it, tbh.
If I ever delve back into route building I will stick with Trainz and Transdem, where you can use OSM overlays. Or hopefully at some point Diesel Railcar Sim will improve their editor to incorporate real world data (something like the Central Wales Line from Craven Arms to Pantyfynnon would sit nicely in that game).
I actually found that the route which was included in TSW4 should have gone as far as York at the very least. Extending it to King Cross station is even better!
I have just one additional type of traction to add to make it realistic Vern and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't object....
We have been getting a lot of ECML things in the suggestions I hope Dovetail or a 3rd party developers is looking and thinking about it
This route expansion I would love to see in TSW. I think if DTG wanted to do route hopping with trains at the station rather than just route hopping onto the station this would be the perfect route for that or I can see dtg doing this route in a different era. That's London King's Cross to Peterborough.
Man I've been suggesting this for years whenever someone complains that the routes aren't long enough ! It's good to see that someone else has also considered this solution which, unlike merges, would not pose any performance problems.
I've seen it mentioned elsewhere I saw this thread and the route expansion. If train hopping becomes a thing which I hope it does I think this route is perfect for it.
I don’t know how they’d pull that off though, they’d need to merge the current timetable services from route A into route B. Each route on the line would have to work in the same ecosystem, the timings would have to be flawless. It sounds like a massive task for the devs. I think a train loading from route A to route B could work, but in the sense of how you’d spawn a train in normally. The timetable for route B would go unchanged and you’d just be driving an extra service layered into the timetable.
I'm not sure on the technicality side of things I was mentioning if they were able to implement it this would be a good route to start with. It could be years away or they are trying to do such things already I have no idea.
Totally agree. I love the idea of approaching the fast road at Peterborough and getting an on-screen prompt saying "Would you like to continue your drive on ECML Peterborough to Doncaster?" then a brief loading screen and you're on your way again. I just think it would create problems. I don't know how the game works under the hood, I'm not a developer by any stretch, but I'm imagining memory issues at the very least. I can imagine my 5 year old PC being hot enough to fry an egg on the top of the case after doing that.
You load the service with the same headcode on the next route. And/or you add a marker on track that spawn your train at the same place on the next route (that's for free roam).
An extension to Leeds would be better, but to London Kings Cross... that's too long but still, an extension to Leeds would be too long as well so extending the route would become redundant.
For me, the best northern section would be Newcastle to Edinburgh based in 1979/80 with Deltics and HSTs on mainline duties, 47s on the cross country trains, Metro-Cammell 101s and Cravens 105s (sometimes in the same unit) on the locals. A good, long scenic run with some challenging gradients in trains that keep you on your toes.
