I’m super hopeful for DLC stories and additions as well, and I would happily pay for Toby and the other four characters mentioned earlier if they’re announced in DLC bundles.
That's just it. I know some people have beef with Dovetail over the way they operate, but honestly, I think having a full cast of main engines is worth whatever money. Hopefully they don't go overboard price-wise. Give me Edward and Henry. Give me the Flying Kipper.
Guys, i'm new around here, and i have something about edward to say... i think Edward should be in the base game for Wonders of Sodor As a Secret Character, where he comes with the Brendam Branchline, because if Dovetail Games added him for that game, as in keeping him a secret until the game comes out, although it is already (when wonders of sodor wasn't released during the character spotlight videos, whereas he does not get one) then the fans would go insane with edward being in the game the whole time as Dovetail was joking about the game being with just Thomas, Gordon, James (Add-on Only, + Deluxe Edition), Percy, Emily, and Diesel in it (Not including Rolling Stock, Non-Rail Vehicles, And More i can list), oh, and i guess Henry can be Another Secret Character for The Base Game, Who you can unlock, If you Find The Book With His Title on it (Which is at Henry's Forest), and Both edward and henry would pop up after the james footage, where it goes: James Add-On Included In The Deluxe Edition... Alongside... (drumroll) Edward The Blue Engine & Henry The Green Engine: Both Included In The Base Game. (Henry As An Unlockable Book Collectable Character, New Shape & Old Shape) like i said, the fans would go insane if the lettering said that, Then Henry, along with Edward, can Be in The game, And nobody Will complain about them not being in the game, alongside Toby, because he should be An Unlockable Book Collectable Character in The Base Game as well As Henry If All three characters were in the base game, And Henrietta As An Unlockable Book Collectable Character In the base game Too, as she comes with Toby, OH!, and Duck, Donald, Douglas, Oliver, Toad (where the Little Western engines come with the little western branchline), Boco, Bear (who we have not seen for a long time as he was only in the books), Rosie, Whiff (where he comes with his waste dump), S.C. Ruffey (because he needs another appearance, whereas he comes with Oliver Who you must find to unlock S.C. Ruffey), Stepney, Bill, Ben (Where bill and ben come with the china clay pits), Daisy (where she comes with a model series version of Eldridge, different than the one in WOS), Class 40 (Since there's a bowled out reference), Terence, George, Bulgy, Harold (He is in the game files), Mavis, The Spiteful Brake Van, Trevor (where he comes with flatbed rolling stock, although he's not an engine on rails), And Spencer as Unlockable Book, Painting, Mr. C's Hat, Whistle Characters as well, With References to Collect for the Special Edition. (even though there's not a special edition)
It’s one thing to propose Edward as an unlockable character in the base game it’s a complete other to expect all of that content for free!
I hope so. I get the feeling Edward and Henry gotta be in. Lots of others too. I mean could do a full run down of what I would do based on what I'm seeing in the game.
DTG probably have some ideas about the content they plan to release next for WOS, but until we get a roadmap can't really know what they have in mind. If any other engines were in the game files i feel like the modding community would have found them by now.
they found Harold and audio files for an expanded version of both Emily and the Express and Jack Frost and the unreleased story of James and the Express
Ah cool, I didn't know that! Harold is probably an asset that can be used for scenarios like Bertie. Shame they don't fly/drive around the map in explore or timetable modes.
During the game intro before it during it saying press to start the whistles of the engines play in a random order one of them sounds like either Edward or Henry. I can’t figure out which one though.
Let's make some speculative predictions because it's fun lol Line extension DLCs: -Brendam branch DLC, with Henry and Edward -Little Western DLC, with Duck, Oliver, and Toad -China clay quarry DLC, with Bill, Ben and Salty -Skarloey railway, with all the narrow gauge engines -Vicarstown diesel/iron works DLC, with Harry and Bert -Peel godred DLC, with Spencer? -Norramby & Kirk Ronan branchlines, with Stepney? Locomotive DLCs: -Toby and Mavis DLC -Boco and Daisy DLC -Douglas and Donald DLC -Murdoch DLC Check back in 5 years, whoever gets it right receives the crystal ball award
The more I think about it, the more I think Toby will probably just be released on his own with some additional rolling stock, like Henrietta, rather than being paired with another engine or another line, similar to the James add-on for the main game. This is mainly because Thomas’s branch line and the quarry are already included. I could easily see him being the next one, since he was mentioned in the TSW 5 DLC story. Apart from an add-on for Toby, I think the next major DLC will be the Brendam Branch, featuring Edward, Henry, some additional rolling stock, and Cranky. It would extend down to the docks and the china clay pits. Following that, there could be a Little Western DLC with Duck and Oliver, along with some additional rolling stock and Bulgy.
Based on what I kinda see- I think they will release Routes with characters. And they are going to be chunkily priced. Edward's Branch (w/ Brendam Harbour and China Clay Pits) with Edward, Henry, Salty, Rosie, Bill and Ben. Duck's Branch (w/ Toby's Branch and an empty Arlesdale Railway) With Duck, Oliver, Mavis, Toby, Donald and Douglas. Skarloey Railway with pretty much everyone narrow gauge in the CGI era The Harwick Branch and Kirk Ronan Branch with Ryan, Daisy, Nia, Rebecca and Winston Sodor Search and Rescue Loop and Killdane Branch (which if im right leads to the Ironworks) Belle, Flynn, Skiff, (Scraping my knowledge here lol) Bert and Harry. Vicarstown Branch and Norramby Branch - Spencer, Paxton, Stanley, Ashima and Samson. I dont know though. Deffo see the top two sets of engines being more included than the rest.
For a simple start I want Edward, Henry and Duck. For their specific stories I'd like Edwards Exploit and The Sad Story of Henry, I'm not sure what would be best for Duck other than finding Oliver, maybe? Beyond that I'd like Donald & Douglas or Bill & Ben for the quarry works.
I've been wondering about Toby's line, with how Dovetail are aiming for a more RWS inspired Sodor with TV elements. If I remember correctly, Toby's line is only on Sodor in the TV series and I think his line in the RWS is more of a tramway at Ffarquhar, I can't remember and I don't think Dovetail plans to add any rail extensions linked to Thomas's line/Anopha Quarry.
Toby’s branchline was closed down before he moved to Thomas’ branch line, it was later replaced with the Arlsedsle Railway (With Mike, Bert, Rex and Jock)
Isn't the Arlesdale railway built on the orientation of the former Mid-Sodor narrow gauge railway that Duke, Falcon, and Stuart ran on prior to the latter two being shipped off to the Skarloey railway and renamed Peter Sam and Sir Handel? Or did they change some of that history for the TV show?
Both. The Arlesdale Railway wasn't introduced in the model series, then it was retconned with the Arlesdale finally getting introduced in CGI. On the topic of the Arlesdale coming into TV canon, Culdee Fell is in the TV series too through references. There were plans, but I think Mattel's takeover put the introduction of the mountain engines on hold which is a shame.
In the model series the Mid-Sodor is on the east side of the island intertwined with the Skarloey railway and Toby's branch line is where the Arlesdale railway is in the books, though this was only found out much later after the production team's concept art and maps were released. In the CGI series Toby's branch line is pretty much never referenced and the Arlesdale railway is in its RWS location.
I feel like the question is less about if there will be engines coming to the game, but more of when they will come to the game. There is no doubt in my mind that these characters that have been beloved by generations and generations of fans for 80 years will appear in this game. But the question remains when they will appear in the game. Now me personally, I desperately want them to a point where I do not want to sound like an impatient brat, but I do not want to wait long for engines like these guys that you just listed to arrive. On discord they said that the minimum amount of time to make an engine can take upwards to six months, which I'm hoping they can get way faster than that because I'm really worried that in those six months I may forget about the game and not want to play it anymore, which I do not really want to do. We will have classic characters in this game, but I am getting aggravated because we do not know when they will come. All we can do is just wait and hope that they come sooner rather than later. But Dovetails is a successful train simulator company, and they have a lot on their hands so, yeah.
Who knows if some work has already started as they finalise the big update. Maybe not halfway there, but in the planning stage. For me though, I'm wondering about who, how many and how it will work. I can see some engines getting cut, like I don't think we're getting the Steamworks and that likely means no Victor or even Kevin as a background. Crovan's Gate has the works shed, but not one that links to the narrow gauge like in Season 4. Sodor has a lot of engines and even if you can fit a majority of them in, Sodor in the game isn't as big as Awdry intended his Sodor to be and I doubt any existing tracks will be tweaked to allow more rails aside from the existing branches. The engines will be spread out too, but I don't know how big those branch lines will be either, especially when Timetable Mode seems to spawn everything in.
I think DTG are right to prioritize fixing the bugs before releasing new things like DLC, you want to have a solid platform that you can expand from. That being said rest assured that DLC will be coming sooner than you might think, because at the end of the day bugfixing updates increase the quality of their product but don't generate revenue.
That is comforting to know. And you are absolutely right; they should make the patches and bug fixes come first before any releases. I'd rather have a game that makes releases come late with a better quality of life than with a glitchy one. I do feel assured that they're going to come back to us sooner than we think because more engines and more locations mean more money for them. It's also important to note that Sodor is not that big of a railway compared to other railways that they have made in Train Simulator, so I don't think it would take us Long as maybe I think it will. I can't make an estimate because I don't actually know too much about dovetails. In fact, this is probably my first year. But I can't say that they'll probably get to us sooner rather than later because I don't feel like I'll be available to play this game if I must wait for a whole year for more updates to come. The best part about it is that they can just use the renders from the CGI era of the show, hence why they have the faces. I just hope that while they use the CGI counterparts, they make a few vendors. Like making Henry's tender a little bit shorter and fixing his cab windows, Making Edward have a red stripe behind his smoke box, which is something that the show didn't give him, maybe remaking Gordon's Hill, I don't know. The ideas are stacked.
And just as we were talking about it, here it is: First patch coming 27th of april! Thomas & Friends™: Wonders Of Sodor – Patch Notes 27th April 2026 | Dovetail Games Forums
Ohh yeah, now we're rolling! I guess the add-ons are coming sooner than I thought. It's almost as if it was right on cue. We were just talking about patches and add-ons, and today we got patches.
As far as I remember - the TV crew thought that Arlesdale Railway was Toby's line or had changed it to be that because they werent thinking beyond series 1. Doubtful that even now they could do the Arlesdale Railway properly. Oliver accidently rediscovers the line and Fat Controller decides to buy it. Which brings "why didnt he buy it before?" Then Toby's line kinda links Thomas's and Duck's branch lines. Because Thomas has to be everywhere. At once. In the books the old Mid Sodor route is built upon by Arlesdale Railway because the spoils from the mine made good ballast. Toby was brought on to go along between the quarry and Thomas' line. As for Wonders of Sodor. There are no obvious spurs on Thomas' Line and the Quarry. BUT If they do add the Little Western they *could* add Toby's line too. Actually other than maybe Maithwaite there isn't a link. So its seemingly its own thing? Little Western goes along the coast up to Harwick So Toby's line goes inland. The two lines meet at Bluff's Cove... Ok. lol. Also yay patches! Im glad that Emily will be doing more than happy face.
Speaking of Emily, I hope she gets her coaches in the game. It just feels so weird to see her without her coaches because we've always loved seeing her with them.
Honestly my two favorite engines are Henry and Murdoch! I know Murdoch isn’t technically as early as Edward. But he’s a huge, beautiful 9F 2-10-0 that never got much love in the series. So Dovetail, if you’re reading this, having Murdoch as an early DLC engine would just be top notch in my book ☺️ also Henry haha
Ok I might be loosing my mind. could have sworn it was something to do with Oliver and the mail train.
It is confusing from time to time, like that Knapford loop line Gordon took in one story that is non-existent yet the story is in the RWS. As for other engines that could be added, I'm thinking about who else outside of the missing mains we could get that can fit the Mainline, Knapford Harbour and Thomas's branch line before places like the Little Western and Brendam open up. More rolling stock means more shunters to prepare the new freight and passenger trains.
That's an interesting thought! They could do flying scotsman or Murdoch to double or triple the amount of express trains on the mainline. For mainline freight they could do Donald and Douglas as I don't think they have a specific job? For Thomas's branch Mavis can be included to work the quarry for sure. Toby and Henrietta could be included to pull passenger trains from Knapford up to the quarry (according to lore past Ffarquhar engines are supposed to have side skirts and cow catchers to protect pedestrians) They could add Rosie to shunt around Vicarstown They could add Stanley, Charlie, Phillip, Stafford to shunt around Knapford/Tidmouth? (I don't really know these characters but it's what I could find on the Wiki) I probably forgot some, but it seems that there's a lot of characters that can be added within the map that's already in game
It would be great to have more rolling stock. Rolling stock that I feel should definitely be in the game are the orange branch line coaches from season 1 and 2. There's just something so charming about them that I probably say are more endearing than the coaches from Season 1. I would definitely pair them with Edward when he comes out, and it's easy to see why. The coaches are old. Edward is old. It's a match made in heaven. Speaking of small coaches, we also need Emily's coaches in the game. She almost feels naked without them. As for non-Awdry characters, I would totally love to see Spencer with his Red Express coaches. I would make Spencer pull a long rake of 6 to maybe even 7 (not making that “meme”) of his Red Express coaches, and he just flies down the line. Since Spencer is an A4 and the red coaches are based on the Pullman Express coaches, it would be the ultimate replication of British Rail history.
I also feel like for the Ffarquhar branch line, there should be a tramway that runs from Ffarquhar station to the quarry. I'm not saying this is a dovetails thing, in fact I probably blame this on the CGI era, but people sometimes forget that Toby was brought on because the line to the quarry ran through a tramway and Thomas was unqualified to run the tramway after being stopped by the policeman so Toby, who is a Tram engine was brought on. I also just like how tramways look, a train running through the road with towns and cars, and buses running along the line. And I think it would be a clever way to create that lane where Mavis got stuck. I do not know if dovetails can go back and remake the areas of the map, but if they do, they should add a tramway.
While it would be cool, Spencer is supposed to be the Duke and Duchess' private engine, so he wouldn't really be hauling the express for the fat controller. In the show he's usually portrayed with a single coach which I gotta admit looks stupid lol.
I think Spencer could work, just some tweaks or two from his usual show self. If we get the option to pick what services we want running and maybe who runs them, Spencer and any other non-Sodor resident like Stepney could run their own services or take over another. Depends on what Dovetail can fit, Sodor is half the size and I don't know if we'll get the platform to their summer home which I think is situated up Peel Godred.
Yeah, I know it sounds pretty weird to have a non-Sodor engine run Sodor services, but I feel like Spencer is just a fan favorite that it's hard to pass up. And you're absolutely right about what the show did to him. Why would you let a silver A4 pull 1 measly red Pullman coach? That's stupid as it is almost disrespectful to him. No wonder Spencer is so snooty. This is why when or even if Spencer arrives, I will give him a huge rake of his Red Express coaches.
