2 paths Great Northern first release might be North Welwyn station, then expand We are missing trains from which other London terminus stations ? Waterloo and Victoria, or am i forgetting a route ? London Bridge ?
London terminuses that aren't currently in the game are London Waterloo for South Western Railway, London Marylebone for Chiltern Railways, London Kings Cross for LNER and Great Northern, London Fenchurch Street for C2C, London Liverpool Street for Greater Anglia, London Overground, C2C and Elizabeth Line trains, and London Charing Cross and Cannon Street for Southeastern. There could be one that I missed but Idk. London Bridge is a through station for Southeastern and Thameslink traffic, but a terminus for Southern services to Victoria, Epsom, East Croydon, and a few other places. London King's Cross to Stevenage is a good route choice because it could feature the Moorgate Branch and would feature London Kings Cross, but the fact is that not that many LNER services stop at Stevenage. It's not that much less than Peterborough at 30 trains on a weekday compared to 42 at Peterborough but you also haven't listed any motive power to go on this route. I think you were looking more closely at commuter trains over long distance one's, Stevenage is the northern terminus for Northern City Line trains to Moorgate and I think people would like that. Motive power offerings to me could be anything from this list (not necessarily the entire list): - Great Northern Class 387/1 - Great Northern Class 717 - LNER Class 800 - LNER Class 91 & DVT - Lumo Class 803 - Grand Central Class 180
If DTG or another 3P did the southern ECML, then logically it has to go to Peterborough so you can route jump on the existing section.
I get the idea of going all the way to Peterborough but that is 90 miles from King's Cross, and I just can't see DTG doing a route that long that's as busy as the ECML is south of Peterborough. I know Kassel - Wurzburg is 115 miles, and DTG made that, but that route is a lot quieter and is starting to age a bit.
It’s high speed so DTG could absolutely do the 90 miles. Kassel - Wurzberg is 107 miles made by DTG but the scenery is pretty much just the same the entire journey.
Considering JT and AABS are making routes that exceed 100+ miles now, I don’t see the problem. A huge chuck of the route would be fields and vegetation, at least 70% of it.
I get they can do the mileage but they simply haven't made a route as busy as that route combined with that length, Kassel - Wurzburg is as long as it because there are only three stations and the timetable isn't that substantial. WCMLoS and WCML trent valley are Long but simply not as busy as ECML King's Cross to Peterborough, so I'm just predicting that memory and performance issues would make an appearance very quickly. I am not objecting the idea of this route, but I just think, like WCML South, it's release wouldn't be smooth.
I think KX to Peterborough would be possible if TSW7 ships with an improved core. It doesn't have to set in the current day. A route set when 313s, 365s and HSTs were still in service would provide more driving variety. You could realistically add IETs, 387s and 700s to the mix, not to mention the popular Class 91 Mk4 sets. Or they could really please us old duffers and do that route set in the late 1970s with Class 55s and HSTs on intercity services and 312s and 313s on the suburban trains.
I would really like to see a 1970s ECML route in the game, but you're right that DTG really need to sort out this game's optimisation and performance, after seeing footage of Running Train, DTG have no excuse anymore for performance, Running Train was made by ONE PERSON, AND LOOK AT IT.
