Wcml Preston To Crewe Discussion

...and the Mk3s sleepers.

 

Maybe some Mk1 sleepers as well.

To be honest looking at some digital Platform Marshalling Documents it is interesting to see there are multiple sleeper services running to and from Euston instead of two (I looked at a 78 PTM).

 

Any links please?

 

Two is multiple.

 

Mk1s finished early 80s, Taunton fire saw them decreed not fit for service. It still baffles me how the detail orientated JT could compromise using day mk3 coaches when the Sleeper varient could be fairly easy to create....

 

Manual is available on JT website. Getting closer.

 

Brilliant! The Route Map is finally here!!

Edit. As a Wigan/Ashtoner at a first glance this looks amazing. Great to see the Church and Uncle Joes Mintballs included as well as the Scholes flats. I used to play on Giants Graveyard outside of Haydock Park. The towers at Parkside fill me with all sorts of nostaglia! I can't wait for a preview stream and

 

Here's the route map which I know a number of people have been asking for
Quite excited for this!

 

A manual! A developer who does the job properly and deserves to be supported, others take note.

 

Come on JT! Release it!

 

do any services call at the smaller intermediate stations that aren’t warrington and wigan? i assume the pacer would do these but im not familiar with diagrams from the 80s

 

Will be soon after MK to Crewe, a week or so, but a June release is my guess.

 

either thursday 18th or tuesday 23rd i reckon. possibly the 23rd is more likely, as the 18th would mean the preview would presumably be on the 11th which may well be the day of the roadmap stream if it’s not published on monday

 

There is a root hop to Trent Valley at Crewe. That explains the delay to this route. It couldn’t release until that was released.

 

I don't think they'd "delay" the route just for a route hop

 

Something I've just noticed from the manual screenshots is there appears to be brand new 80s npcs?

 

And also do I spy a Sierra & a Mk2 Golf amongst other possible new car models?

 

I see them too)

 

Isn't one of them a Metro?

 

Will the military and nuclear dlc layer into it.

 

Unless someone can correct me, there’s not much scope to drive anything which stops at any of them, I’m afraid.

Leyland is served by Preston-Manchester DMUs (possibly you may be able to drive them for the very short hop from Leyland to Preston)

Newton-le-Willows and Earlestown are served by services on the Liverpool-Manchester route.

Winsford, Hartford and Acton Bridge are served by Crewe-Liverpool EMUs. Crewe to Acton Bridge with two stops would be a decent drive, but unfortunately there are no suitable EMUs in TSW. I don’t think we know how JT are going to represent these services (either with a 101, or omit them completely I’d imagine) but there isn’t really a good way of doing it.

Edit:

I’ve just seen in the manual they say Leyland has a service to Liverpool. I wonder whether that goes via St Helens Central. If so, you could drive it from Preston to Wigan North Western.

My only other thought is whether there was a Warrington Bank Quay - Liverpool service at the time, calling at Earlestown. If so you could drive it from Warrington Bank Quay to Earlestown.

 

I got a little bit excited by the Leyland Nationals.

 

There should be services from NLW to Warrington which go onto Chester/North Wales from Manchester.

 

Anything going over the top of the WCML at Hartford on the Chester to Manchester line?

 

Reading through the manual and the route just looks great. Really looking forward to its release.

My only gripe is the ballast textures. As with the previous two routes, they are extremely repetitive and rather dark IMO. I’m just surprised JT hasn’t looked to improve these considering there is such attention to detail with everything else.

 

Still looking like day one from me. Will buy straight off JT website as per last DLCs. Looks like its ready and its being held up by the one handled Northampton loop avoider route.....

 

That’s a good point. Any idea what they would have been formed of in this era?

 

47s on mk2s or the odd 45. Also Various DMU types pretty much whatever could move and was signed by the crews en route.

 

Where is the manual available?

 

https://downloads.justtrains.net/pr...Coast_Main_Line_Crewe_Preston_TSW6_manual.pdf

 

Thanks! The release is very near now...

 

Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls. I keep a stock of them in the house because running out is not an option. I’ve got six bags at the moment.

 

Are there any accessible areas on the route like Station Rooms and Toilets. Any accessible Signal Boxes etc?

 

Screenshots show the more modern route and inverted triangle speed boards. During the 1980s these were stencil type board I recall and so the ones used seem a little bit too modern.

 

They were sort of starting to appear in early '86. I remember visiting the Kyle line around that time and while window valuing the 37/4 thrash I was surprised to see the more modern highway style speed signs and inverted triangles had largely replaced the old style along there.

 

Thank you. Sounds like fun! I hope these services feature on the route.

 

Would probably crash the game if it was clicked and the route didn’t exist. Might be minor but essential I would imagine.

 

Great route looking good so far

 

Honestly I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve, reading the games magazine over and over just to soak it all in

Looks like great work by the JT team as expected, a few little bonus bits of detail chucked in for good measure too. Hopefully it all goes to plan after these 6+ months of extra polishing, gutted that it's been held for Crewe-MK but hopefully just another week or something (please).

So while I have spent the past several months harping on that they are missing a trick by not including the Liverpool branch at least as far as Ditton/Halewood/Garston and missing out on all of the freight opportunities it does appear according to a screenshot in the manual (page 121) that you can at least work those freight trains I'd assume as far as Weaver Jn. I spotted a Garston to Felixstowe service (4E91) with a run-time of 29 minutes which would sound about right. Not ideal of course but still very much welcome

Secretly I'd hoped that St Helens Shaw Street (now Central) had been included to give an opportunity to run up to Wigan with the DMU's (maybe extending on to Preston) as that'd give me a chance to visit my local station at Bryn, that said the disused Ashton-in-Makerfield is included so I can at least wander around there

Incidentally, according to the layers it looks like the 101 isn't layered in, interesting given they would be regularly seen popping in/out of Wallgate and on Liverpool - Wigan services. I do think that when Whitehaven is released the 108 will layer on here quite nicely too.

 

Had a quick look at the manual and the feast is looking good, with just a few caveats...

Without a Class 304 unit, how will the Crewe to Liverpool and (AI) Crewe to Manchester stopping services be represented? Not realistic to use either short loco hauled formations or the DMU.

I'm assuming we are not actually getting a Mark 2D TSO or BSO, but those would definitely have the older winged headrest seats as in the earlier Mark 2 and the wooden wall panelling. The colour of the wall panels in the Mark 2E TSO's still looks slightly off to me, it should be a lighter creamier shade, not with a bluish tint.

 

I think a 304 would make for a nice little DLC in future, in the same way they released the 86 after producing Preston - Carlisle. On a personal level I'm quite happy to see my hometown of Chester mentioned (surely it must be tempting to fill in that bit on the left between Warrington and Crewe???)

That manual is impressive. Any more pages and I'd be printing it off and taking it on holiday with me!

This made me smile, don't think we had them on their last route.

 

The 304 would be a great DLC, but the problem is the only place it could be driven realistically is 3 stops Crewe to Acton Bridge.

The only way I can see it being made is if JT do a future route on which the 304 can get a proper run, and it can then be layered in to Crewe-Preston.

 

That’s a bit odd if the 101 isn’t layered in, yet the manual specifically mentions Leyland having a regular service to Liverpool. I’m not sure what else could form that.

 

It will be the 142 maybe? Or 47s and mk2s, which did do these turns on occasion.

 

They could give it a retro timetable for BCC, in the same way as we had the Legends for GWE. Imagine doing a run from Longbridge to Lichfield City with 45’s and 47’s passing you on the southern section, New Street full of loco hauled traffic. Would be wonderful (can’t recall if Redditch was electrified straight off and still relied on a sparse DMU service in the peaks).

 

Now that would bloody awsome to have in game.

 

As much as I'd love a 304 I can't see them being made for this route. They ran Crewe to Birmingham/Coventry and up to Manchester. Trips up to Preston were rare as were trips down to the capital.

 

Judging by the way people talk about it, I don't think Diesel Legends of the Great Western was very successful and I'd be surprised if we got another commercial DLC in the same "old trains on a modern route" style. I think the only reason it sold at all was because we had a very limited number of routes at the time and people wanted something to extend GWE's lifespan, but the immersion offered by Diesel Legends is pretty inexistent for anyone who knows the route:

- The eastern end is electrified
- Paddington Goods Yard is missing
- Bishop's Bridge at Paddington is the 2006 bridge
- The iconic Ranelagh Bridge depot at Paddington is missing
- Crossrail portals under construction
- Missing stations such as Westbourne Park
- Old Oak Common features the prominent 1992 North Pole depot
- Heathrow Junction exists
- Reading is in its 2014 configuration with its modern canopies and huge modern footbridge
- All of the signage
- Modern clutter
- Etc

 

Yes, perhaps so, but on previous JT routes a 101 could always be used in place of a 142. It’ll be a real shame if the same can’t be done on Preston-Crewe - the 101 is so much more interesting to drive.

 

That would be superb. There used to be a mod (soon after Cross City came out) enabling replacement of the 323 with a 3-car 101. It was great, and I spent hours playing it. I don’t think it exists any more (or if it does, I don’t know whether it would still work with TSW6).

When 323s were first introduced they were extremely unreliable and BR ran a collection of elderly EMUs and DMUs in their place, including 101s (although most were 116s, I think). That era would be great to re-create, explaining the presence of the OLE, but with much older stock.