This is a request aimed mostly at Firefly Simulations. I'd love to see a clone of the brilliant Medway Valley Line route but set in the 1990s. Cloning an existing DLC for a different era has not been done before but I like the idea of the concept. Traction would be Class 411, 421 or 423 slam door EMUs in Network South East Livery. The route would have semaphore signalling and manual level crossing gates as it did during this time period. Landmarks like the Aylesford News Press would feature and the Whirlpool factory in Paddock Wood as a few examples.
This is an excellent idea. Anything that gets Mk1 EMUs into this game deserves some support. In an ideal world, we wouldn't bother remastering London to Brighton, but just rebadge it into NSE era, with Mk1s, 319s, 455s, and ofcourse the Gatwick Express. All that we'd need to do is strip out some of the modern benches and station assets, stick broken solari screens and digital clocks on the platforms. Everything painted red and jobs a good'un
I would like a Liverpool area one so A) we could get another 80s/90s route and B) we could get a EMU for crewe to Preston
a clone of an existing dlc is very unlikely i think, mainly because it presumably wouldn’t sell as well as a brand new route. IOW 2022 might count as a cloned dlc but that’s only a couple of years difference and the main appeal was the 484. however, in the case of medway specifically, i’d be interested as for all the talk of needing more eastern and northern content, we’ve still got absolutely no backdated south east region dlc
I’d forgotten about IOW! We definitely need a backdated south east route. Part of me feels we’re more likely to get an Essex route or perhaps Waterloo to Reading or Southampton/Portsmouth for a backdated one at some point.
it could really do with a remaster, fun little route at the time but the old lighting and borked physics of the 484 have made it quite undesirable yeah, the portsmouth direct line is probably the most likely one, but a third rail BR emu is definitely needed
Best you could hope for is a GWE style “Legends” pack, but it’s Firefly’s baby and so far as I know their interest lies primarily in the contemporary era. Personally I would love to see the CEP/BEP (411/412), as these units had the traction motors in the driving cars at both ends so you can get the full on electro thrash.
Surely Firefly are commercially minded though, irrespective of their preference. It doesn’t take a genius to see the untapped financial potential in retro routes as long as they are done after proper research. Firefly exceeded on almost every front with Medway Valley. Every aspect of the route from track work to station signage has been accurately recreated. It feels like a proper route not just a glorified TSC route. A NSE route just imagine it, muffled station tannoy announcements, ticking clocks, red everywhere from benches to lamp posts, broken Solari indicators. The station environment alone would be incredibly immersive. Then add the sound package of compressors and slamming doors, it’s the idea of perfection for many of us who want to travel back to better days in terms of variety and atmosphere on the railway.
I am sold on the idea. Obviously. I also think the immersive factor is important. I'd be keen to see a backdated route make advantage of more things to do on the trains and around the stations and railways. Firefly have form here with the Just Trains style of providing further walking access to points of interest around the route, innovating with accessible toilets (literally) and dispatcher mode. Just Trains have shown that older eras can be well done and are very attractive to players (based on the feedback here at least, not sure how they compare in terms of sales numbers). Keen to see how Incredible Trains Thames Valley Branches go, but that is certainly focussing on immersion over route length. All in all, an excellent suggestion and I think there is enough for it to be a goer. But I am not a developer unfortunately. If I was, I would have built it by now!
I like this idea. I haven’t got this route due to the era not being of much interest, especially since we have a lot of 377/375 Electrostar routes already in game. Even If the rework required the original I’d buy it just for the rework!
To be fair the reworked Electrostars on MV are very nice, particularly the new sound set. It makes the OG Electrostars a bit bland sound wise.
