Route Thames Valley Branches

274 services is pretty impressive for just those three little lines. That's very busy.
I look forward to the 7 Class 37 services and the upcoming Class 70 layer too. Not sure what the Class 70 will do exactly as they didn't say, but hey at least that's ONE layer for the 70 announced!

 

There are other features, like the multi- function save application for which we don't have the equivalent 25 years later in TSW.

Not to mention the many steam locos.

For some of us, it's not so much " nostalgia " as .missing features. Of course now we have colorful umbrellas and annoyingly persistent dense fog, things MSTS didn't have.

 

That's fair... but not from a tech standpoint.
That's a gaming design choice.
I disagree with it, but they've never said it's impossible to do.
They just chose not to.

 

Last I heard couple of years ago, they're still working on it.

 

Well they were "looking at it as a possible future feature."
Not that they couldn't do it.... just that they didn't see the "need" for it.

 

After watching the stream, I can only say well done! Great scenery, interesting concept and the perfect route for a few short drives with a DMU. The price is the same catagory as a single loco add-on, so very reasonable.

I hope we can see this concept with some German branch lines too.

 

Pros:
Looks great, the attention to detail is astounding.
Decent implementation of services.
Opportunity to explore on foot.
Free Roam with a Pacer, 101, 153, 150

Cons:
Gameplay limited pretty much to the same DMU.
Single track so not many other trains to see.
Very short services.
The GWE linking isn't included, you have to hop to go back to the menu.
No variation to services patterns.

 

See you on Day 1 then!

I’d say having watched the stream, it’s very different, it’s a more slow style of gameplay, although I absolutely echo comments I saw on YouTube regarding this what West Cornwall Local should have been, and I couldn’t agree more!

What I really enjoy about TSW is that developers bring routes to life that have never really had any attention in any kind of Train Simulator.

The Marlow branch seems to be the most interesting and not only that it will genuinely be nice to do end to end runs, when I’ve got half an hour to spare.

I’m quite impressed, it’s not the standout like Crewe to Milton Keynes or Medway Valley Line that we’ve been spoilt with this year, but for the price and some of the attention to detail, it’s a brilliant offering from Johannes, what I mean by this is that while on the stream the scenery looked great, it was only because Matt was out of the cab most of the time, so from the cab is there actually much to see?

In terms of scenery, the approach to Windsor & Eton riverside was stunning but apart from that there wasn’t much to see! That’s not a criticism, that’s just how it is in real life.

But definitely a day 1 purchase, a lovely filler DLC, with plenty of gameplay opportunities.

 

Follow last night stream the route is very appealing and the attention to detail is amazing. l agree that West Cornwall Local needed the same care and attention to detail that Johannes has brought with this offering. TV Branchlines was needed when Great Western Express was first released. Glad we now have it in the game. At that price definitely a first time buy. Crazy not to, can’t buy a main course meal for that today.

 

Would be great if a similar concept was taken for Cornwall branches

Liskeard to Looe, Plymouth to Gunnislake, Truro to Falmouth etc

 

There's nothing stopping someone from doing those side branches.

 

While I won't condone Leo's post, as it was OTT, you did make an error in your response.

if you go back and check the post you replied to, they said "Thames" branches not "Thames Valley". Not the same thing.

GWR consider Greenford as one of their "Thames Branches". In fact, if you get the excellent Thames Branches Day Ranger ticket - a rover I highly recommend to anyone exploring the area - the Greenford Branch is included.

 

The stock football pitch that everyone uses is awful!

 

While I doubt he watched it, the angry commenter could have heard from the developer himself why he in fact chose not to include Greenford Branch. It was a thought out choice. While everyone is entitled to their opinion, that also includes the developer. The angry commenter can also choose not to buy it.

Another choice consciously made was to reuse assets to save memory and make the route run better. Yes there could be more "custom assets" but that would have both made the route run worse having to load in many more different assets... and have taken months longer to get to market since the developer would have had to create them all individually. This would have then arguably driven the cost up. (Unless we're saying that the developer's time doesn't have value)

To me, repeating a few assets for better performance, quicker release time, at a lower cost.... is a GOOD compromise.

I think it's honestly a bit ignorant for someone to demand everything and not recognize that compromise. The people demanding custom assets AND the three things that custom assets would make impossible is just wishing for the moon and ignoring how reality works

Life is about choices and compromises.

I think Johannes did a great job from what I can see. In fact the "compromise" to increase performance was so successful he was able to ADD features like the CCTV on the train and lots more animated scenes like the boat racing, etc.

 

Night-time engineering services, according to the TSS interview.

 

You could make this argument for most TSW routes.

I´ll be getting it next week. Good price, nice scenery and a Class 165. The upcoming 70 will also layer.

 

Let's face it, whatever they do people will complain. Have 3 disconnected lines - why can't we have the main line or part of it. Include the relevant section of the main line (even at the same price) - why should we pay for a route we already have. We demand a discount.

At the end of the day, the routes are not connected in real life. Only a couple of rush hour trains go through to London (and none AFAIK from Windsor, certainly not from Windsor to Maidenhead and Twyford) so including the line will elicit further complaints that it is not true to real life and would "ruin the immersion".

Like it for what it is or don't - that's your choice as is the choice of whether to buy it or not. Personally I love the idea for some short routes for when you've got a few minutes to kill. The fact that it is an area I know well from an earlier stage of my life (and used to commute from Bourne End to Reading - I don't even mind route hopping, it's just like crossing the platform) is a bonus.

Let's have more of these to add to the variety of the game.

 

Looked good watching the preview stream. Only thing that annoys me personally which is trivial is the GWML stations having only tiny sections on the map the HST’s passing all crawl past as they enter the portal and have no time to speed up but like I said it’s just a tiny thing that I find annoying and spoils the realism a little

 

Oh... just night time for the Class 70?
Yeah... not so much interested in night runs.

 

If I remember correctly - one of the biggest complaint about TSW routes is that they are only sections of a route and the routes do not provide true end to end runs. Even remember people complaining about the West Somerset Railway was too short - but the length match the real world heritage line and it is an end to end run. Now we have a developer providing not one, but three routes that are end to end runs as in RL and yet the complaints. Oh well - just goes to show you can't please everyone.

Thames Valley does look interesting and will be added to my collection for that uniqueness.

 

This route give me a inspiration to have more network route Like having the South London network from tsc would be nice to have more like that

 

I think it is a fine piece, particularly in how the scenery and other elements have been crafted.
It captures the charm of the UK beautifully, and the area in front of the station is wonderful.

 

Is there route task on this route

 

I tink this one looks good and I’ll be picking it up, especially at that price. While I enjoy hour long runs, it can also be fun to do some shorter ones, either when time is short, or when you want to have the experience of running back and forth, changing ends frequently etc.

 

There's zero freight on these branches IRL, so engineering services (at night) are the only realistic option to deploy the 70. In reality, 70s are relatively rare on the GWML*, most freight is handled by 66s or 59s.

* except on the Reading-Oxford line. 70007 at Appleford in charge of 408Z Leeds FLT-Southampton MCT (2017-04-13):

 

Class 70?
I hope they won't be on the branch lines as their route availability is too high.