The long-awaited Buchan Line: Aberdeen – Peterhead is now available for Train Simulator Classic on the Steam store. Buchan Line: Aberdeen – Peterhead recreates part of the old Formartine and Buchan Railway, from Aberdeen to Peterhead, as it appeared in the late-1950s to early-1960s. The line includes a mix of steam and diesel traction, together with Career Scenarios to help you get to know this fascinating route. A huge number of bespoke scenic assets and textures were created to capture the location as closely as possible as it looked in that time period, and there are operable goods transfer points along the route, making for an immersive experience. The line, complete with Class 25, class 105, Standard Class 2MT and coaches and wagons, is available now on Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/app/3403000/Train_Simulator_Buchan_Line_Aberdeen__Peterhead Created by Suburban Glasgow Ltd. with assistance from the Friends of Maud Museum and Great North of Scotland Railway Association.
The route itself is superb, the more so with the knowledge we will never see it’s like in TSW. The accompanying locos and rolling stock a slightly different matter. The Class 25 and Class 105 DMU both from the old IHH stable. The models are good but sounds lack accuracy and fidelity, particularly on the Class 25 which bears little resemblance to a Sulzer Type 2 under power. The Class 25 also only has a single note horn. I know the route needed to be matched with suitable motive power from what is available but in this case, particularly if DTG now own the rights, a sound rework would not have gone amiss. And due to past politics of the situation with IHH, we know that the likes of AP can’t do sound mods for this stuff. There is a freeware mod for the OG Weardale Class 25 on the Trainsim Community Site, but although on unzipping the ap files from the Buchan and Weardale routes the file structure looks identical, when I applied the mod to the Buchan one it wouldn’t load in the loco in one of its scenarios. If the promised Fraserburgh extension comes to fruition (Day One here) hopefully the author can try to get better sounds implemented on the traction. In the meantime, even though anathema to the period, guess the answer is to clone the scenarios and sub in the AP Class 37 from the Wherry Lines or similar along with some compatible rolling stock. Or go all out retro and use a Bossman or CW steamer on some lovely Gordon Mack coaches! Overall - 7/10 which is 10/10 for the route and 4/10 for the train component.
