This would be my preference, albeit they do look a bit ungainly as 7 car sets. Got chatting to a driver before boarding at KX earlier this year and he said was like getting a GTI upgrade.
This has got to be re-vamped version of the train simulator classic for train sim world BR Class 43 Br-Class-801 in LNER livery & Br Class 700
"Research on the forum".... meaning keep searching till we run across the people complaining the way you agree with? =-) They gave an explanation. It made sense. You just don't like it. Same thing here. You don't "like" they didn't say what you wanted them to say. It's the East Coast Mainline... it's not rocket science to tell where it's going. You leave Kings Cross and.... about 72 miles later (standard DTG route) you reach Petersborough. To be fair, what other way would you go with the ECML?
Researching the forum, means you’ll find many people with varying opinions that do and do not conform with mine. As for logical end from Kings Cross being Peterborough, if it was so logical then why didn’t they say it ends there. Why the big secret? So as for it not being rocket science, I disagree with your ineptitude. If it was as clear cut as you see through your rose tinted spectacles then they would state the obvious, not just say King Cross….
Answer my question before asking more. Where else would it go? Name a place. We literally just have a HINT of a route at this point. "Cajon Pass" doesn't say where it starts and ends. Was that a "conspiracy" because they wouldn't tell us that when it was announced? In fact many routes don't list the destination in the name. Antelope? Tees Valley? London Commuter? Fife Circle? Cardiff? At best it's one end or a region. So again, tell me what your fear is. Where do you think it will go instead? What's the other terrifying option? It seems like you're looking for a reason to be upset.
i do agree with your argument, and the overwhelming consensus that the ats route will go to peterborough, but will point out that the examples you’ve listed above are all routes that we knew the scope of from day one (unless you count reigate for london commuter)
I suppose it could also go to Cambridge* but that's probably about as Peterborough anyway. Then there was the possibility that it doesn't reach Peterborough like Manchester Airport Commuter never reached Crewe. *Cambridge isn't on the ECML, but trains from London to Cambridge do come from King's Cross and they follow the ECML for a good chunk. (Don't know how far though)
I think it is pretty safe to say their initial intention is to take it to Peterborough, but the fact that they are not saying it means they are leaving the door open to shortening it if they need to, as it happened with MAC.
Maybe ATS are still awaiting some license confirmations to come in before making a firm announcement. Also if your thinking the route will come with a 225 set you will be mistaken.
To be honest I don't think so, especially since they released a photo which showed Peterborough. They would be shooting themselves in the foot big time if they did that then decided to walk back on it. With MAC we only got to know that it did originally go to Crewe as a result of the file name.
I’d guess the name issue is more down to them not being sure yet if it will include Hertford or Cambridge yet, since it’s clearly Kings Cross to Peterborough.
Out of all the DLC this is the one that I am really interested in the most and hope they absolutely do it justice
From the last roadmap stream Matt said that he had confidence in ATS to do a good job of this route . I still don’t understand why DTG didn’t push the boat out and do this route themselves . I know time deadlines may have been the constraint , but this is such a requested route that you would have thought they could get around that somehow! As a flagship route with a new version of TSW would have been a great selling point! Having said that I like MAC and I think the scenery is very good , so if the same level of quality and detail is carried over to this route , it should be good .
I really do think ATS need to bring some confirmation - with them announcing officially that it's Kings Cross to Peterborough and explicitly say whether or not the Moorgate Branch is included or not (will Drayton Park be included too? maybe a minor point) and whether or not the Hertford loop will be included - otherwise we are in for weeks and months of endless speculation - I get that they are possibly in the early stages, but the alternative is that speculation will run rife on what is a highly requested route.
Given the scale of this project, potential layers to make it immersive and the hinting of a 225 in the works, I’d rule out anything other than King’s Cross to Peterborough.
My dream scenario would be King's Cross to Peterborough, followed by Moorgate to Stevenage via Welwyn and Hertford including the Class 717
I hope it at least includes the Hertford loop. Would be great if it includes Cambridge too, would give some variety with GA services.
How do people normally get from London to Cambridge? Never had to travel that way by train before. Is there a branch from the ECML straight across, or is it a whole different network? If the former you might get it...if not they'll just save it for its own network in the future. Generally we didn't get a lot of side action on the WCML in game, it became its own additional content. Knowing how it works in real life would help with guessing whether it'd be included or not. I wonder if they have a license for...what is out that way? East Anglia or something? Now that'd be a nice network to model if they had the licensing for it.
There's a branch of from.Hitchin i believe through Letchworth. Great Northern and Thameslink make use of that. The other London bound-trains from Cambridge are Greater Anglia services bound for London Liverpool Street via Bishops Stortford I Believe.
Then it’s pointless dlc, there’s no point in making the route just to make us pay again for the 91 from the looks of things if that happened then this would be another boring no new stock route
Considering the modern day setting, pretty much. If not the 91 then the most they could do would be turning the 801 into the 800, or perhaps instead focusing on the Great Northern stock such as the 717 or 379. I don't think an ECML route focused purely on regional services while we still have high speed units yet to come would go down so well with the community though.
It’s better than a copy and paste iet Also I would say for once more than half community wants it since it’s been in the top 5 rated suggestions for years now it’s a perfect mix of old and modern especially if they do it right with both the intercity swallow livery and the modern day LNER livery which both still run in real life
Maybe it will be Finsbury Park to Sandy… Anecdotally there was a precedent, back in the late 60’s/early 70’s BR ran a cheap service from Newcastle to London and return called “The Highwayman”. But instead of running to/from Kings Cross it terminated and started at Finsbury Park!
"The ECML has no variety". I've used it four times in the last month. In order I travelled on Classes 717, 379, 801 and behind a 91. And as I stared out of the window I saw 158s, 180s, 221s, 387s, 700s and a 755 at Peterborough. I saw Thameslink/Great Northern, LNER, East Midlands, Greater Anglia, Grand Central and Lumo liveries. That's just for the Kings Cross/Moorgate to Grantham section. As for the 91 coming to ECML, There are two types of traction that are really needed for a modern version in TSW, the 717 and the Class 91. From a purely marketing point of view, which one would you sell as a separate DLC? The historic 140mph Intercity 225 with a rake of Mk4 carriages and DVT and a timetable for another existing route? Or the somewhat shabby for its age Class 717 with its identikit DfT interior of greys and cold blues, dreadful ironing board seats, its hair-raising top speed of 85mph and is unique to just one route in TSW?
-A major milestone was reached on 31st August 2026 when the Welwyn to Hitchin Migration area of the East Coast Main Line went live for ETCS 2 operation.Context: Green Signal It's nice, but I don't think ATS will add it.
My guess is the route is released early 2027 with the 225 following spring or even early summer. If they get the route and the rolling stock spot on, I’m happy to be patient.
I'm still not understanding your premise though I must admit to having had several bad nights of sleep this week. The ECML South, very much like my line, the GEML, has just about as much variety of services as it's possible to get on a railway line. Metro services, stopper suburbans, semi-fast suburbans, semi-fast intercity, express, sleepers and mixed freight joining for most of the mainline from just north of Kings Cross. Add in the different trains I mentioned. It's got everything a modern line could have. Scenery is okay too, inner city, suburbs, then a mix of new and old towns and industrial estates with increasingly longer stretches of countryside. Lots of gradients to tackle too. However, if we're talking about the era, it was far more interesting (in my opinion) when the rolling stock roster was 313s, 317s, 321s, 365s, HSTs and 91s but that would require far too much new traction in one TSW release to be feasible.
They meant in TSW so far ECML has basically no variety in traffic. And I think its true. Every time I have played ECML, it just feels like I pass 300 million LNER 801s and nothing else, it's quite boring in my opinion. Id like a 225 to mix things up, even if they aren't all that common now as before.
That GNER livery suited anything it was slapped on... I'd go as far as saying that the GNER livery actually suited the Class 373s more than the original and quite bland Eurostar livery. On the topic of 373s on the ECML, didn't they have power supply issues in the northern areas they operated?
Personally I’d rather have one of the various EMU options, the 225 is something I want don’t get me wrong, but on the South end of this route it’s the commuter stock that will make up the bulk of the traffic. I don’t think a 225 is on the cards anyway, we’re talking about a route that’s already going to be a massive undertaking & beyond that ATS have so far struggled to make one route & botched a singular loco. I don’t agree the KGX>PBO would be a pointless route to make without the 225 - far from it, but frankly I’m not optimistic about this route even including new traction at all.
Ahhh, I get it now. Thank you for rescuing me on that, another night, woken up at 3:30am today by my cat presenting me with a dead mouse, so the insomnia continues. My apologies to floyd#4761. I totally agree regarding the Peterborough to Doncaster ECML. Very little variety at the moment with that DLC, but hopefully there will be a little bit more variety if/when the Class 91 comes to TSW.
I wonder whether this will be set before or after the implementation of the East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP). It's currently live for Class 717s only on the Moorgate branch and between Welwyn and Hitchin. I would assume the route will be set with traditional signalling given how much of the route up to Grantham hasn't switched over yet, but it would certainly introduce something new from a gameplay point of view.
Just want to note that with the upcoming 897s from CAF inevitably replacing the 225s, now or the very near future might be the last chance to ever get one in tbe game, at least with an actual reference trip
897s are (fortunately) delayed for now but likely to have replaced all 225s by December 2028. They’ll of course live on in TSW form, if ATS are indeed planning what we think they are planning!
