Many agree that the NEC route needs a remake. I've been thinking, with a remake, besides fixing the many things that are wrong with the route, adding the new Amtrak Avelia Libery trainsets to the route. I think this would really enhance a new NEC route as Amtrak continues to move its high-speed rail network into the future.
it needs to be remade from scratch with the same amount of detail and scenery as the New York-New Haven route and the Morristown-Coast line route now I would like to see the new Acela made for the route but personally Id would like to see it take place in the late 90's-2001 like pre 9/11 2001 at a time where Amtrak trains were in several different liveries plus the Amtrak E60 locomotives were still running Aem-7 locomotives were in phase III,IV, and V liveries same with the Amfleets and NJ Transit had the Alp-44 locomotives with Comet II,III, and IV and Arrow III's
Lets not forget the Acela Regional capstone paint scheme on the Acela Regional (known today as the Northeast Regional)
I say both the NEC and Cajon Pass should get "Official" updates in the future, though the NEC should get priority due to Cajon Pass already having 2 decent community made routes (Cajon Modernized and Cajon Pass Alpha)
It would be interesting, and something to take into consideration with my remake, depending on how hard it is to do that.
I wonder if it would be possible to just overhaul the existing route instead of making a new one of scratch. As an example replacing old assets like houses with newer, more up-to-date ones.
That's exactly what I'm currently doing, for me trackwork is opening a Pandora's box of things to fix. Instead I'm just updating scenery.
Using RW Tools, one can change a type of track to another. I'm using the default Academy US track instead of the crappy old NEC track.
So I'm not changing textures, rather I'm just simply replacing the track with one from a different asset.
since new york to rahway on the coast line is a lot more accurate than the nec route (other than the hudson tunnel entrance) would it be better to just get rid of the coast line and extend the nec section or attach them?
Well, the NEC can’t be attached to the coast line, and it would also mean placing track. People have said the easements tool can get really buggy with more than 2 tracks. This is exactly the reason we haven’t made it to Washington yet. People tried to make it, but the game took a crap on them and they gave up. Luckily for Brandon, a.k.a. Cactusjuice, he was able to make the New Haven to Boston route, since it was only 2 tracks. But he gave up on TS after the editor started giving him chronic issues. Now he’s more focused on TSW.
That's a shame. I doubt DTG will fix that though. Cactusjuice is still planning on making NYC-Washington when the TSW editor comes out right?
Oh yeah, and not just NYC - Washington, but Boston - Washington! All 413 miles, with possibly some new locos like the Acela or Avelia Liberty, depending on whether some of his team would try to do it.
In the Northeast Corridor Brandon will be making, he stated that there will be two MBTA lines in the Boston - Westerly section
It will be completely freeware, but he will be accepting donations, which I will most likely do. At the moment, he says all the American routes in the game will be needed.
Ikr?! He said it's going to take at least a few years to complete. Though it may be shorter than that depending on his team size and pace.
We don't know, until the editor comes out, it's best to say every American route is needed. So whatever US route comes next.