I am a regular tsw player but I am just wondering if anybody could help me out with what sort of price range I’d be looking at to get started on ts? I wouldn’t be to bothered about having many routes I would just love the WCML with 86/87, if anybody could recommend the cheapest option ?
Best option for that would be WCML over Shap. It comes with an 87, 47 in BR blue(s) era livery and lots of other stock. It's a well made good long route. IIRC the DTG 86 can be bought as a standalone, all worth it and even better in the sales. And if you want to really push the boat out, you could get the ArmstrongPowerHouse 86 enhancement pack and their Class 50.
If you would buy the game in the Steam Summer Sale, which is in 3 Weeks, you would probably be looking at £12.49 for the game, £2.99 for WCML North (Which includes the class 86) and £8.24 for WCML Over Shap (Which includes the Class 87) This would also include the routes Glasgow to Carlisle and Carlisle to Preston Respectively. Do also note that the Class 86 from WCML North doesn’t have a quick drive consist, but these are very simple to create. Both trains are quite difficult to drive, but as you are from TSW I’m sure that you would be up for the challenge
If you care to shop around on other sites you might find keys for older editions of TS which can be very cheap and may have a bundle of routes that interests you more than the current offering- make sure you get a legitimate one though. Steam would promptly update you to the latest version of the core program so you'd not lose out there. WCML North is an older route and it does show but still good and well worth having in sales at three or four quid. It also includes the old but still useful European and UK Loco's and Assets and US Loco's and Assets packs. A warning though- if career points matter to you this will be quite infuriating. All three of the included career scenarios are flawed in some respect. WCML Over Shap is a fine route- I bought it to drive the APT and found it much more varied and interesting in its own right than I expected. WCML Trent Valley is the least interesting of the three WCML routes on Steam (IMHO of course). It's quite new and nicely detailed but I find it a bit dull somehow. I must find out how to set up C-APT markers so I can run the APT down it. It's also worth noting that there's an ongoing third party project to fill the gaps and make the complete WCML. If you're running TSW satisfactorily you should be fine with what you have.
I would aim for a PC with preferably a cpu with four cores and 3.2 GHz or more (The GHz is important as Train Simulator is largely single core based). 8gb or more of Ram would be preferable, and a Graphics Card with 4gb Gddr5 of VRAM would probably be helpful. I would aim for an SSD of 480gb or more of storage, as Train Simulator uses a lot of Storage.
Might as well get TS2020 for £4.62 https://www.instant-gaming.com/en/5742-buy-key-steam-train-simulator-2020/ They sell you a Steam Key which you redeem in the Steam Client An you can use PayPal so you don't have to worry about putting you card details in on the site They just need your email to send the conformation. Peter
Good spot. I'd be tempted to get that myself if it wasn't bundled with yet another south east commutor route.
Over the last month or so, I have managed to pick up all of the TS versions from 13 to 20, (except 14) from Instant Gaming, G2A and a couple of other sites all for under £5 each. They all come with 3 or 4 routes, some that are no longer available. Found it a great way to start and now I'm on TS more than TSW.
Of course I'd forgotten you can have TSW on a console when I wrote that. The advice above is fine with respect to Train Simulator but if you want to run newer games too you would probably need to aim a bit higher.
The P-Train is a blast. Much more fun than the Pendolino. I didn't know there were any reskins but the only livery variation I'm aware of came when the full yellow cabs acquired the black windscreen surrounds just before they were first rushed into service so unwisely.
I attended a talk by Kit Spackman (Mr. Tilt) about the APT at Locomotion which was enjoyable and fruitful. I got a guided tour of the E-Train and recruited him to give a talk for the Friends of Darlington Railway Centre and Museum a while later. If things are back to something like normal in September (ie. if the Museum is open and the Friends' programme resumes) he's coming to give another talk. How close to Darlo' are you? (Apologies if that smacks of advertising but I think it's of interest in context.)
You could use that code for TS that 749006 sent you, or you could buy one of the Christmas DLCs (like A Game Of Gnomes, which is actually quite good) which I believe are standalone expansions. Then I'd buy the WCML North instead of Over Shap as it is cheaper and - I think - more 'expandable' with more train DLCs available for it. It also has some Glasgow commuter lines that can be a nice break from the express trains, although to properly take advantage of these you'll need the Class 303 pack. To go with WCML North, which comes with an Executive livery Class 86, I'd buy the InterCity Class 87 and/or the Class 86 pack, which has a lot of liveries for the 86 including Freightliner and BR Blue. WCML Over Shap only comes with an 87 and, unless you use Quick Drive or make/edit scenarios, you can't use any of the others. WCML Trent Valley is probably not what you're into, as it's modern and, crucially, has no Class 86/87.
Off the top of my head London to Faversham and West Somerset are also standalones- single route editions of TS effectively. There may be others but I haven't noticed or don't recall. Another option is to look on other sites that sell Steam keys for an older edition of TS as I mentioned above. WCML North shows its age here and there but it is indeed a fine route and well worth getting especially for its typical sale price of four or five quid. I'd say the Shap route is worth getting too- grabbed it for £7.50 in a sale and at that price it was a bargain.
Ah- if that's the occasion I think it is then actually no- I didn't. The Great Goodbye event held a year or two earlier snarled up the traffic around the museum so much even with the overflow car park in use that the police told them to come up with a different solution. That solution was a park-and-ride 'bus service which is OK I suppose but I'd've wanted to take my video gear with me which would be awkward and to use it I would have had to drive to Hardwick Hall which is further away than Locomotion in the opposite direction, pay to park then get the bus back past my village (where it was not stopping) to get somewhere ten minutes drive away. I get annoyed about things like that and it would have spoiled things.