This doesn't need a well written, illustrated proposal. Everyone knows what this is about: De-brand and re-release NWC and the extension to Holyhead. Everyone wants it. I've not spoken to a single TS user in the UK (who doesn't already have it) that doesn't want, or need this route. Crewe... the most famous rail related town in the united Kingdom. A major rail hub... is no longer officially even in Train Simulator? Come on... this needs sorting. Just sell it as a route with no bloody trains... who cares?.. people will still buy it. They're crying out for it.
If you're from the North maybe... I started out in Cardiff and the most famous rail related town was Swindon... I'm lucky to have both routes but I have a better suggestion than "debrand it" which is complete the negotiations with TfW and brand or whoever runs the lines and stations now, and do them properly. I know DTG and TfW were talking back in February (so pre-COVID)
Another option could be to backdate NWC/SWC to the BR era similar to Riviera in the 50s. SWC backdated with the BR Blue Diesel Hydraulic Pack would be great fun.
I live in County Durham, a few minutes away from Shildon the first railway town BTW, and I'm pretty sure that Crewe is not in "the North". That's not just me going, "Eeh by gum- Su'th'ners"- I was born and raised in the Midlands and I've never thought of Crewe as being in "the North". No-one talks like that round here anyway though I believe they might down south in Yorkshire.
My apologies, I realise it's a sensitive subject Either way, Crewe very much IS a railway town, but most famous?
There already is such a route... just not DTG.. and it obviously requires GTG's NWC as an asset in order to run.
Don't worry- I'm only an honorary northerner and I haven't told anyone. Born and raised in GW territory but... I think I'd still go along with that. Swindon was the centre of the world for the GWR of course but I suspect Crewe may be better known generally to passengers and those with a more casual interest in railways.
Heathens??? Joking of course. There's no competitiveness between such towns and I enjoyed Steam at Swindon and the NRM at York equally
Saying that, I do remember seeing some pictures of a backdated Crewe to steam days on TS a while ago.
I can't agree more with this proposal. Furthermore, there's still a number of items for sale that depend on the "full" version of both NWC and SWC for scenarios. However, I'm perfectly fine with the Arriva DMU pack returning as unbranded stock.
Let me add to this. Extend the route to Shrewsbury and make it one big mega DLC. That way you have new content, you can put a train on the new part of the route, and you can run from Shrewsbury all the way to Holyhead. Additionally, take the existing scenarios and re-release them with whatever new train models are included with the mega route. You can add a few for the new route and you thus have a mega scenario pack. The pack includes the cloned versions of the other two route sections and those with the original versions can still use them. This would be well worth the money. If you don't go to Shrewsbury, then extend to the Trent Valley terminus instead and then mod makers in the workshop (calling Danny on line 1) can make merged routes all the way down the line if they are so inclined. Heck, the same can be done with the Shrewsbury extension, taking it down to Newport and eventually onto South Wales Coastal's extension to Swansea, which also needs to get a re-release. We'll ignore the fact that Western Mainlines goes past Bristol to terminate at Cardiff and, therefore, this re-release and debranded DLC should thus be sold at a reduced price as the $44.99 value of Western Mainlines (in USD) does not compare without having a branded train of some sort.
Maybe Bossman Games will do an extension from Shrewsbury up to Wrexham and Chester once they've got the Cotswold Line released. You could then drive from Holyhead to Swansea once DTG gets licenses to re-release NWC and SWC.
I think they're saying "it's already been out there before so doesn't need much explaining" rather than "let's NOT talk about the route"
There used to be a Train Sim route called North Wales Coastal, which ran from Crewe to Llandudno... then an extension that went the rest of the way to Holyhead. It was supplied with Virgin branded rolling stock and when Virgin lost the rail franchise, the licence for DTG to use the Virgin branding also came to an end, so both routes, and all other Virgin branded products were pulled. https://live.dovetailgames.com/live...es/article/virgin-trains-product-announcement The North Wales Coastal route is heavily used in 3rd party routes, so the lack of this route causes a problem for many people. The main route can still be had by purchasing a TS2018 game code, but as the Holyhead extension was sold as a stand alone product and not bundled with a TS release, it is now off limits. A similar thing happened with the South Wales route and the license with Arriva. So... releasing the route(s) in a de branded form, or at least without Virgin (or Arriva for south Wales) would make a great many Train Sim users very happy, but the holyhead extension woudl be specifically good, because there's literally no other way to get it at all.. from anywhere.
I want to second this motion.The North Wales route is really cool and de-branding the route in the same wya they South Wales route is now shouldn't take a lot of work. If they would re-rlease the Holyhead extension, I'd buy it instantly. One no-nonsese way to de-brand it would be to bring the route back in time to BR days.
Or upgrade it to Avanti. If they did that and extended the route from Chester to Shrewsbury, that would be even better than the old version, though it's important that old scenarios be able to work on the new version of the route.
If you de brand the route back to BR Days then everyone would complain it is wrong. Have a look at the WCML over Shap and admire all the year 2000 track layouts and Virgin liveried stations Then look at the 1975 stock that comes with it and how out of place it looks There have been a number of changes to the North Wales coast since BR Days Just changing a few signs would not make it correct so DTG would get stick from people who would expect it to be so.
More like 1985. Both WCML North and WCML Over Shap aren't set in a particular era, but in a broader timeframe that covers 1980's to early 2000's for a larger scenario scope. You may notice some station posters use BR Intercity branding but station lampposts may be painted Virgin Trains' red. After all, routes in TS are an interpretation, not an exact replica of reality. I think it looks completely fine and is a good compromise for allowing more semi-realistic scenarios. Liverpool to Manchester is worse in that it has 1990's stock on a more-or-less modern route. Liverpool South Parkway station didn't even exist back then.
I just had a look in the manual and the focus time period is 'early 1970s to 1980s'. However the coaching stock does have Intercity text on the sides, which would suggest early 80s?
The InterCity text is from the mid 60's when trains got painted Blue/Grey I have this picture from 1972 when I was a box lad at Edgeley Jn 2 near Stockport Mk2 stock with Inter City branding It pre dates the locos renumbering a to 86xxx and the Headcodes were still in use Peter
Thanks. I thought it might have been a pre-sectorisation thing like how most Network SouthEast rolling stock got the logo painted on the side before the full toothpaste livery and refurbishment.
Especially if it was updated to the BR Sectorisation era (ie 1990-95), which is woefully underrepresented... They've already got the stock needed, they just need to reskin some of it (Class 47 in Railfreight, Class 47+Mk2s in ICS, HST in ICS. Class 37 in Railfreight triple grey/Mainline/Regional Railways, Non-AC Mk2s in Regional Railways, Class 101, Class 150. Class 156, Class 158...)
