Long Island Railroad Network

Most definitely, but maybe a new thread would be best to discuss MTA content altogether. I would say wait and hear what Jay has to say. I messaged him and asked whether or not he can quickly mention, if the MTA itself, is still partnered with them (and in good standing). Though the answer seems obvious, since they're going to be building along shared trackage for expansions, hopefully northward first, than towards NJ, I think it'd be best to await his response. We may or may not get the following, from the legend himself:

"Can't discuss anything on that front, but keep up the great speculation mates! " - Jay.
"It's possible, or it might not be. Though, my comment on a different forum post (Hudson Line ) may hint towards what the answer is likely to be" - Jay.
"You will never get MTA content, as long as we expand into NJT territory! Muahaha. Just joking. Wait and find out in a few years" - Jay.
--- Me: Heart broken ---
Personal Favorite:
"Soon™ " - Jay.

Can't wait for a reply!

P.S. Jay, please reply when you have the time!

 

I will take the liberty to make an MTA official thread, where should I do it TS or TSW? Tell me soon!

 

I highly doubt the signaling system is the case. I'm going to throw a guess and say, once you get a taste of the LIRR, you'll be left wanting more from them (DTG). However, we could potentially see, third parties covering other branches of the LIRR transit system, after an initiate branch made by DTG, if enough people showed favor in the first release. We will never know because DTG doesn't want to speak to its community, thoroughly and in an informative manner! Darn this business practice of theirs. Q.Q

 

I guess TSW's forum. Doesn't matter where honestly.

 

https://forums.dovetailgames.com/th...ortation-authority-mta-lirr-metro-north.3679/
The official thread is up!! Go check it out!

 

Not much of a need. I welcome the mention of the MNRR here as well. Though I have a feeling we’ll see more of it eventually is the reason why my hopes for this route/network is to be made. Plus it’s the only commuter in the NY tristate area that is still missing.

 

Just heard back from our licensing team that we do indeed still have a relationship with MTA and some cool stuff is being discussed on that front.

That's all I can say right now though!

- Jay

 

That's all we wanted (for now).Thank you Jay! You legend, you!

 

That’s incredible! Thanks again for commenting , we seriously appreciate it!

 

Thats great to hear! Its been about time!

 

If you're using this license to do a TSW route, please make it a longer one. The NEC New York route is already turning a lot of people away because of its short length and it's not even out yet. You've already showcased the graphics enough with Heavy Haul, GWE, and Rapid Transit. Now lets get serious and do a long route. Something like 70 to 100 miles long. The Metro North Hudson Line to Croton Harmon or Poughkeepsie with both Metro North and Amtrak trains sounds nice. Or maybe a Long Island network with multiple lines included and operating, instead of just one single line.

If you do this stuff for TS however, please make it a standalone route. Extension routes always turn out extremely buggy for me and crash quite often, which is why I try to avoid them. If people want it connected to another route, they can merge it with NY-NH or the NJT routes and put it on Workshop.

 

We won’t be getting a full Hudson line or an LIRR route more then 50-60 miles for TSW anytime soon. Although I can’t that if DTG decide’s to give us a choice (probably would never happen) on if we can get a few LIRR branches let’s say Long Beach Branch, Port Jefferson Branch and Oyster Bay Branch which 115 miles total and covers 2 sides of the LIRR or the Montauk Branch which is also 115 miles and covers 2 sides of the LIRR. The Montauk Branch is technically one massive branch that uses the Babylon Branch and Main line. Maybe not 3 different branches maybe just LB and Port Jeff equaling 85 miles, the possibilities are endless, although 2 different branches provide more variety rather then just one big.

Unfortunately for now something like this won’t go to TSW only TS, but the UE4 would make it so much better but I’ll take the LIRR in any way I can get, same with Metro North.

 

In TSW, you'd be lucky if the Hudson line got as far as Yonkers and if the LIRR got as far as Jamaica with maybe 1 or 2 trains per hour in each direction in Service Mode with no Amtrak trains. TS is definitely the game to make these routes for.

 

Based on DTG's route length criteria for approximately 30 miles. The Hudson Line would go to croton Hudson then.

 

Personally I'd rather have the Hudson Line for TS as well as the LIRR. We could get multiple lines out of the LIRR, including the Monatuk and Port Jefferson branches or the Hudson Line all the way to Poughkeepsie. It's better for longer and bigger routes. In TSW, it would just be cut short and even then, DTG probably wouldn't have the line operating at full capacity, maybe only having 1 or 2 trains per hour in each direction for only 1 line in Service Mode. Yeah, I think TS is the way to go for stuff like the LIRR or Metro North.

 

DTG are really backing themselves into a deep hole with TSW. Before long the situation will be a lot of ‘oh, why are they doing that route on TSW? it would be a lot better in TS1’ for every single route. Wonder if they’ll bother to change something with what they are devloping to actually make the idea of a TSW route appealing instead of just another big disappointment.
Wait and see I guess. There’s no reason to avoid anything that does get made for TSW.

 

I agree, it's way more worth it to have the full Hudson Line or the longer LIRR branches for TS. I would say the Hempstead Line or the Port Washinhton Line would be good for TSW.

 

Well I like Heavy Haul. That was well done in my opinion. I like GWE too (when it works) although I think they could have taken it all the way to Oxford like the original route. Rapid Transit was well...meh for me. But then again I'm not really into German routes that much (no offense Germany). The thing is they need to get off this kick of showing off the graphics and get into real simulation. I'm pretty sure they can do a long route for TSW, they just choose not to do one. I think they should do these bigger routes like an NEC remake or any NJT or MTA stuff in TS, so we can get the length. Yeah, it would be nice to have TSW graphics and a full working accurate Service Mode for these routes, but it's not gonna happen because DTG has their head too far down the toilet.

 

Well, minus the shots at DTG, I do agree with much of what's been said. I know that must be a bit difficult to try and please everybody when you have hundreds of people requesting different things.

And while I personally appreciate that we share the same wishes from DTG as far as content. Reepectfully, I think we should try to not to be as harsh in our criticism of them, as I'm sure they read this and may get put off by some of what we say. And because they're displaying professionalism in their responses, we should remember that they are still human beings at the end of day, probably dealing with whatever hardships at work and personal lives.

I believe they will provide us something we're hoping for in the near future. Just gotta try to be patient, keep this thread interesting with ideas on how we feel is best for them to provide this route, and just hope for the best.

 

But to help you awesome folks get this thread going. I gotta say, having this in TS would certainly be a dream come true. I take the LIRR quite a bit these days getting to work and always find myself fascinated by it. I work near the Jamaica station and always think "man.. this would be so awesome in TS" sitting in am M7 or M3 (which I caught this morning) and watching another train heading to Huntington, rolling beside me coming into the station.. and it's like.. this has to be done. I would love to virtually operate one of those trains through jay interlocking.

 

I think DTG has this stuff coming to them for all the grief they've put people through, mainly with lack of basic quality control. Almost everything they do is riddled with all kinds of bugs and inaccuracies. Yeah, nothing can be perfect and I understand some things will be inaccurate or buggy. But you'd think it would be a little bit better. I'm playing on a really powerful brand new gaming PC that should be able to handle this game no problem, and I still have to stop and clear my cache every time I want to play a certain route so the game doesn't crash. GWE in TSW is really just one big bug with everything that goes on there. I personally don't think DTG gets enough negative feedback and criticism and I think that calling them out on these problems could hopefully motivate them to implement some quality control in their products. We the customers expect that from them, especially at the prices they charge for stuff. If I pay $40 for a route, I want it to work. How can I enjoy the route if there's AI trains derailing and ending your session early, or if the scenarios are broken and impossible to complete, or if it crashes the game every time I try to even play the route?

 

That is my biggest dream too! I never fail to be fascinated when I ride the LIRR, and when I need to make a connection at Jamaica, it’s so cool to pull up next to the connecting train (as it was planned) and watch your original train go to a different place. I think the system is so awesome and it would be incredible to see it represented in TS! I hope they do it right with the AI (Lots of AI needed!), sounds (propulsion, horn), and attention to detail. They failed to represent the little LIRR trackage they have now the right way and some of the 3rd rail in Penn and Harold are the Metro Norths 3rd rail (under running). After what Jay said, I’m just so excited because it seems that we probably have a good chance in seeing something MTA soon!

I hope Jay knows they named an interlocking after him, lol, maybe we’ll have a better chance in getting it because of that! #Jays on our side!

 

It was pretty interesting and exciting seeing his post. I've been wanting something new with MTA for years now. The LIRR is always overlooked in train sims. I think Trainz has a version of it, but I don't know for sure because I haven't seen enough images of it. If they still have the license with MTA, they might as well use it before it expires. I just hope they do it good enough and I hope the route works. Also if the devs see this, please give us new sounds for the M7 or M3. I hate it when they just recycle sounds from other trains, like they did with the M8 and they just recycled the sounds from the Class 395 Javelin.

 

Trust me, I get it. Just that sometimes we tend to get a bit too negative with it. But I understand. I do have my frustrations with a lot of aspects regarding the things they do. But, believe me, from personal experience, there is always a way to get your concerns across.

I remember when the M8 was introduced, and a lot of praises were being given, and I noticed something was off. Something most overlooked, and I made it known through just about every form of medium they used to advertise it. Upon the release, I noticed it wasn't fixed.

I've sent a few support tickets with comparison photos to show what was missing. Bugging them throughout the day. And in less than 24hrs of its release, they addressed it through a hotfix.

Now, like I said, I bugged them.. hardcore.. But I did so as respectfully as possible and got results.

 

You're lucky. Last time I filed a support ticket about something, it took over a month before I finally got a response and nothing even got done to fix the problem. I asked them if they had a really big backlog of tickets and they actually said no. They just didn't notice my ticket until about a month after I sent it.

Also, if they make a Metro North or LIRR route, one thing they need to work on is the door sounds. I can barely even hear the doors opening and closing in the cab of the M8 and I have to rely on the display screen to see when the doors close. It would be much better if they put in the nice loud signature MTA "ding dong" when the doors open as well as that loud high pitched beeping when they close. It would also be cool to hear that nice whine that the M7s make when they're accelerating out of a station.

 

So I’ve composed a list of the most important things and the extra things that DTG needs to get correct and needs to take into heart when doing an LIRR route.

Audio: Propulsion sounds (very important with the M7’s!), Horns (Leslie RS2M for M7’s and M3’s, Nathan K5LA for DM/DE30AC’s, K13A for C3 Cab Car, quilable), ATC/ACSES beeping, squeaking and clicking for trains and tracks, door sound (beeping and moving sounds).

Detail: correct third rail throughout the whole route (over-running), fixing up ALL the trackage area they have currently for the NYNH route (including Penn!), inclusion of the West Side Yard, signaling system is a bit weird, but for most of the LIRR it runs an older system that only has one type of light but for the rest it has the newer signals displaying the normal 3 colors, MU train stopping signs (appears as a blue sign on the station platform to tell the engineer where to properly stop in regard to the length of the train).

Trains: lots of AI, hopefully they’ll implement horn blowing for AI trains, deadman’s switch for the M3’s, better physics, a working operating screen on the M7’s, LIRR Cannonball livery for DM30AC, correct window tint.

Extras: all clear buzzer to engineer from conductor, Automated System Announcements (ASI) would be so awesome for the M7’s!, station announcements (ex: “the 10:40 AM train to Penn Station is operating on time”), perhaps a schedule system for quick drive?

Hopefully I’ve collected most of the stuff , although I’m probably forgetting some stuff so I’ll be coming back to edit it every now and then, but if you have something to add feel free to respond! I hope all or most of the features are added to the route and more, we shall see! Also the RS2M for the M3’s sound a bit different then the M7’s which is just due to age, so if an M7 RS2M Horn ends up on the M3 I’ll deal with it, but I don’t want an M3 RS2M on an M7.

 

If they implement AI trains in quickdrive, I just hope they program them right. I hate being in the middle of a session and having it end automatically because an AI train derailed somewhere. I don't think it's possible for them to make AI trains blow the horn in TS, but you might get on board station announcements. They've done similar stuff in the past on the WCML Trent Valley route and even the original Great Western Mainline route. I don't think a schedule system would be possible for quickdrive either. You're either gonna get quickdrive if it's for TS or service mode for TSW.

 

I love the concept of service mode and I think it’s awesome, but it doesn’t look like we’d get it in TS and they really need to improve it on TSW.

 

These categories should be standardized and taken into account for every route they do. Agree 100%. *Hijacks thread :P* The MN Hudson Line needs some love too Q.Q. Lawjester, you always forgets to mention it </3

 

Well some of the features are for the LIRR primarily. Mostly just generalized.

 

\

Oh, I know that but, you could be like:

LawJester: "For USRailFan007's sake, MN Hudson Line. Yeah. Showing some love "

Q.Q Q.Q Q.Q Q.Q Q.Q Q.Q Q.Q Q.Q Q.Q Q.Q Q.Q Q.Q Q.Q Q.Q Q.Q Q.Q

Lool, let me stop. Back on track ---

 

Lol The Metro-North is always a welcome mention in this thread.

 

I have a strong feeling that whatever Jay meant about DTG discussing something MTA, it’s the Metro North Hudson line. The Hudson line thread seriously took off in the TSW forums and DTG loves Amtrak, and the MTA is probably one of the top most requested content at the moment so their killing 2 birds with one stone. I don’t care much for intercity travel like Amtrak, I’m more of a commuter rail type of guy and that’s why I love the LIRR and Metro North, not only are they my hometown Railroads, their America’s busiest RR’s and I believe they have the coolest networks and trains. I really want the LIRR more then MNRR (sorry USRailfan) but I think the Hudson line is inevitable at this point because of how much of a demand their is for it. I just hope that if MNRR happens before the LIRR, DTG doesn’t just say “we did some more MTA, now we’ll never do the LIRR”, please don’t do that DTG! I really want MNRR, but we’ve seen MNRR already so that void is filled, but the LIRR is still yet to be done and I hope it’s done ASAP! Without that being said let’s see them both done soon because I have a feeling something is in the works right now and we’ll hopefully get some details soon!

 

No need to apologize for what you want. I completely understand, as I feel the same about the MN Hudson Line, haha. Still, I wouldn't want DTG to go about stopping, after creating either one of these two routes (branch on the LIRR since we won't see the entire thing, in one go). There would definitely be a good deal of time, before getting the other route but, that is fine since we'll have one of the two, to work with. Regardless, I'd rather have one or the other, than have none of them, as is the case now. Its clear that people wouldn't mind more MTA content, so long as we get more of it (filling those oh so deep, voids --- I know I'm being overly dramatic with this here sentence).

 

Well it’s what they did with Metro North and the NYNH route and many others like the Metra route as well. I believe that we should get at least on big MN route (Hudson) and one big LIRR route (Babylon/Montauk). This would their for give us 2 MTA routes which kinda levels the plain field with NJT, and gives us a nice good chunk of both systems. Obviously we’re gonna want more but this will be an awesome start to an MTA Empire!!

 

Lucky for you that at least your home commuter railroads sold DTG a license. My home railroad is Septa and we all know what happened there. Ugh.

 

Be strong, John. That could very well change in the future. Possibly. Maybe. Eventually. Hopefully.

 

I’m adding some stuff on to the original post,

Detail: Whistle boards before EVERY grade crossing (except the Little Neck crossing on Port Washington branch), correct grade crossing appearance with a better bell, workers on the tracks.

Extras: ability to start off in the nearest yard or siding if you choose, and when you choose your route (ex: Penn Station to Huntington) you get the option to start off in West Side Yard, on quick drive when you choose a route you can only pick a starting point and destination, so if we don’t get a service mode type of thing like on TSW, I hope that we can atleast get to choose the stations we stop at and the times, so we don’t have to do a whole workshop setup which takes hours and this feature would be helpful with the ASI system.

Some of you may believe that this is asking to much of DTG, it’s not even close. This is what a real representation of a route on a simulator should look like, and the only thing that may be asking to much is the Extras category (hence the name). Maybe if they don’t come out with the “extra” features with the DLC itself it could come out as an additional paid DLC, like for the ASI, I’d no question pay for that if it doesn’t come standard with the M7 because the ASI is no doubt a challenging task and it’s worth the money. Some extras shouldn’t come out as paid DLC, it should come with the route itself like the “all clear” buzzer telling the engineer he’s clear to depart, but I’m sure DTG will figure it out. Also the new “extras” I just made are more generalized, meaning I’d like them to introduce it with the LIRR route, but I’d also like to see them implemented on all other DLC’s as well.

 

A lot of what was mentioned sounds great. Though the train time station announcement system would only really benefit TSW via service mode.

AI horn blowing sounds cool too. Just not sure how they would do that. Unless somehow it is scripted around railroad crossing when they pass a certain point.

It’s quite unfortunate that SEPTA isn’t license friendly because they have some cool equipment. I would have loved to have the Silverliner IV’s and V’s. I think a way around that would be if DTG could at least get a license from the manufacturers to at least do the equipment unbranded with routes to run them on. Like what they’ve done with the PSL & MWPB routes. You get the Keystone corridor which I’d love for them to do and also host Amtrak service as well. So there’s an incentive for such a route. Also that would hopefully spawn the Keystone Metroliner Cab car as well.

And Lawjester, you and I are very much the same. I love commuter stuff more because it’s what I’m also more familiar with as well. Though I still of course love Amtrak. I love Metro North and LIRR equally the same and would love to definitely see that Hudson route make its way to TS soon. Though the only mainly reason I’m rooting just a bit more for LIRR is simply because it has yet to been represented in TS. But overall I’m just ready for more MTA stuff.

 

I just hope that if they make an LIRR route that they don't make it an extension to NYNH. I hate extension routes. They always crash brutally on both of my computers, sometimes to the point where the route is rendered completely unplayable. I hope they do it as a standalone route. Also if they make an LIRR route, they should do both Penn Station and Atlantic Terminal to give us some variety with destinations.

 

And that we are, my friend. I’m really hoping we’ll see MTA content soon, and I think that we will. After what Jay said, and seeing some stuff happening on the Steam Datsbase, I’m lead to believe that we’ll hear some info in the next few weeks or so, hopefully.

And yes I would much rather the LIRR over the MNRR for a few reasons. Some reasons are that we are yet to see it represented in ANY form of simulator, and it’s my local and most beloved train network to this day. I can only imagine driving through JAY interlocking and entering Jamaica, side by side to the connecting train going to a different place and thinking to myself how hard we as a community worked to get to this milestone. We shall see, I have no doubt we’ll get the LIRR, the question is when? When Jay referred to something being discussed, I thought it was the Hudson line because of how popular it got in the TSW forums and it’s also Amtrak (DTG loves Amtrak routes and it pleases 2 crowds of people). Also, Jay can’t say anything without running it through his boss (whoever it is), and obviously he can’t say if they’re making the LIRR, so I think that comment was definitely a hint towards an LIRR or MNRR release soon because it definitely had meaning to it. Although I may be thinking too positive, (sorry Rare_Common) we’ll see something soon.

 

I hope it’s not an extension. As I said before, the Penn/Harold area needs a big makeover, if it’s an extension that won’t happen. Also no question ATB needs to be included, that’s a must!

 

I have to agree about the extension. Because it’s not like you can really use any of the other rail entities on the LIRR. Other than Penn station and the trackage at Harold interlocking, at the current time, it doesn’t share the road anywhere else on its network with any other commuter. So though I agree it should be a stand-alone Route. I do hope at least that it can be merged with other routes.

 

Yeah, let other people merge it with NYNH or the NJT routes and put it on Workshop if they want. But DTG should sell it as a standalone route.

 

That.. they must do. The Atlantic branch should be fairly easy compared to the rest of the network as most of it is underground. And the trackage isn’t too complex at all. The only scenery they’d really have to worry about is where the line is elevated.

 

To be honest none of it should be difficult! If you go to YouTube, MrMaster767 has made M3 front window videos for every single LIRR Branch. That can be an incredible source for DTG, and would be so helpful to take advantage of! The sounds for the M3 is also right there, same with the M7, it’s all over YouTube. Thinking about this just makes me more and more excited, and I’m so pumped to see it (hopefully) in TS/TSW!

 

Yes, I know of him.. Just came across his channel I believe just this past weekend and subbed. Enjoy his videos quite a bit.

 

They give such a great insight into one of the greatest train networks in the world, DTG really could find them useful. He should make front window videos but for MNRR too, don’t know why he hasn’t.

 

Could we get some details on that anytime soon? Like many others I’m quite anxious to know what you mean by that and excited for the future.

 

Lawjester In my opinion, I think part of the excitement is not knowing exactly what content we will see yet knowing that it will be MTA related lol. But honestly, I would love a hint at maybe what railroad will we be expecting like the LIRR or MNRR.