Uk - Where Should I Begin?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by NEC Railfan, Feb 18, 2021.

  1. NEC Railfan

    NEC Railfan Well-Known Member

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    For the longest time I've been a collector of American locomotives and routes, but recently I've been contemplating getting into some British material. I've noticed there are quite a few seasoned veterans on these forums that are from this area, so I was wondering how I should approach it, especially for someone like me being from across the Atlantic. (Every location looks the same to me heheh).

    In terms of interests, British Rail has always been of interest, so anything from the 20th century, but I'm also happy to try out routes that have a backdated version somewhere in the vast land of third party.
     
  2. UP13

    UP13 Well-Known Member

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    What sort of traction do you prefer?

    If you want the glory days of steam then the Riveria Line in the 1950s is very good value.

    If you prefer 1970s/1980s electric or diesel then the WCML over Shap is really good and is still appropriate for modern day scenarios if you buy modern units.

    Modern day, then PDL Waterloo to Portsmouth is good as it has a range of EMUs and you can perform long(ish) distance expresses or suburban commute services, and you may have some recognisable sights in London.
     
  3. NEC Railfan

    NEC Railfan Well-Known Member

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    I mostly prefer diesel and especially electrics (EMU and locomotive), which I already know Woodhead in Blue is full of. I'm also happy for some steam (which already is a multitude compared to what's available for NA), though I won't fully indulge myself in it.
     
  4. UP13

    UP13 Well-Known Member

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    I can't comment on the Woodhead in Blue, but the original Woodhead comes with an electric locomotive, diesel shunter, two steam locomotives and possibly as the euro loco pack which gives access to two further diesel locomotives.

    Out of what you said, WCML over Shap is good and has both diesel and electric. Again it might come with the Euro loco pack.

    Alternative Settle to Carlisle is very scenic, comes with a DMU, two freight diesels (heritage and mainline) and two steam locomotives.
     
  5. Pookeyhead

    Pookeyhead Well-Known Member

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    Id not go the Woodhead in Blue route as an introduction to UK traction. It's not typical, and the class 76 and Hadfield units are quirky and difficult. Personally, as a gentle intro to UK routes and traction from the BR period, West Coast Mainline Over Shap would be a good start. The class 87s are challenging if you're not used to Tap changing electric locos. Yet diesel traction like the class 47 are easy and fun. You can also look at the Armstrong Powerhouse Class 86 enhancement pack which is amazing, and the class 86 is also perfectly at home of this route.
     
  6. UP13

    UP13 Well-Known Member

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    Original WCML-N is also good and IMO aged well.
     
  7. Pookeyhead

    Pookeyhead Well-Known Member

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    I second that, and there is a patch to fix the lack of tunnel occlusion, which helps to bring it up to date.
     
  8. Clumsy Pacer

    Clumsy Pacer Well-Known Member

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    WCML Shap is pretty good too. More modern, there's south wales coastal, also Wherry Lines. London Peterborough is pretty descent as well, quite a bit of variety on that.
     
  9. UP13

    UP13 Well-Known Member

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    If you don't mind having dated graphics, then GWML could be a bargain. Comes with express services, suburban services and a freight scenario. HST, 166 and 47 very easy to drive. Only negative is how dated it looks but still an enjoyable route.
     
  10. NEC Railfan

    NEC Railfan Well-Known Member

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    Oh yeah, I do have the Euro Loco and Asset Pack, so I've seen the assets for this route.
     
  11. JJTimothy

    JJTimothy Well-Known Member

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    The Weardale and Teesdale Network in the '60s is a good varied Diesel route as it comes and can just about pass for any time from Nationalization in the '40s to the start of the Corporate Blue era when the lines were being closed. There are several steam locomotives available that fit in very well.

    Riviera in the '50s is a lovely steam route with several GW kettles from pannier tanks to King Class and with the Western Hydraulics pack it becomes a pretty good Diesel route too. Western Lines of Scotland is an older but lovely route again steam but with suitable Diesels available (Classes 20 and 27). WCML North is old but good, wide ranging and varied (be warned- the included scenarios are crap), WCML Over Shap is newer but set earlier- I got it to run the APT in but it's more varied and interesting in its own right than I expected. Both offer the opportunity for much hooning up and down in leccys.
     
  12. Cat

    Cat Well-Known Member

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  13. NEC Railfan

    NEC Railfan Well-Known Member

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    I was actually looking into AP for a while. I had always known of their quality products and I was even considering purchasing the Class 86 enhancement pack to accompany a future purchase of WCML, but it looks like I'm not gonna be driving the scenarios featured for a while!
     
    Last edited: Feb 18, 2021
  14. Pookeyhead

    Pookeyhead Well-Known Member

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    You can swap out the stock for something else using TSTools. Better still... If you get the AP Class 86 (which needs the DTG Class 86) you can use the class 86 scenarios with the DTG one swapped for the AP one.
     
  15. inversnecky

    inversnecky Well-Known Member

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    That’s a good route, and there’s a standard scenario with it that introduces you to the class 87 controls, the tap changer (so you can drive the 86 as well).

    If you get the AP 86 one day, you have to remember which you’re driving, that or the default, as the AP one requires Ctrl+N for the AWS change ends, and if you forget that, the loco won’t move!

    So the 86/87 are good locos: there’s also the 73, which is a bit trickier, perhaps, like the 76 on Woodhead, but they’re a good challenge to learn and rewarding to drive. (Remember the Woodhead route was a non standard 1.5kV DC, so the 76 is really confined to there.)

    On WCML Shap as well, you can have a go at the neutral sections too (also there’s a tutorial included for that).

    Personally, I also like the London routes, where you can dot about the frequent stations on supplied EMUs or get an AP in due course.
     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2021
  16. PhÜnKî_Rø0sTā

    PhÜnKî_Rø0sTā Well-Known Member

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    If you are into commuter routes then I highly suggest London to Brighton, Chatham main line and Medway Valley lines, MML St Pancras to Bedford, GEML London to Ipswich etc.

    If operating diesel traction is more your thing than I would suggest Edinburgh to Glasgow, fife Circle, Liverpool to Manchester etc.

    There is plenty of content available for these routes as well.
     
  17. UP13

    UP13 Well-Known Member

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    London to Brighton is very good for a beginner who wants an end to end experience, both express and stopping. Lack of diverse rolling stock is the main drawback.

    MML St Pancras to Bedford is also good plus you get a free Class 66 for freight.


    London to Faversham is a fun one if you like high speed. Only drawback is that the HS1 section is stupidly short.
     
  18. triznya.andras

    triznya.andras Well-Known Member

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    I'd combine London-Peterborough, new Portsmouth and London-Faversham, unless you have that in TSW.
    Edinburgh-Glasgow comes with a set of nice enough diesel DLC, and Bristol-Exeter is fairly nice (instead of GWML), although superseded by a recent JT version. Weardale is a bit overrated and overused imo, but certainly nice. A bit slower, though.
    London-Pb has a BR's ECML version by simonmd on the workshop, with some BR Blue free roams. (Anyone knows anything about him?)

    Much of the BR stuff is early content, and thus either you are better off with a newer 3rd party version, or the route is irrelevant.
    I mean, you could buy the old ECML with the old 101, but it's kinda like the old NEC.

    There are some BR Blue packs and I totally enjoyed the old PDL's extensions (421, 455), the latter among my latest screenshots. There is a Steam bundle for them.
    Heck, there is this British Railway Journeys version. Might be a good start.

    Overall I find UK content fairly casual, so ultimately whatever seems pretty to you, can't go wrong.
    Settle-Carlisle is a bit quirky, it has lo-fi trains with old procedural sounds (Class 66 v1) and most of the scenery is only visible in Summer.
     
  19. inversnecky

    inversnecky Well-Known Member

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    It also has oodles of scenarios - included with it, and I think about 2,000 on Steam Workshop!
     
  20. Clumsy Pacer

    Clumsy Pacer Well-Known Member

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    If you're going to get London to Brighton, I'd recommend you also get South London Network (which focuses more on Southern's Metro services) and get the South London - Brighton route off Workshop - that workshop route is so nice.
     
  21. ntypeman

    ntypeman Well-Known Member

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    NEC...

    I tend to get what is cheap or when sales / offers crop up as money isn't plentiful at the mo (this can be quite an expensive hobby if you haven't already noticed, but not as expensive as OO/HO model railways)...

    If you're not in a rush for a particular route then just pick it up as & when... I've operated this way for years... it's not very often I'll rush to get a route as soon as its been released, one only has to look as the WCMLS debacle...!!!

    Eric
     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2021
  22. JJTimothy

    JJTimothy Well-Known Member

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    I'd forgotten about that. I don't think any of the routes is absolutely top drawer but I've got three and like them especially Settle-Carlisle. It was a tenner in the last sale and at that price a bargain so keep an eye on it.
     
  23. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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  24. JJTimothy

    JJTimothy Well-Known Member

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    Good spot. They've got a couple of old editions of TS which is worth knowing about too. (Hey you can put links to other sellers here- I thought that was a no-no. Maybe I was thinking of Steam.)
     
  25. Cyclone

    Cyclone Well-Known Member

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    I still wish for a collection of scenarios for the Workshop route. I played out the dozen from London-Brighton and eventually plan to visit South London Network, and having some scenarios from London Bridge to areas beyond South Croydon would be a nice touch.
     
  26. inversnecky

    inversnecky Well-Known Member

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