After concentrating solely on UK British Rail 70s / 80s era routes like Trans Pennine and Tees Valley as well as the WSR heritage route and IOW I’m confident enough to now have a go at ECW a more modern UK route with regards to my ongoing TSW newbie journey and train interest journey in general. First impression of the 377 is how responsive and quiet and refined it is compared to the rattle, clack, and sway of the Class 101 DMU although I’m still mightily impressed with the Class 101 DMU overall responsiveness and general performance when compared to the 377. For such an old train the Class 101 DMU is quite remarkable as well as being the most fun to drive because of the skill factor. If the TSW version accurately reflects one in real life then the Class 101 is testimony to things about British Rail days that were good. I do manage to keep emergency braking the 377 though probably a legacy of me being now totally used to the Class 101 DMU vacuum brakes although I do find a similarity with the 377 baking to the tube train on the Bakerloo Line just a bit more instant. Scenery wise ECW seems quite attractive as well so I’m looking forward to exploring more of it in the days and weeks to come. I was quite pleasantly surprised to see some old BR locos subbed into this route which is right up my street each one seemingly only having one timetable called a vintage tour. So yeah! first impressions from this newbie of ECW seem to be very positive. Edit…When you press L2 there is a brake hold function on the Class 377. Do you use brake hold in order to keep the brakes on for passenger stops whilst you pre release the air in the brakes ready for a smart getaway?
In my opinion, East Coastway is by far the best quality British route that's been made so far. Stations are excellently modelled, the scenery doesn't have any major flaws, it has busy timetable and it doesn't have any serious bugs. I still notice new things every now and then such as the custom model of the huge incinerator at Newhaven, even the little touches like cows in the field making noise near Southease station are only there in summer and not winter. The performance of ECW is also one of the best, with it even having a pretty constant 35 - 40 fps on my original xbox one. I think the 313 will only add to my liking of the route, adding some much needed variety to the services. I do think ECW should be the benchmark for all future routes in terms of the quality of route building and general lack of bugs. Personally, I think Southeastern High Speed and IoW fell below that. So I hope that the upcoming routes will bring the standards back upto those of ECW.
Nice, now I have a question: would you recommend this route? I’m looking for a modern British route, and ECW seems like the best option over SEHS, since that route got some pretty bad reviews due to its numerous bugs and scenery issues, not to mention the sounds...
I’ve only just started playing ECW today so I’m very much in the learning and getting used to it phase but up to now I’d recommend it definitely. It’s so smooth both the Class 377 and the game play and I’m playing it on a original PS4. If your familiar with the Bakerloo London underground route then this is very similar in a way in terms of driving the Class 377. Up to now I’d recommend it. I can’t comment on SEHS because I’m waiting until it drops in price until I buy it. Also worth mentioning is ECW seems to be quite busy in terms of AI trains running about which is good.
I have both SEHS & ECW as my most played routes, ECW is definitely more polished and feels more complete, but then SEHS has more content, SEHS allows you to buy the 465 too which is one of DTG’s best productions IMO, but then ECW will get the 313 DLC, so if you want either of those 2 units I’d consider that. The freight layer on SEHS requires ECW also, and both routes have rail tours with the old BR stock if you have NTP, but SEHS gets 4 rail tour services where as ECW only has 1. It really does come down to what route you want to drive, the 375 & 377 are the same asset essentially, and on SEHS the scenery issues take place around the HS1 section as opposed to where you’ll drive the 375 services. It really comes down to which route you’d rather drive, because they both have their pros and cons.
Thanks for your comments, after considering the two routes I might give ECW a try to warm up for BML.
I like ECW a lot. The 377 is one of the easier ones to drive IMO so if you have experience of routes like NTP and TVR, then you shouldn’t have a problem with this. Scenery wise, it is very good and is a pleasant way of spending a Sunday afternoon.
I’d agree with that. Having started my TSW experience on what I believe to be, from what others have said, the hardest trains to drive, ie British Rail 70s / 80s stock, then the Class 377 is pretty easy to get used to. I mean if you can crack the Class 101 DMU then your onto a winner with most trains. LOL. I’m getting gold medals on ECW with the Class 377 so I must be doing something right and I’m far from being an expert on TSW. Going back to something like the Class 47 is a culture shock though! I did a vintage rail tour on ECW with one and I kept stalling it until I got used to it again. Also a nice touch on ECW is some railway workers I saw next to the track. I wasn’t expecting that tbh. Edit … I’m going to scenario plan a Class 101 DMU onto ECW if it’s possible to do so. That should be fun.
EcW is my favourite, still my favourite UK route by far. sEHS is fairly new to me, and I like it, but I think EcW is just a beautiful route.
ECW is better now that they tweaked the braking of the class 377. It takes longer to brake now (as it should) so the brakes aren't as keen.
The 377 is fairly easy to drive, but it has a longer braking distance than what you would expect, remember you normally use step 2 only for braking and step 1 a bit before stopping to get a nice smooth stop. If you are new and you would like to learn a bit more about realistic driving style and techniques (especially for British trains I'd recommend checking out these two threads) 1 - Post A Video Of Your Train Driving And I’ll Comment On It, you don't have to post anything but the sheer amount of information shared on that thread is fantastic 2 - Class 101 Driving Technique Tips
why is it not possible to have a walk to the ferry ? Like the route with all content and consider it one of the best. And because of that, i would like to have a walk ;-)
ECW is a very good route, a tad too short for my liking, or perhaps not short, but a tad too straightforward. The length + modern efficient traction really takes away a lot of the challenge, but in being short it was able to be developed with really nice scenery, and the 377 is a A+ model. I'm a bigger fan of NTP for the challenge it presents and the locos, but I'd put ECW joint second with SEHS, the former having the superior scenery and authenticity, and the latter the superior gameplay and variation. If BML is anything like ECW then it'll be a very good route, even if the rolling stock is a bit same-y.
Sadly DTG tend not to include large areas to walk around in their routes. This is one area that Rivet routes have the advantage such as Ryde Pier and Arosa Lake.
I love NTP, but still crashes a little too often to be in my top selection. Crashed on me last night doing the mail service.
It was my 1st purchase for TSW2, got it at the same time as the base game, great route! Last night I just fired up ECW, jumped in a 66 from the quarry & headed for Lewes, jumped off there & hijacked the next 377 to arrive, then went back & too for a while, lots of fun
So I just bought ECW and all I can say is wow this route is awesome! The scenery is beautiful, the route is well polished and I really like the 377, there’s a nice variety to the services, with limited and all stops services heading to Lewes, Brighton, Eastbourne, or Seaford. I definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a relaxing modern British commuter route
ECW is probably my favourite route as well. It looks great, benefits from the Seaford Branch Line for a bit of variation and seems busier than most of the other routes. Also I quite like that it has shorter routes, can just do a quick blast from Brighton to Lewes in about 15/20 mins. Deffo recommend it.
