Gwe Branch Lines Pack

Discussion in 'Suggestions' started by elarthur, Jun 6, 2021.

  1. elarthur

    elarthur Well-Known Member

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    Although it is extremely difficult at present to add to GWE due to console limits, I would like to suggest a SEPERATE pack containing the branch lines that leave the mainline between Paddington and Reading.
    I believe that the line from Greenford is the only one with a through service to Paddington (open to corrections) and these would need to terminate at West Ealing unless it was felt necessary to include the route to Paddington. I will describe a few lines below that would make a reasonable pack along with various details. Total length of all lines mentioned will be approximately 34.75 miles or 41.25 miles if necessary to include West Ealing to Paddington section. The lines are...

    West Ealing (or Paddington) to Greenford.
    2.5 miles long (or 9 miles) with stops at Drayton Green, Castle Bar Park and South Greenford (West Ealing, Ealing Broadway, Acton Main Line).
    GWR Class 165 or 166 operation with potential for a single daily Chiltern Railway Class 165/0 parliamentary train but I believe this is more recent than 2015.

    Southall to Brentford Waste Terminal.
    3 miles long freight only with no intermediate stops.
    Class 66 waste trains operating daily.

    West Drayton to Thorney Mill/Colnbrook.
    3 miles long freight only with no stations but a stone terminal at Thorney Mill and oil terminal at Colnbrook.
    Class 66 stone and oil trains daily.

    Windsor and Eton Central to Slough.
    2.75 miles long with no intermediate stops. Opportunity to model Windsor Castle as scenery.
    GWR Class 165 or 166 operation.

    Marlow/Bourne End to Maidenhead.
    7.2 miles long (4.5 miles to Bourne End) with stops at Furze Platt and Cookham and turn back at Bourne End for Marlow.
    GWR Class 165 or 166 operation.

    Henley on Thames to Twyford.
    4.66 miles long with stops at Wargrave and Shiplake.
    GWR Class 165 or 166 operation.

    Reading to Basingstoke.
    11.75 miles long with stops at Reading West, Mortimer and Bramley.
    GWR Class 165 or 166 operation.

    Class 165/1.
    2 and 3 car Networker Turbo DMUs operated currently by GWR. Almost identical to and compatible with Class 166 without the inclusion of air conditioning for passengers (originally) and therefore different carriage windows with opening hoppers for ventilation. I believe that (originally) they had no first class facilities either. Sub class 165/0 were/are to be found on Chiltern Railway services from London Marylebone and are practically the same in original form.
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2021
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  2. stujoy

    stujoy Well-Known Member

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    Unless these branch lines connect to the mainline (which as you say isn’t going to happen) they become pointless and a tad ridiculous due to their short length and disjointed nature as a pack. The one thing that unites them would be missing. Actually worse than that is it wouldn’t be missing it would be there but not there, if you get my meaning. I think they are either part of the line or they aren’t made. One of the main reasons for adding the branch lines would be to make the stations on GWE busier and increase the range of services overall. These branches would also end at mainline stations that have no mainline traffic. It would all be very clumsy. Others may disagree, I don’t know but I don’t think this would sell unless it was an extension pack, which it can’t be.
     
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  3. elarthur

    elarthur Well-Known Member

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    Hopefully DTG are looking into ways to make this work as a extension. I see some of the points that are being made but it is just so sad that the multiple branches have never been included or considered. We can but hope and wish. If they were ever to be done, it would be awesome if the research was done in parallel for both the current/recent version of the route as well as the older versions with differences like...
    Original Brentford Dock terminus.
    Staines West and Uxbridge Vine Street termini.
    Original large Windsor and Eton Central terminus.
    Maidenhead-High Wycombe full route.
    Original large Henley on Thames terminus.
    All of these are no longer around in real life but were once very well used parts of the UK network.
     
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  4. Crosstie

    Crosstie Well-Known Member

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    Ooh, like many Americans, I'd jump at the chance to see how the British upper classes travel. Would we see the Royals and their train? The Eton boys with their hats? :D
     
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  5. elarthur

    elarthur Well-Known Member

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    Quite possibly.
     
  6. Wolfovizer

    Wolfovizer Well-Known Member

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    You say British upper class but you do realise the other end of that branch is Slough. The only and only Slough known for its lack of upper classness.
     
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  7. aya.rahman

    aya.rahman Member

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    This is a great idea! I like the idea of the Greenford and Henley on Thames ones. This is probably because they have more stops.
     
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  8. Rybnicki

    Rybnicki Well-Known Member

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    As if either of those groups ever travel by train...
     
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  9. theorganist

    theorganist Well-Known Member

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    If the branch lines were added to the GWE route it would be a worthwhile add-on as the lines would all interact with the mainline. You could travel from Windsor to Henley by train, you could pretend to be an Eton student going to the Henley Regatta if you feel so disposed! I think you will find the reality different to what you perceive, not all of Windsor is middle/upper class and certainly Slough isn't. Much of my family comes from Slough, however, it isn't nearly as bad a place as John Betjeman would have you believe!

    I think without the base mainline route it would be a weird collection of disparate routes going nowhere in particular so without the mainline I cannot see it would be that popular.

    Reading to Gatwick could be an interesting route on it's own.
     
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  10. elarthur

    elarthur Well-Known Member

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    In fact the Royals often travel on their own train. I believe Eton school boys were often taken off of trains whilst absconding from school by their masters in days past.
     
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  11. elarthur

    elarthur Well-Known Member

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    For the mainline to be fully included, we need a way to extend the routes to be developed, hence my suggestion for a separate pack. Also, I have lost count of the times that I have mentioned the North Downs Line. A very good route which would give us a connection between Reading and Redhill once Rush Hour is introduced but a bit too long to be included in the suggested branch line pack.
     
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  12. djcwey

    djcwey Well-Known Member

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    Americans have only got to watch the UK version of "The Office" - opening sequence features the (now demolished) Slough Bus Station.
     
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  13. rhyttik

    rhyttik Active Member

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    what about marlow branch thats longer
     
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  14. rhyttik

    rhyttik Active Member

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    except the passenger branches
     
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  15. driverwoods#1787

    driverwoods#1787 Well-Known Member

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    All are excellent choices and for Reading to Basingstoke Branch is going to be the linking line Great Western Main Line South Western main line just like North Downs line links GWML with BML.
     
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  16. rhyttik

    rhyttik Active Member

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    the North downs i call is a London bypass it also links the south western mainline
     
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  17. csxfan#8403

    csxfan#8403 Active Member

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    And you could pretend to be an American tourist/Beatle fan visiting Friar Park when traveling on the Twyford branch to Henley on Thames.
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2021
  18. csxfan#8403

    csxfan#8403 Active Member

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    I'm all for this. This would work greatly.
     
  19. driverwoods#1787

    driverwoods#1787 Well-Known Member

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    That's another term for it because one of the Forum discussions talk about making that route to link BML with GWML. That way Class 166 can do Gatwick airport Railway Station to reading station. Then turn for London Paddington or Depot Run then ECS to Maidenhead for Marlow Branch from Depot.
     
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  20. csxfan#8403

    csxfan#8403 Active Member

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    Just like ECW links with BML. And I agree with that
     
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  21. trainsimgaming1001

    trainsimgaming1001 Well-Known Member

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    I think this would be a great addition. Not only that, it would be something new. A lot of the content released recently has been remakes of TS20xx content. Think of it, South Eastern High Speed, Clinchfield Railroad, Hamburg - Lubeck, isle of wight, and LGV. Even GWE itself is featured in 2 routes for TS20xx, those being Western Main Lines and the Railsimulator London - Oxford
     
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  22. dave from Cornwall

    dave from Cornwall Well-Known Member

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    This comes back to my "Train Sim World" thing...

    The DLC's dont actually create a world in which they inhibit.

    The GWE is screaming out for its branches. The whole blinking point of that route is to get peeps from the surrounding areas to Paddington.

    The stopper train should be under pressure to arrive at station x to meet train y. Train x should have to wait 30 seconds because train z has just arrived... and time needs to be made up before arriving into Paddington.

    Its why I am grizzly about the Penzance line not having the Falmouth Branch...why else would you stop at Truro? Might as well stop at Redruth and be done with it!

    D
     
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  23. Mateiule

    Mateiule Active Member

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    Maybe we can also get Heathrow Airport with the 332 and 387?
     
  24. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    Probably not due to licensing and security concerns, ergo BAA unlikely to give permission to reproduce the section of route on their inffrastructure.
     
  25. elarthur

    elarthur Well-Known Member

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    Precisely the two reasons that we did not get it from the start. It is therefore highly unlikely that we will get the Heathrow loop of any future Picadilly London Underground route or any other later lines into the airport.
     
  26. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    It's a bit of an oddity though as there's plenty of detailed Heathrows in the various flight sims at terminal and runway/taxiway etc level even down to radio frequencies.
     
  27. CrazyDash

    CrazyDash Well-Known Member

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    Console limits have nothing to do with why DTG does short routes. You gotta remember that the world only loads what is around the player to prevent lag. Something that’s seen in 90% of most large world games to prevent exactly just that. The real issue is development time. DTG spends 6-9 months on each route. GWE was their second ever route so they were much slower at building routes back then. If DTG made GWE today, they most likely would have included at least a couple of the branch lines since most of them are super short.
     
  28. Mateiule

    Mateiule Active Member

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    I mean what is the difference between this and Gatwick?
     
  29. elarthur

    elarthur Well-Known Member

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    Gatwick Airport station and the rail line are not owned by the airport operator as the were there before the airport was built. Heathrow lines were installed after the airport and are under their control.
     

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