I didn't think this really fit under the existing timetable feedback thread so wanted to open a new discussion. The timetable for BML at the moment is really great and almost a perfect example of what can be done to make TSW really immersive. However we've only got two freight services (one of which runs at sod-all o'clock in the morning), and no railtour services, so there's not a huge amount of variety at the moment in rolling stock. Just for a bit of variety, would it be possible to add some more freight services please? Not just to play but to see driving while driving around. Particularly, it would be really great to be able to make use of the (fully modelled!) Ardingly branch and Purley Aggregates sidings. Running around the train at Haywards Heath would be fun. Checking RTT there do appear to be a large number of overnight freight paths on BML but also some that run in the daytime as well. It would also be great to have a couple of railtours included for some traction variety - maybe one based on the WSR set (to allow use of the Class 33/52 which are criminally underutilised at the moment) and one based on the NTP set to allow use of those various locos and the Mk2s. It would really be the cherry on a superbly busy cake (please don't take this as a criticism of what exists already, which is brilliant). PS. I know there's a lot of people asking for Thameslink / Class 455 DLC at the moment too, and I fully agree with that as well, but I wanted to concentrate on what was feasible to add with the existing stock.
In one of the streams during the release of this route, they, Matt and the gentleman who did the schedule, said there wasn't enough time to do more freight but they had plans to add in a later update.
Would be good to make stewards Lane depot accessible for railtour services to Victoria then go to Brighton
I agree, especially more freight. They did add more freight to Dresden after launch, so maybe there's hope? Also am i missing something, or shouldn't the aggregate train bound for Acton Yard be loaded? The version in BML is empty. I haven't run the Newhaven-bound service yet.
Hopefully if a Thameslink pack appears in the future with extra services, a few more freight and rail tour services can be added in too.
Depends where it's come from. If they add Crawley aggregates, they will be loaded going to Crawley and empty coming back (GBRf working), if they are going to Ardingley they would be loaded going to the destination and then empty back to Acton (FLHH/DB Cargo). Some of the Newhaven services could be added that would be loaded.
Yeah, I can't think it's too unreasonable to hope for an expansion of freight and rail tour services. I suspect that currently, it is not exactly high on their priorities for the route considering the ongoing performance issues.
It took joe five months to get the passenger timetable completed. 5 months of living the time table and a release date makes it entirely believable to me. It’s a no win scenario as if the route didn’t have the volume of services people would complain and vice versa
They need to get the UE 4.26 update working properly before they add steam, but knowing DTG they'll add it and then try for 6 months to fix it, and then announce they can't and you'll need to buy a new version of the game where it does work properly.
I'm not Joe bashing at all, I watched the stream he featured on & his passion, knowledge & enthusiasm is 2nd to non! I think he has done a great job at making it look busy, I can't help but think that despite what is said, the route might not suffer so much with FPS/lag/crashes if there weren't so many trains on the screen at one time.
The Newhaven to Acton is loaded (and appears to be loaded in the game, albeit only a few inches). In real life, the trains are loaded south and empty north. Except for Thursday's which are NOT Mendip, and are loaded north (now dB cargo does not have the Mendip it may be empty south but I haven't seen in a while). TSW2 BML should have the capacity to add extra Wivelsfield <> Acton runs for the Newhaven Marine freight, in addition to the existing day aggs. Whilst day aggs is one a day in each direction, Newhaven marine is also one a day in each direction. But this does not make sense when the east coastway has about 4 runs into day aggs, and only one round trip has materialised on the BML Suffice to say, the timings on the BML 66s appear genuinely matched to the real life timetable. 1250 out of Keymer jn https://live.rail-record.co.uk/train/?c=H19820&d=18/10/2021 The marine aggs from Acton (and neasden), start off at Clapham 1105, so you'd have a daylight run down and they tend to come back at 2200 out of marine. However there are intentions at some point to increase the number of trains at Newhaven marine. To around 2/3 a day. So there is plenty of freight traffic on the Brighton mainline to wivelsfield and not only this but Ardingly and Crawley and Purley. All of which appear implemented, such require the services.
Freight yes, railtours no. Seeing a railtour every single time you drive the route isn't the best, and is hardly realistic considering how few run in reality.
Ehm.... "every single time"? With most routes only offering very few railtour services, the chances of you accidentally running into them is pretty small. It's not like they run on an hourly schedule... And although it's probably not realistic to have them run on any day, being able to drive a railtour service is something I really appreciate. And without a quick drive mode, timetable mode is really the best play to have them. Creating a custom scenario takes quite a while if you also want a decent amount of AI traffic. Perhaps, if people are really upset about seeing an unrealistic amount of railtour services, it's an idea to disable these railtour services for AI traffic? So basically they're slotted in the timetable when a player wants to drive them, but AI won't ever drive it and it just leaves an unused empty slot? Personally I'd like seeing more railtour services, on any route, and also with more flexibility to use any loco. (Like the Class 33 for example...) Although I'd also be happy with a Quick Drive-alike feature, where I'd be able to drive any train on any route without having to set up AI traffic manually.
London Victoria does have Pullman services operating from Platform 2, with up to a dozen services a month running class 67s, but these do go off via the SouthEastern lines very quickly (same as the 465s) Maybe if you had a run which would spawn as a 2 or 3% chance of being run at all and then substitution for various locos you'd only ever see it if you ran at a specific time of day and then very infrequently and with different consists. This wouldn't then be so glaring as a constant thing
Seeing lots of diverted services isn’t realistic either but there are loads of them in the timetable every day. They add to the busy nature of the route and the occasional railtour would be less visible than a whole day of diverts. You also get to drive them, which is the most important part of it.
not only do they go off to southeastern lines on some railtours, but with some railtours (belmond british pullman), they often run London Victoria to Shalford which rejoins the BML and Redhill and then goes up. This is operated by 67s (and sometimes Clan Line), but a DBC 66 would do nicely as well.