I'm Sick Of These American Freight Routes

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by Lords_75, Nov 25, 2021.

  1. Lords_75

    Lords_75 Member

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    Boston Sprinter was the most recent American passenger route. Before that, Peninsula corridor, LIRR, and then what ever North East Corridor. We have enough Boring trees and mountains and reused horns. Clinchfield was cool I guess, I like me an F unit. But since then we had The one nobody remembers with Union Pacific, now Sherman Hill which has basically the same scenery as the other one, and now Horseshoe Curve should be coming in the next 2-3 months. Are some people exited about these? Yea of course, I can understand why, especially of you like freight. But enough is. I wouldn't mind Clinchfield + the two UP routes, but just another one after this? Really? You cant go down 10 discussions on the suggestion forums without someone asking for a American passenger route. If DTG claims they look at the suggestion forms, then they should see all the people asking for one. So what gives? I doubt they will read this, but hopefully I can get some of the community behind me on this one <3
     
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  2. Clumsy Pacer

    Clumsy Pacer Well-Known Member

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    I think it's a bit unfair to blame DTG for releasing two NA freight routes so close to each other, given one's being made by a 3rd party who have almost complete autonomy over what they build, and DTG themselves are hardly going to sit on Sherman for months for no reason other than to widen the gap between it and Horseshoe. Boston was just a few months ago, there'll still be a bit of a gap before another one comes out.
     
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  3. sergio volodstok

    sergio volodstok Active Member

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    Really aren't a lot of passenger only routes in the US... Most routes with passenger trains running over them are owned by freight companies, with a few exceptions like the NE Corridor or the Peninsula corridor.
     
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  4. Lords_75

    Lords_75 Member

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    MNRR, MBTA, MTA, some Amtrak, WMBTA, HBLR, NJT, MARC, MARTA, LACMTA, Chicago El, METRA Brightline, SEPTA, Miami Metro rail. Tell me DTG cant make anything with this.
     
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  5. Blacknred81

    Blacknred81 Well-Known Member

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    Licensing Licensing Licensing. Not to mention Sherman Hill was already planned before Covid-19 (As the sound team had a planned trip to Little Rock for a recording session, that ended up being canceled).

    You also cant blame DTG for whatever Skyhook wants to put out.
     
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  6. Lords_75

    Lords_75 Member

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    Fair, but MTA, Amtrak and MBTA are possible and people are suggesting it. And DTG should have some say over what other companies put in their game.
     
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  7. aaronbrall#7894

    aaronbrall#7894 Active Member

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    Cool, so don't buy them, save up for the next piece of DLC you are interested in, its what I'm doing, no interest in Sherman Hill or the Horseshoe Curve (which is 3rd Party and not DTG) so I'm saving for the BR 232, BR G6 and the Tharandter Rampe.

    When creating DLC they have to go for things a general audience will like, not everyone will like it but if they didn't do that then simple they would not make enough profit
     
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  8. DTG Protagonist

    DTG Protagonist Has left the building Staff Member

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    The US players are a really challenging group for us to cover as well as they'd like.

    In every other country in the world (not just the countries we've covered in the game) passenger services are preferred over freight 80% of the time - Australia the only other outlier where it's around 65%. US players are split almost exactly 50/50 between wanting freight and passenger routes. To satisfy the whole audience therefore, we'd need routes that represent both styles of railroad sim and those aren't easy to come by. Sure, the exist but in many cases a single license holdout can render it impossible to deliver.

    We know that we're coming up short on passenger routes for US fans and we're working to improve the balance.
     
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  9. Calidore266

    Calidore266 Well-Known Member

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    This kind of background info is always interesting, thanks!
     
  10. trainsimplayer

    trainsimplayer Well-Known Member

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    No? The 3rd Parties (TSG, Rivet, Skyhook) work on what they want, when they want because they are in a programme to create their own content. Not content for dovetail, their own.

    They should have full autonomy over what they make, or else they may as well just be working for dovetail...

    Also, had Skyhook went for a US Passenger route I bet you wouldn't have been saying this.
     
  11. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    The problem with the freight routes is that scenarios tend to be a bit drawn out and you are up against the possible save bug. It also needs some purpose like Run 8 to drop off wagons for loading/unloading to be picked up later. I played a bit on Clinchfield and SPG but generally I tend to drop into one of the German or UK passenger routes for a quick fix. Boston Sprinter is okay but driving from the cab car is tedious and boring.
     
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  12. steamfan#1309

    steamfan#1309 Well-Known Member

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    They added a new passenger route to the roadmap, but it is one of those copy and paste routes.
     
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  13. sugondese

    sugondese Member

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  14. steamfan#1309

    steamfan#1309 Well-Known Member

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    To specify copy and paste routes I mean where all they do is just copy a constant and paste it along the route
     
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  15. driverwoods#1787

    driverwoods#1787 Well-Known Member

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    Harlem Line MNR
     
  16. Rudolf

    Rudolf Well-Known Member

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    I do not live in the US, but I love freight in general and US freight specifically. This comes right after the need for a Dutch route of course.
     
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  17. Blartthaniel42

    Blartthaniel42 Well-Known Member

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    The only real modern route that could give an experience like this is probably the BNSF/Metra racetrack out of Chicago. Of course there is an issue of licensing there. Another option that could be done is the Northeast Corridor set during Pennsylvania Railroad and Penn Central era.
     
  18. steamfan#1309

    steamfan#1309 Well-Known Member

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    They need one with both that is a classic fallen flag.
     
  19. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    Bingo. A pre-Amtrak setting would allow passenger and freight over the same route under the same license.
     
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  20. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    The Peninsula Corridor is owned by Union Pacific, which leases trackage rights to Caltrain (and Amtrak). To the best of my knowledge, Amtrak only owns its own track on the NEC, and even there only some of it.
     
  21. Blacknred81

    Blacknred81 Well-Known Member

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    Negative, the Joint Powers Board bought the right of way between San Francisco and San Jose from the Southern Pacific in 1991,
     
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  22. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    Das wusste ich nicht. Danke.
     
  23. LastTrainToClarksville

    LastTrainToClarksville Well-Known Member

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    Just for the record, I'm of the exact opposite opinion to the OP -- can't get enough freight traffic, especially switching work.
     
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  24. lord everything

    lord everything Well-Known Member

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    I have a genuine suggestion. Extend Harlem line to southeast and put the P32/P42 in the route. I'm British, but to me only making the line to HALF of the full potential is as bad as if you made the Great Eastern Mainline, but include half if the trains that run on it and only made it to Chelmsford instead of Ipswich or Norwich.
     
  25. steamfan#1309

    steamfan#1309 Well-Known Member

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    If they did it during the time the line was owned by the NYC R.R. we could have driven the diesel led 20th century limited
     
  26. SHINO BAZ

    SHINO BAZ Well-Known Member

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    In all fairness i wouldn't say Germany & UK have been neglected,Germany has received plenty of new routes in the last year plus the UK hasn't been without many new routes themselves either.
     
  27. steamfan#1309

    steamfan#1309 Well-Known Member

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    It's the amarican routes being rejected. All they are doing is just making routes specific to one kind of service. Also they don't add any "new" engines.
     
  28. SHINO BAZ

    SHINO BAZ Well-Known Member

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    Truth is dtg has been recycle locos on almost every countries routes,just look at there german routes it's recycle galore.
     
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  29. steamfan#1309

    steamfan#1309 Well-Known Member

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    However they do still get more new engines than the US. The only new engine that hasn't been in either TSW was the EMD F-7. While the German routes have two.
     
  30. Blacknred81

    Blacknred81 Well-Known Member

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    The SD70ACe?
     
  31. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    For that matter, the Clinchfield SD40 and the Boston FP40-3 may not be wholly new, but they do represent substantial reworkings of the earlier locos, and drive very differently.
     
  32. pveezy

    pveezy Well-Known Member

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    The F7 in Clinchfield had me thinking this… It would be great to do a US route with mixed passenger/freight in the pre-Amtrak days… Chicago or Detroit would be great spots… Now that there is an F7 in the game it could be modified and re-used for any number of railroads for the 50s-80s era. GPs and SD40s could also be modified and thrown in depending on when/where they modelled. A Budd RDC would be great too.

    I am curious how licensing works for railroads that now longer exist though such as Pennsylvania, Penn Central, NY Central etc… I would assume those trademarks are probably still owned by whatever current company exists which ate them up in mergers decades ago.

    Modern US passenger routes are a bit challenging because you basically from what I am thinking have the option of the NEC (which we’ve had 2 different parts of already) or commuter lines. Outside of that most the Amtrak routes are more long distance tourist trains.

    I do really like the commuter routes like Penninsula and the Boston MBTA. MBTA is already licensed and has other lines that could be done, as well as bi-level coaches and the MPI HSP46 that could be added to the current stock that’s already in the came.

    I’d also love to see Metra or GO Transit (not US technically but basically the same idea) if licensing ever works out for those.
     
    Last edited: Dec 31, 2021
  33. Blacknred81

    Blacknred81 Well-Known Member

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    Pretty much, the modern Class 1s own the rights for the usage of railroad that they have acquired thru mergers over the years. CSX and Union Pacific are pretty open to using them, BNSF is also an option. Norfolk Southern has fallen off in recent times, at least on TS. DTG does not have rights for those owned by either CN or CP.

    Some other licenses like the Rock Island, Milwaukee Road and Conrail fall elsewhere.
     
  34. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    The old Northeastern railroads pose a peculiar problem, because after the Pennsy and NY Central merged to form Penn Central, only to go bust six years later, Congress merged them and a dozen other struggling Northeastern RR into Conrail- and Conrail when it went wasn't bought up by one RR, but rather split between CSX and Norfolk Southern. So it's anyone's guess who controls the old trademarks. It might even be the rump of Conrail, which still exists as a yard services company.

    Well, now that BNSF is on board there could be any of the classic Santa Fe runs; or maybe Northern Pacific's Empire Builder (St Paul - Seattle) through the northern Rockies
     
    Last edited: Dec 31, 2021
  35. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    But will feature in the upcoming Horseshoe Curve, so they haven't walked away.

    Oakville?
     
    Last edited: Dec 31, 2021
  36. Blacknred81

    Blacknred81 Well-Known Member

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    I'm talking about their fallen flags, DTM still hasn't gotten approval for an EL paint for their U34CH on TS, and CN got the Bessemer and Lake Erie route pulled from steam since DTG didn't have the licensing from CN to use the BLE. There were also IC reporting marks on TBTs CN SD70s that were removed before the locomotive was released on Steam too.

    And TBT never released the SOO line paint with the CP SD60 on steam as DTG doesn't have a license for that either.
     
    Last edited: Dec 31, 2021
  37. steamfan#1309

    steamfan#1309 Well-Known Member

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    Even still Germany and Britain have about twice as much routes.
     
  38. Jonne1184

    Jonne1184 Well-Known Member

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    Thats just a completely wrong statement and you know it. The number of routes between those countries is pretty much equal.
     
  39. smugstarlord#4202

    smugstarlord#4202 Well-Known Member

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    Railroading is a massive part of the rail world. It wouldn't be good of DTG didn't try to replicate that alongside passenger, freight etc
     
  40. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    Having spent a bit of time on Cane Creek, I actually wouldn't be averse to some more branch or short line railroads.
    The Apache Railway comes to mind with the added attraction that they run (or at least did) with Alco's!
     
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