https://www.facebook.com/railsimulator/ DTG today announced that all Train SImulator content featuring BNSF will now have the full logo set available outside the US... One wonders if this means that a similar agreement has or could be reached for TSW content going forwards...? NOTE - this only applies to TSC as far as has been announced (8th December 2021), I have seen nothing to say that any BNSF content is coming to TSW/TSW2
I hate to assume - but with licenses for TS Classic, if not all ready covering the TSW franchise - I would not see those licenses being far behind. Once the dam is breeched - the deluge usually follows. Good news in either case for TS Classic'
The BNSF logo is already in the TSW2 files for the menu. Of course there wouldn’t be anything to announce for TSW with regards to availability because there isn’t any content yet. It will come though, it’s just a matter of time.
Great, it would be awesome to have the Marias pass and stevens pass and ..... DTG can you work a bit harder and do this before Xmas, please?
Before Christmas? You must be kidding to think they can do a full route with brand new rolling stock in one month.
Kinda makes sense that TSW already got the logo with this new development (either for internal experiments or to show how the BNSF brand would be represented in talks). Licensing talks with a conglomerate as big as the one owning BNSF take months if not years if I had to guess. I‘m also very confident that DTG already got a license for TSW2. Seeing how much TSW has grown and how much demand there is for BNSF content, it‘d very shortsighted for the licensing team to not negotiate for a TSW license. As the TS license talks were successfull, I don‘t see any reason for a TSW license being denied.
Good news! Bring on the Spokane to Sandpoint Funnel as it was in the 90's when still largely single track, along with all the other great BN routes.
I think Rudolf meant release the existing TS1 content before Christmas. It's currently scheduled to release in the new year.
If only Metra would make a Christmas gift of a license, we could have " The Racetrack " in TSW with BNSF freight and the Amtrak Southwest Chief and California Zephyr. Not to mention that NS, CSX and UP may still have trackage rights. It could be a bonanza of a route over the coming years with 100-150 trains a day. Well, we can dream, can't we? ( Bearing in mind of course that the TS version was made by Chicago & Southwest, not DTG, to give credit where it's due. )
Or Metrolink so we can have a proper Pacific Surfliner route at least between LA and Fulerton, (and beyond)
Bring it on because they also have mountain routes that require DPUs with separate crews which are Cascade Tunnel Marias Pass. From the 2019 locomotive roster by Trains Magazine, they have 1200s Genset hybrids code S followed by the 867-951 C40-8W which is will use the SPG CSX version as the base then Reskined to BNSF like GP40-2 GP38-2. BNSF Gensets will serve as base models for SPG CSX UP Cane Creek & Sherman Hill Norfolk Southern HSC in the future Lehigh Line Allentown, PA to Newark, NJ via Easton Phillipsburg RR Bridge
I agree and BNSF uses SD70ACE 8400-9399 2006-2014 AC4400CW 5600-5717 & 5838-5840 1999-2004 taken from the 2019 Roster BNSF. If you're wondering how DTG will make BNSF SD70ACE & AC4400CW they're simply going to treat it like GP38-2 reskinned using Sherman Hill and Sand Patch Grade as the base model for those BNSF locomotives
Let's bring the Cajon Pass Route to TSW2! Both UP and BNSF could share the same route (ofc UP had its own line, parallel with BNSF's slines) Engine choices, what about ES44DC, ES44C4, C44-9W or the rebuild version the AC44C4M, don't forget also SD70ACe-P4.
The enthusiasm in here is wonderful, but it's important to know that the BNSF licencing on Train Simulator will have no impact with what comes to Train Sim World 2.
Posted it on the hope that if DTG had a line of communication to establish one license they might keep it open for the other (And you know we love a good "pie in the sky" speculation post)
It certainly adds weight to a potential Merseyrail route seeing the light of day - given its logo also appears in the files.
So please forgive my absolute Luddite logic here. Are we saying we can get a licence for a 10 year old dinosaur but not the newest incarnation. I'm really scratching my head here. Are we developing new games or old ones?
Can you please clarify? Are you saying DTG does NOT have a BNSF license for TSW2? Or just that there are no current BNSF routes in development for TSW2? I think the community would appreciate knowing for sure before we go too crazy with speculatiom.
Not directly; but it does show that the owner of BNSF's international IP has been identified and contact made, so the channel of communication is open.
I'm pretty sure DTG are just not confirming a possible TSW2 BNSF license for legal/marketing/etc reasons. I'd find it very surprising if either the licensing team didn't pursue a TSW2 license or a TSW2 license was denied (while a TS one was granted).
I doubt that BNSF would enter into an agreement unless and until DTG present them with a proposed route for their approval; I can't see them blindly granting carte blanche.
Also possible (likely even - now that I think about it). Point being: One way or another, it seems likely that TSW2 BNSF routes are possible now.
I think they do go to the licensor first if it's a new one - Matt mentioned years ago that they had to scrap a TS1 project because they started without a license, and when approached later, the licensor said no.
I believe that when it works the approach is sort of synergistic: DTG have at least a route plan to present as a proposal, in order to sell the idea to the licensor, but (if they're prudent) don't start actual development until the license is nailed down.
Go crazy, just don't expect anything material until you see it on a roadmap No, they're saying that they've been able to EXTEND an existing license which previously was for the US territories only to one which is now worldwide. And TSC has never stopped being in development, so I don't know why you would think otherwise
What's most likely happened is the license expired, BNSF decided to resign and allow the content to be released (or re-released) worldwide. Or DTG snuck it into the smallprint and BNSF didn't read it - I'm going for the former though.
The problem with BNSF is that somewhere in the complex corporate arrangements that resulted in the Burlington-Santa Fe merger, somehow one corporate entity got the rights to the trademarks in North America, and a different entity got the rights for the rest of the world. Up until now, DTG could only make a deal with the former.
The trouble began later with BNSF being bought by Berkshire Hathaway. As far as I‘m aware, they hold the international license while BNSF itself holds the US license (if we simplify this as much as possible).
BNSF licensing policy is so weird... It only changes that much, now the logotype will be visible on the trains - DLCs could be bought anyway (eg in Poland). And any-VPN-where... The biggest news this year - no irony hehehe
News from the current Arosa stream: Matt just confirmed that the BNSF license does apply to TSW as well.
I suppose that means we can expect a BNSF route for TSW in the future, even if there is none in development yet.
That‘s exactly how Matt followed it up: Nothing in the pipeline yet but BNSF routes are now open for consideration in the future.
That’s amazing to hear. If we’re lucky, we could get our very first BNSF route in 2022! What a week this has been. There’s an official Train Sim World 2 Amtrak livery running on the Northeast Corridor, and the infamous BNSF licensing issue has been conquered. What a timeline to be in.
That means that TSW now has licenses for all but one of the Class 1s: BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, Amtrak and Canadian National. Only one missing now is Canadian Pacific.
If a BNSF route does get into the next release cycle, we might see one in about a year. Even if it doesn‘t, I‘m sure one will turn up in the foreseeable future after that given the demand and uphill battle to finally get the license. True. An Amtrak loco carrying advertisement for DTG and a BNSF license after all the years of it seeming impossible. DTG really did have a lot of good news to share this week.
Well actual there's two missing, we don't have KCS in TSW, nor TS Classic for that matter, and they're a Class 1 as well. A class 1 that will probably cease to exist sometime in the not too distant future, but as of today it still exists, so it's at least worth mentioning.
Worth noting that DTG has published Revelstoke - Lake Louise which includes a CP ES44AC ( Milepost ) and also separately a CP AC4400CW ( Searchlight ) for TS, so a license exists or did for Canadian Pacific.
Well once the license is confirmed for BNSF, I hope all the other fallen flags that make up BNSF will be available like the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF), Burlington Northern (BN) which was a consolidation of the Great Northern (GN), the Northern Pacific (NP), the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CBQ) and the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway (SP&S). All of these would be great especially once steam arrives and for the change over and early diesel days. One can only hope.
I agree; certainly not before. DTG chose its six routes for production year 2021-22 at the start of this year, the last of last year's six being Cathcart and the four of this cycle so far released being RH plus Sherman Hill, with Dresden-Chemnitz and one more left to go. After the holidays Matt and the other pooh-bahs will gather to decide what will be done in 2022-23.
