I’ve been wondering, as there is a sale on, what is the Best route in the UK on steam? I don’t own tons of DLC so I don’t really know..
It’s not really about what I want as I’m not particularly fussy, it more about the highest quality routes with the best rolling stock or best performance.
The highest Quality route does not always have the Best rolling stock Routes Weardale and Teesdale - set in mid 1960 with early Diesel workings https://store.steampowered.com/app/277777/Train_Simulator_Weardale__Teesdale_Network_Route_AddOn/ Riviera in the 50's - set in late 50's early 60's with Steam trains on the mainline from Exeter to Paignton and Kingswear https://store.steampowered.com/app/...in_the_Fifties_Exeter__Kingswear_Route_AddOn/ West Coast Mainline over Shap - Preston to Carlisle set in the 1980's - AC Electrics and Diesel locos https://store.steampowered.com/app/...r_West_Coast_Main_Line_Over_Shap_Route_AddOn/ East Coast Mainline - London to Peterborough - Set in late BR days before privatisation AC Electrics, HSTs, Emus https://store.steampowered.com/app/...ast_Main_Line_LondonPeterborough_Route_AddOn/
London - Brighton - just an amazing classic suburban route, pretty varied from Victoria to countryside. You can't say you know British rail if you haven't driven it. It's a must have. South Western Expressways - amazing route for High Speed Trains and also some local trains too. Beatiful scenery, well made QD with possibilities to go through or avoid certain stations and even some random red lights. Great addition to other WML maps. Wherry lines - Beatiful scenery for shor passenger casual rides
Welsh Marches. It's a fast rural line with mixture of semaphore and light signalling. Has quite a wide variety of traffic. I can't speak for the whole line, but Shrewsbury and Church Stretton (which I'm familiar with) are well modelled. West Somerset Line. A preserved heritage line with a rural charm and changing scenery. Being heritage you can just about run anything non-electric with a clear conscience. It's missing Dunster Castle, which is a rather noticeable middle distance landmark if you know the area.
Can highly vouch for London - Brighton. It's one of my favourites. Also, South London Network is pretty good - if you have both, you can then download the merged version which combines the 2, allowing you to run from London Bridge - Brighton. Also, if you have South Wales Coastal - Bristol to Swansea, and Welsh Marches, you can drive to Swansea all the way from Shrewsbury. Other good routes include North London and Goblin Lines - Set in the late 2000s/Early 2010s. A great suburban line offering electrics on 3rd rail and Overhead, and also some freight. Chatham Main & Medway Valley lines - Offers trains on the SouthEastern Network in Kent (Class 375, 465 etc), plus freight. WCML North - Offers the section between Carlisle and Glasgow. Set in the late 80s/Early to mid 90s. Also offers some sections of the strathclyde network (if you happen to get the Class 303, you can run some suburban Glasgow services). Birmingham Cross City - Litchfield Trent Valley to Bromsgrove and Redditch - set in the mid 2010s with the Class 323 (If you get it, be sure to grab the 323 sound enhancement off the ATS site - the default sounds are terrible and somewhat broken - you'll also need the Class 365 EP and Class 390 SP from AP for it to work - decent route however. WCML South - London Euston to Birmingham - Avanti West Coast services using a Class 390 and London Midland services using Class 350s - If you get this and X City, be sure to grab the merge off the workshop. Falmouth Branch - A short branch set in cornwall in the mid 1950s - plenty of steam action. Malmesbury Branch - Again, another short GWR branch line set in the 1950s. Woodhead Line - There's 2 versions: The original, set in the late 50s/Early 60s with plenty of steam and electric action, with passenger and coal - And the Woodhead in Blue, set in the mid 1970s not long before the line closed - Passenger workings using Class 506 EMUs, Coal trains using Class 76s, And if you grab the scenario pack, you'll also get to drive a motley selection of diesels (Class 31, Class 25, Class 08, Class 44). - Note, you must have all the requirements for the scenario pack to work. Not sure if I've missed any other worthy UK routes
Consider the Great British Railway Journeys bundle. I have three of the routes (Settle-Carlisle and London-Brighton are old but good, Portsmouth Direct is much newer, nicely detailed and concomitantly demanding on the hardware) and, although none of them is my favourite, I like them all and will be getting GBRJ for the other two. For £2.50 a route at the moment you can't really go wrong. Second recommendations for Weardale and Teesdale (which is my favourite- it's historically interesting, I live in the area, there's much to do as it comes and scope for operation of everything except fast main line trains both steam and Diesel), WCML Over Shap (bought it to drive the APT but with much variety and interest in its own right), Riviera in the '50s (enjoy the kettles- add the Western Hydraulics pack for variety), WCML North (old and it shows here and there but sprawling, varied and enjoyable), Welsh Marches (a bit linear but lovely), South Wales (long and good looking with a few rail served industries to visit- it was off sale for a while so it's under-represented in the Workshop) and the original Woodhead route (again shows its age a little but interesting for representing the transition between steam and those DC electrics). Basically that's everything that has already been mentioned which I do have so the rest are probably routes I should be looking at. I'd add Western Lines of Scotland which is another older route but, as with W+T and S+C, the bleak beauty of the scenery is well represented. It's steam only as it comes, LMS 5MT only as a matter of fact, so add the Classes 20 and 27 Diesels to mix things up. Hope this is helpful.
I would suggest WCML South: https://store.steampowered.com/app/..._South_London_Euston__Birmingham_Route_AddOn/ It has 113 route miles / 182 kilometres, and comes with 6 locomotives and 41 stations. When it was first launched, there were problems with optimization. It has since been updated and remains my favorite to this day.
This is all interesting, I’ve noticed how I seem to have some of the favourites like Riviera line in the 50s and WCMLN Can’t forget the BML which I exclusively run as the South London to Brighton as I own the required routes
