Which route is the busiest (most AI traffic, rolling stock variety, etc.)? I would love to do a run on a route where there is a lot of traffic. Sorry if creating a thread to ask a question like this is not the proper thing to do.
BML (London Commuter) is the busiest by far, although it lacks rolling stock variety. Dresden - Riesa is quite busy and also has a wide rolling stock variety, aswell as service variety, so overall I’d say it ticks more boxes than BML if you’re looking for something well rounded. The benefit of both these routes is that you don’t really need any DLC to get a ‘full’ experience, the DLC layers are great but you definitely wouldn’t lose any of the overall atmosphere on the routes.
Thanks! I will make a run on both. I have almost all German DLC except the last two routes. I also have all UK DLC except for West Cornwall.
I am still surprised that most of the other routes, especially the NEC: Boston, and LIRR, still don't have lots of AI Train, At the moment it feels empty, and less like rush hour, compared to Brighton and London Victoria that have so many AI Train. I hope this is what Adam and the team going to also focus on for the Preservation update because so far the route lack of rush hour feeling.
Don’t bother getting WCL. IMO it’s the worst route produced so far, so much scenery either missing or incorrect.
Actually, these are the kind of threads I like the most. If you have BML and most of the German routes, then I'd say you're in pretty good shape, traffic wise. BML is busy, in and of itself. While busy, there's not too much variety. With Germany, it's really all about the layering. The more DLC (routes and loco's) you own, the busier all the routes become, it seems. It really all comes down to having enough variety to suspend disbelief, if that makes any sense. When I'm running on German routes, and especially with safety systems and all, I have no problem losing myself in the simulation, whereas with something like LIRR, I can never really lose myself in it because there's "no life to it," as it were. Not sure that helps, but I hope it does.
I tend to prefer UK stuff on Train Simulator and German on Train Sim World. I have a big collection on each. Just ran Dresden - Riesa and saw only 3 other trains in half hour of driving.
Nahverkehr Dresden has heavy traffic some cases you have to cross a main line. Example 10:00 DB BR 363 Chemical Plant to Riesa you must wait for passing traffic then proceed you are stuck at the junction for 20 minutes. NEC Boston-Providence it's your Turning Circle services you have to wait for MBTA F40PH and Cab Cars that will cross the tracks
I would also throw in the Penninsula Corridor if it comes to busy routes. If you have both loco addons for this route, you will have lots of traffic including freight and shunters.
Mind you, DRA has two routes running in parallel (or rather, crisscrossing)- like RRO, or as SKA does in a single roadbed. The express/freight line isn't going to see as much traffic as the S-bahn/RB line.
HMA is not bad if you just look at the number of services. So is MSB or GWE but many of the services are short ones or just ECS in the depot. When driving from one end to another during the day, you may not going to see them at all. That's why HRR seems quite busy to me. 400 services are packed into that short route and all of them are "actual" services that run on the mainline. Also, thanks to the diversity you are able to see up to 5 kinds of services (IC, Dosto RE, 425 RE or RB, 422 S-Bahn, freight with random loco).
The emptiness of NEC: Boston to Providence is due to the complete lack of the Acela Express (and freight to a much lesser extent). It can get very busy immediately around Boston South Station depending on the time even without the Acela.
Still, I think they need to add more ai train on the line to make the route comes to life because it is so empty despite the fact that we still haven't got the Amtrak Acela, as a placeholder for now. Once Amtrak Acela is added then they could swap them with it. Any way to make the route better and alive is the way to go.
I have to concur with the BML, but I just ran the second of the class 66 services 6O01, a 04.21 departure toward Brighton, and it was empty! I passed 3 trains the entire route, that's what driving early in the morning will give you.
Have you seen this channel? He posts a lot of driver's eye views from Class 66 locos and others. He also provides information on various items such as catenary, passing, etc. I love the sound of the noisy Class 66 in these videos.
One of his best is the Hindlow to Crewe including the run round at Buxton then running down the very scenic single track route to Tunstead and out to the Hope Valley Line at Chinley. Would make a great TSW freight route IMHO.