US Route All passenger routes seem to be based on quick runs, but we don't have any routes with a longer travel time across the lands, watching freight pass by. We need something like this. Alaska Railroad Amtrak Long Distance All passenger seems to be about high speed, station to station. How about an experience for the passenger runs? With freight along side, some trains waiting to pass.. etc.... Thoughts?
This is because DTG currently only do routes to a maximum of around 60 miles for TSW, for various reasons. If you want longer American runs then you need to look at TSC, Run 8 or old MSTS running in Open Rails.
Who's going to make a 300 mile route in the level of detail that TSW normally provides? That's a lot of work for not a lot of payoff in terms of playability and player feedback?
Indeed. I love Run 8 and the experience it provides but no denying the scenery is very low level. Cardboard cut out trees and only placed to a short distance from the tracks. A handful of simple terrain textures. Looks like MSTS @2004.
I guess if they had a decent AI scenery generator it might work, but it would be a lot of testing and investment for a route few people would get full use of. Certainly a four hour trawl across a scenery-less landscape doesn't sound appealing to me (above comment based on driving IRL from Toronto to Detroit where there was literally NOTHING to see of note from the highway between the two bar a few small nondescript towns)
Based on my experience of Amtrak LD, it would be a very tedious run. Get up to 79 miles an hour for about 5 mins, then get stuck in a siding for 90 minutes and watch freight trains whiz past you before repeating and rinsing over and over again, before arriving at your next station numerous hours late with a good 5 min dwell time as passengers are escorted from the waiting room onto train, as God forbid passengers can be trusted to wait on the platform for the train incase they get suicidal thoughts /excited and jump in front of the train I guess we'd have the 2 station spots at some locations to keep us entertained. I gu
Oh and dont forget the 2 passenger trains per day, making the runs not only incredibly boring, it only offers 2, in numbers alike in words, two services. It might be exaggerated but: American Railroading doesnt offer much in terms of passenger services. You have commuter, you have High Speed. But the long-haul passenger trains are just... close to non-existent. Dont get me wrong here: There are fans out there who love that and it is totally legit. But 2 trains per day just doesnt meet the costs for developing such a route.
I wouldn't expect long distance amtrak routes to be made. There really is no point. They are better off just making commuter routes or subway routes in the future for u.s passenger routes
I think that stuff like a P42 DLC is a 3rd party case. I really cant imagine how DTG would justify that. But on the other hand, surprises are always to be made
With the problem with the 'save' function in some routes, I'm not sure I would ever finish a 100 mile route let alone one 300 miles long ...
Indeed and I think this is the main reason we have not seen longer routes so far and indeed that SoS is less than 40 miles long, so that most runs can be done in a single hit.
The only practical way to work Amtrak in would be as DTG have done: as additional services on what are primarily local commuter routes.
