What’s The Fascination With Paddington To Reading?

Discussion in 'TSW General Discussion' started by chieflongshin, Aug 19, 2022.

  1. chieflongshin

    chieflongshin Well-Known Member

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    I’m going to try and be delicate with this but I was wondering if someone can please help me here. This route seems to have so many people drooling about extensions and rebuilds and new stuff. I can’t get my head round it.

    2 trains
    Green light runs
    Pretty much arrow straight.

    Am I missing something here or is it just a cross section of community local to it in the same way I’d like ECML? I just can’t see anything interesting in the route (not the trains with it)
     
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  2. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    A properly done and expanded Thames Valley would offer more variety than now plus a longer run with the HST’s assuming the same era was kept. You could layer in Cross Country services from Oxford via Reading and loads of scope for extra freight including the pretty much constant flow of intermodal traffic to and from Southampton via Southcote Jn. The passenger branches would add a bit of interest, really need a 165 for those and indeed the bulk of the Paddington - Reading - Oxford stoppers. You have two interesting freight lines in the London area from West Drayton to Colnbrook and Southall to Brentwood. Oh and on the topic of freight you have all the potential of DBS’ hub at Didcot Yard and also Hinksey Yard at Oxford largely used by engineers traffic. So huge potential there and while not especially scenic, the Henley and Marlow branches are quite pleasant and you do see a fee more hills west of Reading around Pangbourne and Goring.
     
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  3. junior hornet

    junior hornet Well-Known Member

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    From a purely personal point of view, it is a route I know well from an earlier period of my life and it’s one I often fall back on in TSW especially for a quick run. However, I would prefer the extension to go along the two lines to Didcot and Newbury. What I would really like though is the branch lines, especially Greenford and Bourne End.

    Of course an option for Spirit of Steam would be to extend the branch from Maidenhead to High Wycombe in the 50s.
     
  4. redrev1917

    redrev1917 Well-Known Member

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    The route has so much potential if brought up to modern standards with a couple of branches and a bit more variety. But yeah as it stands I don't see the fascination
     
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  5. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    As it is in game there isn't much other than "run the route with green lights", and I think this may be because the dispatcher was very basic when they built it, so having much more than one train in front of you at any given time gave it a headache, but as the others have said there is potential to have a lot going on with the route IF they put a little bit of effort in around the edges, but a lot of that will be "on and off" traffic, ie it starts OFF the route, comes on and then goes off again onto the North or West London lines, or the Southampton traffic as per OldVern

    The thing is DTG have already stated that "freight traffic isn't seen as a priority to UK players" due to the poll they had two years ago, and this was shown on BML where they had a fair few freight possibilities and they included 2 runs...

    So we're left with the average commuter runs, little variation in stopping pattern, no randomization of timings and very few adverse signals (other than that one on NTP before the long tunnel which almost always catches me out given there's zero warning of it)
     
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  6. Purno

    Purno Well-Known Member

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    Oh so glad you're making this topic. I consider GWE the most overrated route. I don't understand the fascination. It's a boring straight 4 track route running through a flat landscape. I admit it's best enjoyed running through it at 125mph with the HST, because it's extremely boring scenery with the Class 166, and even worse with the Class 66 which gets a full-throttle run in the timetable mode.

    The only good thing about GWE is that it came with a good selection of rolling stock. Two whole new trainsets, a freight loco and a freight wagon is unlike anything else we've seen in a route DLC.

    Glad DTG decided to extend SEHS instead of GWE. It's so overhyped IMO.
     
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  7. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    Comes back to the point in another thread about mixing it up with a bit of randomisation. Sadly DTG are so unsure of their rigid and very basic signalling/despatcher system to manage this they have already said it will never be a thing. At least with a longer GWE or adding the branches you would get something slightly different to try and more mileage to do it in.
     
  8. AirbourneAlex

    AirbourneAlex Well-Known Member

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    The appeal probably comes from it being a major main line in the UK, having a modern setting with GWR as the main TOC, and by having a mix of express and stopping passenger services plus the occasional freight. As others have said, the route still has lots of untapped potential if extended, and I suppose since the route was first released the real line has changed quite significantly (electrification and new stock) so there's the appeal for it to be modernised (there's the western section of the new Elizabeth Line too).

    It would be nice to see the route extended and/or modernised but if it requires a near total rebuild then I'll take the ECML instead ;)
     
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  9. RichGWR22

    RichGWR22 Member

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    from my point of view is that i first played Paddington to Oxford on TS Classic. Personally i think we need a extension to Oxford as it will add more of a run with hst's and 166 turbo's. it would also have the ability to have more freight, add Crosscountry voyagers into the game, They could add the Thames branches as well with a class 165 turbo. And as the era is around the year 2015 DTG could make the class 180 Adelante. Im from Herefordshire side of Cotswolds line and Great Western have always been my favourite since a young age.
     
  10. Delta_Who

    Delta_Who Well-Known Member

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    Teensy correction, there are a few services that aren't a straight green-light run. Particuarly with the 66 and line changeovers.

    But it's a route with a surprising amount of variety, and even more potential if expanded. Not quite London-Brighton traffic level... but certainly something interesting.

    It was also one of the few UK routes to have a high-level of detail... even to this day.
     
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  11. Tigert1966

    Tigert1966 Well-Known Member

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    I still like the route, though I play more with Diesel Legends than with the HST/166 but it is one that I'll go back to occaisionally and get bored quickly. I think it would be greatly enhanced with a better timetable and an extension but, I'm glad DTG choose SEH instead. In my opinion it has a lot more variety.

    Hopefully one day we'll get a route to let the HST have a longer run though. I do have an emotional attachment to them as I used to ride them every weekday from Newton Abbot to Exeter and back to get to college (though that was back when the were Yellow and Blue and had different engines).
     
  12. eldomtom2

    eldomtom2 Well-Known Member

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    In places. There are parts where you can easily see where they stopped adding scenery.
     
  13. Mr JMB

    Mr JMB Well-Known Member

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    The HST, hugely popular uk train and appeared only on this route until the BML where it appears randomly. I only bought TSW originally to drive this train. CSX was of no interest, I distinctly remember waiting for passenger routes to be released.

    166 is more enjoyable to drive than any electrostar. Reading and Paddington are well done as are a few of the inbetween stations.

    In terms of extensions, there is a TSC version https://www.justtrains.net/product/western-mainlines that goes a lot further and was one of the more complete routes ages before the ECML/WCML merger projects. Therefore people want things that are better in TSC bought over to TSW. This was even the first route which had a follow-on pack with the Diesel Legends.
     
  14. Rudolf

    Rudolf Well-Known Member

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    I think the route is quite interesting. Three locos, not two to correct the OP.
    Also the stations look very good with a tremendous amount of detail, which was then very new. It is a bit high speed and the HST is quite an experience if you drive this beast for the first time. Also, 300 services was a lot when the route was published. I still like it a lot and drive it now and then.
     
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  15. I wouldn't say the route is fascinating.

    Never had any interest in gwe until press gang fixed it. Now I enjoy blasting up and down with diesel legends.
     
  16. lcyrrjp

    lcyrrjp Well-Known Member

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    The modern version has nothing of interest to me, but I play it in Diesel Legends with all the mods to remove OLE etc. In that state it has a nice atmosphere to it, and is a good place to run 31s in particular. However, I do agree it’s uninteresting in the sense that it has few intermediate speed restrictions, and almost no gradients. Given that TSW as a whole is very poor for the other things which add variety to train driving (TSRs, signal checks and variation in station dwell times) it means this route in particular can be quite dull.
     
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  17. IsambardKingdomBrunel

    IsambardKingdomBrunel Well-Known Member

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    Complete waste of time set in the privatisation era. The route is too short and doesn't make sense. The actual WR London Division, covered as far as Oxford for outer suburban services. But like everything that DTG does, it's half a route. The dumb 70's DLC is completely wrong from the point of realism and who want's to run BR blue stock on a modern era route. Only 101 trailer cars allocated to the London Division, while the Class 52's were in service, not full sets untill the 1980's. So that is a complete mish mash of time periods.
    The day they do something right, will be a miracle of biblical magnitude.
     
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  18. chieflongshin

    chieflongshin Well-Known Member

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    Remember the sales spin

    "it's a gameplay pack"

    it's actually a green light a2b at a much slower speed :D
     
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  19. CK95

    CK95 Well-Known Member

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    For me the route is bland and disinteresting, what I do like about it though, is that it’s a modern UK mainline with Highspeed diesels.

    If it had some more traffic and some loco DLC, I’d definitely play it more.
     
  20. stujoy

    stujoy Well-Known Member

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    Firstly, you can’t count. There are three trains.
    Secondly there are many runs that are not all greens. All green runs can be enjoyable too though.
    Thirdly, there are very few straight bits in the route at all. It is long sweeping curve one way into long sweeping curve the other way all along the route and that is one thing about it that appeals to me. It certainly isn’t arrow straight. Is quite flat though.

    There are many more things to like about the route but I just thought I’d point out that you got all your initial observations wrong.
     
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  21. chieflongshin

    chieflongshin Well-Known Member

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    I guess my observation would be more credible if the route was more interesting .... ;)
     
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  22. stujoy

    stujoy Well-Known Member

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    I actually started writing all the things I liked about it but it ended up sounding like it was better than it actually is. So I deleted the waffle and wrote that. I do really like the route though, both the original and Diesel Legends, so I spend quite a lot of time in it still. I like the way it looks from cab with the four tracks curving off in the distance and especially through the big windscreens all the trains have. Somehow I never got bored of it. It’s a really well made route too, it actually looks like they finished the scenery, which is rare in TSW.
     
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  23. Crosstie

    Crosstie Well-Known Member

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    My interest waned within a few months of launch, but it came right back with Diesel Legends. Love to drive the Class 101 and the Western. I still don't bother much with the original stock though. I wish they'd gone up to Oxford, maybe one day.

    GWE is one route I can sometimes complete in one session.
     
    Last edited: Aug 21, 2022
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  24. driverwoods#1787

    driverwoods#1787 Well-Known Member

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    This route was also one of my most played TSW 2020 routes when it was on Xbox Gamepass. Since it gave me a taste of a UK mainline run including the proper procedure. If updated to 2022 standards Class 800 802 will have paint schemes 800 321 mask paint 800 008 Trainbow. Class 387 Newbury to Paddington Class 166 Bedwyn/Oxford to Paddington Class 345 stoppers Reading to Paddington and it should run 77 miles as GWML Swindon to London Paddington.
     
  25. thundergaming11

    thundergaming11 Well-Known Member

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    Tbh whilst everyone else is wanting extensions West, I'm more interested in the extension east... ;)
     
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  26. jetgriff

    jetgriff Well-Known Member

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    I like it, it's my favorite...
     
  27. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    not really. 60 mph tops; many services 45
     
  28. hyperlord

    hyperlord Well-Known Member

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    Oh thank you by the way, I was too shy to ask that question, too. Was thinking "aaah UK stuff, you won't understand ... the British you know ..."

    So thanks for that!
     
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  29. james64

    james64 Well-Known Member

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    It was my favourite route until London Commuter came out. It's by far the one I have the most personal connection to, I travel on it relatively frequently. More than any other TSW route.

    So there's the personal connection, and also the HST, which is one of my all time favourite trains. Apart from that it's very much a one and done route in TSW. Once you've had a fast run in the HST and a slow one in the 166 you've seen more or less everything.

    That's why everyone wants to see it upgraded, it's one of the most loved routes in the game and it desperately needs new content. It's far, far more deserving of an upgrade than SEHS was in my opinion.
     
  30. moelkertje

    moelkertje New Member

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    I bought this route recently in a sale along with SEHS. UK routes and trains aren't realy my thing but i wanted to give it a go anyway. The route itself is beautifull and the HST is a fine train but a few trips up and down and the fun was gone for me. Enjoyed SEHS more but i can see the potential for this route. I hope for the UK fans this route gets an upgrade in the future.
     
  31. davejc64

    davejc64 Well-Known Member

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    There are routes where you only get 1 choice of train, and yes they need to extend the Paddington route to oxford, and maybe to Bristol too
     
  32. Tonto62

    Tonto62 Well-Known Member

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    When I bought TSW, Paddington to Reading was the only British route I had. Once I got NTP and Tees Valley I never bothered with it again until Diesel Legends came out. Tees Valley is still a favourite and I think it's partly because it's more than just a linear route. There are branches to the steelworks and Redcar and there could have been others to Middlesbrough docks and Boulby potash mine. Perhaps having a choice of destination is what makes a route more interesting and is why so many want to see the branches on GWE added.
     
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  33. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    Not going to Boulby was IMHO a huge fail. Would have added a fair bit of running time over a very scenic quite tortuous section of railway.
     
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  34. Luke8899

    Luke8899 Well-Known Member

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    Objectively it is a flat a-b route, but there is something about it, it was my most played route for a while because it was just so straightforward and occupied exactly the right amount of time I wanted to spend playing the game. The HST is always a favourite too and being able to sit back and run at high speed is quite comforting and not taxing, which sometimes is better than having to plan ahead for every speed restriction on NTP, or push the train to within an inch of its life to keep up with the timetable on SEHS.

    That said I've not got much enthusiasm for a route extension of GWE as is, maybe a full refresh, rebuild and extension if it were set in the early 90s pre-privatisation I'd be excited for it, but as things stand, the reasoning behind extending and upgrading SEHS still makes more sense to me than extending the current GWE route would have.
     
  35. stujoy

    stujoy Well-Known Member

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    One thing I like about the trains in GWE is how long they take to get up to speed. For some people that would be a frustration but for me it is a bonus. There are many little things like this that add up to make it a great repeatable experience. I sometimes throw in an unscheduled stop at Slough on the HST runs just so I can go through the slow acceleration again. Great fun.
     
  36. Redbus

    Redbus Well-Known Member

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    The route is fine despite some still outstanding issues with AWS magnets, but I feel DTG made a mistake by having it based halfway through an electrification project. They really ought to have based it loosely a little further back rather than fixing it at that precise moment in time. As it stands it is wrong for modern stock and earlier stock alike.
     
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  37. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    Class 4 freight (containers basically) should be 75
     
  38. stujoy

    stujoy Well-Known Member

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    If they are on the slow lines, the majority of that is 60 mph limit for loco hauled trains. I believe the differential speed limits now show on the HUD after the update came out.
     
  39. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    From what I've driven the main freights tend to go out onto the fast lines, and I am really referring to the train speed max rather than line max
     
  40. antony.henley

    antony.henley Well-Known Member

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    As to much to what Oldvern said in his post below yours to be honest. Plus the fact the current route as it is in game you don't even go to go over* or under one of the biggest things on the route itself which is the huge flyover running alongside the depot area west of Reading station, also access to / from the depot is extremely limited. So if the route was redone (it cannot be extended in its current state ,that has been said by Train Sim Matt already as so much work would have to be redone to bring it to Hitachi / end of HST era timeline standard). Literally run it from Oxford to Paddington via Didcot, Hinksey, Didcot Yards more freight traffic intermixed with local between Reading and Oxford. AI Freight between Oxford and the Southcoast. It defeinately needs a James / Joe combination timetable to round it off. But I would give my left leg (the gimpy one lol). You'd have the HST's kinda still running , 387's 345's 800's 66's optional railtour traffic (heritage 47,45,40's 37's 20's Kettles) so plenty of scope for more traffic passenger traffic as well)


    *The only way I get to go over the flyover is to sit in the secondmans seat of the HST on the way out of reading to the west.

    To a degree its the same to the Heathrow Jcn bridges. The only way you get to go on them is if you walk up them. Thats it. They time has been taken to build the assets for the route but you as the user dont get to use them.
    Also it would be great lto scream up and down the route in a class 50 in NSE or Large logo livery as well.



    Cheers

    Hentis
     
  41. antony.henley

    antony.henley Well-Known Member

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    The other thing that DTG would look at apart from having to completely rebuild the route is the cost vs interest in Paddington - Oxford via Didcot with an 800, 345 (reliveried Class 387) 66 + appropriate rolling stock. HST and Class 166's as (layered in as needed). GWR licences needed for the 800 possibly 387, 345, NEw class 66 as Freightliner now have the aggregate contracts out of the mendips possibly a class 59 as well. So there's all that to look at. I would love to see it happen but I just dont think it will to be honest. (please prove me wrong).

    Hentis
     
  42. dbrunner#4864

    dbrunner#4864 Well-Known Member

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    There are quite a few scenarios with HST where you will be catching yellow lights. Also the route still looks fantastic and love driving on it.
     

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