I know it's been a while since the release of the Harlem Valley Line, but I wanted to explore this route in more depth before making this post. I would like to add that I have ridden on both the Harlem Valley and the Hudson Valley Line multiple times (roughly from 1983-1996) while living in Brooklyn, NY and later on in Dover Plains, NY when it was the last stop for the Wassaic Shuttle. Like many other railfans I was very excited when this released was announced. Another route in my hometown and I can drive or ride the nostalgic M3. Good job on both the M3 and M7, DTG. Superbly done. No complaints on most of the stations. I'm sure many changes have occurred over the years since I relocated from NYC but nevertheless, they look "New Yorkish". However, GCT is a disappointment. It's slightly too dark, no unique characteristics with the different platforms, no connecting subway signage, and no station announcements, it's just too quiet and bland. GCT is a loud, lively, and bustling place in real life, but feels like NYC is still under CV19 lockdown in game. Overall, this is a common complaint with large terminals in DTG releases, so I took it with a grain of salt. What truly disappointed me is the route ending at North White Plains. In my opinion a great opportunity was missed with a future Harlem Valley Wassaic Shuttle add-on by terminating the route at NWP instead of Southeast where the electrified tracks end. I'm certain that many rail fanners would purchase such an add-on, hands down without a doubt, and fully enjoy having this route in its entirety. I feel this trend of only 1/2 - 3/4 of the route needs to stop. DTG, give us the full route for crying out loud. My disappointment grew even more with the ai trains getting stuck at signals preventing me from completing more than several of the time scheduled sessions that I truly would have enjoyed if they weren't broken. My question is why is this issue not fixed even after the most recent update?? In my opinion that is unacceptable. Finally, the cherry on top of disappointments came in regard to custom scenario creation. There is NO way to set any train (ai or player) to travel on the express or middle service tracks. You can only place trains on the local tracks which don't allow for a true service representation or even a fun fictional express / local service. That alone makes any custom scenarios, outside of a local train only, pointless in my opinion. DTG, you have come out with great content in the past, although not everything has always been great or good or even mediocre, you all have always provided us with content which has decent performance or quickly fixed issues to improve performance. I've never been a stickler about perfection, such as horn sounds, iconic buildings, the color of marker lights, etc. but I am a stickler when it comes to performance and features that can easily be included or added to the game which creates a good level of emersion. This lacks greatly with the Harlem Valley route, and I really hope something gets resolved soon. As a long-time purchaser of your software, I hope my words give some clarity for what us railfans like and dislike, and what we expect in general. Unfortunately, I'm giving the Harlem Line a C- grade until these issues are corrected.
I feel your pain. I was so hyped when I saw they announced this route. Then to buy it and get faced with great disappointment. If they were going to shorten the route at least add most of the schedules. London to Brighton has damn near double the services and it's way more playable than this route.
Sorry to bump this, watching the Schnauzahpowahz review on YT, did the issue of the M3 "pilot" (obstacle deflector) running into the top of the railhead ever get fixed?
It's like many DTG routes for TSW. Could be a good product but impacted by countless annoying bugs that are still not fixed even a year after release
I noticed that on the YT review. What's the point of putting in the branch to the stadium, if you don't include the stadium itself.
The omission of iconic landmarks like Yankee Stadium and the Met Life Building was discussed at length when the route was released. Also missing were the Rush Hour passengers which were supposed to be added shortly after launch. As far as I know, there have been no major changes to the route since and no plans to add any.
Another issue is that this isn't even the full route. Understandable not to include the whole thing right away as there are other projects being worked on, but it would be nice to add it in sections in future updates.
Do you remember by any chance what was the final reason for those landmarks to be ommited? I was not interested much in that route back then when it was released and I've missed that info.
I'm still going to get it in the upcoming sales as S's review was quite positive about the M3 and M7 apart from a but of low res texturing here and there. The sounds are certainly good especially the M3, far better than the pitiful ones we get with the Electrostars.
The red light issue does not concerns you? Some says it hits them pretty hard on this route, so they can only finish the short services, others says it occured only 2-3 times for them.
I believe it was decided that, since you wouldn't see the stadium from the platforms, it was unnecessary to include it or even a generic version if licensing was a problem.
Right. Well, it should have been there anyway because, like many players, I like to go walk-about ( or should I say fly-about ) when playing a route. If I can see Wembley Stadium in BKL, I should be able to see a ballpark at 153rd.
