3 Training missions 5 Scenarios 263 Timetable services Local trains take ~75 minutes for the whole route (20K action points). Express trains can take as little as 45 minutes for the whole route (9K action points). Zero overlap with LIRR. I thought the long crawl in and out of Glasgow Station was a pain, but nothing as brutal as getting into or out of Grand Central in NYC. Ten mph speed limit, a small enough gradient for most of it, but the trains have such brutal 1st notch power/brake so that you constantly have to flip between them. i.e. when the gradient is downhill, you have to flip between coasting and 1st notch brake. When uphill, you must flip between 1st notch power and coasting. The "Train to the Game" scenario is so painful: you drive two trains out of GCT and back again, takes about one hour and you score a measly 8K action points.
What are the sounds like please, I have read somewhere that the track sounds are not very satisfactory? It is one I keep locking at in the sales.
If you want to know the sounds, there are YouTube videos with no commentary you could watch. It has good traction motor sounds but little/mo track sound which are there in the sound files but muted. So think lirr level track sounds with much improved traction motor sounds. If you're on pc, then there's a sound mod that adds the creaking and squeaking sounds and all that. There are joint sounds
There's also shorter (~20min) runs to yankees stadium station. Not much but still there. There's also train moves which are like 2-3 minutes long where you move the m3 up and down the track.
Thanks for that. I had watched a couple of videos but I am never sure if you are hearing the full experience. If there are mods then that helps and I will look at picking it up. Thanks again.
The Harlem Line is good but really needs some extra love. I bought it again in the current sale, but the third Journey run still only gets about 4 miles before you come up behind an AI train stuck over the points at the start of the three track section. The little trick of using the "8" key to get inside the cab and try to get it moving doesn't work here. Whoever built this route whether DTG in house or associate needs it thrown back at them and told to sort out the problems. It's probably the closest we will ever get to a subway style route in TSW so it needs to work properly, not just be abandoned.
I was thinking of picking this up or Boston Sprinter in the sale as apart from LIRR and Sandpatch I have few American routes. However both seem to have issues. A stuck AI train is potentially game breaking, I am surprised it has not been attended to!
Boston Sprinter has its share of bugs too, scenarios where you have to workaround to finish them, signalling quirks and Journey mode is set in perpetual winter snow. The pro's are, you get a reasonable length route (Harlem is a bit short) and a couple of nice locos with a half decent cab car on the MBTA services, too.
The problems arose due to the dispatcher not being able to path trains properly. And considering how more than 1 train can be in a block in Harlem, it makes the issue worse. It's not the fault of Joe, who was responsible for the timetable. It's more of a core issue that is being improved and fixed by dtg. And it should be able to be applied to other routes as well
The only serious problem with Boston is the signalling, although it seems to be working for me now. But it is the only true " Rush Hour " route with plenty of AI traffic and passenger density. It is a winter route, but it's OK because many of the software engineers who travel the line and populate Route 128 station are wearing summer clothing anyway. Plus you do get the Amtrak " Sprinter " and the MBTA F40PH-3C, which are among the better trains in the game. I recommend it.
I was watching some videos of it and it does look good. I was trying to work out what route 128 station was! I do like the Amtrak Sprinter train so I think I will plump for this one. Thanks.
Boston Sprinter gets my vote too, you have an electric & diesel loco to choose from, I quite enjoy the branch line runs with the diesel.
It's a major stop on the NEC about 10 miles out of Boston, located at the intersection of Rt. 128, which is a beltway around the city, and US 95, the east coast expressway which goes all the way to Florida. Rt. 128 was " Silicon Valley " before there was a Silicon Valley and is still a major tech corridor.
Thank for the explanation, I wondered if it was an error! So that is where Silicon valley is. I must brush up on my American geography.
Sorry if I was misleading. " Silicon Valley " is in the San Francisco Bay area of Northern California. I was using a metaphor to describe Rt.128.
