Manchester - Glossop & Hadfield Announced

Announced in the latest roadmap. Content seems weirdly limited, with a reused 323 and only 13 miles of track. Thoughts?

 

Not have seen the roadmap now, is there a special in terms of layers maybe, or is the focus on details?

I mean this cant just be all of it right? Limited in a weird way is probably the right word.

 

It appears that it will be 13 miles of track, 15 stations and a re-liveried Northern 323 from Birmingham. I can't understand how this possibly passed the LAMP test that was being talked about in the last roadmap and I almost certainly won't be picking it up at full price if it's coming in at £30.

EDIT: Confirmed in tonight's roadmap stream that this is coming in at £19.99 which is much more reasonable IMO.

 

Underwhelming to say the least.

 

Not sure what dtgs vision is in all of this. Seems like they start on 100 corners instead of expanding something good in even something better.

Well anyway im not buying any content anymore, but still checking news like the roadmap in this forum.

 

If they want £30 for that, frankly taking the urine. Sorry but that is a pass.

Why not recreate the Woodhead route as in TSC with a Class 76 loco and Class 506 EMU? Now that would be worth the money.

 

mockery, especially if it’s £30 for a reused train and a 13 mile long route, like seriously?

Edit: yes it’s £20, tho still not very happy with this being the uks new route in comparison to dtgs offering to german and usa railfans

 

At first, I thought it would be a historic route, with perhaps a Class 506, but as it stands, it's a very short route without a new train.
I will give it the benefit of the doubt if the price is adjusted accordingly, but it's not looking overly exciting at the moment.

Is there any other traction on the route or near it IRL?

 

Unless DTG are trying something more Niddertalbahn style with more of a focus on scenery and route building?

I'll be intrigued to see how long services down the route are but I can't say its high on my list as of announce

 

Technically i dont have a problem with a short enclosed route. For example iow is one and im enjoying it a lot.

So what makes this one special? Is it even enclosed from its start & ending points?

 

Does seem rather short, maybe there's something new in terms of gameplay? Perhaps random AI delays?

 

The only other traffic we've got potential layers for I think is the EMT 158 as AI at Manc Piccadilly which could do 1tph each to Norwich and Liverpool. I'm really struggling to see the vision here.

 

be nice to hear what they have to say on the livestream this evening, i imagine i’m not alone in feeling extremely disappointed tbh

 

Just had a look on National Rail and this seems to be the journey time. Not had a look at service variations though.

 

The first (underwhelming) northern route. only 15 miles long, a huge lack of services and a reused loco from bcc. There's much better northern routes than this which are longer and have much more service variation.
On a positive note we know dtg can make northern routes so could be more to come

 

what’s that? another empty large terminus station? what a surprise

 

To be fair, they haven’t said the 323 will be the ONLY train on the route. Could a 331 be made for this route?

 

pretty certain it would’ve mentioned it in the roadmap tbh

 

True I guess. A 331 would get more people talking than the idea of a 14 mile route.

 

No it wouldn't

 

This should have been the Woodhead line in it's entirety before closure really, but if there is another piece of rolling stock with it, or it is sold at less that £30 I will consider it. I hope this is just a gap filler and DTG's next British route after this will be a real stunner.

 

the 331 doesn't run on this line unfortunately, but I'd love the 331 tho in tsw

 

Manchester Piccadilly, welcome to the TSW desert along with Glasgow Central, Birmingham New Street, Liverpool Lime Street where the DTG Flywheel has spun away all bar one set of services! Piccadilly should be alive with Pendolino's, Voyagers and various DMU's. Would have made more sense to to Piccadilly to Crewe or even Piccadilly to Lime Street, at least we would be getting a half decent stretch of route. As others have said, they are going to have to seriously justify why this was even considered viable as a full route release.

Never mind, next we will be getting West Midlands 2: Stourbridge Jn to Stourbridge Town, high fives and odd headphones at spending 5 minutes driving the Parry Railbus each way.

 

Come on Vern, that would involve including a new train, I'd wind in your expectations!

 

We dont have the full picture of what is included, but based on the little we do know it seems a little underwhelming. I mean Id buy it around the £15-£20 price point, but at £30.00 it feels poor value for money given it seems we don't even get any new rolling stock. Of course if new information comes to light I may change my opinion.

 

don’t we all, tho i’m quickly learning to just give up my expectations now, probs should have months ago…

 

I suppose they could include George, the famous Stourbridge Jn cat!

 

That involves a reversal at Glossop so would split into 2 services Id imagine.

 

Might be a cheaper route, like West Somerset and Isle of Wight. Haven't gotten many routes in that price range recently, so perhaps they want to make a DLC for those who want to spend less.

Never liked that DLC. I'd rather have the good old Woodhead TSC DLC with the line in full glory, instead of half of the stations shut down in the BR Blue period.

 

If feels like they originally scooped to do Woodhead and then the project ran into difficulties/over budget so just updated what they had and releasing what they had with a current trainset.

 

after both german and usa railfans getting what to me seemed like a major route and us getting this simply doesn’t feel fair at all

 

I do wonder how DTG team discussing and/or proposing a potentially new route. They need to be more transparent on that sector in my opinion. I mean, is this 13 miles long local commuter line + reused rolling stock a highly requested by the community? Why not a legendary UK railways such like something from ECML?

 

About the only thing it's got going for it is that, unlike Peak Forest, does have a logical start and end point!

 

To quote what I just posted at trainsim d o t c o m...
"And for the latest guffaw...
DTG have just announced their next UK route:
Is it part of the ECML, as much requested?
Is it part of the WCML as much requested?
Is it a nice run along the Dawlish sea wall from Exeter then down the Riviera Line to Paignton?
Is it the Metropolitan Line from Aldgate to Amersham, Uxbridge and Watford?

Nope.

It's, wait for drum roll and fanfare... Manchester Piccadilly to Glossop and Hadfield. Yes folks a whole 14 miles of yet another UK electric commuter route, reusing the 323 from Birmingham Cross City presumably with a new paint job.

Another large terminus station with one train type and one service group.

What a joke. If that's the best they can produce then maybe it's time to pack TSW away or just make the tools publicly available so the wider users can have a go. Should they try and sell this for £30 they will be a complete laughing stock."

 

agreed with the everything said there.

 

If they wanted to reuse the 323 why didn't they look at Crewe to Manchester & Liverpool and offer a tri-route. Or even Manchester to Stoke?

I mean when they built Lime Street & Crewe they did build them in such a way that they could be brought up to modern layout without too much additional work didnt they? Or am I giving them too much credit?

 

Thanks!

As others have posted elsewhere we can only hope this is a budget price filler given to the intern to practice on, while the main route team are working on something stupedous and legendary.

 

Feels like they're planning on doing a proper Woodhead later but want to sell us this part first to get some extra income, then being able to recycle half the route for a proper Woodhead.

But perhaps that's just my wishfull thinking.

 

You summarized it very very well. I agreed with every single one of your points.

 

I’ve travelled on some of this line - Flowery Field (not in a flowery field at all) to Manchester Piccadilly (actually in Manchester) and that part of it isn’t anything special. Who knows though, the other half might be very scenic and all of it might be fun to drive in a simulator.

Time to keep an open mind I think.

 

After doing some some research on RTT there’s 57 Hadfield to Manchester services including 1 RHTT, and there’s 40 services to Hadfield from Manchester as of 2023

 

You have to wonder, but it would require a helluva rebuild and extension to achieve that.

 

If that is the case then I could do with a slight nod of the head or wink as my trust is at an all-time low. Peak Forest will be the first UK route that I won't pick up on release and bizarrely this looks to be the second if it's £30.

 

Yaaaay, another ghost town major city terminus.

Would it not of been better to have done Crewe-Man Picc and include the Pendo? That way, the Pendo can get layered into BCC, WCML stretch on both Bakerloo Line and Cathcart to start making those more alive, then in future create a route which includes a Voyager, you see where I'm going with this.....

 

Hopefully we're getting Birmingham to Manchester as the summer blockbuster and this is just a way to recover some of the dev time spent on Manchester Piccadilly, I mean we already have Birmingham New Street & Crewe (although the later would need to be brought up to date).

 

This a local route for local people.*

*Hadfield is the filming location for Royston Vasey in The League of Gentlemen, expect some easter eggs.

 

Doubt it

 

Jeez, you’re enthusiasm is oozing.

 

I am interested in where this route featured in the survey or suggestions forum. It could be great but I'm disappointed. As life ticks on and I get ever older it seems the wait for a 'big name' route and some mk3 emu stock or a 225 etc goes on.
Seems an odd choice but I'll look forward to seeing some pictures.

 

Why should we be enthusiastic for such a short disappointment