Wonder if any hints have been dropped yet? Marias Pass or Donner Pass or another freight route somewhere else. They won't build a new LIRR yet. I could be wrong. Apparently NY has been done so much they need to diversify or it will be New York Train Sim World.......
Most of passenger licenses are in the east coast. In the west, there's only caltrain and metrolink. Dtg can't create routes without licenses. The editor will allow other routes to be made but for dtg, it's either east or west coast when it comes to us passenger
Not really, there are plenty of Amtrak routes in the Midwest that could be modeled. Most would also have freight components.
Not recent but it’s funny in Hamburg at that S-Bahn station right before the main station there is a building called “Donner Pass Doner” or something like that. I bet a lot of people assumed that was a hint for a Donner pass route but here we are years later and it never came .
Problem with Donner having driven it in MSTS, TSC and Run 8, is that at heart it’s just another double track freight line with an uphill slog in Notch 8 then downhill with dynamics. The scenery is nice (well maybe not so much in Run 8’s rendition) but ultimately nothing we haven’t seen already with SPG or Sherman Hill. We need more quirky freight runs like Clinchfield, with single track, industry to serve along the way etc.
There are no more US routes coming this year besides Antelope Valley. There are 2 US routes coming next year though, but I still highly doubt either of them will Marias Pass or Donner Pass.
I wonder what 2 US routes are coming next year. I' From the livestream, I believe a route for US will release around January followed by another US route next summer. I predict one route would be freight while the other one is passenger. If other 3rd party developers join in, perhaps we can get another US route as well. I hope the editor won't be too difficult to learn. I would definitely like to try and extend the Harlem Line if possible
You can't edit cooked content, so wouldn't be able to modify an existing route. You would have to remake it. Similar story with timetables where if you want to add more services, it has to be built from scratch.
I think this is the bigger problem with trying to sell US freight lines in TSW, since 9-10 its just a Notch 8 slugfest with little to no challenge at all. Its one of the reasons why SS is making their route set where it is than another famous mountain route, just jam the loco into full throttle or full dynamic and watch the scenery, not to mention every single route has been pretty much been done to death in MSTS, Run 8, Trainz, and TSC. Flat and sawtooth grade freight routes would add operational challenges to trains, but those are barely touched at all.
These are all the teases I picked up on during the livestreams. Heavy speculation of course: Matt being asked about putting the Baby Bullet on Antelope and saying “We’ve got other plans for that!” with a smile -> some sort of gameplay pack or DLC with that loco might be in development When speaking about the new modern DB red variant of the BR 628, Matt alludes to it showing up on multiple routes in the future. Building a new variant (incl. model changes) just for it to show up as AI at one stop seems wild, so it was clearly built with future content in mind -> some of the upcoming German (and Austrian if there’s a border crossing) routes might be set in areas where the BR 628 currently operates, such as southeastern Bavaria The Vorarlberg timetable includes a rather unrealistic replacement for the night train services, but no similar stand-in for any sort of loco-hauled Intercity services -> We might get such a Railjet train in an upcoming Austrian route that can layer back onto Vorarlberg So, unfortunately no freight teases in there as far as I could notice.
Fine. I've been pushing the Midwest for as long as I've been on the forum ( see my avatar ). I don't seem to have many allies, so I welcome you to the Midwest Supporters' Club. There are at least 2 members now!
I’m a fan of the midwestern Amtrak routes, but anything else apart from the aforementioned don’t really interest me, US freight is boring and tedious and too hard to drive, I would love Antelope valley if it was busier but sadly it’s not, and no pacific surfliner. I love the inner city commuters and intercity runs so that’s probably why I find those two routes very eye catching
I have to believe that DTG has been asking Metra for a license at least since " The Racetrack " ( 3rd party of course ).
Chicago to Byron would be perfect. It is Canadian Pacific and can run BNSF on it and is a good 50-60 miles flat freight run on single track in rural setting. BEAUTIFUL! And has Metras (No need for licensing) from the city (Chicago) to Big Timber.
Problem is if it has been in development for several years then Donner or Marias or whatever it is will be what we get. But the route above to Byron would be perfect. Would appease the passenger interested folks too but give us freighter boys some nice single track running.
What makes you think they would spend several years developing a single route in the background of everything else they are jammed packed doing? Just curious, don't mean for that to sound as argumentative as it probably does.
Speculating. Timing and prioritising jobs. Maybe they got to push out 3 new routes and need everyone to work on them for a September release. Maybe it is 85% complete. But why release it early when lately all they had is non stop moaning on getting routes out 'too fast'. Just speculating. Also as freight is not as popular and tends to take a back seat so maybe it is taking longer. Southern Pacific paint schemes (SD70s and C44-8s) would be excellent. I would rather something flat like Byron though. Rural. I think though that it may be close to release. We haven't see n a US freight route for 12 months now. Seems the demand for passenger (although US passenger trains are quite detestable) trains is huge in the US. I think the reason why is that is all people have experienced. Send them to Japan for a few weeks and they will all be beating the bush to DTG offices with huge requests for a Japanese route.
Won't happen. But if US customers can convince DTG that they can release a F40PH train "like a Metra' for Byron, and it will reap financial dividends, then it just may happen. Never say never.... I love the German routes by DTG but also Sherman Hill and Cajon Pass are great.
Gotcha, both of those projects are huge and with past release history it would be hard to believe they would do one until it actually happened. I doubt any "retro" US routes will be coming soon because if they talk about deeper buckets for deeper experiences, those completely take away the potential for layers and substitution for the ever growing bank of modern stock. Of all the long and famous mountain passes Matt mentioned earlier, if they were to spend many years developing one I could see it being Soldier Summit from TSC with the extension to SLC because that would give you both UP and BNSF freight, Amtrak Superliner (assuming it will eventually be in the game), and even the potential for Utah Frontrunner commuter between SLC and Provo. That would be a lot of diversity that I could see them investing time in a multi-year development. Donner Pass has less diversity of traffic and Marias even less so. Not that those aren't good routes, but I maintain that a diverse passenger/freight route is lacking for US content and hopefully we'll get one sooner than later!
Well I doubt Soldier Summit is coming. It will either be Marias or Donner. Something will be announced by December. On the roadmap. What is the routing for the Amtrak train from San Francisco/Sacramento to East Coast ie Chicago? I there was an Amtrak on the Donner Pass route for TSC? Maybe I'm wrong. haha
Yes California Zephyr would traverse both Donner Pass and Soldier Summit. Four stops and three stops respectively. Marias Pass would actually have the post stops at seven for the Empire Builder. I just have a very hard time that DTG is planning to drop a 140-150 mile route when they are already breaking services in half for 75 mile routes. I do hope you're right because I have previously posted that I think longer routes are one of the final frontiers for TSW to conquer. After 4(ish) years there are lots of short/medium length routes for people to enjoy if they choose but there is not really anything for people who want to spend their entire day off sitting and running a train for several hours haha. Obviously doesn't appeal to everyone, but variety is the spice of life. I hope we start getting into the 100-120 mile range at least because that opens up a tremendous amount of cool routes that would be good for both freight and passenger.
I think that was just a sick joke. "Donner Pass Kebab" is darkly funny, if you know what the pass is famous for.
Three! I've grumbled here before about the lack of Chicago. I wish Metra and the CTA were willing. I've considered suggesting a Donner Party diorama as a mastery reward but always thought better of it.
https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/donner-party That is a hint to what the Pass is 'famous' for. Is that Hasselbrook station? I walked around didn't see it. If the route is 150 miles in length then it will take a while to develop. It will be great now you can see mountains properly. Also you could have shorter scenarios like Cajon Pass that divide runs up into halves, thirds and quarters. Even Linke Rheinstrecke has runs divided up into thirds. Which I like.
It seems like an awful lot of work to model all of LA Union Station and not want to eventually expand off of that. Yes, it would be another passenger route. But if they did LA-San Bernardino, there's your US freight route as BNSF sends loads of trains that way each day. It's literally the beginning of Cajon Pass and their main route east to Chicago and further east. And... ding ding ding... a tie in with the Metrolink stuff to Riverside, just west of San Bernardino. Plus possible Amtrak DLC for the Southwest Chief if that ever happened in this lifetime. We've already got Cajon Pass, which officially begins/ends at San Bernardino so with this as a new route, you could run LA all the way to Barstow, which at one time was the crew change point for both Santa Fe and Amtrak. But I'm probably just dreaming at this point...
There's no route portals so you couldn't do it in one go, if that's what you mean. You would have to exit the first route and go to the second one and load in there, but yes it could be done. I don't see that one being on the radar of next routes, but it is possible.
Being perhaps the leading switching fan, I'd like to see something like one of the big mid-western yards (Chicago and St. Louis are excellent examples), but I feel sure that others existed as well.
Yeah no, I know there's no route portal. But with the new free roam capabilities of TSW4, you could easily place the same consist from one route into another. Yeah though, you'd have to exist one route and switch to the other one. But it would certainly be cool to have the whole route LA-Barstow.
I agree with you it would be awesome, and a long time ago I know they had mentioned looking at things like that because there are two German routes (the names of which allude me) that overlap and could make one long route together. I know they mentioned something about how challenging it actually would be basically stating it would be better off starting from scratch than trying to combine two routes already in existence IIRC. It's just a bummer that for the US we are limited to the 60-80 mile range, because with how spread out the country is that leaves very few routes that feel "complete". Love CJP because yard to yard on each end has that completeness feel to me. I love SPG and think it is an amazing route, but stopping westbound trains basically in the middle of nowhere feels slightly disappointing. After Matt mentioned the 60-80 mile range in another thread relating to US freight routes, I have found a few that would be good that are in that range, but typically still have at least one end feeling like SPG. If in the future we are able to consistently hit routes in the 100-120 mile range, I have several that (I think) would be incredible that a lot of US railfans probably aren't aware of. A lot of them that like you have mentioned about the northern Surfline, have never been done before in a train simulator. Some routes aren't "busy" like a CJP, but unlike with passenger you can kinda fudge a freight timetable because you can kind of add up all the different trains that run on that route and put them all in the timetable even if in real life they wouldn't necessarily all be running on the same day. I understand Matt's point two about name recognition too though. "Los Angeles to San Diego" is going to turn a lot more heads than "Los Angeles to Santa Barbara", despite both being excellent. The same way that "Marias Pass" and "Donner Pass" will always turn more heads than the "Cascade Subdivision" or the "Lordsburg Subdivision".
Yeah I can't agree with you more. I think though LA-San Bernardino would be a good possible candidate for a freight route. It's different and doesn't offer the same typical mountain pass. It's fairly flat with lots going on. TONS of opportunities for switching as well as running a very large variety of freight trains, plus the tie in with plenty of passenger trains, too. Something to consider for sure.
