Lnwr License Revoked

Well, the branding might return, assuming the UK government hasn't changed its stance on licencing, since they've been OK with companies like Northern, LNER, Southeastern and Scotrail

 

You would of thought that LNWR may have anticipated this earlier, rather then it being an after thought... Labour were elected many weeks before we even knew of TSW5s existence.

I guess we won't know the complete details for a little while. Maybe LNWR will change their stance at some point as it seems DTG haven't written the idea off completely just yet, it's like left the possibility open. Let's just hope the railway veg back off hassling LNWR and leave it to the legal experts at either party.

 

I´m suprised for how many people unbranded trains seem to be an absolute dealbreaker. I thought it was not a huge issue for anyone. But here we are.

 

Going to be a pedant here, but neither ScotRail nor Southeastern (originally) were licensed by the UK Government.

 

Damn, I really don't like this recent trend of railways getting more strict with their licences. If this continues like this, DTG are better of ditching licenced content altogether. I mean when a railway asks you to dumb down the simulation in your train simulator, then it is just ridiculous. Just release stuff unlicenced and be free to do what you want.

 

I honestly couldn't care less about debranded trains; so long as they look and sound good, and have all the expected features (AWS etc), I don't care if it's not got the correct livery...
But yeah, I never thought the community would care that much, with maybe a few people complaining, but I guess everyone's proven me wrong....

I've also heard a lot of people just saying "just get the licence back" and having a rant about that, and it's honestly annoying to read.. I'm not in any way knowledgeable about licensing and whatnot, but even I know you can't just grab some licencing details of a company and use them because you want to, especially not if that company has just revoked their license from you.

 

True. Though the Gov hasn't done an LNWR and asked to remove the branding so I assume they're OK.

 

I find it hard to believe that this is an MTA or SBB situation. I doubt LNWR thought the gameplay of the class 350 was "too realistic". My best bet would be it was just a simple contractual disagreement by one of the parties. I don't think representatives from LNWR were thinking about route collectibles, safety systems, or misrepresentation of the train. They've got more important things to worry about than a niche video game.
(Side note: I found it hilarious that MTA and SBB were worried about safety repercussions of train sims being too realistic, meanwhile, flight sims model aircraft in far more extreme detail/realism and nobody is concerned there even though concern in that space probably has more validity)

 

I was on a Class 730 today and had a thought that maybe the reason is they don't want the license on a Class 350 which is being phased out. Obviously still loads of 350s on WCML at the moment, but the plan is for them to be fully replaced by 730s over the next year or so.

UK TOCs seem to like granting their license to showcase their latest and greatest trains. Even with the Pendolino Matt mentioned on the preview stream that Avanti were very particular that the interior should match the recently completed refurb they did.

 

which is an awesome approach, maybe also Siemens should be inspired by that (Desiro ML cough cough )

 

I thought only the /2s would be phased out?

 

Very true, but I do wonder if they would prefer their latest rolling stock to be showcased going forward.

 

If that was the reason then they'd have said no to a Class 350 altogether I'd imagine.

 

I thought it had always been like this, with clauses containing obligations for whoever is requesting the use license and for whoever is providing the use license (for example, once the use of the logo/brand is agreed between the parties, this can no longer be revoked once the terms of the contract were accepted by the company that is authorizing the use of its logo/brand) but it looks like I was wrong...

 

The Conductor Mode Can be a Problem for Companys, because you operated the Doors Like in real life with the keys.

 

There's why it's not as big a problem as it seems

 

It could be a problem if the TOC decide they don’t want people knowing the procedure on how to open doors with a key. In recent years train companies seem to be getting more paranoid.

 

As far as I'm aware that is still the case. The 350/1, 350/3/, 350/4 are staying with the operator, it's just the 350/2s going off lease. I believe their is a proposal to convert them to battery units as an experiment. The modern railway is a really wasteful world...

The 730s will being directly replacing the 350/2s but that's as far as it goes.

 

And it's not exactly unfounded either. I definitely think DTG is taking quite the risk with this feature, but I suppose a TOC could just ask them not to include it for a train.

 

Are the 730s not going on the Cross City Line? If not, what is replacing the 323s?

 

Yeah I agree, it’s one of those “play it by ear” situations. Some TOC will give DTG more freedom than others.

 

I believe there are 2 batches of 730s. Initially the 1st batch, which were destined for the WMRs Cross City lines will temporarily be used by LNWR for services out of Euston, until their own batch of 730s (which are longer) arrive. Then the 1st batch of 730s which were destined originally destined for the WMR Cross City line will transfer across from LNWR to WMR when the second batch of 730s enter service with LNWR.

 

The 730/0s are already running on all but 2 circuits of the Cross City as well as a single set on the Wolverhampton - Walsall stopper and some services out of Euston.

 

Just to put this one to bed

I'm not a Dovetail Games employee, I'm a freelance consultant who also happens to do freelance dev work alongside my role as a Guard, I'm a regular customer of Avanti and like anyone I have freedom of speech to publicly acknowledge any issues I like, its a known fact that the circuit breakers are regularly tripped in the refurb pendolino sets.

 

While you're here, your knowledge and skills added a lot of value to last week's stream. There's been a lot of feedback about the WCML South route over the following days - I hope it hasn't put you off presenting on a stream!

 

Totally agree, I thought Daisy brought the stream to life and it was really interesting.

As for licensing. If all goes well over the next year and DTG have good relations with Great British Railways they'll be able to start to re-release all the modern routes with the new national branding. For now, it's important that everyone plays nicely and doesn't wreck or stop any future routes by contacting the TOCs.

 

Thats very kind of you to say, and noo who knows if people want me to maybe I could lead a stream in the future!

 

Yes agree with this it was interesting to have an actual railway employee on the stream. It helps bring the content to life.

One day I am hoping my local line the Snow Hill line will be made, hopefully if it is, Daisy would help with that.

 

Then they should cancle the condutor mode for the 350.

 

It is a positive thing but your product has to be well received.

 

I have to say, it really does seem odd. Keeping the 350/2s would mean they keep a fully uniform fleet, as opposed to having another fleet to train staff on and maintain.

I've read somewhere (railforums probably) that the leasing costs on the /2 are much higher on the other subclasses. Seems believable as they are owned by Porterbrook while the /1s, /2s and 4s are owned by Angel Trains. I wonder why Porterbrook decided to own one subclass instead of Angel Trains owning the whole class...

 

Without me getting to political... The joys of a fragmented and privatised railway! An odd thing about Labours nationalisation plans is that they plan to keep ROSCOS too.

(I'm on RUK too, been on there since 2009!)

 

I really hope they aren't bringing in 'national branding', I want to see the LNER and GWR identities retained and add in the old LMS while they are at it.

 

This is like saying "Cancel the game because you can drive the trains with the Keys"

I don't understand what you mean

 

The first rule of understanding these forums is do not try to understand these forums

 

Noted, haha!

 

I respect people's right to have an opinion, but some of those opinions expressed (about the guard mode being a risk) are, and can be, twaddle... So I'd take no notice of them, or try to understand them.

The last thing I want is guard mode or any other safety feautures in the game being removed! I enjoy learning new things and think guard mode will introduce a new immersive element.

 

Corrected accordingly! (Hopefully haha!)

 

It's a difference if you simulate the role of the engineer in the cab, where normally no other people have access and the role of the guard who's in the passenger area of the train, where normally passengers have access. Perhaps railway operators are not so interested, that normal passengers getting strange ideas. You could imagine in which direction.

I personally like safety systems. I use them if available. They are best simulated in TSW on german routes (PZB, SIFA, LZB) and worst or to say it better none on American Freight Trains.

 

Not at all. The same key that gets you access to the guard operation panels gets you access to the cab in most cases for the uk