Now that Route Hopping is about to become a thing, I thought that it might be a good time to start making and releasing "Branch Line Mini Packs". With this type of route being only a few miles and a handful of stations, perhaps a price bracket similar to locomotive dlc of around £12 to £15 would work. I can think of various examples of feasible routes. This might be a sensible way of finally bringing in those numerous missing connections on existing routes.
Examples currently include.... Wivelsfield branch BML 4 stations Tattenham Corner BML 8 stations Caterham BML 5 stations Greenford GWE 5 stations Brentford GWE WasteTerminal (backdated Docks also 3 stations plus dock) Colnbrook GWE 2 freight terminals (backdated Uxbridge and Staines also, 3 and 6 stations respectively) Windsor GWE 2 stations (backdated large Windsor station also) Bourne End/Marlow GWE 5 stations (backdated High Wycombe also 8 stations) Henley GWE 4 stations (backdated large Henley station also) Basingstoke GWE 6 stations Boulby TVL freight only Bishop Auckland TVL 5 stations Falmouth WCL 6 stations Toton MML (Depot) Ratcliffe Power Station MML (MGR) Matlock MML 7 stations Soho BCC (Depot) Wimbledon to West Croydon pre 1997 8 stations Merton Park to Tooting pre 1975 3 stations Sheerness branch SEHS 5 stations Croxley Green branch pre 1996 5 stations Watford to Rickmansworth line pre 1952 2 stations and 3 termini St Albans Abbey branch WCMLS 7 stations Peterborough to Lincoln line ECML 6 stations Paddock Wood to Strood line SEHS 13 stations Waterloo to Bank BR/NSE era 2 stations Amongst others.
This is definitely something that could be done and would add so much to the game. The community could even use the route editor to create these branches and the route hopping functionality could be expanded to allow this to be possible.
A very nice one though or they could get a SWR licence and put it to Guildford and Woking And add the swr bit(but that might be more likely a full route)
Reading to Gatwick would be a nice route, but without a SWR/SWT license - which going by historic posts that indicate they can't get it - it won't happen.
They can if they did a previous era version as BR licences are covered by the DfT licencing agreement. SWT might be possible as a extension to the EMT agreement as both were Stagecoach brands but SWR is still not licensed at this time.
As a side note, I already have a thread running for the North Downs Line. https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/north-downs-line-reading-to-gatwick-airport.22706/
I was hopeful that these suggestions would be more interesting to other players, especially as I can not see any other realistic way of adding the many missing branch lines across various routes.
On TVL we could have a branch up to bishop Auckland On LIRR we could have the west Hempstead branch. On MML we could have the line up to matlock On Duisburg to Bochum we could have S3 On CCT we could have the paisley canal line.
There is also a separate discussion specifically about the Windsor branch line here: Route - Branch Line Mini Pack Windsor And Eton Central Branch (vintage And Current) | Dovetail Games Forums
Also my post. I suggested mini packs here and then proceeded to try to give a few detailed rundowns for specific routes.
I like the whole concept of mini packs but my fear is they will do what they did with LIRR. Instead of giving us the option to buy just an additional branch line they will update the route and then charge full price for the whole thing which I believe is not what the community had in mind. I am happy to pay say £10-15 for a small branch line addition to, for example, LIRR but I don't want to buy the whole thing again even if the route has been improved (should the improved route have been issued free anyway like the forthcoming Great Western update and then we just bought the additional branch line?).
This is exactly why I have laid out my suggestion in this way. We can have as few or as many branch lines as we wish, only paying for new material at a cost lower than that of a whole route. I will be adding additional threads soon to cover some of the other suggested branch lines I have listed. As a side note, although my suggestion only mentions UK options (which are all that I am personally interested in) this would also work for other countries content too. I really hope DTG are able to look upon this as a possibility for the future.
Haltwhistle to Alston, a nice home for the Class 101 DMU and maybe the 37 on freight. Not too much in the way of complexity or large stations to build. East London Line, in Metropolitan/A60 era. A bit more complex but a nice contained route. Slightly more expansive and probably won't happen due to licencing but Westbury to Swindon, Class 166 or maybe reskinned 158 on the Melksham Flyer, 66's (assuming no 59) on stone trains and the occasional HST diversion.
My concern is that if this was a success we'd start to see DTG deliberately leaving more branches OUT of full size routes to sell as additional DLC and we'd be getting less for our money.
Boulby would be a nice touch alongside a TVL upgrade. Also would love to see an MGR at Ratcliffe. Imagine an entire new route featuring MGRs with 56/58/60’s. That would be awesome.
Although this is a very good point, it is the only way I can foresee us ever getting the branches that are already missing from existing routes. Going forward, I think more thought should be applied to adding these types of branch lines as each new route is created except where it makes no practical sense to do so, which is where this idea has some merit.
I like this idea. Perhaps for shorter branch routes, we could get a pack that included a few branches off the same main core route. Example Thames Branches could all be bundled into one pack.
This is a good suggestion, however I don't know if this is awkward because of the separation between each branch as it wouldn't be built with the mainline to connect them. If it were possible, this would have to be charged at full route price as it would effectively be a full routes worth of work. I would buy Thames Valley Branches (TVB) on day one as it would finally complete GWE.
Croxley Green, Watford to Rickmansworth, St Albans Abbey and Peterborough to Lincoln lines added to list.
For this new year I would like to see if it is possible to drum up a little support for these suggestions and see if we can edge closer to reality. For those unaware, I have separate threads for each line named at the top in the suggestions section with far more detail.
One to add please... Paddock Wood (or Tonbridge) to Strood, AKA the Medway Valley Line. ATS made this line for TSC I believe. This would allow route hopping with SEHS.
If they did this, I would hope that they were set in the same era, so with the same timetable, and perhaps the route hopping menu could provide an option to reload in the same service just the other side. So not route merging, as still a menu screen, but it puts you in the right train at least. Otherwise it wouldn't feel like a continuation of the service, and would just feel disjointed.
Totally agree, there are many bits to work out to make any of these feel connected but surely achievable. I can see no reason why this cannot be accomplished. I only hope DTG and others give this idea some serious consideration for future implementation.
Would the Waterloo & City Line count? It's short in its route and could in my opinion work as a mini pack DLC.
Absolutely. This is a perfect example of a self contained route that would likely not be made as a regular route release for being too short but would be perfect as a "Mini Pack".
elarthur, this concept seems to be how the rest of the London Overground may end up. A gradual build up of the pieces that complete the entirety of the network. After 3 Overground routes we have all the current rolling stock, so would another part really be a full add-on, or could they lock it behind owning a previous Overground route (with stock) and charge a smaller price, exactly as you’ve predicted here? Example: We’re getting an incomplete North London / Mildmay Line, so later on release the Clapham Jct and Richmond branches together as a mini add-on?
Not connected to any existing route, but I always found the Malmesbury branch in TSC a nice little section to bimble about on. Oh and don’t forget the Swindon to Highworth branch as was done for MSTS, a real gem with a lot of action plus a bit of nice scenery packed into just six miles. Of course the above would require a recommitment to steam traction, but never say never. Kemble to Tetbury and/or Cirencester would be a nice little branch network too. On the LM side of things there was the “Nickey” line which ran across from Hemel Hempstead to Harpenden. Or Cheddington to Aylesbury. Southern, Maiden Newton to Bridport, Weymouth to Abbotsbury, plus the Seaton and Lyme Regis branches.
Well OldVern, I personally think that this idea would work perfectly for a massive variety of branches both past and present. I am surprised that it has not been attempted up to this point as it would add masses of variety (in particular my own favourite, all the Thames Valley branches for GWE). I genuinely hope that this is something highly considered in the near future. The opportunities are almost endless.
Maybe Barstow to Mojave could be added to Cajon Pass (also included in MSTS). Also, UP Barstow to Yermo could be added so we could see some military operations at the USMC base near Yermo and more freight action. As for locos to operate on these branches, I'd suggest a GP60 (UP, BNSF) or GP60M-3 (BNSF), 3GS-21B Genset Switcher (both liveries), UP GP40N, or UP SD70M.
Another thought for a mini pack would be Epping to Ongar when it was still part of the Central Line, particularly when the crossing loop at North Weald was still in use for the enhanced peak service. Ideally we would get some 1962 tube stock to run the route, but at a pinch the existing 1972 or even Rivet’s 1938 stock would do.
