I still think that including both Heath High Level and Cogan - which both appear to be within the track area shown - would be huge for this route. It means the Rhymney and Vale of Glamorgan lines are playable for more than a Cardiff Central - Cardiff QS shuttle and gives a bit more variety for seemingly little cost. Especially Heath High Level given it's right next to the Low Level and will more likely than not be modelled and in view. Not including it would be bizarre and a big own goal from Dovetail.
Agree, the Heath High Level would be visible from the track at some point so I expect it will be modelled somewhat. Would make sense to open that up, as well as Cogan, so the services not going to Low Level or Penarth can ‘end’ somewhere that makes sense to the divergence.
I refer you to my earlier post. The longest station name in Wales (and indeed the UK) is Rhoose Cardiff International Airport. The one in Anglesey is officially called Llanfairpwll or Llanfairpwllgwnn. However, having seen the earlier posts, it seems that the airport station is not part of the route.
Looking at a map of the lines in the and having a small amount of local knowledge having family down there, it is a shame at least one of the lines up the valleys wasn't modelled in full. The route even with for example the Merthyr branch would still be in the mileage range of many DTG routes. Plus you would get some great scenery. As long as there are completable services, which I am sure there will be, it isn't a big issue though. Without completable services a route like this would be pointless in my opinion. We are getting two new trains which is a bonus of course.
My personal choice would have been the Rhymney Line which has a bit more operational interest than Merthyr. At the least, we should be able to visit Barry Island.
Yes that would sound like a better choice, I recall there were regular loco hauled workings to Rhymney in the early days of privatisation. I was surprised Barry wasn't included.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. It would HAVE to be Merthyr. The historical significance of the Merthyr Tramroad is too important to ignore. I'm not just saying it because I'm a local.
I would settle for both The Rhymney line is the only one I've travelled on as my sister is near Ystrad Mynach.
Not sure whether they still do, but Rhymney line at one point had trains terminating at Bargoed, sets stabling overnight at the top end plus freight to/from Cwmbargoed entering and leaving at Ystrad Mynach. Sadly all seems a bit beyond the scope of what we’re getting.
Looking at the timetable there is a regular Cardiff Bay to Pontypridd service as well as the Queen Street shuttle. It would have been nice to have seen that service in it's entirety. I do hope we see more routes like this alongside longer linear routes.
i'm hopeful for this too, especially Heath High Level, and with this route being a few months out hopefully there's still time for this to be included!
A definite wait and see the outcome for me on this one. The new 150 & 153 definitely a plus, still not a huge fan of partial routes, albeit this one seems to have a couple end to end runs atleast. Look forward to seeing some more details.
You know, the selling point of this route is a "network". Hopefully, if it does well, DTG will consider doing more like it hopefully with at least one end to end run.
Yeah it seems some people struggle to understand what a Network is. It's not just an out and back route.
I think people understand what it is, they're just not a fan of the idea. Which is completely valid, I somewhat agree with them. People like to do a full journey, not a small snippet of one.
Having been born in Pontypridd in the pre-Beeching era, I have an emotional attachment to this area and would have loved the route to go at least as far as Pontypridd, or up one of the Rhondda valleys (Fawr or Fach, don't mind). But equally I would vote for Rhymney to Barry Island (RIP Miner's Fortnight). As an aside, regarding the downsizing of Pontypridd station, oddly the station was claimed to have the longest platform in the UK - I guess resulting from coal operations.
An OP mentioned a network map - Wiki has an article on the Valley lines - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valleys_&_Cardiff_Local_Routes. As you will see, there are 8 lines in total.
I’m a fan of the idea but… no substitute for having at least Barry Island in at the south and and going a bit further north - maybe Pontypridd and Ystrad Mynach. What we also don’t know is if there are plans to extend later in a V2.0.
A further comment on the network - Wiki has the following map of the Southeast Wales rail routes - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:South-east_Wales_rail_network_map.svg. Interestingly, the shaded area corresponds closely with DTG's route.
Thought this might be useful, this map shows the service pattern as of the June 2024 timetable change. Note that the class 153s were withdrawn around 2023 so the TSW timetable won't use the routes shown on the map, but this was the best map available. and for context the TSW route map again Here is the service pattern which was used when class 153s still operated (ignore the routes on the map): 2 tph Cardiff Central to Treherbert (Blue line on the map) 2 tph Barry Island to Aberdare 1 tph Barry Island to Merthyr Tydfil 1 tph Bridgend to Merthyr Tydfil 2 tph Penarth to Bargoed 2 tph Penarth to Rhymney 2 tph Radyr to Coryton (via City line) 5 tph Cardiff Queen Street to Cardiff Bay shuttle If you're interested, here is the June 2024 service pattern (as shown on the map): Red line: 2 tph Merthyr Tydfil to Aberdare via Cardiff Central Orange line: 2 tph Penarth to Caerphilly & 2 tph Penarth to Coryton Dark Green line: 2 tph Cardiff Bay to Pontypridd & 2 tph Cardiff Bay to Cardiff Queen Street shuttle Blue line: 2 tph Cardiff Central to Treherbert Light Green line: 1 tph Bridgend to Rhymney & 1 tph Barry Island to Rhymney & 2 tph Barry Island to Bargoed
I don't think there is anything wrong with trying something new, if it's done right it'll be fantastic, if it's not.... it'll probably be the only one made.
I'm guessing all would be AI, but perhaps HST (Castle Set), Class 387 and Class 165/166? They'd not have any GWR logos though. Edit: The person who in real life thought 387s doing Cardiff to London was a good idea is sadistic and twisted! Not a fun journey!
Basically the Cardiff City section of the network with little else outwith, beyond the Penarth line. I guess it lives up to it's name, at least.
Oh I honestly just noticed the last GWR HST was on the 18th of may this year, we could replace it with the 801's but we'd need a whole different livery for this of course, but it would make it so much more immersive !
Not one for me this but will keep an eye on the Sprinters, hopefully sounds and physics will be much much better than the current 150/2 being offered.
I'd argue that Cathcart was the first 'Network' style route, given the Cathcart Look, Newton and Neilston lines. (Even if the rework should have covered Paisley Canal) But I'm looking forward to a diesel network!
I think the HST and 166 would retain the GWR logos, they have in pretty much every layering instance, even in the WSR upgrade IIRC unless I'm mistaken. 387 would have no branding.
Definitely not. If we count ECW as a network then we'd have to count Peak Forest, Birmingham Cross-City, Midland Mainline, Tees Valley Line, Glossop Line, and Brighton Mainline. Some branches bigger than others but ECW has nothing more to offer than those. Cathcart is a complete route and a network while SEHS Extended*, Cardiff and probably Blackpool Branches all count as it. *SEHS Extended is kind of two routes in one, but it has a variety of start/end points, so I count it.
I think DTG should make the OP requesting Heath High Level happy and include the branch of the Coryton line to it's alternate end point at Caerphilly, adding 2tph and thus completing one full line - only adds 4.6 miles
153s still frequently operate on Caerphilly-Penath services, often in pairs but occasionally as single units. Not sure about anywhere else on the network mind, perhaps the Coryton branch.
I’m slightly frustrated they went for the new timetable as the old one gives more consistent full runs
Part of me wonders if they're future proofing it so we could receive the Class 398 tram trains that are soon to replace the DMUs. Potentially also the 756s, which are beginning to enter service. If it is the current timetable then that means quite a lot of the route (possibly all of it barring the Bay branch, I'm not as familiar with the state of electrification on the city line) will be under wires, despite only having DMUs playable. That's kind of interesting.
The bay line has a lot of work going on so hopefully they include butetown station while under construction. The city line and llandaf to Radyr should have over head wires
The brake flange sounds as the loco brakes to me I love and are iconic somehow lol. See them at my local station so maybe that's why.
Bit of a bump, but anyone have a suspicion this might be the San Bernardino of 2025, i.e. turn into the TSW6 UK route?
