British Railways’ standard line of steam locomotives sought to bring the best of the Big Four’s successes into a common range of designs, spanning all duties but keeping a lid on complexity. In contrast, Just Trains go all out on complexity when it comes to their steam locos, and you can find out all about it as their BR Standard Class 7 is coming soon to the Steam and Dovetail Games stores! READ MORE
Just curious, but why so many third party British steam locomotives? I doubt the only thing people want is that.
Definitely! When was the last time we got an American steam locomotive? It would also be nice to see a UK locomotive that isn't a steam engine. I swear all the recent UK locos have been a steam engine. Not to mention all the Black 5 lookalikes.
Oh wait I totally forgot about all the 19th century steam locomotives from Smokebox. Those are really good, but I was thinking more like 1910s-1940s. Maybe a streamlined steam locomotive. The Norfolk and Western J Class is what comes to mind but I'm not sure if there would be a route for it!
Excatly! I personally would like to see a USRA Mikado added in. It's a nice, mid-size engine with the potential for a lot of different liveries and whistle variants, like the S160. I know there was a third party one made by Britkits, but they look a bit dated (and the same could be said for most of the US steam locomotives available on Steam right now).
I would also love to see the J class, but the Virginia Museum of Transportation have trademarked not only 611, but the shape and design of the entire J class. This means that on top of finding the original builder's drawings, you would have to strike a license agreement with the current owners. Scenarios could possibly be for the preservation era, as the N-Line has the NCTM. Smokebox's current project is the Big Boy, and after that's done he's probably going to do the Challenger. You can follow his progress here: https://www.facebook.com/Smokebox-132794016882582/
What if someone made a streamlined version of the K class 4-8-2 instead? Would that be violating the trademark?
Ok so first off, who trademarks a steam locomotive? That's ridiculous! And secondly, hearing that he's making a Big Boy is amazing news, since the current one is super dated and doesn't sound too good.
It's built by Just Trains who are a UK company - you might be better asking the American loco builders as to why they are not bringing anything out - Try Railworks America - http://railworksamerica.com/
I know that they're British. Them and Bossman Games are releasing a ton of British steam locomotives, but wouldn't it be nice if either more people started developing American steam locomotives or if Dovetail made some?
There just aren't that many US routes to run steam on is the problem. Sherman Hill has a freeware version set in the 1950s, but Smokebox is doing most of the steam that ran over there, there's Horseshoe Curve which is aimed more at the diesel era, the Bessemer and Lake Erie is such a niche road there's not much point, and there's Donner Pass which is set in the 90s but could be reasonably used as a period route. Of course, there's the two Wild West routes as well, but I suspect Smokebox has the monopoly on those for the time being. Compare that with the UK offering of steam era routes, and there's a good reason why nobody really builds US steam. Also, in the UK it's a lot easier to get sounds for specific engines, as there's a good chance any specific loco has either been preserved or has a "close enough" match such as the GWR Saint - all of them have been scrapped, but the sounds for it were recorded from a similar GWR 4-6-0 which I think was a Hall class.
Definitely. Maybe just have some AI-only trains included with the locomotive. Like how the EF-4 has non driveable GP7 (or was it a GP9 I can't remember) for AI use.
Maybe they could make an example of a preserved locomotive for use on existing routes. That or maybe a short tourist route for use with steam locomotives. Mainly the Strasburg Railroad since that's like 4 and a half miles long. Maybe #89, #90, and #475. That way it could focus more on the locomotives and route detail, and hopefully at a more affordable price, perhaps $20 or $30.
A route with the TVRM (Chattanooga to Summerville GA) wouldn't be a bad choice either since it would give us Southern 4501 and 630. Those locomotives could have some more flexibility since they were at one point mainline excursion engines.
I suspect Smokebox has the monopoly on those for the time being. Compare that with the UK offering of steam era routes Nox Vidmate VLC and there's a good reason why nobody really builds US steam.
I think most of you are missing the point. The Just Trains' Britannia already exists and has done so for several years. All that's happening is that it's being published by DTG so a wider audience will be aware of it. JT haven't poured loads of recent development effort into it, so there isn't anything which could have been diverted into developing other countries' steam locos, even if JT had wanted to.