I am suggesting a Brighton mainline, refresh, up to train Sim world 5 should start with stretch standards, and also to add a few branch lines, maybe add London Bridge and connect to the East Coastway and also add the class 700
All it really needs are scenery upgrades, the addition of the Class 700, and the Coulsdon Town branch (literally next to the line) and Hove branch (for 387 ECS moves) added. As well as maybe the 377/2 on the Milton Keynes services. For me, the route doesn't need expanding any more than that.
on top of a full optimization with the line, some small additions for me just to increase playability would be: Introduction of the 700 along with Norwood junction to create the starting point for Thameslink since its there in spirit on the map. Streatham hill Station to be modelled and included as an end and start point + Starting points at the Streatham Hill depot Coulsdon Town and Reedham stations to be modelled and included in ability to operate services ending/starting at Coulsdon Starting points at Stewarts lane depot for depot runs to London Victoria 170 repainted in southern and used as 171 for eastcoast way and BML for current services AI SWR (Unbranded if need be) and Overground at Clapham Junction (this I feel is a must as its such a ghost town) Big Asterix would be to add the small branch line to Caterham and extend to Lewes via Plumpton and Cooksbridge but we know DTG don't really do expansions on existing DLCs
Sadly I get the vibe that DTG are terrified of this route and loathe to go back in to even make simple changes or repairs. As testified by Reigate being left in a poor state, the missing track section at Redhill and various locations on the Quarry Line which aren’t fenced off.
Totally agree with points suggested. As for scenery, along with the various details mentioned, we must not forget the Croydon and Crystal Palace TV masts that are visible for miles around, especially at night.
I don’t know how they would get tired of a route, especially that this one was supposed to be very ambitious of them, and I feel like this is one of the best ones they made, why not give it a refresh with some added touches, then it would be unstoppable
For the time, they put a lot into it that made it pretty much unstable if they changed anything even slightly. They didn't want to touch it because of that.
I think TOD4 lighting would be quite nice as well, routes without it just feel really weird. Updated horn on the 377 and 387 would be a good addition as well.
I'd love to see JustTrains do an 80's or 90's take on the route, built to modern standards. They did great with Blackpool and WCML North, it'd be nice to see them add third-rail traction to their catalog. A 4VEP set, maybe in NSE paint, Class 73 with some Gatwick push-pull stock, a reworked Class 33 and some freight wagons...
even small fixes or additions would be welcome, not gonna lie, loving this route and lately been playing the hell out of it, also cos I have made a nice Ukraine-themed livery for 377, so doing those semi-express runs with it (liking the 8 and even 12car formations, just glorious with camera 8 when at 90 mph)
Personally this being the best UK route on tsw, I don't think it needs a refresh. Even with the ep and class 700 timetable mod it runs smoothly. It looks decent enough already.
There are some area's that do need a little bit of optimization but for us PC users it hasn't been a big issue but for those unfortunate console players the 700 cant be included as apparently word on the street was that it would cause memory issues.. how true is that I don't know?
one of the best routes if you wanna do sth like self-appointed "shift mode" aka doing various services or back-and-forths on the map... for which the network style maps (or routes with at least some working branches / routings / bypasses) are pretty much the best (Nahverkehr Dresden, SEHS, Cathcart, LIRR 2.0 etc)
Brighton mainline might need some more improvements but what happened in the process of making the route?, that might explain why this is happening to the route. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Route /Loco Suggestions Route - Cp Portugal Northern Line (linha Do Norte) | Dovetail Games Forums Loco - Tgv Reseau Duplex | Dovetail Games Forums Route - Budapest Metro M3 Line | Dovetail Games Forums Route - Central Coast & Newcastle Line | Dovetail Games Forums Loco - Class 88 | Dovetail Games Forums Route - Warsaw Metro M1 Line | Dovetail Games Forums Loco - Amtrak Alc-42 | Dovetail Games Forums Route - London Underground Northern Line | Dovetail Games Forums Route - Schnellfahrstrecke Bern - Rothrist | Dovetail Games Forums Loco - Class 442 | Dovetail Games Forums Route - London Underground Jubilee Line | Dovetail Games Forums Route - Bahnstrecke Wuppertal - Dusseldorf | Dovetail Games Forums Route - Marc Camden Line | Dovetail Games Forums Loco - Ns Dm90 | Dovetail Games Forums Route - Mml: London St Pancras - Bedford | Dovetail Games Forums Loco - Et420 Plus | Dovetail Games Forums Route - Ringbahn Berlin Circle | Dovetail Games Forums Route - London Underground District Line For Tsw5 | Dovetail Games Forums Route - Chiltern Mainline | Dovetail Games Forums Loco - Class 99 For Tsw5 | Dovetail Games Forums Route - Dart Commuter | Dovetail Games Forums Loco - Tpe Class 397 'civity' | Dovetail Games Forums Route - Wien S Bahn: Wien Hauptbahnhof - Wiener Neustadt | Dovetail Games Forums
As far as I'm aware gen 8 can't even run the current full timetable. Gen 9 however should be able to run the extra class 700 services. There's some areas that could do with a bit more scenery but what worries me is converting the route to tod4 will just ruin it.
Tbh I really do like sehs but although we have the full hs1 route, I'm not a fan of the high speed routes. And the rest of sehs is unfinished. The coastal routes are cut short at faversham. There's no line to victoria and why dtg terminated the north Kent line at Dartford I can never understand. Also there's the missing sheerness branch line that's not a lot of extra work tbh. But that wasn't included either. If it was the same as the TSC counterpart sehs would be my #1 route.
They were going to put the Sheerness branch in, but decided that extending to Dartford would allow for more gameplay. To me, the shortness of the route is balanced out by all the layers, substitutions etc that make the route feel alive. Sure, it could be longer. But you can drive high speed, fast, semi-fast, stopping and freight services, as well as railtours. Then there's all the AI around St Pancras and Ashford as well as a few TGV runs, and seasonal services. They packed so much into it that, despite it being short, there's still a lot to do and see.
Yes there's plenty going on. But still, I find driving from one terminus to another on bml a lot more rewarding than driving from nowhere to nowhere on sehs.
too bad that some units, like 465, 375 and such dont get much mileage there, but still nice to have em for shorter runs
BML is probably the best to come from the TSW2 era, if a certain remasterer gets some spare time on his hands (and still has some sanity after all his recent work) I would love to see this route get the next treatment. The only ting that is dragging it down is lighting and optimisation (although a scenery refresh wouldn't go amiss).
Yes please would additionally like to see some activity at the Themeslink stops like Earlswood with the 700 and the Battersea park and Clapham depots available.
