Hello, in this post I would like to propose the highly requested East Coastway extension/remaster. In this thread I shall cover what I and I'm sure alot of the community would like to see, why it would be a stand out route and what could come in the future if this so happens. The Extention and Remaster: One of TSWs fan favourite routes, the East Coastway is an approximately 40 Mile long route running between Brighton to Eastbourne with the branch to Seaford also included. Unfortunately due to this route being one of the original TSW routes, it is now starting to show it's age compared to other modern TSW routes. Therefore it is crying out for a bit of love. With the routes age I think at this point a Remaster would require a complete route rebuild and what better opportunity to throw in an extension. That being the section between Eastbourne and Ore, I would say Ashford but I feel that could be testing the limits for now. I would also say to add the connection between Lewes and Wivelsfield but I'd feel that would be kind of pointless as yes there is route hopping but people would then go onto "why cant it be merged with BML", and route hopping from a remastered route to a non remastered route may be off putting to some people, anyways back to the main part, the Eastbourne to Ore section adds an approximately 20 mile extension to the original route branching off just after Hampden Park at Willingdon Junction, utilised multiple rural and seaside stations including Pevensey, Norman's Bay, Bexhill, and Hastings. Timetables, Layers and featured trains Personally I'd set this route as the 2023 working Timetable to utilise a little bit of everything. Trains Included - Class 377/4 and /3 Electrostar Class 171/8 Turbostar Starting off with the familiar one to TSW players, the Class 377 can be seen across the whole route, working a mixed range of Services such as, 2Gs (Brighton to Eastbourne), 1Gs (Brighton to Ore), and 1Fs (Victoria to Eastbourne/Ore), with the 377/3s working predominantly 2Cs (Brighton to Seaford). The Class 171 would be seen working mainly 2D (Eastbourne to Ashford International) Services) Timetable Layers - Class 313 (Subsitutes for some Seaford services and Summer Specials to Eastbourne/Hastings) Class 387 (Substitutes for some Victoria to Ores and Brighton to Eastbourne services) Class 66 (Newhaven Freight) Class 47 (Statesman Railtour)
Superb suggestion. However the Wivelsfield branch is absolutely necessary. Players that complain about merging with BML should already be aware that this is impractical for various reasons but this should never be a reason for omitting the branch which would otherwise never appear in game. It would also be the perfect excuse to add all of the BML AI traffic at Brighton which currently seems deserted on ECW and has for years now. DTG really should have a dedicated team for route refresh projects (I would personally be happy to pay a reasonable price for such upgrades) in order to keep them somewhat up to date with current features and such.
Plus the Wivelsfield branch would make the freight runs ever so slightly longer than the 10 minutes it currently takes.
I would settle for the Wivelsfield branch if we got the full Eastbourne to Ashford segment as a standalone DLC, at least that would provide longer journeys in the opposite direction as far as Haywards Heath for the Victoria services (missed in the original!).
