I'm sure this has been considered or brought up before but with some of the routes that have deep history or such, are we in the realms of having DLC brought out that is an adaptation (from a development standpoint) of existing routes and include period accurate locos and rolling stock? Just as an example (as i'm local to it) if you take Edinburgh to Glasgow, before DMU stock was really present, they were was lot of push-pull stock and freight was much more prominent. Open to thoughts and feedback.
WCML South could easily get a classic layer once the JT 87 (and presumably 86) come out. Throw in a new Class 310 EMU and you could have a retro early 80’s service. Or even better, some VEP and CIG/BIG units for the BML and ECW routes.
I think the idea to release era-dependent derivates of routes is something DTG shall not put off the table completely. Of course, the amount of buyers probably would be a little narrowed down to the ones willing to buy the same route twice, however ressources and cost for production may be reduced as - put aside a couple of more or less drastic changes to the scenery - the underlying route is already built. Doing so could maybe even catch new buyers, refrained from the original route because of its set era. It also wouldn't only meaning going back but also forth in time for routes which are situated in a rather historic era. Left Rhine could be very nice, put in a rather modern era which f.e. would allow the Expert 101 to be played in a native and unmodded timetable.
On a slightly wider level, I definitely feel as my route collection expands to over 50 it becomes harder to justify purchasing each totally new route that comes out. Obviously something like WCML over Shap and Mittenwaldbahn are iconic but the new MBTA… nah, just no interest at all. So rather than keep releasing new routes with a likely attrition of sales numbers, let’s go back and revisit some of the existing routes extending them or even vary the era slightly. For the UK alone, many of the routes from a few years ago have tremendous potential to extend. Far more likely to invest there than another short A to B route that simply emulates what we already have (for example the forthcoming ATS Manchester Local).
