My favourite routes are the Tees Valley and Trans Pennine. I drive the 101dmu a lot and thoroughly enjoy it. However, the station stops spoil the realism to some extent. The driver and guard would work together to keep to time. The driver would do his best to arrive on time and the guard would complete his duties, unloading parcels, newspapers, etc, and as soon as possible he'd buzz the driver to proceed assuming the train wasn't early. They could save loads of time at station stops. In TSW though, if you're two minutes down because the signalman has let a steel train out in front of you, you have no scope for reducing that lateness. You sit at the station for the regulation minute while the timer counts down despite being late and there being no passengers waiting. You leave two minutes late. It's very frustrating. Could we have more flexible waiting times? The stop could be reduced to as little as 10 seconds if there are no passengers, and we'd have a chance of making up some time.
I agree with this idea but I've got a slightly different suggestion and sorry for taking over your topic: What if there were no loading times but it would be up to the train driver ( player ) or conductor ( future role for TSW? ) to close the doors as soon as all pax have left and boarded the train? Of course some more gameplay ( code ) changes would need to be made in terms of how people seem to spawn in the platforms. I'd say it would be interesting to have also a random number of people who would spawn and run towards the train at random occasions. This could be triggered after the train would stop at the station and open the doors. People would leave the train, others would board... and once in a while, some last minute people would come up running! This way there would not be the need to have fixed loading times. In case you would be behind schedule, you could still get that message that says "wait till xx:xx hours to depart".
It would be great if the passengers could open and close their own doors, as indeed they used to do in the days of slam door stock like the 101 and the Mk1s and 2s. It looks a bit daft seeing every door on the train suddenly fly open, maybe it might be possible to only have a door open when a passenger is about to board or leave. The guard's buzzer is another missed opportunity. Wouldn't it be great to sit waiting for the passengers to board/exit and instead of watching the timer counting down, hear the buzzer sound when it's safe to leave? I understand that modern trains have all the doors under the control of the driver but it's not appropriate on Trans Pennine, Tees Valley or West Somerset. All intended as positive feedback, I love TSW and I don't want to appear over critical.
I love this idea! I hate waiting having to wait even when their is no passengers. I would want to see conductor for Amtrak trains. On Amtrak trains the conductor opens the doors and closes them. Not the driver.
