Here is a video on YouTube which gives an excellent first person view of the route from Paddington to Reading with running line speeds featured in real time. With this video, we can accurately place assets such as OHLE, signals and other line side objects & equipment without having to guess where they should go. I think this gives a great opportunity to modernise and alter the route even more if the developers decide they want to once or we could do it ourselves once we have our hands on editing tools.
DTG has confirmed that they will not be modernising the Great Western Express route so this would have to be done by a third-party once the editing tools are released. I very much support the idea of creating an updated version of Great Western Express. Should the Class 387 be released for TSW, a modernised version of the route will allow players to drive to Reading using the Class 387 instead of just to Hayes & Harlington. Whether a workshop modernised route becomes a reality depends on the editing tools. If the editing tools are user-friendly and are easy to add OHLE with or create services, there will be a much higher chance of this being created.
I would be more than happy enough to do this myself and carry the electrification over to Reading once the editor is released provided we have access to all models and assets to play with. It would be great if someone could model some of the newer types of signals, gantries and OHLE as in the video there is a variety of different designs used and I know currently in TSW we don’t have the whole collection.
NorthRail1 When did DTG confirm that? Not that I doubt it, but I missed them confirming it. Because the editing tools are basically the UE4 editor, they will be dev-friendly, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they will be user-friendly.
Not sure where it was mentioned, DTG said something on the lines of Great Western Express being set in mid-2015 and they had no plans to change that. Anyway, it would be a large amount of effort for Dovetail Games to update the route, time which could be spent on fixing bugs, creating the editing tools and developing new content such as the Class 387.
If I remember correctly that was just about the initial release of GWR being set in 2015 when they originally surveyed the route. They never ruled out updating the route to present day in a further release or dlc. I could easily image a dlc that includes the updated line packaged with the release of a Class 387 or 800.
Anyone who knows how to model, here is a good reference to the OHLE used on the GWML: https://www.furrerfrey.ch/en/systems/Series-1.html#prettyPhoto