New Jt Route Cumbrian Coast: Carlisle - Whitehaven From Just Trains

Having been on this route today I was reminded on the way back, how much of a difference it would make if routes were set up to account for tides.

Surely the water level can in theory be set as a variable which cycles a couple of times over the course of a day?

 

Tides would be great but I can imagine if they were buggy like the dynamic weather on Shap, it would be filling and emptying like a bathtub with 90 seconds between high and low tide then back again!

 

The permanent low tide by Lelant Saltings on WCL always stood out like a sore thumb.

 

Oh this route is going to look good when it’s done. I’ve just watched a cab ride of this section of the Cumbrian Coast to get an idea of what to expect. Absolutely stunning. Really can’t wait to see JT put amazing detail into this route like they have done with all their previous work in TSW.

 

I rode it in each direction today, it's fantastic.

Also got to see one of the cargo line 5 flask wagons in the 360 degree presentation on Sellafield at the museum.

Right now the rail tunnel connecting the rest of the line down towards Barrow in furness is closed down, I suppose for the construction work necessary to redirect the culvert that's turned the entire harbour bright orange with iron ochre runoff from the old mines for the last four years.

 

Ah man I cannot wait to finally get another DMU!!! This will be a first day buy alongside the Preston - Crewe route.

 

I’m probably looking forward to this more than Preston to Crewe. Still a shame it’s not going all the way to Barrow, though.

 

Dynamic weather is core and we have no control over it.

 

Appreciate that, but the fact is on Shap any Journey mode run with dynamic weather is fluctuating at a ridiculously rapid rate, which no other route in TSW - including Blackpool Branches - exhibits.

 

Same here - this was my home route when I was a kid, spent more time in and around Workington station and the yards than I can remember. I always wanted to get a cab ride on the shunt move where the WK pilot attached a CCT to the back of one of the last trains into Carlisle … never managed it though - hopefully they model this move, I think/hope/pray it was still a thing in 1986

 

Yeah, the weather is bugged on every route. Still jumpscares me every time it just makes a leap from one extreme to another in a flash with zero smooth transition. When all the fog vanishes in the blink of an eye, for example. DTG really need to fix whatever's been up with that for the past few versions of TSW core.

 

There is a decent weather mod. TSW annotations iirc?

 

Odd, I've never experienced that on Shap. I mostly just have it quickly transition to rain and stay there.

 

I always turn dynamic weather off.

 

Flimby this morning

 

My friends overseas did not believe Flimby was a real place name until I sent them a photo yesterday.

 

I wonder if players will be able to unlock turning the harbour at Whitehaven bright orange?

 

Seems services just go as far as Whitehaven anyway, so at least it’ll still be end-to-end runs. Or was it different in the 80’s?

 

That's only a 'temporary' thing while Bransty Tunnel, between Corkickle and Whitehaven is fixed.
(When that will actually be is anyone's guess)

 

I try not to use mods and there is still the issue of dynamic weather oscillating on this route far worse than any other, where it tends to go to thunderstorms and stay there. Best solution as I’ve suggested before is JT update all the Journey runs to have static weather.

 

Fair enough. Always found this mod just the job. Mind you I still have TSW uninstalled through boredom. Back to Zusi3 and its 'quirks'!!!

 

I’m wondering what West Cumbrian collectibles they will come up with… patties and scraps gets my vote

 

I haven't touched TSW since 4th April so getting on for three weeks, even the good new DLC like Medway Valley and the Czech route couldn't keep my attention. Not helped by the April Monthly Mastery being one of the most dire since I started doing it - that normally keeps my attention but it was literally over with a handful of short runs. I've been enjoying OMSI 2, despite its age, bugs and general quirkiness, Snowrunner and when the Witcombe Park Farm mod map for FS25 emerges in a couple of days, I expect I'll be spending a massive amount of time on that.

 

Is that closure part of the works going on there to redirect the culvert that keeps dumping the orange water in the harbour?

I know that last time they closed the tunnel for works, was the one time the harbour went back to normal, because the pumps they set up to keep the tunnel drained were preventing the water flow that picks up the iron ochre on the way to the sea.

 

In my case, I've been too busy riding actual trains!

 

I wonder if Preston to Crewe will ignite my interest again. Have been pottering along with my N gauge project and have a lot on at home. Will the lure of a pair of turbocharged type 1s waking up Warrington get it over the line....

 

I've not quite walked away but I've just been nibbling at TSW as of late, I really dived in with the Medway Valley route being so awesome but I have just lost interest, if anything over the past week or so I've only gone in so that I could take some retro 1980s era "photos" for the screenshot thread.

I know that once JT's Preston-Crewe comes out I will dive in there and practically become one with the computer to go back to the 80s and stay there far longer than is healthy (it helps that aside from being one of my local lines it also offers excellent opportunities for free-roam spawned trip workings). In the meantime I'm pretty much done with TSW, there could be a surprise DLC next week with 47569 in red and black parcels livery with the 3D nameplate "Phil 'Duffman' Surname" and I'd still not buy it, I mean it'd be difficult but I'd resist...

 

The same for me, I've taken a sabbatical from TSW while Preston - Crewe awaits release but I'll be hopping back as soon as it is released. Mind you, I've recently been on a trip to Dresden and Köln which has opened my eyes to DB content so that might be something to explore once I get my head round PZB!

Back to the Cumbrian coast, I really do think it's a much underrated line compared to the (relatively) nearby Settle & Carlisle, possibly my favourite line in England for scenery. On a clear day, It's fantastic to continue on to Dumfries where you can see the Cumbrian coast from the other side of the Solway on a clear day, another often overlooked line.

 

TSW could be amazing in my eyes if:

They fixed the bugs that the majority of users complain about regardless of era or local preference.

Proper operational Randomness is put in. The small steps in that direction are welcome but there is no way trains would use the same platforms every time at Large stations if other trains are delayed. Same goes for putting freights that are late into loops no way would Intercity trains follow a freightliner that is losing time all the way.

Somehow DLC becomes slightly less complicated to produce, maybe we were spoiled on previous platforms such as TSC or MSTS but one or two DLC a year for say BR era fans or Older DB stuff really isnt going to get the juices flowing or the money spent. If it takes a year to produce a loco that seems a very very long time...

Last but not least a bit more communication on the future of the platform would be great. Its got so predictable that watches could be set by it. Every year production grinds to a halt, everything goes quiet then shock horror the next version appears meaning a massive download for all of us although not charging is a welcome step at least.

Going Back OT the Whitehaven route could be great but I now feel very neutral over wether I will bother and thats with the fact a 108 is on the cards!!

 

I got into going to DB land for real because of train sims so it worked the other way round for me, although now the 218s are getting phased out I am less inclined to bother but am glad I did and I have an unused Interrail to be done before the year is out!!

 

There was a service to Whitehaven I forget the regularity, it might have been hourly with some services through to Barrow. So Whitehaven is a legitimate end point.

Would have loved to have seen the line to Barrow but understand why it ends at Whitehaven.

Very excited for the 108.

 

Whitehaven is also a semi-logical start/end point for flask trains as well as other services that ran down the coast, at least there's more of a run (and a scenic one at that) than if they'd only gone as far as Workington

 

It has both a terminating and a through platform, so it is perfectly set up for services to end there. And from a sim design standpoint, the tunnel provides a perfect point for AI services to exit and enter the map.

 

Back in my day (late 70s-early 80s) it was roughly hourly to Whitehaven with every other service to Barrow IIRC. I only did the “Long Route” South (via Barrow) a couple of times once I realised it was way quicker to go up to Carlisle and grab the express. The DMU to Barrow took AGES, and then you had to wait for ages to get another DMU down to Preston… admittedly the second one would often be a Cravens, so there was some variety there, but if the goal was to get down to Crewe for the afternoon, or do Reddish/Newton Heath/Longsight in an afternoon the Barrow route was a no-hoper

 

I may have missed this response but I thought a changing tide had been implemented on the updated LIRR route. Depending on the time of day rather than position of the moon.

I assumed it had been implemented in the core. Which shows how observant I've been on the couple of dozen drives I've done along the "English Riviera" though I prefer night-time drives. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.