Northern Trans Pennine, First Thoughts

NTP is my go to route now with formation designer creations. It has more interesting curves and inclines than many other routes. Even before that I often returned to it for the challenge.

 

It is one of those routes that is just dying for an upgrade.

 

The graphics or quality of the stations and the world is nowhere near GWE standard, the DLC came out after GWE, but yet it seems several years old? The lack of passengers and actual trains in big stations leaves you feeling short changed. It needs a good update.

 

Yup!!! We need a good 80's blue BR route.

 

And then!

 

Do you think? I don't think they are any worse than GWE. They look a bit worse for wear rather than shiny new, but then that is what a lot of stations seemed to look like back then.

 

I think the whole point of the route is meant to look like a run down BR line hence why it's station and scenary looks old. That is the whole point... I'd not have it any other way, I love a good old grimey BR era diorama!

 

The route looks like it would have done in real life.

British Rail wasn't exactly in the best state in the 80s.

 

Yeah, it's not the fact they don't look shiney, the station texture quality isn't great, pavements are not as detailedc boarded up windows are fine, but it just looks rushed. I love the blue BR period and I would put up with a lot, but after completing the timetable and scenario, I don't want to back there agaain, but yet I will go play GWE or Teeside at the drop of a hat. Blackpool is suppose to be good, but short. I am working thru the DLCs from earlist release to now, I am on the bakerloo line at mo and it seems generations ahead of NTP.

 

I love NTP. Someone mentioned RSN before and I'd agree with that comparison - both are lovely routes that have more than stood the test of time. One of the things I love about it is that everything's dirty and grimy. The route feels both alive and lived in. The variety of vintage rolling stock is also fantastic.

 

When NTP came out it was a revelation for me. We had very few BR blue routes in TSC so this was a surprise. It was/is very atmospheric with great stock. I think the scenery is very well done.

I think the biggest issue now is that it would benefit from a TOD4 upgrade as I find with most pre TSW3 routes they seem too dark, although it isn't as bad a Cathcart or the Brighton line in that respect.

I think the timetable needs updating, the passenger trains don't show the train reporting number and are all marked as Manchester to Leeds or vice-versa not Liverpool to Newcastle etc. Adding in the class 31 and the 3 car class 101 would give a bit more variety and interest. There were plenty of 3 car class 101's around at that time certainly not just 2 car sets. Making the two main stations busier would add more realism.

I do personally feel they went a bit over the top with the run down 1983 look, I recall a decade of colour and sunshine not some grimy grey nadir of history. Compare a photo of a supermarket carpark from then and now and see the difference!

If think with an upgrade it wouldn't be far off the Blackpool route with a considerably longer and more challenging run.

 

Yeah, you have hit the nail on the head, NTP is very dull, grimey and depressing, were things actually that bad in the 80's? I think to do dirt and grim it takes more graphic power than clean to do it properly. The rolling stock is great, would love more of it, but the route compared to GWE, level of detail is far better on GWE. The route needs to be updated graphic and function wise, but will they do it? There will be no money to pay for that project, so probably not sadly.

 

If they launched a new DLC for the route with a updated timetable and hopefully a TOD4 upgrade it could bring some money in, I would certainly pay for it. There are numerous DLC possibilities for the route. They have just done something similar with LIRR, admittedly with a small extension included.

I would even be willing to pay a token amount for a new timetable and a TOD4 upgrade as I think it would be worth it.

 

It's one of my favourite routes but since an update that turned the route into a ghost town with regards lack of passengers I've not played it as much as I used to. But I love the variety of traffic and not knowing what loco is going to turn up on a service is great fun

 

I dunno, that was when I was living there and that certainly is the impression I took away (and BR, in particular, an aura of clapped-out shabbiness).

Of course, it could just be that Cambridge is almost always grey and dismal!

 

I think BR was certainly not in rude health, I don't think the corporate blue livery did it any favours and much of the stock from the modernisation plan was nearing the end of its life I suppose.

I don't feel the idea that circa 1983 UK was some bleak landscape of dark satanic mills and chimneys belching black smoke over the green and pleasant land. Maybe we would be in a better position now if it had been!

Then again I was 8 in 1983 and my view might be clouded by not having a care in the world over such things but I recall the 1980's to be colourful period. BR though probably was getting shabby, although by the late 1980's/early 1990's BR was undergoing a slow transformation.

 

Although I do love NTP (and in real life) the update it needs Graphically and lighting (there is basically no night lighting) would be quite a task, that with a complete timetable overhaul, probably needs building from scratch with a nice extension to York and/or Liverpool.

 

Just had a play on this using the heavy freight pack which I haven't really touched since I bought it a while back. Just passed one of the freight services on the way out of Manch and the AI loco sounded it's horn!?....never knew they implemented this. Definitely wasn't me doing it, I was in a 101, the horn sounds completely different. Service mode as well.

 

NTP could do with an update. The passenger issue (core) is annoying as is the automated timetable (eg arrive at 12:23:48) which came with another update or possibly the transfer to UE 4.26.
The scenery is sparse in a lot of places and isn't even representative of the Pennine location. Distant hillside scenery just looks bare and bland.
Despite this, it is one of the routes I play on more, especially now we have free roam and can spawn in something different to drive like a Pacer or class 37 without having to make a custom scenario.

That was probably one of the updated 47s from BPO as they sub in for the original version.

 

The 40 and 08 have sounded their horns since it was pretty much released if I recall correctly.

 

Yes, that's correct.