With the release of the preserved collection version of Oakville Subdivision, I was very disappointed to see that CN and Penninsula corridor rolling stock no longer appears on Sandpatch grade. I understand that the random generation of consists was removed due to it's generating implausible consists because it didn't account for load weight, but surely there must be a way for this feature to be re-introduced that accounts for that. North American freight is such a hodgepodge of different liveries and road names in any one consist, that the substitution was fantastic step to make consists look more realistic than homogeneous CSX-only consists, and was easily one of my favorite features in TSW2020. Especially with the Union Pacific Cane Creek route coming presumably introducing a bunch of UP rolling stock, and other routes down the road, US freight has the potential to look great if only this aspect of substitution is re-introduced across the board. Please bring it back.
Yeah, i had heard about this feature in TSW2020 (i'm on xbox, so no SPG in that version), so it's disappointing that it didn't make it over to TSW2. As you say, seeing only one reporting mark on a US freight train is very unlikely. Maybe on a unit coal train or something, but on a mixed freight? No way. Hope they can implement it at some point.
It still occurs on the Oakville subdivision route, but it would be nice to have it be a universal feature.
Never heard of this feature before (Didn't play TSW2020 long so that's why) but would be nice for Sand Patch Grade and Cane Creek, but wouldn't really work for the Clinchfield route though, as that is set in a different era.
True, would need to be era specific, but between sandpatch/oakville/cane creek, and say if a Norfolk Southern or even late Rio Grand (old rolling stock still shows up) those could all cross-pollinate nicely. And if the eras were similar enough, could do that with historic routes too. IIRC aren't there Western pacific, Baltimore and Ohio and Clinchfield routs set with in say 20 years of each other for TS 2020?
If anyone was unaware I went back and grabbed some screenshots from TSW 2020 of a manifest freight on sandpatch: As you can see, there are cars from Peninsula Corridor, and Oakville. Now imagine how much variety we could have if all modern US freight cars are added to the spawn pool as you buy new routes, in conjunction with the livery designer. Might actually look like an American freight train.