Did you just ignore/not see a large portion of his post? Read this paragraph again (sorry for the ping Wivenswold): There will be no issues with knocking the era back to BR to get East Anglia in the game and, from my perspective, preferable to the ugly things which plague the area these days, they make Sprinters look like art.
Any region that is busy with plenty of variety does me. I’d really like to see some NSE stuff and I’m from the North East.
I personally disagree. It's at the very top of the midlands, in my mind. The "gateway" to the North if you will. If you look at a map of the UK you'll quickly see that Sheffield is nowhere near what could be considered "North". Perhaps Northern England, but not the UK. Also what's wrong with Kettering etc? I have family in Lincolnshire too and they don't seem to mind being in that group?
This mistake was made in TSC with Germany in the past... DTG (and third party) did random routes all over the place, leaving the German route map looking very bland after 15 years comparing it to the networks that have grown in the UK, Netherlands or Austria. I´m glad they seem to be building up certain areas in TSW and focusing on routes beeing busy and having lots of layers. DTG have been focusing on areas ignored in TSC in Germany. Fulda, Aschaffenburg and Würzburg. Rivet is doing RHB in Switzerland (always a good one) and Scotland. Just Trains is building up around Preston set in the 80´s. There seems to a plan... I really wonder what TSG will be doing next.
I rather hope TSG are working on the Obereruhrtalbahn to give the diesel fleet more room to stretch its legs.
I'm gutted that ATS are doing a NW route too. NSE East Anglia, Wherry Lines could have been achievable and an excellent add-on. As it stands were going to have the same problem with MK 3 AC EMUs in TSW that we had with 1st Gen AC EMUs in TSC. There won't be any. Nothing is being built for the same areas of the electric network in TSW as were largely ignored in TSC and if it's not a current unit then it's got even less chance of appearing.
I am perplexed why BR routes are being used for regions? Surely the most appropriate thing would be either geographical regions or NR regions. By NR regions, I can count 4 Eastern Routes off the top of my head: MML, TVL, ECML, and Eastern half of NTP (if it still existed today, I'm sure half of Peak Forest would be Eastern aswell). It doesn't necessarily change much, but the argument that the NW is being given preferential treatment while counting the whole of the NW as the LM region is strange. If we are going to NW why not use NR's NW region?
Licensing excuse which is something I don't understand as they could easily do the BR era which shouldn't be an issue.
The problem with setting routes in older eras is that the copyright for liveries even those of defunct companies is owned by somebody and it can be difficult to find who owns it and, even if they do, there is no guarantee that they would be interested in railway operations, let alone a train simulator.
Yes I think they are perhaps the most horrible looking things on the Network, especially the Welsh ones which don't even have a yellow front. I were actually considering raising them as issue with a DM when they were first introduced as they looked so horribly distracting sitting in the platform whilst I came in.
If they cannot get licenses now then it is best option they can do for some routes with BR era as then in the future if the licenses become available then the route would already be there for them to upgrade with DLC it's a so win win for DTG.
Think that's just extremely biased tbh, yellow fronts on trains aren't even needed anymore due to some change with the headlights I believe. The flirts are actually incredible trains inside and out but of course I bet your a person that thinks sprinters are good trains..
circa 1955 From the ECML at Peterborough the line through March-Ely, Bury st Edmunds, Stowmarket to Ipswich. Ely junction would be a busy location with services from Cambridge, Peterborough, Kings Lynn, Ipswich. Some of the marshalling yards at March could be included. In 1954 Ipswich shed had 16 types of steam engines, totalling 79 locos. Maybe include the Ipswich docks branch lines too. Another section for eastern region Peterborough-Ely-Norwich. Or more likely to be created , the same routes set in the 80s or 90s.
But BR blue is also copyrighted and BR doesn’t exist any more so the same applies. If they can get the permissions from whoever owns it, all well and good but you could make the same argument for any no longer existing TOC. The fact that they have BR blue livery in some earlier routes doesn’t necessarily mean they can use it in future routes and ownership of the copyright could well have changed hands since then. I’m not trying to be negative, I think use of BR Blue trains in an earlier era is a great idea but merely pointing put the potential problems with trying to get permissions when a company o longer exists.
The difference there though is that BR was a government run organisation and not a private company. The DfT/government still own the BR brand copyright. Much easier to negotiate a licence with a public, government run department than with a corporate one. With other now defunct ToCs, someone does still own the branding, even if they are long gone like GNER etc. It is harder to track down who owns the copyrights for those previous operators than ones currently running.
Absolutely, of course there is still some process needed. If I am honest Nick has said near enough exactly what I were going to, so won't make you read the same thing twice.
Well you are also bias towards them, you have your preference and I have mine. No they are not, but I still prefer them as anything which makes a train more visible is good, also they just look much better generally. As I say I think they are the most horrible looking thing on the network, I mean what's going on with the doors for example, and they aren't anything special inside. No, I don't like sprinters either, but certainly think they are better than these. Anyway feel free to DM me or set up a thread if you want to discus it further but Regional Bias is this one's topic.
The other thing to bear in mind is that software companies have been producing trains in BR blue (and green) for many years and there have never been licensing issues - so although it’s always theoretically possible that an issue could arise, the arrangements and agreements in place are obviously pretty robust. The likelihood of there suddenly being a problem is very small. The same does not seem to be true of recent or existing brands.
