So What Routes Are You Driving At The Moment And Why?

Good idea Hentis, I think a positive thread is long overdue on this forum. I'll limit myself to three routes, even though there are probably five or six that I use on a regular basis (despite owning all of the UK routes except Mildmay, as I'm on day-one strike). Two of my favourites are begging for a remaster, so I'm hoping DTG will choose them following the survey they did a few months back.

WCML Preston to Carlisle
As a WCML lad (not that my profile pic would lead you to that conclusion), I feel rather spoilt in TSW with the five - past and future - WCML releases. I grew up travelling from the north west to the north east to see my grandparents and know that scenery off by heart... I'm glad I'm playing on PC as it allows me to recreate the cross-country services of yesteryear and get my daily dose of nostalgia. I also We really need a DVT and I hope ATS will have that up their sleeve once they've sorted the 90 out. It's not unknown for me to fire up the excellent third-party 2019 timetable either, some cracking teamwork on that one.


Birmingham to Crewe
Another WCML place of joy, with particular pleasure being found in opening up a 390 on the 125mph section.
I grew up changing at Crewe to get basically anywhere by train, so most of my runs centre around there rather than the Brum end. It's a shame it's not set in the 90s with Mk3 sets, HSTs and all those newfangled Sprinters, but can we really complain? (yes).
I'm tempted to finally get to grips with the PC Editor to try and produce some 1990s and early 2000s timetables, since we have most of the stock we need.


GWE Remaster
The update basically turned it into a new route, and has got me doing the stoppers again to admire the work that Liam put into it, having spent years using it only for HST runs after its initial release. The remaster has clearly injected a good few years of extra use into this route, and having both lived in Reading and worked in Paddington in the days of the "Barbie" livery, well I just have to go back and visit, don't I? (Don't worry, the shunter's standing in the gangway to keep an eye out).


Oh go on then, here's one of the southern end of the WCML just for good measure.


JB

 

I sure hope so! As you said, some are quite deep sidings and spurs with a lot of work put into them. It's been kind of fun exploring and "collecting" consists of them on Free Roam, but it'd be nice even if we just saw an enterprising person or small studio do some scenario packs for those routes for a few bucks like they have in TSC.
I wonder if maybe they're scared of tying up the "mainlines" with too many shunting moves and meeting timetables, etc.
Scenario packs would be a way to build on that existing content and get more use out of routes you already have.
The bar of entry is lower for new devs, and it's just a matter of creating scenarios with existing assets, not creating new so the cost would be super low. A half dozen scenarios for a fiver would be a good deal.

 

Not been playing quite as much lately but been going back to Goblin most recently. Really scratches that itch for a quick bus stop service and still looks gorgeous, plus the 710 is superb.

Also been doing some of the 805 scenarios on Euston-MK (obviously not the one that STILL insta crashes on Series X).

 

Well I cleared Arosa last night. As commented earlier, in desperate need of a remaster. Tunnels need reverb, now our Czech friends have demonstrated bridge rumble is possible, all the rail over road/river bridges need that adding. The mountains need fresh texture so they don’t just look green with a few rock assets plonked in the faces. The Ge 4/4 sounds suspiciously similar to the Bakerloo stock, nothing like a Swiss AC electric loco so that needs a new sound set. Still quite enjoyable even if the driving uphill is a bit autopilot with the speed setter.

So this evening on to what comes after Arosa in the TSW alphabetical menu list. Probably Bernina, to be hotly followed by Birmingham Cross City then Blackpool Branches.

 

This thread got me thinking... why don't I dig up some route I own but don't usually use, something I bought just "for the layers" or out of curiosity on a sale, and give it a(nother) try.

And my choice fell on Köln-Aachen. Bought that one years ago in its TOD3 days during some extremely good sale, but never used it.
After trying it out, I got very much mixed feelings about it. On one side, the route looks nice, might in fact be the nicest looking of the pre-TOD4 German routes. I know it's been remastered, but it still has this old-but-new vibe to it, if you know what I mean
And the new timetable offers a good variety of trains and a neat mix of services of all kind (great to see the 628 finally getting some noteworthy things to do).
But driving overall isn't too thrilling. Big part of the route is literally very straightforward and boring, only the western quarter has some noteworthy curves and more interesting scenery. The approach to Köln is rather impressive too.
I'll keep using the route every now and then, although it won't make my top 5 list anytime soon

 

There is quite a lot from this category in my library..... Especially the older routes.

Köln-Aachen has greatly improved, but still kind of falls in that category. Replayability is limited (IMO).

 

bought it cos of Flirt and ETCS, and while Flirt is awesome, the ETCS would give me a lot of unwarranted penalty brakes... some say it got fixed, but havent tried (and some would say that ETCS sometimes also behaves this way when newly introduced to some locos/trains, like they would get sudden drops of speed and penalty brake applications as result )

 

Just realised, the first "B's" will be all those prefixed with Bahnstrecke...

 

Got in on sale and mostly use this thing as driveable and AI on Vorarlberg...

 

In terms of replayability and boredom factor, compared to other German routes I think it still beats Hamburg-Lübeck and especially München-Augsburg, in my opinion
But yes, the options are rather limited regardless. Köln-Aachen would lend itself very well to a multitude of short freight delivery and shunting operations. There are some, but could be much more.