Option A: Full route from London Charing Cross to Hastings. It would give a long run for mainline services, however would lack suburban branches, limiting the use of the class 465. Option B: London Charing Cross to Tonbridge, however the branches to Cannon Street, Bromley North, and Hayes would be included. It would give the route more of a fresh and less repetitive feel, however mainline services would be cut short. The branch to Blackfriars could also be included, but since I wasn't alive at the time, I don't know how many services Southeastern ran there. Rolling Stock: Class 423 4-Vep Available in Connex yellow and white livery. Would run mainline services towards Hastings. Class 421 4-CIG Available in Network SouthEast livery. 3 units were painted in an all over white livery, while 1 unit received Connex yellow and white. Would be seen on the same services as the class 423. Class 375 Would be available in Connex yellow and white livery, with both Connex logos and SouthEastern logos. It would also be great if we got some more variants of this class, such as the 375/6 (which has a pantograph). These would again be running mainline services. Class 465 There would be 2 variants of this class included: BREL/ABB units (465/0 and 465/1) and Metro-Cammel units (465/2). While the current sounds are good, I think the flange sounds are ghastly and should be replaced. The BREL/ABB units also have different traction equipment, and as such sound different to the Metro-Cammel units. Both variants would be available in Network Southeast livery, and the BREL/ABB units would additionally be available in Connex yellow and blue, and the Metro-Cammel units would be also available in Connex yellow and white. The class 456 would run suburban services to Bromley North, Hayes, Orpington and Sevenoaks. Layers: The class 377/1 from the BML would substitute in for slam door trains on the Southern platforms at London Bridge. If a class 319 is added to the game, this would also be seen at London Bridge in Thameslink blue and gold livery. Why this route would be good: This route would provide a unique mix of old and new stock, and would introduce slam-door EMUs which we haven't seen in the game yet. It also introduces London Bridge which is a very busy station. You would also be able to cross the river Thames and various London landmarks could be seen, such as the London Eye, St. Pauls Cathedral, and Routemaster buses. Aircraft would also be seen landing into Heathrow Airport. Limitations/difficulties in creating the route: The route is set 20 years ago, so it wouldn't be easy to find photo references. Sourcing sounds for the slam-door trains might be an issue as they haven't been in service for a while. Sourcing sounds for the class 465 might be difficult as the BREL/ABB units were refurbished in 2009 with new traction equipment, and sound completely different compared to how they used to. Thank you for reading the suggestion
It's a great drive in TSC and there's an update to the Tonbridge to Hastings section in the works. I love the period you've set it in as it will introduce slam-door EMUs some 5 years after the first slam-door DMUs came to TSW. It's a shame the few remaining 411s were only deployed on the Chatham/Dover services by then. Lovely old units they were but by 2003 most had migrated to South West Trains' services. The 421s and 423s would be great for a backdated London to Brighton pack too.
Would love this route. I don't have access to a Gaming PC so would love this to feature on the console editions of TSW5
To be honest, you could probably run TSC on an average-spec second-hand PC if the opportunity arose. But while there are some Third Parties still making routes and traction, it does feel like TSC is slowly retiring and will become a niche hobby in a few years. So probably not the best time to jump in.
