After a debate with myself I've gone ahead and bought Bernina Line. I already had Luzern - Sursee (a route I enjoy but recognise is hardly great), but my first 20 or so minutes on the Bernina Line has blown me away. It's not often I look at video game scenery in genuine shock at it's beauty, and yet Bernina Line has done it for me. I only got to the passing place south of Alp Grüm before SPADing, but that did enough for me. It's just... *Wow* This isn't a Bernina Line appreciation thread - it's a thread about Switzerland. In a similar vein to the 'Austria in TSW' thread, this thread is designed for TSW's 4th most prominent country in general. And it's unlike any other in the game! It's the only TSW Country to feature Narrow Gauge routes, the only one to have automatic announcements (yet), and it's largely Alpine and rural. Unlike Germany or Britain's mainlines and commuter lines, or America's large desert routes; Switzerland's lines weave in and out of the Alps. It's mainly Rivet's domain, sure, but I for one would love to see more from this stunning country and it's excellent rail system - one largely different to Austria or Germany's. Anyone else?
Yeah, the relase of Bernina line got me to ask for an extra free day before the long weekend in May and get the airplane tickets to Zurich and book a hotel (Waldhaus) in St Moritz Going to Tirano the first day and to Chur-Arosa the second day. I need to see it with my own eyes before I'm too old, heh.
I have similar plans: travel with Interrail to the south of Germany, Austria and Switzerland to drive on the TSW routes. I did travel in the Rhine, Main and Ruhr area last year to do the TSW routes.
Understanding this thread is not about TSW directly, nevertheless imho Bernina is Rivet's masterpiece. Easily the most scenic and best looking route in the game, and a great Allegra model, well textured. Hope they can make this a standard, if Fife Circle impresses equally, they are a premium dev for me, from which I'd gladly see more swiss content.
Absolutely. I think Rivet are finally getting there. My short test run of Bernina so far was thoroughly enjoyable and EDN is a good route bar the 385. IOW2022 was the start of the good run, really. Hopefully the next Swiss route is as good as Bernina.
It's been my dream, as I've probably rambled on on this forum to have a genuine Swiss Mainline starting from Zürich Hbf. As far as Alpine routes go though... well I'm not really a fan of the Rhb or narrow gauge trains. Nonetheless, fingers crossed, more Swiss content comes out
Funny you'd ask this. By coincidence I did the same this weekend. And - OMG - I was equally blown away. THIS is how you model the Alps. I'm still on the first journey half way down to Tirano. But hell, the route looks stunning and absolutely breathtaking. Makes me want to explore on foot. Just WOW! Route performance is amazingly smooth on PS5. I guess those far distant mountains are very smart modeled as 2D images on the sky box. No popping mountains or assets. I'm still speechless ... There's just one downside: You'll never want to go back to Arosalinie, unless Rivet decides to update the route. I don't think it's gonna happen, though. Too bad, because I love the Ge 4/4 II. Can she ride on Bernina as well (system voltage)?
I was tempted to buy Arosa over Bernina but I have regrets about even considering it. I don't think I'll ever be going for Arosa now.
No Ge4/4 are not compatible with the Bernina Line 1500v DC voltage. RhB had these two beauties for loco haulage on the Bernina: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhaetian_Railway_Gem_4/4
I'll post some comparison screenshots in the thread here, when I have more time on my hands. That should make your decision easy and spare you some money. Of course, there're always the sales and it comes down to a discount figure, say 75-80%, and you can jump on Arosa. WIth Bernina Rivet did a good deal of redeeming, I'd say. But probably shot themselves in the foot, as LZR and ARL are becoming even less attractive now.
Despite being disappointed that Bernina line is only half the route, I bought it anyway and credit to Rivet, it’s very good. For once they have put everything together and made a visually stunning route with a decent train. It’s been well worth the money despite ending where it does. Living in Switzerland, I’d obviously like to see more routes done. I’d prefer mainline but given the current lack of Swiss Locos I’d be worried that whatever is done would seem empty. I’d love to have Zürich in the game, but that would need at least one S-Bahn train and one long distance Train or it’s just going to be too quiet. Unfortunately with the current trend of one new train per route, I can’t see it happening anytime soon.
I would like to see something slightly retro for Switzerland, classic SBB locos or those BLS types with the front platform, maybe a Krokodil. And the Schlieren (?) EW coaches with seats that looked and felt like floor linoleum!
I had the same stance before I purchased it. Half the route = half the price. And it is a pity that they didn't walk the extra miles, literally. Sure, 25km more to St. Moritz would've done our day. On the other hand I've just figured that the gameplay is quite long due to the generally slow speeds. It takes a descent while to get the train down to Tirano or up to Ospizio Bernina. No regrets, so far! Let's see if there's a bit of freight. I saw some tanker cars running around ...
Not the worst shots I've seen of Arosa - I suppose the snow helps it. Just solidifies my preference of Bernina, though.
Probably the next Swiss route will be something like TSC's Gotthardbahn, given the previous pattern of Swiss map releases. As for meter gauge routes, there are many possibilities: Albula Line, Engadin, Surselva. Certainly Albula is the most scenic one. By the way, it's already been proposed here in the forum. I hope it will arrive in the near future!
Yep, to keep it a fair comparison, I've taken some wintershots. But those cardboardish trees and the surrounding vegetation become unbearable (to me!) when you visit the route in summer. Wrong in every sense: Color, size, shadows (or the lack of them), density ... And that's what makes me rather look away. A Bernina style upgrade would revitalize the route. It's not likely to happen, though. Arosa is an early TSW Rivet route and there're more misses to be fixed: The loco dynamics would need to be adressed, and those awful carriage sounds could handle a brushup as well. Yet, imho Rivet is better than their fame. Particularly good in writing creative scenarios that divert from ordinary A to B runs. Didn't try them on Bernina yet. That's gonna be next.
I can only agree! This is by far one of the top 3 good looking routes (imho it’s Rosenheim, Vorarlberg and Bernina) and it makes a lot of fun! I do have to say that I really look forward to the next Swiss route and I guess with the next roadmap we will see a new one added since Rivets newest route is on its way to be released! I do hope for the Gotthardbahn tgoug… Just imagine it being set in 2015/2016 with an Re460 and EW IV coaches- layers could be: -Br182 MRCE -Br182 Dispolok -Br185.5 MRCE all of the above for freight -RABe521 FLIRT It’s one of the best routes in TS classic and now imagine it with these graphics! Hell I would also be happy about only Biasca-Erstfeld! But if you really let it sink in: Bellinzona-Erstfeld on a warm sunny summer day, riding an Re460 towards the north through the southern Swiss, almost Italien looking landscape- lovely!
Absolutely want to see more Swiss content in TSW - whether from Rivet as well as from more third-parties and even DTG themselves - although I'd much prefer more standard gauge routes which are still just as interesting scenery-wise. Switzerland has one the most magnificent railway networks in the world - even more impressive considering 100% is electrified which I believe it's the only country globally to do so. Personally, as I've been to Geneva and Zurich recently, I'd love to see a few routes from these areas in TSW: All pictures taken by me
I hope with the new technology for mountains, we get even more Swiss routes. But it absolutely needs layers from other routes, so it's not another Luzern - Sursee situation with a single train. Iceland is an anomaly with its dense and super busy railway network.
