Hi all. I've been enjoying playing the game in timetable mode, and really appreciate how the engine's various movements assemble into a singular massive timetable. That said, I feel there are some issues. One is playability, in that many of the timetables sequences are very short, which makes it tedious to go through them all while constantly hopping back to the main menu. This is especially the case if trying to play under custom weather conditions, which have to be reapplied in the menu settings before each segment. Would it be possible to consolidate some of the shorter segments into larger chunks - for example the various run-round proceedures at Knapford and Vicarstown, or some of the coaching stock movements. Speaking of shunting, many of Percy's maneuvers involve shuttling rakes of coaches through the tunnel between Tidmouth and Knapford, and when propelling coachings or running in reverse, visible in the tunnel is appaling, because of how the camera is forcibly shoved back into the cab. This makes it very difficult to watch for signals at either end of the tunnel, and as a consequence I've gone past signals at danger and been sent back to the main menu. Could some more freedom with the camera be allowed, or the settings altered to include a 'driver's eye' perspective that locks to the front or rear of the consist, regardless of where the engine is relative to the train? The big issue though is that many of the timetables are extremely repetitive. Percy's is the most interesting to play because of the sheer variety of services his day involves - shunting, goods, passenger, and jaunts to Anopha and Knapford Harbour. I imagine that as the game develops and extra characters (hopefully) are added, the timetables will diversify to include more varied movements and options, but don't want to presume too much. Playing around on my end, I've also experimented with recreating some concepts from Wilbert Awdry's model railways and layouts: -The Special Coach (Gordon, Thomas, Percy) In 'The Twin Engines' we see that the Wild Nor' Wester includes a through coach for Thomas's branch line. This could be simulated in-game by having Percy remove one of the brake coaches from the WNW after it arrives at Knapford and move it to Platform 1 for Thomas to add to his next trip up to Ffarquhar. The coach could then be left in the siding at Ffarquhar until it is time for it to be returned to Knapford and re-attached to the outbound express. -Dairy Traffic (Thomas) Per 'Branch Line Engines' and Wilbert's Ffarquhar model railway, Thomas routinely adds a milk van to his morning trains at Ffarquhar, uncoupling from Annie and Clarabel to drop it off at St Pedroc's Dairy at Elsbridge. This could be modelled in-game with either a van or a milk tanker, dropped off at either Maithwaite's siding or placed into the yard at Knapford. Alternatively, since in-game Maithwaite appears to feature a cattle yard/market, perhaps Thomas could collect the milk from Maithwaite and move it to Knapford as part of his passenger timetable, returning the now-empty van/tanker at the end of the day. -Cronk Shuttle (Thomas) The timetable for Wilbert's original NWR model railway at Emneth (Tidmouth-Knapford) depicted Thomas making a morning commuter run along the Main Line from Tidmouth to Cronk in-between his branch-line trains. This could be replicated in-game by having Thomas run to Killdane and then either running around Annie and Clarabel to run the return journey bunker-first or, in a twist on the norm, propelling Annie and Clarabel back to Knapford push-pull style, which featured in some of Wilbert's writings and models. -Ffarquhar Railtour (Emily) The timetable for Wilbert's Ffarquhar Mk 2. layout included a railtour of two observation coaches hauled by an ex-LNWR 2-2-2 'Bloomer'. This role could be filled nicely by Emily and add some variety to her back-forth routine from Knapford to Vicarstown. -Pickup Goods (James) Inspired by 'Dirty Objects', perhaps James could work a slow goods train during his daily timetable, picking up and setting down trucks at the yards and sidings at Crosby, Wellsworth, Maron, Kellsthorpe and Crovan's Gate? I've experimented with James (for instance) departing Crocks Scrap with a goods train, taking it to Wellsworth, and then running around and turning himself on the turntable to depart east up Gordon's HIll. -Branch Goods (James or Diesel) Per 'Thomas and Bertie' we know James has worked goods trains over the Ffarquhar branch on occasion. 'Thomas and the Evil Diesel' by Christopher Awdry also depicted Diesel working goods up the branch. A general goods train from Knapford to Ffarquhar might be a good match to either engine, or alternatively Diesel could handle some of the stone trains too heavy for Percy to safely bring down from Anopha to Ffarquhar. -Semi-Fast and Fast Trains (Gordon) Gordon's current timetables all call at the same stations, regardless of the train he is hauling. Perhaps this could be varied a bit so that the semi-fast Express calls at Wellsworth, Maron, Kellsthorpe and Crovans, while the WNW only calls at Crovans and the Limited or the Sudrian run non-stop Knapford-Vicarstown. And if the game does grow and expand, the possibilities grow with it. Banking heavy trains up Gordon's Hill, commuter traffic to Arlesburgh and Suddery, lumber traffic from Henry's Forest to the Timber Yard, the Flying Kipper, etc.! Hope this proves of interest. For any players reading this thread, are there any services you've created yourself?
