As this is a particularly long thread, I left links here to the various parts of this thread thread. Just click on the route if you want to see that particular sectiion: Boston Sprinter (Northeast Corridor: Boston – Providence) Nahverkehr Dresden (Riesa – Dresden) London Commuter (Brighton Main Line: London Victoria – Brighton) Closing Comments Hope you enjoy reading this one as this something that I have spent the last few days of 2021/first day of 2022 writing and I hope this gives you a interesting final perspective on these Rush Hour routes eventually turned out, so let's get straight into this. Introduction Now you may remember back in June, I wrote a piece on the suggestion page of this forum called What To Expect Out Of Service Mode With The Three Rush Hour Routes. In that thread, I wrote about the three Rush Hour routes and what we where likely to see out of those routes, particularly in service mode and how large these timetables were likely to be in compared to routes we've had in the past with TSW. This thread would later go on to forum part of a bigger thread series talking about how the timetables on existing routes could be enhanced further and probably my favourite part in all of this, talking about a selection of routes currently not in TSW2 that have to potential to make a great 'Rush Hour' style route and then going to talk about each individual route in their own separate suggestion (Something that is currently ongoing as of writing this piece). Well, it has now been 7 months since I wrote that first piece and it's fair to say, a lot has happened in the months that followed. But now that all three Rush Hour have now been out for a while now, I thought it would be time to revisit that thread to see firstly, whether the things I said in that thread turned out to be true, what the three routes actually offer in practice and mostly importantly of all, whether these three routes can be enhanced further than they are already. Like how I did the first thread many months ago, I will be talking about each route starting with the route with the least numbers of services and we will work our way to the route that has the most services (I can already say that I pretty much got that prediction right as the order I presented them in back then was the order that they ultimately turned out as. Plus, this also means we will covering the routes in the order that they came out). I will bring up two stats with each route, the number of services the route ultimately has and the number of lines runs that route has (this is the number of services, minus any depot/shunting services leaving just the services that traverse any section of the route, whether it be the whole length or just a small portion) the later number will serve as the measure as to how busy each of these routes actually are. From there, we will talk about what each routes timetable has to offer and how they all be improved further, both with what we currently have now and what future loco add-ons could bring to the table. Now before I begin, I would like to say a quick disclaimer, I do not think there is a single route out of these three that are terrible. One is a bit meh, as we will get too and all of these routes have their fair share for flaws, but what I can say about each of these routes is that they are three of DTG's most ambitious routes to date, and in case of two of them, they are two of the best routes to have ever been made for this game and I think it's fair to say that there have been far worse route/add-ons that have been made for this game, some that have been released in the last year or so. So with all that said, let's dive in and see how each of these Rush Hour routes ultimately turned out, starting with the route with the least number of services which is...
Boston Sprinter (Northeast Corridor: Boston – Providence) This also so happens to be the weakest of the three routes, but that doesn't there's nothing to talk about it. The route is set on the 43 mile (70 km) section of the Northeast Corridor between Boston South and Providence, along with the 4 mile (7 km) branch to Stoughton. This section is also part of the fastest section of the NEC, where trains are capable of running at 150 mph (241 kph). Even if non of the available locos that come with this route can reach that speed, the route is capable of supporting that speed and it still makes this the fastest of the three routes that came with Rush Hour. But onto the most important aspect, the number of services, there are 186 services listed in the service selection, minus one Northeast Regional service that was removed before release, but can still be seen as AI, along with a few drivable Amtrak depot services that are not listed in the service selection. Speaking of which, that number doesn't even take into account the amount of AI traffic that runs on this route. For this instance, I will also include some of those services that also happen to run a portion of the main route. Adding those services on top of the services that are already drivable, the total number of services on this route comes to 307. As for line runs, since there is quite a lot of depot movements on this route, mainly out of Southampton Depot, that number is 213. In both of these categories, it is most for any US route in TSW2. Now I'll admit, this route was properly the one I was most looking forward to out of the three, mostly for the fact it offers the most new stuff out of the three routes. The final product however was... I'll be real, I have absolutely no idea what I should think of it. There's certainly a lot about this route that I do like, but also a lot that I don't like either. When looking into this routes timetable, I can certainly see what this route was trying to do. What is properly the biggest selling point of this route is around Boston South and the amount of AI traffic that runs around there. This is something I really like as adds a ton of atmosphere to make this station far busier than what we have had up to this point. Also, regardless of what you say about the rest of the route, this is pretty much the amount of traffic that runs on this route in real life, I know there aren't many Amtrak services running this route, but it's because that's the amount that runs on this route in real life (expect for one aspect, which we'll get to later) I also think it was nice representing the Lake Shore Limited services on this route as AI heading out of Boston South towards Framingham/Worcester and then onto Chicago, giving something a little different to look out for in that part of the route. I know representing it using a pair of ACS-64's double-heading isn't authentic at all as these services go down a diesel-only line, but putting effort into a P42DC just to have to run AI out of Boston would be pointless, so it's best to use what you already have got with this route. What this means for this timetable is that the southern end of the route isn't as busy as the northern end, but what it does mean that if you were starting at the southern end of the route, you have the anticipation when getting close to Boston South as the route starts out quite at Providence and then slowly gets busier and busier with more trains joining the route from places like Canton Junction and Readville and then from Back Bay on onwards, your fighting your way through the traffic to get into Boston South, whether that would be services on the same route that you are on, or services coming in from AI destinations that are served by Boston South. But the thing is with this timetable, even if you take out the various bugs that came with this route at release, this timetable I feel has one major problem. There are too many services on this route that are AI that could/should have been drivable. I don't mean this by the fact one Northeast Regional service isn't drivable or the fact that non of the Amtrak depot services aren't listed in the service selection, but I mean this rather when you look at the MBTA services, which make up the grand majority of the services on this route. Firstly, the depot services to and from Pawtucket yard are not drivable, which is strange as these with give the route depot services from more than just Southampton Street Yard, Speaking of the later, there also so happens to be a few MBTA depot services around there that also so happen to be not drivable, but it's the Pawtucket services that are the main priority in this instance. But for me, it's the passenger services where the MBTA part of the timetable falls short as I feel like there are three services types that are not drivable that should have been, mainly because they travel a portion of the main route. These services are. The Framingham/Worcester services that go to the other two platforms at Back Bay Needham Line services that go to Forest Hills Some Franklin Line services that don't stop at Readville on their way into/out of the map In the case of the Franklin Line services, you could argue that because some of those services don't stop at Readville coming into/out of the route, you would only end up driving a small section of that service having already a sizeable distance to get in or out of the route, so what's the point? Well, as a certain route showed us that I'll get too later, that route has services that only last 1 or 2 stops and then drive on as AI for a while longer to get in or out of the map and they are drivable, so if those services can drivable, why can't these service be as well? But it's the Framingham/Worcester and Needham Line services that are biggest point of contention here as the main reason why these services are not drivable is the fact that there end points before they turn off the route, are not accessible at the moment. In the case of the Needham Line services, its actually rather baffling as it's end point, Forest Hills, is located right next to the main running line and, from having a look at the station myself, the whole station is all there and done up to an extent. You can even access the platform, even if the platforms themselves don't have a climb up function. All you have to do is just wait for a train to stop at the station, climb onboard and then just walk onto the platform from there. It might be very dark in the enclosed section of the station as the lights haven't be turned on, but you will be able to freely walk around the platforms at Forest Hills as long as you don't fall off the platform. I'm not aware of any big hurdle as to why Forest Hills can't be accessible, but from having a look at the station in game myself, all you would need to do to bring it up to an accessible state would be to: Add platform climb-up function Enable passenger access to the platforms Get the PIS working Turn on the station lights Add a spawn-in walking point on the main menu Add scenario planner support for Forest Hills Now I don't think there's anything else that major that needs to be done to make Forest Hills fully accessible, but from here, you will be able to unlock the Needham Line services on this route, adding some more drivable MBTA services to the route and some much need variety to them than compared to what we had now. The Framingham/Worcester Line platforms at Back Bay are a little more of a stretch here, but even if they are not accessible, like with Forest Hills, the platforms are all in place for them. I think more will need to be done to bring them up to an accessible state, mainly because the tunnel at the western end of the platform doesn't currently exist and would have to be made which is apparently the hardest part of making any route. Plus, although not entirely needed, but would still be helpful in this instance, it would be nice if the two platforms were connected via walkway. It doesn't have to be entirely accurate to real life, but just something that makes accessing the two platforms a little easier. All this work would be for a bunch of services that only last about 5 minutes, but this would still enable more MBTA services than what we have now. You could even enable the AI Lake Shore Limited services here as they do make a stop at these platform on their way into/out of the map. Now looking back at what can be added to this route in the future, I don't there's anything that can added from what we already have. I was personally disappointed when I found out that Sand Patch Grade wouldn't add any freight services to this route, but I do get why DTG couldn't add these services as non of the SPG locos have in-cab signalling, which is important for having on a route like this that heavily relies on in-cab signalling (even if it doesn't always work most of the time). But even if it doesn't add any services, I do like that at least, the various freight cars from the route have been placed in the various yards along the route along with a loco from said route, so you can just do free roam shunting on your own accord. I would still like to see freight services on this route as some can be seen on this route in real life, but we will get to how this could happen in a little bit. As for what future loco add-ons could bring to the table here, I feel like that, out of three Rush Hour routes, this one has the most loco add-on potential as there are so many locos that could be added to this route in order to bring more variety to this route as it can get a little repetitive seeing the same two locos and cab car in the busiest portions of the route all the time. In this instance, I have thought up of three loco add-ons that would really enhance this route timetable the overall experience in general. These add-ons include 1. Amtrak Acela Express=This loco I feel is not a case of if, but when. I mean, if you make a route set on a section of NEC where these trains can hit their fastest speed, but don't include it as one of locos available with the route, it could only be a matter of time before you do get round to making this as a loco add-on for this route. For me, this is really the only real big thing that is missing that would really complete the passenger part of this route and help boost the Amtrak services already available right now and would be the main loco that would allow you the operate on this route at it's highest speed without going to scenario planner and picking some of the faster trains currently available in TSW2 right now. 2. NEC Diesel Expansion Pack (MBTA HSP46 & CSX GP40-2)=This is a result of trying to solve two big questions about putting certain locos on this route. Firstly, how you do a HSP46 add-on on this route? The thing is that, while I would like to see this loco one day, since all the MBTA services are represented here, AI or drivable, it wouldn't really add much other than subbing into the existing services or bringing a set of double-decker coaches along with it (and before anyone asks, I don't think this is a situation where a second timetable would be necessary to add this loco to this route). The other question is regarding how to put freight services on this route as we can't use the Sand Patch locos for the reasons I've just mentioned, plus the fact that this would require reusing stuff that we may already have within TSW. The answer to both of these questions would be to create a separate expansion pack which includes both the HPS46 along with Hyundai-Rotem Double-Decker coaches and also includes a CSX GP40-2 making a comeback from TSW 2020, coming with a bunch of freight cars in order to do some freight services along this route, mainly out of yards at Readville and Pawtucket. This would give the route and entirely new dynamic as you would get some much variety with the MBTA services and would also give a new driving experience with freight being added to the route. Both coming in the same expansion pack 3. MBTA Orange Line Subway Train=This one is highly unlikely to ever happen, but one that would actually be quite fun to see on this route. The thing is that the Orange Line of the MBTA Subway runs alongside the first section of the route between Back Bay and Forest Hills. Now while it would take only 15 minutes to run an all-stations stopping subway service, and you would have to install the stations along the route and link up the section between the tunnel at Massaschusetts Avenue with Back Bay (as the subway section between those two parts are currently not connect as of right now) but once you get all that going, you could then create a subway train (Preferably a Hawker Siddeley Canada Series #12 Subway Train) and then have to do MBTA Orange Line services alongside the main route. This way, it will add some more atmosphere around that part of the route as it creates some background scenery for the main line trains running alongside the subway and I actually feel like the whole project would be much more worthwhile than say adding S-Bahn train to the small S-Bahn section out of Hamburg on Hamburg-Lübeck... Or maybe this whole thing would be possible as non-drivable AI. That could always happen too you know... But in the end, while this route isn't quite up to the same standard as the other two route that I will talking about, it's fair to say that I don't hate it. I like what it tries to do, but I feel like the execution could have been better. There is certainly a lot of bugs and issues that certainly need to be sorted out here, especially with the signalling on this route, but what the timetable offers overall, it's certainly not a bad job and is still the busiest US route we now have in TSW2, for now. It just feel like that a few tiny tweaks to the time could really make this on par with the other two Rush Hour routes we got and further loco add-ons could enhance this route even further. But one thing is clear, regardless of what I think of this route in general, it is nowhere near as bad as the previous NEC adaptation for TSW, NEC: New York. I actually went back to TSW 2020 and played that route the day before Boston Sprinter came out, just to travel the main route and have a general explore and what I can safely say from that experience is... you really don't want this route back in TSW2. I know there will be those who demand this route, along with it's add-ons come back as it was only route that didn't come over as part of the preserved collection, but I feel like TSW2 is a much better game without that route, and besides, we now have a adaptation of the NEC that, while far from perfect is far superior that the one that preceded it. Right, now with our first route out the way, let's move to the Rush Hour route with the second biggest number of services and the route, which is...
Nahverkehr Dresden (Riesa – Dresden) I have to say, we have quite a lot to talk about here, not just with the route itself, but the journey this route went on to become what it is today was quite the adventure. When this route was first announced, it was promised to be one of biggest routes to ever come to TSW2, with a vast network of branches spurring off to various destinations around Dresden and beyond... But then two of largest branches (S1 to Meißen & S2 to Flughafen) had to cut due to the fact that it wouldn't be possible to make the entire thing in the time frame DTG had to make this route... Only to then reinstate one of the S-Bahn branches via a post-release update. The final product would end up being what is a still vast route covering roughly 57 miles (91.7 km). Including the main line between Riesa and Dresden which also including the avoiding line that the IC, ICE and some of the freight services take, the spur to Großenhain and the S1 line to Meißen. When the route first came out, it only came with 350 services, but when the Meißen branch update came out, this number was given a massive boost, taking the total number of services to 461. But there are 4 services that are not listed in the service selection and I cannot seem to find out what they are as of right now, so I will be taking those services away from the main service count for the time being, which leaves us with a final number of 457 services, which still made it, at the time, the route with the most number of services out of any TSW2 route, a record that last a grand total of... 1 day, 21 hours, 25 minutes and 20 seconds, before being topped by... We will get to that later. As for line runs, as this doesn't have that many depot/shunting services, that number is not far behind at 439 in total. Now... where do I even begin with this route? I think it's fair to say the thing that dominated the discussions about this route was the S-Bahn branches being pulled from the route, the subsequent uproar and the eventual reinstatement of one of those branches later after release. Now I already made a big comment on the removal of those branches back when the first images of this route where reveal, which you can see here. But before I go any further, I think I'll use this opportunity to give my piece on it's eventual reinstatement of one of branches, which in this case is the Meißen branch. Now I have to say, I think it was fantastic that one of those branches ended up coming back later on after release, but strangely, it was both surprise and not surprise by the news. I was surprise because well, being real here, by the time the first images of the route were being shown, I think we had kinda gotten over the entire saga, or at the very least, most people had calmed down regarding all this. It was why I finally made the comment back then because as I felt more comfortable making a comment then rather than during the whole announcement knowing that it wouldn't be coming out in a forum environment that had turned incredibly toxic around that time. But by then, while you still had people who were still grumbling about what had happened, most of the initial heat from that announcement had died down and think in general we where all just ready to move on towards the routes release. But the reason why I say I also wasn't surprised by the announcement of one of branches reinstatement was because, back when the removal of those branches was discovered, I had this thought in the back of my mind that 'Could DTG try to reinstate those branches later after release?' But I didn't want to admit it back then, partly because of the heated reaction back then, but mainly because, strictly speaking, it's an unprecedented situation. Never had there been a time where a TSW route had a branch removed during production and then got reinstated back in later down the line. The most you would get out of this situation is maybe have that branch be a paid route extension, but nothing in the levels of having it be a free post-release update. But amazingly, DTG (or as I should say, two people who were working on this route at the time) continued to work on the Meißen branch long after it had been removed from the initial plans and was eventually release as a post-release update nearly a month after the route first came out (around the time of the release of the last Rush Hour route, which we will get to in a bit). I mean, there were circumstances that allowed this branch to be reinstated as we will get to, but all in all, it was great that time was found to at least put this branch back in and give this entire saga somewhat of a happy ending. If there's anything to learn of all from this, it's these two things. Firstly, just because DTG had to remove a certain aspect of add-on, whether that would be a loco/branch/whatever, that doesn't mean they suddenly don't want to do it any more. I remember Matt saying this during the roadmap stream after it had been announced that the Meißen branch was coming back, that they may have had to remove it due to time constraints, but that didn't stop them wanting to make it, and they eventually put together the foundations that allowed the branch to come back later on after release. But most importantly of all, contrary to what many people will say DTG in general, they do here the voices and do listen to the feedback that comes their way. It may not work out all of the time, but in the last year or so, we have seen situations where we as a community have been a much greater influencer that what we want give ourselves credit for. The two biggest examples that come to my mind have been; Southeastern High Speed where, after the first preview stream where we clearly saw that the route was not in a great shape at all, DTG managed to find time before release to make some tweaks to make the route a little better. Sure the final product wasn't in a great shape at release, but without the feedback that came after the first preview stream, I think it's fair to say it could have be fair worse. But the most important one for me, has to be the when DTG originally didn't plan to have the preserved collection stuff be compatible with the new editor tools. But after the community called this out, DTG pushed the release of TSW2 back by two weeks in order to allow scenario planner support on the preserved collections add-ons and more importantly, allow those add-ons to be compatible with the new routes that subsequently came with TSW2. Some could argue that if DTG still went ahead a released the Preserved Collection without scenario planner support that they would have given those add-ons the support slowly over time anyways like we are seeing now with livery designer support being given to those add-ons, but think of how certain routes that came after the release TSW2 would have looked if DTG stuck to the original plan of not being able to use the preserved collection stuff on the new routes. For example, if the original plan had been stuck too; Köln-Aachen would have still had only 49 services from the base locos available (plus the 24 that came with the BR 187). München – Augsburg would have had no more services than what the Gen 8 consoles got. You might have gotten the Gravesend-Rainham services when DTG updated Southeastern High Speed before release in order to boost that routes service count, but you not have gotten the freight/railtour layers as they came from PC routes (same deal with those layers on Cathcart Circle) Rivet would not have been able to add the bonus local hauled services to West Cornwall Local between the time the routes original release was pulled and the route finally coming out two weeks later. The route I will talking about next that has more layers than any other TSW2 route? Well some of those layers, particularly the one that was the most requested of all, would not have been possible if the PC add-on were compatible with the new routes. That not even the mention all the substitutions and all that kinda stuff that this move brought, but put simply, we would be looking at a completely game had DTG not delayed the games release by two weeks in order to make those changes and it's thanks to our feedback that these changes were able to be made. But enough talking about the whole situation regarding the removal and reinstatement of one of Riesa-Dresden's branches (for now), looking at how the branch turned out, it was probably the best looking part of the whole route, especially when crossing the bridge over the Elbe with the rest of the town (and it's cathedral) acting as a backdrop. Plus, this branch helped complete the S1 services on this route as you now get to drive them all the way to Meißen Triebischtal, rather than stopping short at Coswig and then having it drive out of the map as AI, knowing those services only go 4 more stops further. Plus, the hidden walkway that's leads to the top of the nearby hill located between Meißen and Altstadt was one of the best Easter eggs I have seen in TSW for a long time, something I have missed ever since the likes of Ruhr-Sieg Nord or Main Spessart Bahn and something I would love in more routes going forward. But going away from the Meißen branch and talking about the rest of the route... Probably one of the best TSW2 routes out here for shear content and gameplay. Now when this route first came out, the timetable consisted of 350 services. This timetable I have since referred to as 'The beta timetable' as, while it was good, it wasn't quite what you would expect out of a 'Rush Hour' route as I felt like could have been a lot busier than it was at the time. But when the Meißen branch update came out, the number was increased all the way to 461 (457 without the missing services). The new services consisted of adding a few extra S1's at peak (including a couple of empty stock runs) and the freight was given and massive boost, going from the measly 28 of 'the beta timetable' all the way up to 112, a increase of 84 services. For me, it was the freight services that really made the difference her. I said this back in the thread talking about what to expect out of these routes, but freight was really what was going to decide whether this timetable was going to be anywhere near the levels require to make this a 'Rush Hour' route and after the update, it was. I will even admitted, even if every freight service is a 'in one end, out the other side', DTG did some creative things with these services. You have some freight services that take the fast line, some that take the slow line, you have a mix of interest consists with each service, there's one freight service that stops at Priestewitz on it's way to Riesa and most fascinatingly of all, some services go to Riesa, and other go to Röderau. This is something that makes these freight service far more interesting than your typical German route and something that isn't really seen much in TSW routes having freight go 'in one end. out the other' from one of two of locations, including a yard that spurs off the main route. Also, I know people will grumble about the fact that DTG didn't bring any new locos with this route, but in instance, I felt like it was need as this route just wouldn't of worked if some of these services were layers from other routes. Like, would have it been strange to seen Main Spessart Bahn BR 146 with it's set of dosto's doing the S1 services, or a Ruhr-Sieg Nord BR 143 along with it's set of dosto's doing the S2's and all that? Like, if it was that way, then there would be less of a reason to do the S-Bahn to begin with as they would never be really service by anything if you didn't have those additional layers. Plus, as much as every loco that comes with this route is reused, they are all either a different variant, a different livery , or have been upgraded with new features/functionality. Like the 442 is a different variant as it's a 3 car variant, but not same 3 car variant as the one from Rapid Transit as it has one less door and a different interior, the 363 is in the DB Blue livery with red wheel and different guardrails, the Dostos available here are in the S-Bahn Dresden livery with VVO signage and every other loco has isn't a new variant/livery has been upgrade with new sounds/features/functionality etc. Plus the wagons that came with this route have all new functionality fitted to them, and you of course got new Pink & White ONE containers on the intermodal wagons. I bring this up because, since you have all this content, there isn't really any need to add anything else from what we already have as we pretty much have everything here already (expect for one thing from what the route offers, which I'll bring up later). I also don't think there are that many loco add-ons that need to be added to this route in the future as I think we have pretty every service that runs on this route, even if we were to get at ICE T to replace the ICE 3 that's substituting for it at the moment, I expect we will just get a separate timetable for that and have the ICE-T replace the ICE 3 on those services (ICE 3 is 8 cars long and the longest ICE-T set is 7 cars long, 7 into 8 doesn't go, so we will need a extra timetable for that unit). But when coming to the discussion of what could be added to this route in the future, one question seems to stick out... Will we ever see the other S-Bahn reinstated? For context, the other branch that was taken out the route was the S2 branch to Flughafen (Dresden Airport). Now DTG official stance is that there are no plans to do this as of right now, as being real, I highly doubt that we will ever see this branch reinstated. But if I had to put my piece on this, it would be this... …they may have removed it from the main route, but at least all the track work is in place for it. For those who maybe don't know about this, thanks to modders who have been able to remove the invisible walls around the route, it has been discovered that, even if it was removed from the original plans, the entire S2 branch has all been laid out, along with some of the scenery. This was also the case with the Meißen branch before it was completed and the invisible walls taken down (although looking at some of those images taken before the update came out, it looked pretty close to being completed when the route first came out). Now say what you will about the those branches being removed and one coming back later on and circumstances in which it happened, but I think it was clear that they could do the entire route in the time frame DTG had to make this route, but what I think DTG have done here is actually rather smart. By pulling them from the main route, but leaving all the track work in place leaves the door open to reinstate them in the future. So if DTG wants to come back and add them later on, all they would have to do is finish up the station and all the scenery located along the route before focusing on updating the S2 timetable to extend those services all the way to Flughafen. The small situation is also happening with the recent Sherman Hill where, while the entirety of track 3 hasn't been represented, as far as I'm aware, the track work for it has all been done, meaning that they would just have to add in all the scenery, update a couple of services to gone down track 3 rather than the main route they currently take now. Now I do that this branch is slightly more challenging than the Meißen branch, mainly for that last bit into Flughafen which is underground which requires a lot of light baking which apparently is one of the most challenging/time consuming aspects of making a route. But even then, it's not actually very long underground section (I calculated this, it lasts about 0.38 miles or 0.6 km). I'm not saying this wouldn't be a very challenging job, as it probably would be, but it's not like say the Leipzig City Tunnel section on Rapid Transit or the entire underground part of the Bakerloo Line which are much bigger underground parts compared to what this is. But when looking at the Flughafen branch from a timetable perspective, there are two things that this would really bring to the table. Firstly, it would help complete S2 services on this route. Because right now, these services don't really last that long. I know there are IC services that you can only drive between the two big stations at Dresden, but that's because they go out via the fast line that pass Großenhain, so I kinda makes sense why they are so short. S2 on the other hands feels like there's a entire part to those services that are missing, so by extending the route to Flughafen would create a much more satisfying S2 experience. But probably why adding the Flughafen branch would be an attractive option would be to increase the loco add-on potential for this route as it's not just Dresden S-Bahn that uses this branch, but it is also served by a bunch of DMU traffic as far as Klotzsche, before turning towards Radeberg and beyond. Now it is possible that the BR 612 that's coming with Tharandter Rampe could add these services as they did operate between the two big stations in Dresden and up along the Flughafen branch, but that might be even more of a reason to add the branch in the future in order to get a more satisfying experience with that unit on this route by being able to drive it the extra distance. Plus, it would give this branch a upper hand over the Meißen branch by the fact it would have a much greater variety of trains running on it. Now know that DMU traffic did run on that branch up until 2015, however, that only ran as far as Meißen coming from Leipzig and it was operated by a BR 642 and not a 612. On the subject of the former, that would also be another option for a potential DMU services on this route as they are DMU that operate on this route nowadays, but as it only short services they would operating, maybe it would be best to save that loco to be the star loco or a loco add-on for another route and then layer it back here. But at the end of the day, only time will tell whether DTG has any plans to put the BR 612 on Riesa-Dresden and at the end of the day, as much as it would be nice to see the Flughafen reinstated, I don't expect it's gonna happen any time soon. But at least we know that the branch has all been laid out, ready to go, just in case DTG decides to come back and add it in the future. Now there is one more thing I would like to mention in regards to what can be improved from what we already have with this route and it's regarding probably the most disappointing part of this route, the use of DB BR 363 in service mode. Now this loco wasn't originally included when the route was first announced, we only found out it was going to be included around the middle of July (a week before... you know what happened next) which kinda states that the 363 was a late addition to the route and in service mode, it painfully shows. The loco has 12 services in this route, but they all consist of the following: Collect Tankers in the yard at Riesa Tank them down to the chemical plant at Nünchritz Drop them off around the chemical plant at Nünchritz Drive back light engine to Riesa to collect another load of tankers Repeat process 3 more times That's pretty much what the 363 timetable on Riesa-Dresden is and after parking up in the station yard at Riesa at the end of the last run to Nünchritz, it is never used ever again in service mode. Now the massive yard at Friedrichstadt wasn't include in the final route and seemly was never going to be part of the route anyways which may have opened up more opportunities for shunting services on this route, but even still, there are lot's of places along this route that shunting services with the 363 would have been possible. They could have had it carry out operations around the yards in Dresden that are accessible (Altstadt and the old yard between Neustadt & Pieschen), there's the yard at Coswig which leads into the processing plant there, there's the loco depot at Niederau and they even could have expanded on the operations around the chemical plant at Nünchritz and around Riesa by having to perform shunting operations to prepare freight to be taken away and you could even get the yard at Röderau involved in all of this. What I trying to prove here is that there are so many possibilities for the 363 to do shunting along this route, but the route doesn't do anything meaningful or interesting with this loco. Maybe DTG had plans to add more of these services when they updated the route when the Meißen branch was added, but didn't get enough time to do so. Besides, it's not like passengers service which are just simple go from Point A to Point B services, you actually have to come up with an interesting service for this loco. But I do still hope that DTG does come back to add more 363 services to this route in the future as it is a loco that does deserve better services than what I currently has now and it is a loco that could add some very interesting and complex services around this route, as I have just stated. But apart from that, it doesn't take away from what this timetable does well and the end result, after going on one of most eventful journeys to become what it is today, I think we can be satisfied with. I actually think that the route would have still be great even if one or neither of the branches ever came back, but we were lucky to even get one of those branches back and it end up being the cherry on top what was already one of best TSW2 routes out there. It has easily has the biggest timetable of any German route with it's busiest point being around two major stations of Dresden, has the most diverse range of locos available for any TSW route, both with the route and from additional substitutions/layers from other routes/loco add-ons available in TSW2, including a pair of IC/ICE layers and one of most vast selection of freight services with a variety of patterns and destinations that they either go to or take. It is also by far the best looking route out of three that came with Rush Hour, not just in the case of the Meißen branch, but the rest of the route actually looks quite well made, maybe not perfect in as some areas do need tidying up, but it still looks far better than the other two Rush Hour routes. This route is like the ultimate compilation of taking some of the best aspects of every German route we have had so far and compiling them all into this route. From it's vast freight services, a huge variety of passenger services (RB/RE/S-Bahn/IC & ICE), some scenic areas in places (around Meißen) and of course the large landmarks stations located along the route (Specifically around Dresden), all to create the ultimate German route. Funnily enough, we will soon be coming back to Dresden with Tharandter Rampe, following the path of the AI S3 services on this route heading towards Frieberg and then on towards Chemnitz. I definitely look forward to it to see what promises to be a great sequel to this route and also a route that breaks the typical German routes mould by offering both the first German DMU and tilting train in TSW with the BR 612, a loco that I also hopes adds something back to this route at some point, whether that would be small drivable services is just AI out of Dresden Hbf. But regardless of how that route turns out, and regardless and how rocky the journey may have been to get to this point, the end result made the entire thing worthwhile for everyone... for both better and for worse. Now that was a long one, and I feel like the next one will be just as long, because it's now the moment you've all been waiting for. The last Rush Hour route to cover, the Rush Hour route with moment number of services of the three and the new service mode king of TSW2, which is...
London Commuter (Brighton Main Line: London Victoria – Brighton) What is arguably the most ambitious TSW route ever made, it is set on the iconic Brighton Main Line between London Victoria and Brighton, including the quarry line via Redhill and branch to Reigate. This route has a timetable unlike any other, this route beat the record for the most services of any TSW route by a long, long way. At release the route came with a whopping total of 1425 services, over 3x more than the previous record holder, München – Augsburg. But that's not all, three weeks later, the Class 313 came out for East Coastway which also added 12 more services to this route focusing on depot moves around Brighton and an empty stock move up to Selhurst Depot, taking the service total up to 1437. But it doesn't end there, I am also going to add a couple of more services to this number. This include one Southern service from Victoria C.H.S to London Victoria that isn't drivable and the Southeastern depot services around London Victoria. As a result, the final total number of services, adding all these numbers together is a whopping 1452 services. Now keep in mind that many of those services are done in two parts, so when coming to the line run number, to counts services done in two parts as one line run, but even still, that number of far above any other route in TSW with that being at 1283 in total. Fair to say that this was easily the most anticipated route of the three and probably one of most anticipated TSW routes ever and one that had years in the making. Ever since East Coastway was made back at the end of 2019, it was only going to be matter of time before this route was ever going to make it onto this game, it was even admitted by then senior producer Matt, that this was one of the route he most wanted to do in the end of year Q&A stream back in 2020. Unfortunately, the route did have a rough launch with some platforms getting the wrong release build and even now, there are still a lot of problems with the route. From timetable bugs, to scenery issues to of course the various performance problems that seem to be hampering this route. Now since release, the route has seen various updates to try the improve the performance and fix some of various that have come up since release, but there is still a lot out there that still need to be resolved. You may be asking, why I am bringing this up? Are you just going into this route bugs and issues? Well... no actually. The thing is, what probably the most frustrating thing about all of this is that, when looking at the timetable in general and what I did well, outside of most of these bugs/issue, London Commuters timetable is not just the biggest of any TSW route, it is the games absolute zenith. Now back before we found that this route would have a timetable unlike any other, I wasn't entirely sure how many services this route would actually have. Admittedly, as time moved on, I began to feel more comfortable that this would be the Rush Hour route with most services and was most likely the break the service record for a TSW timetable, but the question was how big would it actually get? I knew this route would have all the Gatwick Express services as the numbers of those seem quite manageable, but the Southern services, I was admittedly a little bit hesitant to say that every one of those services would be represented here. I say all of this because, while this had the potential to have a incredibly big timetable, we have been in this situation before where a route doesn't quite go all the way with it's timetable and is left far short of how big the actual timetable is in real life, I'm sure that there are plenty of examples out there in TSW alone in the past couples year (and I'll talk about this more at the end). So the question was, could the same thing happen to this route? Could we see this timetable only the the most prominent services and those that are only last a handful of minutes or don't feel quite as worthwhile are just left out of this route? Would it be worth it to represent every single service that runs on this route? Well to answer that last question, we have to look to certain person who was working as part of DTG's gameplay team in order to create this insane experience that is London Commuter's timetable that is a guy called Joe (Or as he's know on the forums as Joethefish). Up until this point, the only other project he had really worked on was Hamburg – Lübeck, but this was the route where we would see his talent's truly shine through. I know there are probably more people responsible for creating this experience that deserve just as much credit as he did, but this really was his project and something that he had work many months on to create something that I can... pure insanity. When I first saw that this route was going have 1400+ services, my jaw literality hit the ground. I mean, that's just insane that TSW route would even have that many drivable services. To put that into some kinda perspective, you could be in that number the previous record holders timetable, München – Augsburg 3x over and still the number of services from Ruhr-Sieg Nord left over, and that doesn't total number doesn't even include all the AI services that this route offers, which included, would made a total service count of over 4000+. But even gossiping over the number of services here, so let ask, what does that number actually consist of? The thing is, this timetable is more than just your typical route that has a lot of service in it, this routes timetable has so much depth to it. You have short runs, you have long runs, you have a few depots service, you have some empty stock runs, there are even services that last one stop and then drive on as AI for a few more miles in order to leave the map (the services between London Victoria & Clapham Junction that go on towards Dorking), this route is like the opposite of Boston Sprinter where that route just has the essential services and everything else is AI, this route has practical every single passenger service that runs on this route be drivable. So much so, that in order to have all the Southern services on this route (which totals at around 1000+), DTG had to renumber a few 377/4's as 377/1's, just so they had enough locos to go round each service. But probably the most interesting and dynamic services that run on this route are those that require coupling and uncouple of units to make longer or shorter train. Up to this point, the only time these kinds of services were seen where on East Coastway, but that was like one service in the morning and one service in the evening and that was it. But here, it is use extensively across the whole route, ranging from services that detach and go off the depot after the morning rush and then join back to form a longer consist during the evening peak, to services that divide at a certain point and go off in their own directions before coming back together at the same point later on. This is most noticeable on the Littlehampton & Eastbourne/Ore services which divide at Haywards Heath and then go off in their own directions and come back together at the same point to form a double set to travel to London Victoria. You also have this happening on the Caterham & Tattenham Corner services, but that happens after the drivable part of the service finishes at Purley, whereas at Haywards Heath, these services are drivable part that point, either as one whole service, or those that have a rear section that goes on to Preston Park (The services that have the rear section go to Wivelsfield are AI only). But it's the additional layers that comes from other routes where this timetable truly shines. Although we don't have a railtour service this time, we still do have a pair a freight services in each direction between Clapham Junction and Wivelsfield from East Coastway. I mean, it would be nice if all 8 of the East Coastway freight services were represented on this route as well as some form of continuity between the two routes, but since this in reality is how many freight services actually run to Newhaven Aggregates in real life, there isn't too much of problem here. But we will get to talking about how to put more freight on this route later. Which leads us to the passenger side of the layering on this route. You see, we had so many suggestions for what kind of layers could be added to this route from other routes/loco add-ons within TSW2 and I think it would have been so easy for DTG to do the bare minimum required and nothing else other than that. But with this route, and this what I've Joe the most credit for, it doesn't just do the minimum requirement but also goes a step further to think up of ideas that maybe most people wouldn't of though up at first. Allow me to put this way: You all wanted the 313 to add AI around Brighton? Well you got the 313 as AI around Brighton, but you also had to add 12 drivable services focusing on depot moves in the morning/evening and the 6 services that make up the empty stock service up to Selhurst Depot. We all demanded to have Southeastern High Speed, along with it's add-on the 465, add AI services around London Victoria and we got preciously that (I would of liked to have driven the depot services for Southeastern in and out of Victoria C.H.S, but that would also meant having to unlock the Southeastern part of Victoria station, but that's not something I want to go into here) but that route also added a 375/9 running a diverted Southeastern service between Redhill and East Croydon Most importantly of all, it probably become one of most requested features of any TSW route, we all demanded, begged, cried and screamed to have Great Western Express add a Class 166 running services between Reigate, Redhill and Gatwick Airport and guess what, we got Great Western Express adding a Class 166 running services between Reigate, Redhill and Gatwick Airport. But we also that same loco add a few AI services around Brighton and said route also added an AI HST running non-stop through Clapham Junction on it's way too and from London Waterloo having been diverted from London Paddington. Even with the freight services, East Coastway may have only added two drivable freight services, but it also adds a freight service that happens every hour in each direction that comes into the route from Wandsworth Road, briefly passes underneath the route twice, and then goes out heading towards Imperial Wharf (same thing happens in reverse), in a part of the route that isn't even accessible on foot. This is what really this timetable really come alive, by adding small details that many people won't even notice or care at first that creates a timetable that is both packed with depth and can incredibly engaging from whatever standpoint you choose to explore this route from, whether that be from the cab of the train or on foot. However, I won't say that this timetable is perfect and not just from the various bug or issues that may be lingering around here. But I more mean it in the way that I feel that, even despite being 3x bigger than the next biggest timetable in TSW, there are still ways you can make it even bigger and enhance the experience here even further, both with what we have right now and what future loco add-ons could bring to the table. The first big thing that comes to mind is the one type of service that has kinda become an tradition of many of these UK that was absent this time around and that is a railtour service. While it's not as necessary as other ideas that could be brought to this route, it would still be to have one for the sake of following some of the more recent UK releases and there are some interesting ways you could implement a railtour service in this route, I would argue you could fit two railtours on this route. Now I would argue that you can't really do a full line rail tour from London Victoria to Brighton as there wouldn't enough room at the Brighton end to accommodate it as the platforms here are usually taken instantly by another service the moment one leaves the platform (I know platforms 5 and 6 don't see any action right now, but don't think that will be the case when a certain service comes to this eventually. More on that later) so instead, I propose that a full line rail tour service would turn off at Preston Park turns off towards Hove and on towards either Littlehampton or Southampton Central and the rejoins the route at Three Bridges and subsequently back to London Victoria from there, that would be one railtour service. The second railtour service would traverse the route as far as either Haywards Heath or Wivelsfield and turn off towards Lewes to form the service that runs on East Coastway towards Eastbourne and subsequently on to Hastings and then you could do is have to come back into the route at Redhill, having done a round circuit and like the previous railtour, travel back to Victoria from there. What could also make these railtours engaging is that they don't have to come from the same route. Like, one railtour could come from Northern Trans-Pennine and the other could come from West Somerset, adding some more variety to these services on a route that already a ton of variety in the amount of trains that run on this route. But probably thing that needs improving from the stuff we already have is the freights services and there is one particular area where a freight service would be a welcome addition on this route and that is the service that goes down the branch to Ardingly Aggregates. As of right now, the branch is all there and stuff, but nothing runs down it and a bunch of HKA hoppers from Great Western Expresshave been placed right down at the end of the yard. According to Joe, it was his original plan to have a freight service come down here, but didn't enough time to do so, so these wagons have been placed here as a reminder of what was attempted. But I do that we can see this service see the light of day at some point as it bring some extra freight and give us some action on that branch. Plus, it would give some much needed use for the HKA hoppers from GWE which, as I've said in the past, are so underutilised in TSW as they have potential to be layered in many of the UK routes that we have been getting lately. I should also mention there also other places along this route that freight could also operate to, mainly Purley Aggregates (located at Purley Station), Crawley Day Aggregates (located between Gatwick Airport and Three Bridges) and I even saw one service even go to Salfords Aggregates around Salfords station every once in a while (Depending on whether this is actually a freight service or not). Plus, I've also seen that there are some freight services that come in at Redhill coming from Tonbridge Yard and then go out at Clapham Junction and some even make a stop at Purley Aggregates along the way. They may not add many services, but they would help boost the freight timetable a little and would come with a variety of patterns that they would take, similar to the freight layer on Southeastern High Speed. Plus, there's great opportunities with utilise the HKA hoppers from GWE on many of these services, giving them more use within TSW2. But when looking at what future loco add-ons could bring to this routes timetable, there are two big ones that stand out more than anything else. The first one is one that I have title 'What do you do about Clapham Junction?'. Because I think it's fair to say that Clapham Junction is one of the weakest areas of the entire route. The problem with that station is a combination of the fact that we don't have any South Western Railway content in TSW2 yet, and with the way the station is laid out with Southern having one section of the station and the rest of the station going to SWR, you end up with one half of the station being as busy at it is in real life and the rest looking completely and utterly dead. The HST running non-stop through the station was a nice touch, but is was nowhere near enough to make that part of the station interesting. Now the best way to resolve this would be to make a route that features SWR locos and then have them layer AI services back to this route around Clapham Junction, because firstly I feel making a whole SWR loco for just some AI services would be a waste of effort, plus if you going to put effort into that, you might as well make a whole SWR route along with it and I know there are a lot of those kinds of routes that people would love to see in TSW2 (Portsmouth Direct Line anyone?). But the other add-on, is one that I feel, like with Boston Sprinter and the Acela Express earlier on, is not a case of if but when it's going to come to this route and that is a Thameslink add-ons. I'm going to admit, the lack of Thameslink services actually seems to affect this route more than I first thought it would. There are areas like East Croydon and Redhill that do have other services that do make it more manageable, but there are areas along this route where you feel like more services should be serving these areas than what they are right now, these areas include: Platforms 5 & 6 at Brighton never being used at all Three Bridges is only ever served by the Portsmouth Harbour/Southampton Central & Bognor Regis services Horley only ever sees one train stop there a day (which is the 1F96 service heading southbound which makes at stop at 18:16 on it's way to Seaford & Ore) Three stations (Earlswood, Salfords and Balcombe) never see any trains call at it throughout the day Now I seems like Thameslink would be what solves many of those problems, especially with the last two points and those stations feel like they are primarily Thameslink stations and not really Southern stations. Regardless of what loco is chosen to do these services, whether that would be a Class 319, a 387/1 or a 700 (preferably I chose a 700), a Thameslink add-on would be welcome addition to help fully complete this timetable and be the icing on the cake on this absolutely gargantuan timetable. Which that last point is really the best way to describe this timetable. It really is unlike anything we have had in TSW up to this point, not just in the amount of service it offers, but also for the fact that it goes above the beyond what we would typically expect out of a TSW route. It my not be perfect and there's certain a large amount of bugs/issues that still need to resolved here, but there just so much fun in the details that this timetable offers that really makes it come alive. Whether that would be having service that wouldn't expect to be drivable be drivable, the constant coupling and uncoupling of units throughout the day all the way to the adding services and locos from other routes that you wouldn't even think up of at first when considering what to put on this route, and all of this can be credited to Joethefish for, because I don't think route would be anywhere near as big as it is if it wasn't for the work that he put as well as anyone else who may have be happening to be working along with him. But most importantly for me, the routes timetable sets a brand new standard for all TSW routes going forward and this for me is the biggest point that I want to get out there more than anything else... Regardless of how big or small a service contributes to a route, every services that runs on a particular route in real life, regardless of whether it lasts 5 minutes or travels the whole route, deserves to be represented as part of a route and should also be drivable at the same time. You may think a service that only travels a small section of a route and lasts only 5 minutes may not be worth the effort, but add a bunch more of them, and combine with a bunch of longer services that travel the entire route, you see the impact it makes in that section of a route, while leaving a bunch a smaller services giving more options than just having a timetable full of long, time-consuming services. Also, if we were to apply what this route set and go back through every route that came before Rush Hour, there are plenty of routes out there that, if they had their full timetables, would either be fair busier than what they are now, or could rival, match or even best the numbers that this route did. Some of those, just to name a few, include: Rapid Transit Long Island Rail Road Rhein-Ruhr Osten East Coastway CN Oakville Subdivison (if the passenger part was included) Hauptstrecke Rhein-Ruhr Schnellfahrstrecke Köln – Aachen Bakerloo Line Hauptstrecke München – Augsburg Southeastern High Speed There's probably more route out there that maybe you will all bring to my intention in the replies but those are just a bunch that could have a far bigger timetable than what they do right now. I will simply say this to end this section of and that is, enjoy this route and what it offers, because, you might never see another route like it ever again. Because I doubt that we will ever see another route with 1400+ services come any time soon.
Closing Comments Back when I first wrote that thread taking about what to expect out of these routes, I said at the end that it was probably the biggest thread I had written up to that point. Well, over 6 months later and several written pieces later, look where we are now, that post might seem minuscule compared to what I have written since and honestly, this has been a rather fun experience to talk about Rush Hour, what to expect, how to improve the existing routes to make their timetables better, what routes could come to TSW2 that would a bring a big of a Rush Hour experience as these routes (and then subsequently taking about each route in detail, something that is still ongoing whenever I have time) and now rounding it all off by looking back at the end result and seeing whether they lived up to expectations and whether they can be enhanced further. The road may not have been smooth sailing at times as we did encounter hurdles that nearly derailed the entire thing and there are still issues with all three route that I do hope get ironed out in due time, but we all saw it through and end result were three of the most ambitious routes that TSW had ever seen and, like I said at the start, not a single route that turned out bad in general. I mean, one is a little meh, but even that route with a couple of tweak and a few more loco could easily place it among the other two routes with are probably two of TSW best efforts and a pair of routes that go far beyond what we typically expect out of normal TSW route, whether that would be offering a variety of trains to drive, offer a deep, complex timetable or whatever unique trait these routes offer, and this is something that I would love to see more of in the future. Speaking of which, one question still remains... Will we see more Rush Hour style routes in the future? Well, if you were to look at what's coming on the roadmap and from what came out since the last Rush Hour route, I'd say not really in the short term. I mean, we had Sherman Hill, which is the busiest US freight route in TSW to date and we will soon be getting something similar with Skyhooks Horseshoe Curve, but that's not really the same thing as a hectic passenger route with many passenger services running around at the same time. We also have the aforementioned Tharandter Rampe which is most likely to have lots of AI round Dresden, lots of AI around Chemnitz and not much else apart of the occasional freight/shunting service in the middle. But that's fine as that route isn't really going to be about it's timetable and is rather going to be about the scenery and it's star loco, the DB BR 612. The only promising route we got at the moment is Harlem Line between Grand Central and North White Plains. Now say what you will about the length (and admittedly, I would have like the route to go to Southease at a minimum) but I do feel like there's potential to make a interesting out of it regardless and I also do hope the Hudson Line services that travel the first two stops between Grand Central and Harlem-125th Street to really bring that area of the route to life, whether that would be as drivable service or just as AI, but we will wait on see on that. There's also the caveat of not knowing what this mystery UK route is going to be that was recently revealed in the end of year Q&A a few days ago. I will hesitate from speculating what it might be for now and hopefully by the next roadmap update, we will know what the next UK route is going to be exactly. But regardless of what happens next, I would like to see Rush Hour as the start of seeing routes trying to push to boat out with their timetables by having much bigger and livelier timetables than what came before then, or at the very least, do some creative things with a route that doesn't have as bigger timetable as other, like having a loco bring some interesting and creative services and whatever unique opportunities a route might so happen to offer. But even if we don't, even if we just go back to what we were doing before Rush Hour... well still have the three routes from Rush Hour to check out. But regardless of your opinion on how these routes turned out and regardless of the many issues that hopefully in time do get ironed out, we can still be thankful that they dared to offer a experience unlike anything else that came before them. By the way, if you still feel like there's a way that these routes timetables can be improved further that I may have missed here, then feel free to let me know in the replies below. So after writing this 67000+ word written piece, I guess the only thing left to say is, that's all from me and I'll see you all next time.
This is an impressive thread! I didn't realize how many services were missing from Boston Sprinter, it really is the odd one out from the Rush Hour series. But it also really shows how complete Riesa-Dresden is, having seemingly accurate services on this section of the route. I would indeed love to see more shunting on the route, as the 363 feels a lot better doing actual shunting, rather than just running on the mainline. Hopefully the 363 included on Dresden-Chemnitz will do more actual shunting, rather than having enough services to count with your fingers (and a couple of toes). The topic of this thread is about how the Rush Hour timetables could be made better, and a thought that popped into my head, while not exactly an exciting addition that would add new services and trains to drive on the route, is still something that should be an improvement to an issue with two specific Rush Hour timetables. Boston Sprinter and Nahvehrker Dresden both have a clear issue with their timetables which I have no idea as to why they would have: the AI generated timetables. It's very clear they are AI generated, with the arrival times being by the second, and the little breathing room. These two routes aren't the first to have timetables such as these, there are other routes that give little breathing room and feel a bit too difficult to stay on time. But at least they were rounded to the nearest minute, rather than being listed by the second, making it obvious that it's inaccurate. The AI-made timetable is worse on Boston Sprinter compared to Riesa-Dresden, as while Dresden has electric locos/EMUs that can accelerate and brake at a good pace, Boston uses a diesel locomotive for the majority of its services, which gives the AI a big advantage compared to the player, which means that it's a lot more difficult to stay on time on Boston. I don't really know if redoing the arrival times would mean remaking the whole timetable or not. I would hope not though. I would just hope that Boston Sprinter gets some love, being a really neat part of the Northeast Corridor. Hopefully those last two paragraphs weren't just a bunch of complaining. I totally could rant about Boston Sprinter because I always want a route such as it to be good. I like your thread though, I bet that if the HSP-46 was added, perhaps it could make the services of those other lines playable, since everyone loves new playable services with a loco add-on. They wouldn't be great new services, but they would indeed be new AND playable!
A thoroughly interesting read WonterRail with some great and interesting points that I hope DTG can consider some of these for future updates and routes. While a plethora of topics have been covered in detail, I feel this is the most important point made. If I'm completely honest, before Rush Hour came out (London Commuter specifically), I'd for the most part stopped playing timetable modes across nearly most of the existing routes as I felt they lacked - instead I have loved using Scenario Planner to create my own busy routes where able. To reiterate, as you say, every service, big or small, should try to be included to make a detailed, interesting timetable. As I've mentioned on the 'Awesome Services' thread, despite their duration, the services to Horsham and Dorking (as far as Clapham Junction) are really interesting - these services also interesting seeing them pass fast through Balham via the slow lines. Adding one more point which relates to the above regarding London Commuter and to a potential missed opportunity was the lack of inclusion of Hove Station. The roughly five-minute shuttle between Brighton and Hove using the 313 would have been great, not forgetting the depot moves for the GX 387s and an alternate start/end point for Littlehampton services. Talking of extra stations, Reedham and Coulsdon Town would have been another nice extra bonus considering they can be seen from the mainline to the south of Purley.
I could see the Hsp46 locomotive being added along with the double decker coach’s and the Framingham/Worcester line being added also.
For Riesa-Dresden in the future development team should add in the Dresden Friedrichstadt Branch in the future in real life that yard has DB BR363s assigned to it including Deutsche Reichsbahn DDR equivalent DR V60 & V100s DB BR204 run by private operators. For Tharandter Rampe a DLC locomotive that can fit inside Dresden Friedrichstadt the DB BR180 DR BR230 with IC Coaches and freight wagons that way the Northeast side of Dresden Hbf towards Dresden Friedrichstadt eventually reaching the Weißig-Böhla fast line is busy with traffic with Freight following RB31 playable as Großenhain Coswig and also act as a diversion route for RE18 Cottbus RE15 Hoyerswerda since these follow RE50 Leipzig Riesa-Dresden service towards Coswig
