The greatest. That's what you must be to take this stage. Hello! and welcome to the Grand Finale of the 2024 TSW (Route) World Cup! I hope you've enjoyed this so far and we'll have a good bit of fun with this final but also the upcoming Loco World Cup! Last year's competition saw us narrow the routes down to three, this year it's four. A four-way shootout between four fantastic routes and my goodness it couldn't be harder to call. Let's meet the routes! Blackpool Branches Preston - Blackpool & Ormskirk Dev: Just Trains Division: United Kingdom Country: England Length: 48 Miles MvP: Class 142 'Pacer' 2023: CHAMPION The Blackpool Branches is TSW's finest network route (in my opinion) and you seemed to agree, with Blackpool being our comfortable champion in 2023! That occured just after BPO's release, so maybe it's recency helped it, but, again, maybe it's just better. GS: UK Group E (1st, 97) R2: vs Bernina Line (76 to 9) R3: vs Brighton Mainline (77 to 29) SF: vs Salzburg - Rosenheim (94 to 21) ^ BPO finds it's form as it reaches the latter stages. Can it give out one final push? The star player is arguably the Class 142. It's the most loved train (development-wise) in the game, with three versions, each in three liveries, available - most of which aren't even appropriate to the route. It's got announcements and Suspension (before any other) to boot, and it's a star player in a route with very many positives. Dresden - Riesa Dresden Hbf - Riesa, Meißen & Großenheim Meißen, DRA Dev: Dovetail Games Division: European Country: Germany Length: 51 Miles (83km) MvP: Meißen 2023: Finalist (3rd) The Sole German entry in the final and it's the only surviving TSW2 route. Dresden - Riesa, again a finalist from 2023, rounds off the list. The first of two Dresden routes (the other was dealt with comfortably by this one in the Group Stages) to come to TSW, DRA came Third last year. With 4th guaranteed at minimum, it can't be a bad result for DRA here but, ultimately, German railfans will be hoping for something to come of this. Up against tough UK opposition, DRA will need to rally the German playerbase to its aid. GS: EU Group D (1st, 52) R2: vs Köln - Aachen (66 to 18) R3: vs WCML South (62 to 35) SF: vs Niddertalbahn (63 to 38) ^ Consistency is key for DRA. The Crown Jewel of Dresden - Riesa, and I would argue the entirety of Train Sim World, is Meißen. We almost didn't get it, of course. It was cut, as was the Airport, however the efforts of two people, Lukas and Ed, brought us one of the best crafted and most beautiful parts of scenery the game has to offer. The entire route is, of course, amazing, but Meißen's charm - the ability to go a walk onto a hill-top viewing point or down into the streets - is exactly what TSW should be about. Southeastern Highspeed London St. Pancras - Ashford & Faversham - Dartford Dev: Dovetail Games Division: United Kingdom Country: England Length: 89 Miles MvP: Variety 2023: Finalist (2nd) Another returning finalist and it's Southeastern Highspeed (Extended). A bombshell in TSW2, Dovetail's continued efforts to improve their home route have come true, with the extensions to Ashford and Dartford providing the ability to operate HS1 for it's full-length (for domestic trains) and to have a taste of London-bound commuting on the route from Dartford. GS: UK Group A (2nd, 58) R2: vs Linke Rheinstrecke (77 to 15) R3: vs Tees Valley Line (78 to 24) SF: vs Cathcart Circle Line (90 to 23) ^ An increasingly strong performance from SEHS as time went on. The Route's main attraction is it's variety. Without DLCs, the route has the Class 395, Class 375, Class 465 and Class 66. Only the Class 375 and 465 share operations but both handle very differently. It has to be the greatest layering route in the game, with layers of the Class 43 and 158 (Midland Mainline), TGV Duplex (LGV), ICE (Kassel - Würzburg?), and Class 385 (Edinburgh - Glasgow). That's not even mentioning the Class 700, RHTT Class 66 and ROG Class 37 which add to the route, and the layered railtours which, with substitution, open up even more options for trains to layer in. And, of course, with the Dartford - Faversham/Strood, London - Faversham, London - Ashford and Faversham - Rochester options all available, plus Rainham - Dartford Thameslink and a variety of Freight and ROG, there's never nothing to do here. West Coast Mainline: Over Shap Preston - Carlisle & Morecambe Dev: Just Trains Division: United Kingdom Country: England Length: 90 Miles MvP: West Coast Electric 2023: N/A New Blood! WCML Over Shap joins us as a recent release (just as Blackpool did last year...) and has swept its way through to the final, even earning a pass through the Semi-Finals. The route, through the amazing Lake District runs for 90 miles over the Shap Summit between familiar Preston and the Citadel - Carlisle, of course. GS: UK Group A (1st, 68) R2: vs East Coast Mainline (77 to 18) R3: vs NEC Boston - Providence (83 to 18) SF: [Bye] The Class 87 locomotive is the first British Electric Locomotive to be released for the game, and it's uniqueness adds to WCMLOS. More like the older German locos we have, it is distinct in every possible way from the stock on the modern WCML South or even the other stock on this route! It's a unique one and sure to stand a good chance in the Loco World Cup, but until then - it could be a great help to it's home route. Will Just Trains' newest route steal the crown from their original? It's up to you now... It's a Group A reunion between WCMLOS and Southeastern Highspeed, while all three of last year's finalists return for a catch-up with WCML hoping to spoil the party. It all ends here. Blackpool Branches. Dresden - Riesa. Southeastern Highspeed. Preston - Carlisle. Only one wins. Make your vote count.
I very, very nearly had a disaster. I accidentally clicked on SEHS rather than WCML, though luckily my brain just processed my error before I submitted the vote. Phew.
Personally as a mostly mainland EU player and here since TSW2. SEHS and DRA have held up well with it's core updates always having me gotten back to them. but blackpool looked amazing and even with the improve in quality the last year of dlc. the quality of WCMLoS just amazed me so much it has to win for me.
So, Blackpool loses a lot of votes to WCMLoS. Which means one of the other routes can take second place.
