Wcml Preston To Crewe Discussion

Hell yeah and some MK3 sleepers, Motorail (I think was still a thing in '86?)

 

Pretty sure Motorail was still going then (until the 90s?) - certainly remember seeing them at Whitmoor (between Stafford and Crewe) and by then they were closed wagons, rather than the old open top ones that you used to see. I think the Mark 3 sleeper has been a constant in terms of people requesting it and it would be so useful in terms of not just in the 1980s on the WCML, but from only a few years back on more recent Caledonian Sleeper workings and would fit nicely on the three Western region routes we have too. Absolutely loving those shots of Crewe - the one of 86426 in that pseudo throw back livery probably excited me the most (it was quite criticised at he time, because of the full yellow end and the fact that they didn't use the proper electric blue colour). I agree there are plenty of other locos that could be added, but it's a shame that there is no Class 304 - even though you couldn't really drive it (as would be going to Liverpool Lime Street on stoppers or Manchester Pic) - it will feel like a missing part of Crewe at the time & I guess the DMU 101 will have to do for now. Despite all the new releases, this one i'm still incredibly excited about.

 

Motorail ran until 1995 on the WCML.

GUV vans usually formed them with Mk3s BGs and Mk2 Air cons for Seated passengers. Carlisle had a service as did the Inverness and Aberdeen trains. Quite a few to Stirling also.

The Overnight formations are probably the most inaccurate ones on the JT DLCs.

 

Some GUVs and maybe a CCT or two are definitely missing from TSW, I mean the things were everywhere in the 80s & 90s and newspapers/parcels trains aren't the same with all BGs. I mean I would love to see Sulzer 2s in TSW, that would just be the icing on the cake.

Here's hoping with 2 updates in a month they've got their release date from DTG.

 

Not a day goes by where I contemplate "commissioning" a DLC, I've got access to a myriad of preserved diesel locomotives for research, modelling and sound recording but have no actual skill in any of those departments. I've wondered just how much it would cost to hire a small team to go ahead and do it, then how to put it "in game". I mean this is not MSTS where the skill-set "bar for entry" was particularly low, I was even able to make stuff for that - loads of reskins but as soon as transparent windows became a thing I was stumped. There has to be a good level of ability for modelling, after all it's not like you can just take a photo of the cab from the driver's perspective and leave it at that, you need to model the cab fully in 3D and if its a unit, the interior of the cabin too. That's all going to add up and bump up costs for the relevant skilled folks. Then of course you need to actually implement it into the game too, timetable creation is a skill as well.

It's one of those where sometimes I just want to say right, here's a small stack of cash, go forth and make me a loco and sadly, it doesn't seem to be that easy.

 

The lack of sleeper stock was and still is the most baffling thing for me with the Shap route, they modelled the Mk3 so well but missed out arguably the easiest variant to model. The interior could literally just be the corridor with all of the rooms locked off (like the toilets are) and voila, the only exterior differences would be the windows and maybe the inclusion of built in tail lights.

The problem with them now is that there is no incentive for a developer to make them, aside from not being able to include them in the existing JT Shap timetables (in the same way that Skyhook were not able to include their freight packs) there just isn't really a demand from folks who would be willing to buy a coach pack that consists of one or two coach types (Panty/non-pantry). In a similar vein it would be a struggle to make a wagon pack unless they already had an agreement from other developers to include them as layers on their own upcoming routes.

 

Such a pack could also include the Night Riviera version, plus other variants (like those from Eastern Rail Services for railtours).

"Take my money" for that !!!