What Are Your Thoughts On The Mysterious, Post-update 4-car Ore/hastings Services On Ecw?

So, on East Coastway, what are peoples thoughts on why Ore/Hastings trains have suddenly changed from 8-car to 4-car? While in real-life a lot of these are 4-car, I'd admit having an 8-car on ECW does freshen the gameplay up.

Could this be in preparation for a new timetable, with added London Victoria-Eastbourne services? I believe these London services on ECW were not included as they ran out of train numbers for the 377/4s, so is this a way to fit it in? Conversely, if this is the case, why not just add in renumbered 377/4s as /1s like on Rush Hour's BML?

Furthermore, could this be linked with the upcoming Class 313 DLC in some way?

Finally, a big thanks to DTG for finally fixing the backward-spawning trains in scenario planner for ECW in the recent update.

 

I’ve noticed this too. For some reason there are now less 8 coach formations for the 377.

 

I believe Adam has indicated in another thread that it is simply down to being more representative of real-life.

PlayStation - Ecw No 8 Car Service On Eastbourne Routes | Dovetail Games Forums

I personally like the change and it reflects the fairly rural nature of the route a bit better.

Having said that, I really would like to see the Victoria services added as it's a bit weird having a whole pair of platforms almost entirely out of use at Lewes. And the best-case in the future would be to eventually merge the route with BML for those who have both and include the Plumpton / Cooksbridge branch (as there's not much to it anyway).

 

Is it me or is this dial hardly moving now. Also its a shame the crossings didn't make it into the update. I have a feeling Adam is painting the forth bridge

 

Interesting, makes sense I guess. I've watched all the past Roadmap livestreams and surprised this wasn't mentioned apart from the thread you linked.

Indeed, they are critical to the real-life route for people wanting to get to Gatwick, London and beyond. I travelled on a Victoria-bound train yesterday from Eastbourne, they certainly make the station busy, especially with the attach/divide of the service which continues on to Ore, while the front 4-car terminates.


Regarding BML, I think it's a real missed opportunity for the Plumpton/Cooksbridge branch to not have been included; from Wivelsfield to Lewes took just over 10mins yesterday.

Hmm have not noticed that.

 

I wonder if the reason the Victoria services weren't included from the off is that they hadn't figured out a way to reliably implement services splitting and merging. From memory they've solved it for Haywards Heath on BML, so I guess it's possible they could include them in an update.

I love ECW but Eastbourne (and really the whole line to Eastbourne from Lewes) does feel a bit quiet at the moment.

It would also (while I'm wildly wishlisting) be good to have another railtour service that uses the rest of the line as the existing one is only Lewes to Eastbourne - Brighton to Newhaven Harbour (then turn around in the Marine sidings) maybe? Just an idea. Even better if it could use the WSR mk1 stock and locos for it to provide something else apart from the usual NTP fare.

 

Valid point, but I'm sure it's down to running out of train numbers. I'd of been happy for the Victoria services to terminate at Eastbourne if attach/divide was the problem, they should have included them if were possible, even if slightly unreal to real-life. Plus, the current 377 destinations screens can't display two destinations at once on TSW 2 anyway i.e. Ore & Eastbourne etc, again so just going to the latter would have made sense.

Agreed. From that, a Newhaven railtour makes a whole load of sense. You can still get the ferry to France from there today, so the railtour could be themed around people travelling to the continent for the day (like one of the ECW scenarios), thus have an early morning railtour down to Newhaven Harbour, and a return in the evening. Then, add in a layer for these services on BML so they go to Victoria.

 

Gonna use this thread to just say thank you to Adam for the departure boards on ECW - they do add a whole new level to the route. We know that this route is probably reasonably far down the pres crew list, but when it comes around please can I suggest the following (all timetable upgrades alas):

- some trains Lewis - Eastbourne. Even if the full timetable cannot be implemented, can we please have one 8 car train per hour each way, with 12 coaches in the peaks? One train could stable at Eastbourne overnight.

- 2ndly, can we have another layer with GatEx 387s for Brighton AI? An hourly / half hourly service could use Platform 3, and occasionally platform 5 when not being used for ECW services (allowing for very minimal interference with existing timetable). May be too much effort, but a 166 AI layer for the 3 trains per day that terminate at Brighton from the Portsmouth end would be amazing. This would be the creame de la creame for this route…. Thanks!

 

I have played a few services where the 377 with 8 coaches doesn't fit in some of the stations. Could that be the reason?

 

No, that's realistic. In real life the doors will only open if it accommodates the platform. However DTG haven't simulated this properly so you can only open all the doors or the front 4 in game. Not specific doors like you can in real life.

 

Oh! good to know that, i thought it was some kind of error. I imagine people is use to this, and embark at firsts coaches if they have to disembark at certain stations.

 

I think it's a small chance that a merger would ever happen, but still, I think this is an opportunity to put in more services coming from Victoria, as this would certainly make the route busier.