Where Should The Next British Isles Route Be Set ?

I think the UK is generally small enough that most lines that ran freight also ran passengers at some point, there will be exceptions but it isn't as compartmentalised as the US because it isn't as big. I still like the German routes in TSW with the real mixture of local, intercity and freight and would love to see more of that mix for the UK. There needs to be a real investment in traction that isn't the class 66 so freight gets a bit more variety. Another heavy freight pack wouldn't go amiss.

 

TBH as a few others said, we don't have a Wales route yet, plus they do interesting services, like combining a 150 with a 153 or 67 + 82 (DVT)

 

FYI: Northern Ireland (e.g Londonderry) is part of the UK.

 

I totally agree with your diagram. Northern Ireland is in the UK. The Republic of Ireland is not. They both form the island of Ireland. Therefore Ireland is, a least part, in the UK. There isn’t much rail coverage in NI so probably about the right length for a TSW4 route. I don’t know how interesting it wold be though.

Kudos to the OP for changing the post heading to read British Isles.

 

Are you American? Freight-only lines in the UK are invariably short spurs.

 

yea, Northern Ireland not Ireland as listed under selection for the poll… they are different and as Ireland wasn’t in the U.K. as this poll was originally called, I pointed to that. All other options were nations so it would have been out of place if it was referring to the island/isle.

Stating it as only “Ireland refers to the republic, not often the island and not used to refer only to the north.

 

yea the island of Ireland is partly under the U.K. but Ireland the state is not. When stating it’s written just as Ireland that refers to the Republic which is where it makes the difference, all the other poll options were nations and not islands so it would have been out of place to be using “Ireland” to refer to the isle/island not the state.

putting either NI or changing it to British isles is all fine

but I’m not sure how DTG would consider an Irish route whether northern or republic to be part of the “big 3” we haven’t even seen a Scottish or wales on the big 3 or any Welsh for that point.

 

Judging by past experience with TSC releases, Scotland and Wales are part of the "Holy Trinity" and Northern Ireland is not.

 

Holy trinity! XD
Love that!

 

On the surface NI would fit the paradigm for a TSW route perfectly - the run out from Belfast to Londonderry (or Derry if you prefer) is fairly straightforward and it’s a commuter style operation these days largely worked by modern probably one handled DMU’s. Though it would be nice to go back a few years when Ulster had its own version of the “Thumper” DEMU working internal services.

 

Think I have suggested this one before. The compromise would be to do it in the 90s, loads of Loco Hauled but loads of units. The 150(yes that one) 142, 158 all worked the line. The 101 was at home also. 37s dominated the trains 1993 onwards but 31s and 47s had a look in too. Freight for Penmaenmawr, Valley and Blanau too. Also Point of Ayr mine if the years right and Mostyn docks. Its got a similar variety potential to the Blackpool line anytime up to 2001.

 

By “big 3”, are you referring to UK, Germany and USA? If so, DTG has a Scottish route with Cathcart Circle and also Rivet have done Glasgow - Edinburgh.

 

Imo, cathcart circle is incredibly dull and Edinburgh to Glasgow was made badly.

 

As they have much greater ties to the UK than the Republic of Ireland, my vote would go to Canada, although the Rocky Mountaineer may be a tad long to replicate.

 

Big 3 as in Germany USA and England yes

Cathcart and Glasgow are regular routes though, not arrived in like the 3 starter routes, which have always been England, was what you are probably referring to.

that’s why I noted wales as having no Route and Scotland as having a route but not as a main “big 3” route.

I was sort of leaving a question/thought on would we see Wales or Scotland inside a starter bundle without England.

 

The thing is, England is just so much bigger than Scotland, Wales or NI in terms of population and population centres. Railways are where the people are so the busier railways are in England, and a lot of them are in southeast England too also because of the population distribution. It should come as no surprise to anyone that England is more represented in TSW as that is where the railways are.

 

Majority of it should/will be, but I wouldn’t say about 90%+ or 100% thus far for Starter routes.

 

My bet would be in the UK, but I might be wrong there

 

Starter routes, DLC, it makes no difference. Routes are routes.

 

Differences are whether DTG would do other U.K. nation routes to England on starter packs, otherwise it’s England as the starter and Nations like Scotland are not much different to Canada or France, low number but still created by DTG.

same wrong 90%+ divide then otherwise.

England 90%+
Scotland -10%
Wales 0%
NI 0%

Edit: the differences has been contributed by the amount of focus put on southern England routes over others.

DTG hasn’t created routes proportionate to the actual routes in existence, if they had done all routes in the country that’s when that divide would show.

 

Scotland and Wales are part of the UK. The UK is part of the TSW "Big Three", therefore both Scotland and Wales are included under that. The reason UK/GER/US are known as that is because they're the regions DTG mainly focus on. Germany is still part of it, despite Austria taking it's slot on the TSW4 artwork.

As for future routes, I'd love to see Wales added to the game. A Welsh narrow-gauge would do nicely, I'd pick the Talyllyn Railway as the first one because of it's history as the world's first preserved railway.

For standard gauge, I'd choose Welsh Marches: Shrewsbury - Newport, while it would be a long route it simply must include Shrewsbury because it's my hometown!

 

I know, I was the one who who placed in the geographic map and political entities of the area, in this thread.

I have other posts discussing the current whereabouts on how all starter routes have been England etc, so I wouldn’t just copy the same thing in here.

 

I'd love to see another route that preferably uses the Class 700 properly! Some of my favourite choices would be Blackfriars-Sevenoaks/Orpington, MML South, ECML South - maybe even the Sutton Loop. Oh, and not forgetting most importantly, hopefully to see the 700 for London Commuter one day too!

 

Bring on the JT Western Mainlines route Southwales section or DTG South Wales Coastal with merged Welsh Marshes line

 

Swindon - Cardiff

 

I'll agree with the Welsh Marches, but it definitely needs to go to Cardiff central, rather than ending at Newport. (Coming from someone that also has their hometown on that route lol). We've got Edinburgh station, and plenty of London stations. Let's get Cardiff in.

 

If we were going to get a Welsh route I'd like Crewe to Holyhead with a voyager and (class 158???) Or any route with sprinters rlly. Narrow gauge doesn't really take my fancy.

 

I would have that route with a 221 and a 158 or the Welsh Marches (a route I have been on IRL) with a 175 and a 67/Mk4 set