I only ever seem to play on East Coastway these days and enjoy the short freight runs down to Newhaven Sidings with the loading and runaround operation there. I'm also still on TSW3 but will be taking advantage of the opportunity to upgrade to TSW5 with the free core update. Are there any DLC from TSW2-4 that offer UK shunting, preferably with the gronk? I know Somerset Railway does a little but I'm after something a little more sustained.. Thanks.
Blackpool Branches, Tees Valley Line and Northern Trans-Pennine have some services for the class 08. Class 08 Services Blackpool Branches: 6 services 12 services, 1 scenario Tees Valley Line: 7 services, 2 scenarios Northern Trans-Pennine: 11 services, 2 scenarios West Cornwall Local: 7 services The upcoming Great Western Express remaster, and West Coast Main Line: Preston - Carlisle I believe will also have some services for the class 08
Thanks Michael. I'll check those out and add them to my wishlist. Appreciate it. NTP I have but I never really got into. I'll have to open it up again!
I'm not sure what the 4F Fowler does on Peak Forest Railway, but there is a scenario on Spirit of Steam that sits you in a Stanier 8F, and presents you with about 7 sidings to choose from. You are then free to shuffle the wagons as you wish, but with no goal in mind. I would also recommend the Training Centre, since that has some static wagons dotted around. If you are lucky enough to have a friend to play with, you could set up a game where one person hides some wagons around the centre, and the other tries to collect them all. Once you upgrade to TSW5, you will gain access to Free Roam with all of your existing content. So, you can spawn into any timetable (including Training Centre), plop some rolling stock down, and shunt to your heart's content.
Others have already covered most of the 08's services, though I will add that the GWE expansion Diesel Legends also has some 08 services. These I believe are both with freight and with passenger coaches, and one unique experience they have is that they are not only restricted to the yards but there are also services in the timetable where you use an 08 to pull the coaches you just shunted from Old Oak Common all the way into Paddington, so similar to a couple of the Red Bank services on NTP you actually get to take the 08 out onto the main line. Asides from the Gronk, on the subject of shunting with other UK locos. In Peak Forest shunting is pretty much the only purpose the 4f serves along with banking for the limestone trains, but both the freight yards have some shunting either way using it. There is also the stopping freight scenario where you shunt wagons in and out of lineside tracks along half the entire route with an 8f, which still to this day is my favourite scenario in the whole game. SEHS also features a little bit of shunting using the Class 66 in Hoo Junction. I haven't experimented with it too much but I believe if you have Midland Mainline and also get Cargo Line Vol. 2, there are some shunting and runaround services similar to those on ECW.
TVL also has services with the 37s, 31s and 20s where you move those about the sidings, I believe. Must admit I have been really focused on BPO recently so can't give any figures or owt.
PFR is quite good for local freight and shunting. There's the well-known 8F scenario doing pickups along the entire route. In the timetable, the 4F handles the loading of the limestone hoppers: getting the cars from a small yard, driving them down to the loading facility, loading them, and then shunting them away in another yard to be picked up by an 8F. The 4Fs also do banking services for the limestone trains and shunt in two other, bigger yards. The services themselves might not be as sophisticated as some of the German shunter DLCs (really, the 363 and G6 timetables are unrivalled when it comes to shunting in TSW for me). However, for the enthusiasts of (local) freight operations, it's still nice.
The Overground lines on WCML(S) should provide the perfect quiet backwater to shunt to your heart's content. /irony
