RSC DLC - Greater Variety Of Routes Needed

[andynwt]

bit like painting the Forth Bridge!

Already done by Mully / Just Trains

[Kariban]

Haven't they just finished painting the Forth bridge?

[rhysicus1989]

what about if the Great western mainline was electrified? things like that.

That's less a fiction than it is a future-shock!

I dont Know, the last I heard was that the project was shelved because of the cost, and because The severn tunnel would have to have huge amounts of work done to lower the track down to fit the overhead cables in.

[msey0002]

Haven't they just finished painting the Forth bridge?

I think what Jimmy meant was that in the past it took so long to paint the Forth Bridge that once finished they started again from the beginning. Not sure if this is still the case.

[Kariban]

Yes, that's where the saying came from ( and it was true )... but they did just finish recently for the first time ever.

[jpantera]

Would be good to see things a little shorter but with variation thrown in.

One I thought would be great would be Liverpool to Crewe but also throw in Ditton to Warrington for MGR ops and Bank quay to Weaver Junction. End to end runs would only be 30-40 miles activities of 30 to 60 mins...and the scope for expansion on a small scale would be good (Addon to Seaforth and Bootle docks or even the Merseyrail system. But the amount of varying ops would be massive. Maybe its quicker to build longer routes but have less complicated track en-route (Crewe would take time if done with Basford Hall included!!) Set in any era the activity list could be huge with the right stock. 1980s/90s would interest me the most but even present day is a busy area.

The S & C is great though as is Woodhead and I look forward to seeing what RSC come up with now as the standards seem to be good.

John

[Oldpufferspotter]

I'm into fictional routes simply because I can include in a route whatever takes my fancy. I do create routes and scenarios to run on them which conform to proper railway rules and principles though.
Prototypical routes, particularly modern routes, do not include nearly enough railway infrastructure for me. I like closely spaced stations, one after the other, and alternative routes to the same destination, plenty of loops, goods yards, depots etc.
The only route that I would be tempted to buy is the Woodhead route, but unfortunately I am not able to have a computer capable of running RW in its latest versions.
I would also love to have Brendan's freeware Dublin - Cork route as I am 'into' Irish railways, but I simply would not be able to run it satisfactorily on my machine.
So there we are, horses for courses as they say!
regards Ted.

[Acorncomputer]

Hi Ted

You should be able to get Brendan's delightful Edenderry Branch to work easily -

http://www.uktrainsim.com/filelib-info. ... leid=22843

and the Kanturk and Newmarket Branch -

http://www.uktrainsim.com/filelib-info. ... leid=25170

-

[mervyn61]

Would be good to see things a little shorter but with variation thrown in.

One I thought would be great would be Liverpool to Crewe but also throw in Ditton to Warrington for MGR ops and Bank quay to Weaver Junction. End to end runs would only be 30-40 miles activities of 30 to 60 mins...and the scope for expansion on a small scale would be good (Addon to Seaforth and Bootle docks or even the Merseyrail system. But the amount of varying ops would be massive. Maybe its quicker to build longer routes but have less complicated track en-route (Crewe would take time if done with Basford Hall included!!) Set in any era the activity list could be huge with the right stock. 1980s/90s would interest me the most but even present day is a busy area.

The S & C is great though as is Woodhead and I look forward to seeing what RSC come up with now as the standards seem to be good.

John

Liverpool to Crewe is one route that I also thought would be interesting, although I would prefer it in an earlier era (mid 1960s with electrification just complete to Crewe, but still steam and diesel). The yards and shed at Edge Hill would be a challenge as would the trackwork at Crewe, and you have got the bridges at Runcorn for osme extra visual interest.

Other routes that would be nice to see are (hint if anyone from RSC is reading this!):

Southern Mainline from Yeovil (or Salisbury) to Exeter Central with the branches to Chard, Lyme Regis, Seaton, Sidmouth and Exmouth (in the 1960s or earlier when the branches were still open and the mainline was still doubled).

The Southern "Withered Arm" from Exeter to Padstow and Wadebridge.

Leeds Central to Wakefield and Doncaster (in the 1950s/60s). Lots of expresses, local passenger, freight workings from the collieries and steam and diesel. Locals from Doncaster to Leeds were often used for running-in turns on locos fresh out of Doncaster Works, so opportunity to run foreigners like the Scottish Pacifics.

Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Line prior to WW2 when still single track (good for both Southern and Great Western).

Expanding "Netherfield" from hertsbob (set in central Nottingham and out to Colwick sidings) going north to Sheffield and south to Leicester and beyond, on the Great Central mainline.

(From this list, it would be difficult to guess that I am a Great Western fan, first and foremost!)

The routes to me that hold the greatest interest and I go back to run regularly are ones that are:

- Based on a prototype setting that feels realistic and captures the atmosphere of the original, with branches or variations to the route to add interest and variety.
- Have a lot of scope for varied scenarios (stopping trains, goods, shunting etc.) A lot of modern routes can get boring quite quickly with only multiple units for passenger services and fixed sets for freight, and much of the original track lifted so they end up just being a run from A to B. (Routes such as Edinburgh-Glagow, Portsmouth Direct, GARL just don't interest me and I am not sure yet about the new modern-era Settle-Carlisle, although it seems to visually stunning.)
- Have gradients to make the driving interesting - especially for steam.
- Long enough to maintain interest but not too long so that scenarios take ages to run.

Routes that meet these criteria that I particularly enjoy are The Woodhead Route, The Port Road (I am really looking forward to version 4), Bath to Templecombe, China Clay for Export, Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith, John Griffith's Settle and Carlisle 1960s, John Griffith's South Devon Banks, Western Rails (Bristol and Gloucester to Swindon and Didcot), Falmouth GWR, Isle of Wight Network.

While I am not really a fan of US or continental railways, some of the recent freeware offerings have been of very high quality and atmosphere that I have enjoyed running them (Altenberg-Wildau, Albula, Hamburg-Bremen to name just a few).
Preserved routes are OK but they are generally quite short, usually just A to B, and the 25mph maximum speed and lack of variety make it difficult to sustain interest long-term.

None of this is meant in anyway as a criticism of ANY route (I am full of respect and admiration for the skill, time and effort that goes into producing any route, whether payware or freeware). Routes that are most likely to appeal to me (and I would be most likely to buy if payware) are ones that meet these criteria.

Mervyn

[dean1986]

i want to see more payware routes which don't just go from A to b would be nice to get to B via C or D

Dean

[FoggyMorning]

and the Kanturk and Newmarket Branch -

http://www.uktrainsim.com/filelib-info. ... leid=25170

-

I'd also wholeheartedly recommend this route - it is absolutely lovely

[StanierMogul]

Interesting thread and it seems to have struck a chord with a lot of people here, and I thought I might add my own perspective since I agree with a lot of what's been said and I think there are ways forward which could satisfy a lot of demand. I've been generally absent from RW since last summer because real life got rather hectic and looking at developments since then RSC have done a huge amount in terms of route releases, updates etc. I have to say I'm generally very satisfied with Railworks but if I were to make a criticism I'd say that there does seem to be a bit of a dearth of steam-era routes available from RSC at the moment and quite a heavy focus on the modern day, with freeware creators in the main being left to fill the gap (through which we've been blessed with some excellent routes). I agree with some of what has been said earlier about modern-era routes in that while I enjoy them for a while I find they can tend to get a bit samey after a while in terms of driving experience; driving with steam presents an ongoing challenge and depending on the locomotive used the same route can provide different challenges every time you drive it in terms of gradients and managing your locomotive.

Personally while the Falmouth Branch is entertaining for short bursts I tend to prefer steam-era routes which allow greater operational complexity like the S&D. I spotted the Cambridge route under construction and personally that hits the nail on the head for me in terms of what I look for and enjoy simulating in RW, (hats off to everybody involved, it looks great!) and no steam enthusiast with RW should be without Jetgriff's brilliant S&C route, which is just fantastic. The popularity of these routes with users shows to my mind that there is probably also a considerable appetite out there for an RSC-built payware 50s/60s era steam or steam/diesel era route, and I would suspect that many users would love to see a substantial-length mainline route (it wouldn't need to be WCML length, mind) as opposed to a Falmouth-length route simply from the point of view of there being potentially more to do.

To summarise some themes that seem to be emerging, a lot of folks seem to want something mainline, not necessarily huge in length but good for medium-ish runs, with a network of radiating lines/branches, giving scope for industries to be served on route which would allow for a good amount of operational variety. I would argue that steam-era routes provide a tremendous opportunity for meeting these parameters, especially pre-Beeching simply because of the wealth of industry that was still served by rail in the fifties and sixties, many branch lines for which often had a passenger service or two a day and a sleepy goods yard somewhere en-route, shunted a couple of times a week or visited by the weekly pick-up goods.

As some folks have pointed out, there's not too much in the way of the Midlands out there, and somewhat ideally from the point of view of content creation, we actually already have a fairly representative set of LMS/BR Midland region steam locos out there. Assuming for a moment we'd be able to find a way to petition RSC to create a route that covers the general bases people have been suggesting in this thread they'd like to see, how does the following sound?

Why not a 1950s-1960s era Midland region network of lines radiating from the Midland mainline between two reasonably-sized towns say forty to fifty miles or so apart? This would allow for mainline express running for those who want it, plenty of interesting branchline goods and passenger workings, with some industry along the branches to give good variety. Thinking about the wealth of freeware and payware stock available now out there now, a 1950s-1960s era route like this gives potentially massive room for scenario creation possibilities, and provides a viable option that caters for a wide range of tastes, balancing out the current wealth of very modern routes a little bit.

I'm posting the above sort of as a brainstorm I guess and as food for thought responding to the general trends in this thread; I'm sure there's plenty in the UK that could be modelled in that time period that would provide the same operational variety, but I went with the Midlands because folks have mentioned that we don't have too much out there at the moment. The main thing is, RSC do seem to be very responsive to their userbase, and if the above ideas or variations on them do tick a lot of boxes for people, we could surely present them in some way as a community to RSC and see what comes of it?

Bob (staniermogul).

[TransportSteve]

Being a predominant BR Blue fan, I play on routes that may be modern in appearance but can also be utilised for the pre-privatisation era, which expands a customer's enjoyment of RSC and other 3rd party route releases. To use one's imagination is of paramount importance when playing in the game, we can do what we want, with whatever rolling stock we want, on any layout we want, for whatever era we want, and it can vary from such payware layouts as WCML, The Woodhead Line and Portsmouth, to fictional routes such as Rusford, Oakbury and Stenton Mainline, to prototypical layouts depicting South West Wales, The Port Road, Leafy Suburbs and The Crouch Valley Line, etc.

We don't know what routes are going to be released by RSC in the next 6 months, they might make a press announcement soon, but, we know, just by looking in the route building section, of what we hopefully may be offered over the coming months from our plethora of hugely talented freeware builders, including Liverpool, the Durham Coast Line, The Mayflower Line, GEML & East Anglia, Trans Pennine Route, Cleveland Lines, Marylebone - Birmingham Snow Hill and Cresston v4, as quick examples, all offering a great variety of routes and periods for us all to enthuse over.

Cheerz. Transport Steve.

[flightsimflier]

I haven't got into steam yet on Railworks (probably due to my age - 40 - and my wish to revert to those formative years and rattle around on slam-door BR Blue stock) ... however I am sure that one day the steam bug will bite me, and what Bob posted above resonated strongly. I have limited funds and as such have yet to experience the delights of Woodhead, modern S&C, or even SECML, but a route with branches and scope for variety would certainly appeal in terms of value for money. I do have WCML-N and for this reason find it an absolute joy, poring over maps working out where I will come back onto the main line, and enjoying a wide range of different types of scenario. Just my two-penn'orth!

[SquidvT]

Originally it was Steam only that got my interest in RWs. Now I have gravitated to BR Blue, simply due to the variety of suitable routes and stock.

The dedicated steam routes that do exist are far too short IMHO. Sure its great fun pottering along in a steam loco down a branch line, but for me at least the real fun is eeking out every available horsepower on a high speed run down a mainline. Longer runs mean you need to manage things even more to make sure you maintain a full head of steam down the entire route. Not only that getting a pacific going at full pelt is just poetry in motion.

I know there are various "Railtour" scenarios, but realistically your limited to just 75 mph.