Atomic Systems

Vintage routes take far too much time in research and assets to make them financially viable for a business. There are plenty of individuals who have done sterling work in this department. Seek and you shall find.

Yeah, you're right, there are actually quite a few routes in the London / Southern area, just hardly anything for Southern steam, nothing set in steam era.

No matter what area of England, what county, which country, which continent - I'd love to see a proper steam era route. The older the better for me!

And yeah, I do of course realize that this will cost a lot more in terms of research, and that not a lot of rolling stock will be available upon release that's true to the time period.

But the sim would offer a great opportunity to make a virtual visit to Victorian era railways, something which we cannot get in real life. A few actors acting out 19th century railway life on a heritage railway line is not the same as operating a busy trunk route out of London in 1870, for instance!

Thus I keep dreaming

Cheers,

--Tim

31466 wrote: I can't think of a single commercial route set in the midlands (Although the Birmingham 2010 route is very nice) or in Wales so surely one of those areas would be better than yet another London based route! Not sure why these areas have been left out so far, maybe most TS users live around London?

When building a new line you need to look at what stock is required and is it already available from DTG and also what Licence's might be required for the stock.

The Birmingham area might be good but the 172 & 323 would have to be built from scratch.
South Wales might be ok but the 142 & 175 are not available but DTG does have the 150, 158 & HST which are still quite common.

I don't think it's TS users living around London but there is a greater amount of traffic in the area giving more player interest.

Peter

749006 wrote:

31466 wrote: I can't think of a single commercial route set in the midlands (Although the Birmingham 2010 route is very nice) or in Wales so surely one of those areas would be better than yet another London based route! Not sure why these areas have been left out so far, maybe most TS users live around London?

When building a new line you need to look at what stock is required and is it already available from DTG and also what Licence's might be required for the stock.

The Birmingham area might be good but the 172 & 323 would have to be built from scratch.
South Wales might be ok but the 142 & 175 are not available but DTG does have the 150, 158 & HST which are still quite common.

I don't think it's TS users living around London but there is a greater amount of traffic in the area giving more player interest.

Peter

That is true although many new routes have a new item of rolling stock included. ECML had the 365, GEML had the 360 and Riviera had the 143 etc.

The one route that seems to be asked for a bit is the Cross City line. This has already been produced for 2 other Train Simulators and in my opinion is one of the least interesting lines you could do! All stopping trains are the same class (323) and the only real variety is between Birmingham and Barnt Green which takes about 15 minutes non stop. If I was choosing a route it would probably be Birmingham - Rugby (or further!) via both Coventry and Nuneaton. This would offer express passenger, stopping passenger and many freight opportunities. Include the Coventry - Nuneaton branch and you could be looking at a route with as many diversion options as WCML-N. This route could include a 350 as the new item of stock (they virtually make one already) and you already have the Pendolino, Voyager, class 170, class 66 and class 70 available to do the other services.

Living in the area makes be a bit biased I admit but it can't be denied that the midlands area has been excluded up to now.

Lets just see what the new route is!

The Chiltern Mainline from London Marylebone to Birmingham Snowhill would be good.

davejc64 wrote:The Chiltern Mainline from London Marylebone to Birmingham Snowhill would be good.

Yes please. Ideally with the new Chiltern 68s too!

I know it's been said before, but:

South Wales Main Line and some of the valleys networks...

Huge variety in operations, from intensive commuter ops around Cardiff, heavy coal, steel (& iron ore ), petroleum, stone, freightliners; from main line running, stock and speeds to some of the steepest graded and tightest radius lines on the network.

Even today there are multiple rail served port, steelwork, coal mine, power station and chemical works for freight operations, and a variety of local, cross country and intercity passenger operations.

Much of the stock is already available, and the core route lends itself to the Keith Ross approach of spanning several decades.

rkk01 wrote:South Wales Main Line and some of the valleys networks...

That's reminded me, apart from wcml south, "Cardiff valleys Inc. Newport-Bridgend" is the next unmade route from the FB poll. But I do agree, it would require the Keith Ross approach to do it justice.
Anthony

davejc64 wrote:The Chiltern Mainline from London Marylebone to Birmingham Snowhill would be good.

Someone was working on that route I believe? I wouldn't mind seeing the riviera line extended to Penzance.

I would love to see the Cambrian Line in either Steam or Modern day guise.

Aberystwyth and Pwhlelli lines from Machynlleth.

The line continuing from Machynlleth to Shrewsbury would be amazing.

I have a feeling it's this tbh as Derek's been working on it for ages and I wouldn't be surprised it's near complete now.

http://dereksiddle.blogspot.co.uk/

tnleeuw01 wrote:Yeah, you're right, there are actually quite a few routes in the London / Southern area, just hardly anything for Southern steam, nothing set in steam era.

No matter what area of England, what county, which country, which continent - I'd love to see a proper steam era route. The older the better for me!

And yeah, I do of course realize that this will cost a lot more in terms of research, and that not a lot of rolling stock will be available upon release that's true to the time period.

But the sim would offer a great opportunity to make a virtual visit to Victorian era railways, something which we cannot get in real life. A few actors acting out 19th century railway life on a heritage railway line is not the same as operating a busy trunk route out of London in 1870, for instance!

Thus I keep dreaming

Cheers,

--Tim

I wouldn't mind the Hastings line (biased as I live here!), including the branch to Bexhill West. A mixture of expresses, local freights, stoppers... perfect place for the Schools class and Q1 to stretch their legs on!

secludedsfx wrote:I have a feeling it's this tbh as Derek's been working on it for ages and I wouldn't be surprised it's near complete now.

http://dereksiddle.blogspot.co.uk/

You could very well be right, and I would be a very happy chappy.

moose4675 wrote:I would love to see the Cambrian Line in either Steam.. snip

Aberystwyth and Pwhlelli lines from Machynlleth.

That would be truly fantastic.

karma99 wrote:

moose4675 wrote:I would love to see the Cambrian Line in either Steam.. snip

Aberystwyth and Pwhlelli lines from Machynlleth.

That would be truly fantastic.

Always thought Cambrian / Talerddig plus the Wye valley route to Brecon would be stunning...

Unlikely, obviously...