What TS2013 Add On Niches Are Not Being Served?

[smiljacc]

USA northeast states and caost(please no more western US desert routes) and GP 38 locos with N.East RR liveries.

[levisham]

Thank you all for responding. There has been plenty of good info.

As far as the UK goes, I do not intend to touch it.

That counts me out, then.

[davejc64]

Maybe the OP should have stated in his first post that he had no interest in the UK, then it would have saved a lot of people the bother of replying, but then I guess he would not have got so many replies.

[briyeo1950]

Do an Indian commuter route, that would be interesting to see.
Nah it's no good, I can't fake any interest in overseas routes, it has to be UK heritage routes.

[Seria17hri11er]

Thanks for all the great posts!

Maybe the OP should have stated in his first post that he had no interest in the UK, then it would have saved a lot of people the bother of replying, but then I guess he would not have got so many replies.

My apologies. I am aware that these forums are UKTrainSim, but I was not going to make the assumption that the majority are only interested in UK content. And indeed you can see that there have been multiple posts discussing non UK content.

What do you all think about these logging railways? Imagine route, locomotive, stock, and scenarios in one package:

http://whitemountainhistory.org/Swift_R ... lroad.html

http://whitemountainhistory.org/Rocky_B ... lroad.html

http://whitemountainhistory.org/East_Br ... lroad.html

With gratitude
Nicholas

[sargnickfury]

Route's

I highly disagree with poster who said to leave America alone. You're talking about a huge market and a huge rail fan area....also you're talking about some of the most scenic routes to be found anywhere. However so far the scenic routes in America haven't even been scratched. Instead they do the most flat areas possible for ease of creation.....
Example one of the more Awe inspiring rail lines to me is the Natural Tunnel State park line. They used an actual large cave for a large bit of tunnel, It's kinda like Train Spelunking....
http://youtu.be/0p2C4-VtYvc
Sadly I have never seen video from cab actually going through it, maybe a developer could convince NS to allow a ride along....From what I have heard thanks to recent changes you'd get further with them I'd wager then with CSX, as they are more railfan friendly thanks to old Southern staff coming to power.

Also the Alaska Railway, simply among the most gorgeous scenery on any line, and still goes through TRUE wilderness, would be great to incorporate wildlife....etc Will NOT be for those that fear difficult Terrain....
Alaska Railroad
http://youtu.be/uBiLbfdKweI
http://youtu.be/gtjdGyBuanE

White Pass & Yukon....America's Albula...
http://youtu.be/XQoeAekFQMI
http://youtu.be/CVrmsGEY0Dg
Honestly someone could do nothing BUT Alaska routes and have eager followers for years.....there's so many, and unlike the rest of America it's still a major area for passenger rail...as many areas are only accessible by railroad or plane.

Likewise Canada's Rocky Mountaineer
http://youtu.be/VXxgRlIoEgg

Chicago's Metra System is honestly more interesting then North Eastern Corridor expansion...
http://youtu.be/UvayIEyHkOE
Chicago really has endless possibilities for die hard freight fans, this city is train CHAOS!!!!! They used to have a deal where every major rail line had to end at Chicago, and as a result trains crossing the country are get bogged down there....it is a shunting nightmare. Also one of the busiest hump yards.....I doubt a hump yard can be simed though with any current engine. I highly recommend watching the great HD series "America Revealed" on transportation for this part, they spend a bit of time talking about issues in Chicago.

Also getting away from Chicago on Amtrak's Empire Builder to Washington has many neat sections
http://youtu.be/jss6BEvOgtw
Cascades would be epic....especially if you could sim snow plow action. There is no range on earth that snows as much as cascades they take plowing to a new level....

Highest cog railway on earth is on Pike's Peak......again similar to Swiss and Austrian rail...
http://youtu.be/hPjL5P-j4vE

What we need more of everywhere is Narrow Gauge......
The Rio Grande's Narrow gauge lines are epic....
http://drgw.free.fr/DRGW/DRGW_en.htm
Likewise while we have an excellent community route of Albula there is not a single piece of narrow gauge Rhb stock....I desperately would like to buy a Swiss Crocodile that articulates some, or really I like nostalgia the yellow ABe 4/4 Summer cars would be very cool.
1000m narrow is in high demand.....because of the beautiful albula rte....so far we got nada...
I think Austria is FULL of great narrow gauge lines I would love to drive.....
Great info on them on this video (which I highly recommend getting the full one it's on Amazon instant. )
http://youtu.be/qTLlCSnid-k
I would also like to go back in time and do some classic streamline trains
Burlington Zephyr 1934 - High Speed Streamlined Train in America
http://youtu.be/HXZMMVz6lY8

There's lots of "classic" possibilities. Someday I'd like to for a revamp of Chattanooga area where I live, and show the original stations like the old Union Station now torn down, and put in all the old trolly streetcar trams including the one that used to go up lookout mountain .
http://railga.com/oddend/streetrail/chattanoogastr.html
For that matter I would just like more trolley's and streetcar tram lines in general...


I also agree that JAPAN is in desperate need of some routes, and they have some of the most die hard railfans anywhere.

China would be cool, I love China Rail as you can still really take over night trains and long journeys everywhere..... India is famous as well..... the Trans-Siberian train from China also has alot of great segments.

Really for me half the fun is exploring interesting terrain. I would be happy with some wild and crazy fantasy routes have fun with it....anyway just my thoughts...

[Seria17hri11er]

sargnickfury

Amazing post! Great ideas! Thank you very much! I am going to look at each one.

With utmost gratitude
Nicholas

[Julien]

I know no one cares about French railway, but almost all train enthousiats are interested in a french high speed line. A lot more than Indian, Australian and Canadian railways. Coincidence, all those countries share english as main tongue, the Facebook page being in english I wouldn't consider the requests asked there are being representative of the market demand... And line going from England to France comes to mind, using a certain 40kms long tunnel. Now that would serve a (huge) "niche". TGV's, Eurostars, High Speed Trains, european interest... Oh well, just my 2 cents.

There is a TGV duplex freely available as of now... But not much to roll onto.

[johnrossetti]

One like this please, don't care where it is !
Cheers

[charlie99]

TGV's, Eurostars, High Speed Trains, european interest... Oh well, just my 2 cents

I'll second that one.

[sargnickfury]

Sorry about my post above haveing wrong sort of link for Empire Builder through the cascades..... here is the link

http://youtu.be/jss6BEvOgtw

The Cascades havee been often known as some of the most dangerous rails in the world due to the amount of snow, and problems, landslides, water in tunnels etc that also happen. They get like 500 inches annually.....plowing isn't a now and then thing often it's a non stop struggle and fight to keep lines clear.....Again I don't know if snow plow work can even be done graphically on rail works but would be great if it could.

[sargnickfury]

One like this please, don't care where it is !
Cheers

Yeah i would not trust my life on that....lol cool idea for a fanatsy route, heck how about a train ride through Avatar's Pandora?

[oldstraydog]

Hi,

Thinking about it from a purely business perspective, which I assume is what the original poster seria17hriller is doing if considering creating an add-on business, I should imagine that a key question to ask is what gives the best return on each unit of product sold in relation to number of hours spent creating the product? Viewed in that light, I'd think that route-building comes in second to rolling-stock creation - assuming, of course, that all the necessary skills and modelling software are to hand to start with. There's obviously a lot of research involved in both to get them right, and I'm mindful that rolling stock creation does also involve cab-building and sounds, but my hunch would be that, once you get your eye in, as it were, then making rolling stock would be quicker. And quicker is important when you're talking money in the bank, which is what a business is all about. Especially if you're a one-man band with a day-job leaving limited time for product-creation.

Now, mindful of current pricing, and being very averagey about it, if we say a route might sell for £20 and an item of rolling stock for £10, it's then also worth pondering two points: (1) how many copies of a route are likely to be sold compared with how many hours that route took to make? and then (2) How many copies of a rolling stock item are likely to be sold compared with how many hours that stock took to make?

So, coming back to the thread's original question - what add on niches are not being served? - I would say that one good answer is first-generation UK DMU's (and EMU's). We're well-served for most of the first-generation diesel locomotive classes now; the stable of second-generation DMU's is filling-out nicely too, but there's a great many early DMU and EMU classes that are very conspicuous by their absence. Long-lived classes that wouldn't look out of place on any number of already-available routes, in any period from the 1950s right up to the early 2000's, and which would therefore have a large potential UK market.

In the end it comes down to this: spend perhaps a year making a damned good long route; I come along and buy it once at, say, £20. If it happens to be an area that interests me geographically - in other words, I may not buy it at all, if I have no perceived use for it. This is all good - but you've only made twenty quid out of me in a year, at the most. Multipy that by however many customers you think you'll get. After the post-release rush sales will tail off too, leaving less cashflow while you make your next product... Or, spend that year making four or five good first-generation DMU classes and offer them at a tenner apiece. Chances are I'll buy them all, because I know I can use them on many of the UK routes I already have. This time you've made £40 - £50 from me in a year with product that is likely to have a broader appeal to multiple customers (you''ll have a more even income across the year too because you're releasing new product every few months, not just once). Multipy that by however many customers you think you'll get...

Cheers

Norm

[sargnickfury]

I'm all about making routes like an exotic trip.....so out of the way beautiful railways more then then buisiest flatland routes appeal to me.
For me railsimming is an escape. I'd be more likely to shell out money for more interesting scenery.

Some other more exotic ideas...

Also for North America let's not Forget Mexico.....where else can you go on an RV train ride?
http://youtu.be/-VR6JQI8VCQ
(you actually strap your RV to a flat car, and then you and your Rv go on tour on the railway)

The Copper Canyon railway in Mexico - Chihuahua al Pacifico railroad
http://youtu.be/-BwWhl1778k

Of course further south is the REAL amazing railroads of the Americas....The Andes...



Peru's railways are all scenic and amazing because the whole country is also
http://youtu.be/OIf3tcr1AOA

Or if someone could reconstruct the "Serpentin de Pasamayo" railway that would be neat epic heights along coast....
Think most of it was converted to roads.
http://youtu.be/OKupwuHhDqw

heheh and if you think Metra traffic is dicey...check this video in peru.
http://youtu.be/9iWtJf4SHB0

Great info here for more Trans Adian routes......really the Andes rail is on my top bucket list trips.
http://mikes.railhistory.railfan.net/r022.html
http://transpressnz.blogspot.com/2012/0 ... -rail.html

Some examples in Andes:
http://youtu.be/K4_PaoDBEC4

Gorgeous
http://youtu.be/qfK-ngjstJc

Arica to La Paz by train (Chile / Bolivia)
(just amazing video)
http://youtu.be/ApKSYAU0WEo

(I don't think anyone has modeled Llamas yet.....)


Ecuador
http://youtu.be/1oIXg11xrIA


Anyway Just youtube your way around, So many ideas...

I think a crazy Fantasy one might be fun too....how about a Lunar train? If someone put thought into what challanges would be and train design that could be particularly fun....

[sargnickfury]

Also for the record I shelled out 60 Bucks on RBB route 1, and yes it did also come with nice rolling stock.....but my point is if you make a good route and give attention to detail then people will pay for it. I'm also not sure it is that much easier to make good stock then interesting routes. More and more there is route creation software that uses Google Earth and map data to get you started faster with topography, and some scenery....but this is why I think Scenery is a bigger deal then rolling stock. You can put ANY train on a route, but route assets then inspire more community routes, that then REQUIRE your route for those assets.....many people buy paid for routes just to be able to get access to many community routes. If you were to develop a route in an area no one has modeled then your pack becomes the basis for any routes created for that local, and maybe even bought by developers of other routes in that area as they don't have to reinvent the wheel....someone could make the same rolling stock as yours tomorrow...and then it's just a price point function conflict. Or which one actually works fully with Raildriver

Rolling stock that works correctly takes a great attention to detail, and also requires quite a bit of physics know how, and how to fool the Railworks screwy physic's it seems. Scenery can be pumped out alot quicker.....and doesn't have to be made "compatible" with Raildriver...

I will pay more for routes then rolling stock, and routes that include new scenery might become needed down the road. I can run my Re 44 in Canada, or my F7 in Switzerland...and I often do use non realistic stock just because it's fun......but new scenery that is not boring is hard to come by.......

that said if the rolling stock was for a KEY dream train...Like the Burlington Zephyr or the Swiss Rhaetian Railway Ge 6/6 or something just really interesting, and a GREAT level of attention to detail is done to cab and functionality....then yes....I will pay well for that too....but I am willing to bet the quality products in that line take a great deal of time to create and work right, and much testing.