Railworks America

https://live.dovetailgames.com/live/tra ... g-tsw-2020

A new West coast USA route and a few small bits and bobs here and there make TSW 2019 into TSW 2020.

"A new West coast route"? Any hints?

dejoh wrote:"A new West coast route"? Any hints?

None, other than at 3DTrains board a poster responding to the complaints of Marc dropping all development of MSTS and TS19 routes with the answer he had been in contact with Marc who said he was busy on a few new projects?? His Tehachapi Pass would make excellent stock for TSW, but then there is the BNSF licensing issue ( and perhaps UP's license too? )

Otherwise some Amtrak California stuff, since it seems the Amtrak license is secure? Or is Amtrak California a separate entity?

Anyway, release is in a month, August 15. So we will know soon enough and make up our own minds about the offered introduction/upgrade price.

Great news, sounds promising!

I don't think it would be Tehachapi for, as stated, this could have licensing implications. More likely to be a commuter route, maybe Surfliner (though a tad long for the usual TSW 50 mile paradigm) or possibly Metrolink in LA or the San Jose commuter run. Also Tehachapi would require a real overhaul of the physics engine to get some credibility hauling those big trains up the hill.

Otherwise it seems largely a makeover in the style of what they've been doing with Railworks for some years now; you still need to buy the "bundled" routes if you don't already own them.

More important, not a whisper on any form of editing suite, not even one that would allow us to mix and match rolling stock and/or set up our own activities. Purely IMHO but I don't think we will see that anytime soon, if at all and as for a route editor - pretty much forget it.

A passenger/commuter route seems plausible since the Simugraph physics emulation/simulation isn't suited to real length and weight US freight trains of over 400 axles and two or three sets of DPU used on the transcontinental freight arteries. You can run a 18000 tons real life ethanol train over Cajon in Run8, in TSW one isn't even sure loaded cars weigh in like loaded.

Also passenger trains perhaps appeal more to the casual player DTG seems to want to attract on the lucrative (?) console market.

The editor and all the other promised features of 'the ultimate realism in train simulation' seem as far away in TSW2020 as they were before in TSW2019. DTG's resources must be really stretched thin with developing and supporting TSW on three platforms. Lets hope there is still progress being made.

Probably nothing with BNSF in it if they want the global market.

Skunk Train/route!!

Do Oregon and Washington not also count as West Coast? There are more possibilities than California.

JohnTrainHead wrote:Do Oregon and Washington not also count as West Coast? There are more possibilities than California.

All those old logging lines - Carlton Coast, Sumpter or even McCloud Forest. :) But no I think it's going to be something fairly well known and passenger orientated so they can sell it to the kids. They know quite nicely the benchmark for American freight is now Run 8 so they are unlikely to go up against that, or so I would think. Also the further north you go, the more BNSF dominate even the routes over which Amtrak operate.

DTG put out this teaser image on their site under the “TSW 2020” section. No confirmation as of yet, but the running theory on the DTG forums is that it’s a Caltrain style platform. There’s a good chance it’ll be the 46-mile route from San Francisco to San Jose, possibly Tamien if the dev team feels nice. Provided this theory is correct, rolling stock would either be the F40 and Nippon Sharyo bilevels or the MP36 and Bombardier bilevels, plus a UP GP38 or similar for freight.

"plus a UP GP38 or similar for freight." All though not currently prototypical. The new offering of the SW 1000 would look great in the yards under a BNSF herald.

dejoh wrote:"plus a UP GP38 or similar for freight." All though not currently prototypical. The new offering of the SW 1000 would look great in the yards under a BNSF herald.

I agree, a new SW1000 or SW1200 would be nice!

Give me some steam!

Personally I'm predicting Amtrak Capital Corridor: San Jose to Richmond; it's a high traffic Amtrak route with stations spaced not too far apart from each other. The distance between Richmond, CA and San Jose being 52 miles also makes it a possible contender; the Capital Corridor also features UnionPacific traffic