Uk Routes

[MBonwick]

Does anyone know of any good UK routes for MSTS?

Cheers,

MBonwick

[USRailFan]

Heaps of UK routes over at www.uktrainsim.com

I must admit to not having experience with many of the routes myself, altho I can strongly recommend the Woodhead route (60s electrified route with everything from heavy coal trains to suburban commuter trains). Other routes that seem to be very popular there are the Dorset Coast and Thames-Mersey routes (I think the last one is also available here at train-sim.com ?).

[MBonwick]

Cheers for that.

[ragtimer]

I do not have experience of the Woodhead or the Dorset coast route but I understand they both eat resources.Thames Mersey is not bad,especially for a freeware route but would be better in two or three parts,individually downloadable.Again,it is resources hungry.Northwest England I liked a lot but again would be better in two parts.What I would like to see is some genius route builder modify the default Settle to Carlisle with firstly colour light signals;modify the track layout at Carlisle where two tracks become one for a short stretch (perhaps an expert would tell us if that is like the RW)and thirdly electrify it.Any offers out there?Of the payware routes,I have London and SE and London to Brighton.They are neither up to the quality of a lot of the freeware US routes I have seen.

[Marcus]

IMHO the following UK routes are worth looking into:

Freeware (modern era): Scottish Central (at UKTrainSim, also on CD), Dorset Coast 3 (at UKTrainSim, also on CD)
Freeware (preserved): GWR Toddington (at UKTrainSim, also on CD)
Freeware (steam era): Steyning (at UKTrainSim, CD forthcoming), Yorkshire Coast Railway (at UKTrainSim, also on CD), Burton-Derby 1950's 2.0 (CD only)

Payware: (modern era): Great Eastern (Making Tracks)

All these routes use the UKFineScale tracksystem for authentic British looking trackwork. Most routes are also obtainable on CD with lots of activities and stock.

Almost all UK routes are listed on www.uktrainsim.com. Look for Route Registry.

Marcus Boon

[rdamurphy]

Ffestiniog Railway

It's just plain fun.

Robert

[RRGpa]

Good Morning-

I find the East Coast Express 1 & 2 from European Bahn to be really good routes.

RRGPA

[phil_jmw]

I've just bought and installed East Coast Express 1 (wuth 2, 3 and 4 on the way). First impressions from running the 0611 Kings X - Welwyn stopping train (Activity 1) are not bad although unfortunately the signals and PSR warning boards do not appear to have AWS fitted which is a shame but otherwise I'm happy so far.

I have encountered one irritating problem when running the Peterboro - Kings X fast (activity 4), I keep getting unsolicited brake applications and have to press the reset button (AWS cancelling button in real life) to release the brakes. I presume this is the 'Vigilance' device activating but I'm getting no prior audible warning of this beforehand. Has anybody else encountered this?

Any help would be appreciated.

Phil

[ozace50]

Check out the Community CDs over at UKTS. They are very reasonably priced, and they come with the route plus up to 100 activities plus all the equipment needed to run them. I have bought several, and they are delivered quickly (5-7 days to Australia), and they have always worked first time. Best deal around!!

My favourite UK routes are Thames-Mersey, Cannock Chase, Burton-Derby, and West Highland.

[AlanCh]

I do not have experience of the Woodhead or the Dorset coast route but I understand they both eat resources.Thames Mersey is not bad,especially for a freeware route but would be better in two or three parts,individually downloadable.Again,it is resources hungry.Northwest England I liked a lot but again would be better in two parts.What I would like to see is some genius route builder modify the default Settle to Carlisle with firstly colour light signals;modify the track layout at Carlisle where two tracks become one for a short stretch (perhaps an expert would tell us if that is like the RW)and thirdly electrify it.Any offers out there?Of the payware routes,I have London and SE and London to Brighton.They are neither up to the quality of a lot of the freeware US routes I have seen.

I disagree with your suggestions about splitting Thames Mersey and North West England - they both run without problems using Bin, as does Dorset Coast.

As for the Settle Carlisle, there are two much better versions of this route, extending south to Skipton with much improved scenery, track layouts and gradients, but neither have colour lights. Both are set in the steam era, one in the 1920s and the other in the 1940s, and are available for download from UKTrainsim.

The best UK payware route by far is Great Eastern from making Tracks - a busy commuter, express passenger and freight route running from London Liverpool Street to Ipswich, set in the 1980s to 1990s.

You will find plenty of screenshots and comments on UK routes on the UKTrainsim forums. Each UKTrainsim Community CD that you purchase gives you one month's premium membership for unlimited downloads.