Introduction When the original
Rail Simulator came out I was always fascinated with the Newcastle
to York route and to be honest I really can’t
say why. Personally, I think it had a lot to do with the size of
the route and its potential for being a widely used passenger system
which ultimately meant that there would be a lot to see in between
stops, but what surprised me the most was that the original route
was based on an early 70’s version of this mainline route
which was designed more for freight than passenger use. Well, I managed to get that answer when Just Trains released the “modern” Newcastle to York route and I found there were some pretty significant differences between the two, the biggest being that the Newcastle to York route was now mainly used for passenger transport rather than that of freight which was so popular back in the 70’s! What You Get! The Newcastle to York add-on can be had two ways, one by download
and the other by that of a boxed product. I received both and frankly
I prefer having it via the boxed version because of its ease of
installation and not having to enter serial numbers and or passwords
to get the product activated. Now, the folks over at Just Trains
and Just Flight have streamlined the activation process for downloadable
products and have made it much easier, but I still prefer the boxed
format. Installation is pretty straightforward with the disk version,
insert the disk into your CD drive and follow the prompts to install! The Route At first glance one might have to the tendency to think that this is just a modified version of the default Newcastle to York route, not really! This is a completely new route that has been built from the ground up giving the virtual train engineer a modernized version of this particular route. It includes modern buildings, landmarks, roads, bridges, track and even modern signals. The difference between both routes is actually quite noticeable and the biggest change is the increased traffic of passenger trains versus the freight traffic that dominated the 70’s route to which this east coast line in England was so well known for.
The route comes with 8 different scenarios all of which are passenger based and makes use of the HST engine. Now, since the new modern route uses the Voyager engine I was a little disheartened to see that the route didn’t come with scenarios for those of us that already have the Voyager add-on from Just Trains. A quick trip to the Just Trains site revealed no updates to bring the Voyager into the modern Newcastle route, so it would be necessary to add the Voyager engine and its content manually if one wanted to use it with this route and this can be easily done through the world editor, but there will be no scenarios for the Voyager add-on and it will have to be either added to an existing scenario or that of a free roam scenario. The free roam seems to work best for me, but bear in mind that there are no predefined stops or activities and it is what it is, “free roam.” The idea behind the HST’s engines in this add-on is that the old engines have been called back into service to compete with the now popular Voyager series train engine. Included are four real world liveries designed for the HST of companies that use the Newcastle route today.
The route itself is 80 some miles of track and covers about 6 different stations along this route. The stations that are included are Newcastle, Chester Le Street, Durham, Darlington, Northallerton, Thirsk, and of course York. The largest areas of sceneries are of course Newcastle and York, but it is a lot of fun to sight-see along the way. Each station has people waiting and other custom sceneries that really does help enhance the rail experience; so whether it’s a big city or a small town there is always something to see. I was amazed at the attention to detail in the elevation in some areas and was really impressed with the extensive rail networks in places like York and Newcastle.
The biggest thing to remember is while you are moving along the route from whatever scenario you choose, you must follow time schedules and always obey the posted speeds. My first time out of York I decided to push it getting out and away from the city, but was quickly stopped when I crossed over a sensor that alerts the engine that I was going too fast and I quickly found myself parked waiting for the engine computer system to reset itself. Along the way you will also find track that has the tendency to go off into nowhere, these are actual switches that branch off onto other rail line’s along this route in the real world, but in Rail Works they have the un-ending nerve to come to an abrupt end, thus ending your free roam trip real quick. The best thing to do here is to really plan out your free roam expedition. These extra lines of track do offer for some interesting possibilities for the overall route and could easily be modified to create new sections of route using the world editor built into Rail Works and Rail Simulator, either as a new add-on that models a real world route or a fictional route that one might decide to create his or her self. The one thing I would like to see implemented in Rail Works is a better planning and notification system that tells the engineer where he’s at and when the next event is to take place. I guess what I am looking for is better situational awareness. Realistically, just a map that can be displayed while driving the train would be nice; kind of like the GPS in Flight Simulator. Granted the route scenarios are scripted and it is just a matter of knowing that you need to stop at the next stop. For instance I decided to try one of the scenarios included with this add-on and had found that I had totally skipped over my first stop because there was nothing telling me that I needed to stop and load. I just went into it thinking that the train was already loaded and I was ready to go onto the next station. How about something that tells you when the train is loaded and you are ready to move on to the next stop? Class 60 and Freight Wagons When I received my copy of the modern Newcastle to York package, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I also received the boxed version of the Class 60. Now because I had already reviewed the download version of the Class 60 I didn’t really know where I could take another review of the same thing. But, I was saved because the boxed version of the Class 60 comes packaged with two individual freight wagons as well! The Class 60 needs no introduction and is one of the better engine add-ons available for both Railworks and Rail Simulator in both the visual and sound departments. If you would like to read that review please look it over.
Now, the other offering in this package is that of the YGB Seacow and the Cargowaggon IWB freight haulers which have both been built from the ground up and work well with just about any route designed for Railworks and Rail Simulator. Installation is easy and painless and you will see the extra scenarios for each added under each route that this add-on covers. For best testing and first looks I found that the Oxford to Paddington route was the best to view this new content. Each freight wagon comes with eight different liveries and are accurate to real world liveries that are used around the world today. What impressed me the most about these two add-ons is the attention to detail in design. For instance, when you are looking at the IWB the printing on the side of the car has a very authentic look to it and when looked at under the right setting it has an almost picture perfect look to it. The same can be said about the Seacow and its design for crew access and loading and unloading its freight. They both really do look that good!
The freight cars, as well as the Class 60, can be easily implemented into any route using the world editor. While the add-on does cover the stock routes, you will need to manually add them to your own routes and other 3rd party routes. This is easily achieved and is explained in the manual that comes with this package in detail. In Closing The Newcastle to York add-on is a welcome addition to the Railworks program as it offers a beautifully designed, modernized route that has needed a facelift since the first Rail Simulator program and its 1970’s Newcastle to York route. Just Trains offers the boxed package at right around 40 bucks and in my opinion is well worth the price of the ticket to get you to York! The Class 60 , the Seacow, and the Cargowaggon IWB is another exceptional add-on from the guys at Just Trains, as it offers three beautifully designed products all for the price of one in a boxed product. For me, I prefer it this way! Give me the add-ons all on one disk so when I need to reinstall them I have them. The boxed Class 60 and Freight Wagons package retails for about 30 bucks and can be purchased from Just Trains. |
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