Add-On Recommendations

[jgvaughan]

Okay, there is over $5000 in add-ons available in the Steam Store. My past experiences have shown that some of those will be outstanding pieces of work, most will be worth the expenditure, and some will be a waste of money. So with the following in mind:

1) I prefer running on U.S. and German Railroads, and

2) I'm more route oriented than equipment.

What are your recommendations for the best add-ons to pick up? Right now I am working with just the basic package that comes with TS 2016.

Your feedback is appreciated...

Jim

[BKRR605]

I would recommend any Digital Train Model addons, the DDA40X, UP & SP SD45, UP GP50,DD35,GP30 and Reppos SP GP20
And routes, the Feather River Canyon, Stevens Pass, Canadian Mountain Passes, Clear Creek Narrow Gauge, etc. The newer routes basically

[buzz456]

I recommend that you go look over stuff that interests you and then come back and ask for opinions on what the forum members think of the items you might be thinking about. That question you ask is way too far into the realm of what are various members favorites, not necessarily what is quality stuff.

[NYWhiskey]

If I remember Jim you wanted to use one of my passenger activities in your training in MSTS many years ago. If you are still into passengers check out the New York New Haven route. It has freight opportunities also. I'm not just biased because my highrise is in the route, it is spot on.

[jgvaughan]

If I remember Jim you wanted to use one of my passenger activities in your training in MSTS many years ago. If you are still into passengers check out the New York New Haven route. It has freight opportunities also. I'm not just biased because my highrise is in the route, it is spot on.

Thanks Rich, That is one of the routes I thought looked interesting. My early on (5-6 years ago) experience with what I found on Steam was high prices and low quality on most of the products offered. So I normally limited my purchases to those that were from some of the non-Steam affiliated companies. I just don't want to repeat that mistake again. It all looks nice but I'd suspect most of it is not worth the price they are asking.

Jim

[buzz456]

Most of the latest routes are very nice.

[OpenRailer90]

The best German route will have to be Berlin-Leipzig. Don't have it but it is amazing. I also recommend the North Jersey Coast Line. It does fall short in some places but is an excellent commuter rail line. If you are getting the NJCL I highy recommend the ALP-46; the vR BR101 for any electrified German route.

[buzz456]

Not to run a commercial but the Riverside Waterton & Atlantic Route which is donationware to help support the forum is a fictional route set somewhere near the Great Lakes is one of the best play toys you will ever own.D/L from link above.

[jgvaughan]

Not to run a commercial but the Riverside Waterton & Atlantic Route which is donationware to help support the forum is a fictional route set somewhere near the Great Lakes is one of the best play toys you will ever own.D/L from link above.

Yep, already grabbed that one as well as the other donationware packages. Anything to help I know what it costs to keep a site like this online.

[artimrj]

Don't forget to look in the file library. It has it's own section. Lots of repaints and scenarios and even a vegetation mod.

[Griphos]

There are a couple of freeware routes that are superb. I don't recall their payware dependencies, but these are listed in the route. Adriana County and Majestic Falls and Blackwood Creek are all made with incredible detail and are deeply immersive routes. I enjoy them as much or more than any routes I have. Worth getting what they require just to be able to run them.

I've always found Horseshoe Curve one of my favorites to run as well. Nice period detail, and great rolling stock.

[NYWhiskey]

My early on (5-6 years ago) experience with what I found on Steam was high prices and low quality on most of the products
Jim

In cab signalling on this one(NYNH). Most people couldn't drive the train because they don't read the manual and learn what to do when you hit a reduced speed. Running out of Penn, running out of GCT, Sunnyside yard which is huge. Oak Point yard up in da Bronx, it's all good.

[jgvaughan]

Thanks for the feedback...Now to go out and corral a few of those. Along with the freeware and shareware that's available everywhere I'm sure I'll have plenty of stuff to fill my free time.

[Chacal]

Probably you will find out in time that however beautiful a route is, this means little if there aren't scenarios available for running on it.
Therefore I only install routes for which there are at least 10 scenarios (not quick-drive) available.
For this I highly recommend looking for scenarios in 3 places:
- Steam Workshop for scenarios for official DLC routes; for example there are tons of scenarios for the Horseshoe curve;
- The file library here at RWA; we have lots of scenarios for the RW&A route and others;
- The download section of the NERW forums, where dozens of scenarios for several routes are available, all based on the same set of rolling stock so you don't have to hunt for assets for hours.

[buzz456]

Probably you will find out in time that however beautiful a route is, this means little if there aren't scenarios available for running on it.
Therefore I only install routes for which there are at least 10 scenarios (not quick-drive) available.
For this I highly recommend looking for scenarios in 3 places:
- Steam Workshop for scenarios for official DLC routes; for example there are tons of scenarios for the Horseshoe curve;
- The file library here at RWA; we have lots of scenarios for the RW&A route and others;
- The download section of the NERW forums, where dozens of scenarios for several routes are available, all based on the same set of rolling stock so you don't have to hunt for assets for hours.

Your fixation with scenarios is well known to all of us who have been around here for a while however many of us find canned scenarios to be distracting and much prefer to kind of make them up as we go. Makes for a lot more relaxing experience and saves the "what the heck does he mean with that instruction?" or "what do you mean I have to clear the switch point by a hundred yards?" for the dispatcher to move on to the next instruction. Or the "you failed to complete that pickup at xyz"

Different strokes for different folks I guess.