Railworks America

Nothing but praise for this new item from DTG for TSW. Excellent looking model including the cab and the sounds are really superb. Physics also seem much improved in so far as I can tell running on a 25 MPH Heritage Railway.





The only caveat I would add is that the add on could do with a couple of "Railtour" scenarios on Paddington to Reading route so we can get the loco up to top speed. In the longer term, a traditional route where these machines operated would also be welcome - part of Cardiff to Portsmouth, Cardiff to Crewe or maybe Salisbury to Exeter.

I was wondering why no mention of this yet around here (if only by the crowd that takes each new release as an opportunity to bash). It looks very good to me, and I have a soft spot for Cromptons. I think I’ll go ahead and pick it up rather than wait for a sale on this one.

But, this is RWA, apart from us British railwaymen, veterans and trainspotters, do many folks know anything about ''Cromptons'' on here?

Cheerz. Steve.

ex-railwayman wrote:But, this is RWA, apart from us British railwaymen, veterans and trainspotters, do many folks know anything about ''Cromptons'' on here?

Cheerz. Steve.

That’s why it’s called Railworks AMERICA.

Well they do sound similar to Alco's, which might generate a bit of interest!

Just two slight flies to throw in the ointment, none of which are directly related to the model itself.

On one timetable run I arrived at Blue Anchor in the Down direction with the section signal at danger. Departure time came and went, but no sign of the Up train arriving to cross. Got out the cab and walked around a bit to amuse myself but still no Up train and tabbing to pass the signal at danger continued to elicit a negative response. So it doesn't look like all the timetable permutations were tested.

Stopping at one of the stations with short platforms, I noticed the doors on the coaches not at the platform were wide open. Now RW/TS manages to avoid opening doors off the platform so you would have thought the same "action area" logic would be built into TSW.

Have a look at the under frame some time. It looks like it was made either in a rush or by two different people. Normal mapped cylinders for springs, poorer textures, the wheels don't animate, likely to alleviate the motion blur on wheelset issues, but it looks really tacky in practice.

Well, I've just given it a spin Anthony, the wheels seem to animate fine to me, just like the Class 47, they blur as you go along building up speed, so, it's difficult to actually see the wheel turning, but, I'm sure they work OK, but, they do operate differently to TS2019 models. It's very possible that more than one person has been involved with the construction of this model, but, we can't be 100% sure about the textures, etc, the loco is in Preservation, and there are virtually no photographs of her on the internet in her current livery, not enough for us to be able to do a close up detailed analysis, anyway, so, it's difficult to see what should be where, I'm sure DTG got plenty of photographs of her when they visited the Heritage Railway, those of us who live hundreds of miles away have to trust their accuracy, unfortunately.

Cheerz. Steve.

An issue I have seen flagged at UKTS, again more with TSW mechanics than the actual add on, is that under AI control the Class 33 consists are accelerating like Metro trains and on arriving at stations the loco is still thrashing away until the train comes to a stand. I have since observed this behaviour myself. Worse than Trainz DCC mode... definitely something DTG need to resolve.

The old trick of CTRL + F2 toggles the blurred wheels?
I thought DTG stepped away from this unwanted blur? I’ve heard it’s still used on the consoles by default.

I few things I noticed at a friends’ PC, when seated at the controls, the sound changes markedly when you turn your head.
No “ Sulzer Throb” unless you look back?
Outside sounds are strangely variable too depending on the type of view, direction of view and distance from the train.

The locomotive seems to overbuffer with the first trailing carriage.

The is no pneumatic hiss when you operate the brakes.

When taking the train up to speed, ignoring the limits, the is visible wobble and sway in the outside view, but hardly anything when seated at the controls.

WSR route looks very empty, all tracks are gleaming and all parked cars are left hand drive.