ECML DIESEL rAILTOURS

a diesel classic, inspired by legend

Train Sim World 5: East Coast Main Line Railtour Pack will release on 3rd April for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Epic Games Store, and Steam for £11.99/€13.99/$13.99

*UK pricing will be £11.49 on the PlayStation Store

A fallen legend springs back to life in Train Sim World 5, courtesy of Athena Simulations. Experience 47484 in the East Coast Main Line Railtour Pack, coming 3rd April!

ECML Diesel Railtours from Athena Simulations brings exciting new content, both for the East Coast Mainline route and timetables across Train Simulator World 5 (TSW5) as a whole. Included in the pack are 3 iconic diesel locomotives, with the British Rail Class 40 “Whistler”, Class 45 “Peak” and perhaps one of the UK’s most famed diesel locomotives, Class 47, 47484 Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The pack is rounded out with the inclusion of custom Mk1 carriages in BR blue and grey, answering fan requests for these much loved carriages.

Diesel Railtours was conceived as a spiritual sequel to the highly successful Diesel Legends of the Great Western for TSW, bringing classic traction to the East Coast Mainline. Yet, the East Coast Mainline is far from the end of the line, with all three locomotives being fully available to drive across a wide range of UK based routes in TSW5, seamlessly layering in to existing timetables. Athena Simulations tell us that the team went to great lengths to ensure that the Class 47, Class 45 and Class 40 operate within the timetable of many routes, including all the era specific routes and even heritage routes in TSW5 and the popular 1980s based routes from Just Trains, West Coast Mainline: Preston-Carlisle and Blackpool Branches: Preston - Blackpool & Ormskirk  routes

47484 Isambard Kingdom Brunel is arguably one of the most popular and iconic diesel locomotives in the history of British railways and the team have painstakingly spent long months recreating her in exquisite detail, resplendent in the famed Great Western Railway green livery that the locomotive carried in recognition of the centenary of the GWR. Wearing this livery 47484 was used as the premier prestige diesel locomotive, being allocated the duty of hauling the Royal Train, along with numerous railtours and special event services across the entire UK network.

Additionally special release versions of the Class 45 and Class 40 locomotives are also fully included in the pack. These locomotives also became icons of the railway network, albeit in less glamourous duties, hauling freight and express passenger services around the UK

The pack also brings to TSW5 a range of Mark 1 coaches with custom 3D modelling, in BR blue and grey livery as much requested by the community! In addition to the widely sought after liveries, each of the coaches has also had a 3D makeover, bringing them to the exacting and exciting standards achievable in TSW5. Included in the pack are the BG, TSO, BSO and FK in response to fan demand! Additionally, the team were careful to choose versions of the Mk1 coaching stock that were dual air and vacuum braked offering maximum versatility when used in your own scenarios with a locomotive of your choice!

The pack includes 10 scenarios, custom created with new features such as depot movements, the opportunity to run around your train and coupling double headed formations for very special railtours along the East Coast Mainline. A wide range of AI services have been created for each of the scenarios, including layering of appropriate rolling stock from other UK routes.

ECML Diesel Railtours provides 3 iconic locomotives and 4 Mk1 coaches in a single DLC pack, along with layering across many existing TSW5 routes, to bring to life locos that are cherished as much today as when they first entered service.

Rolling Stock

47484 ‘Isambard Kingdom Brunel’

The hero of this Add-on is the newly modelled variant of the Class 47 locomotive: no.47484 ‘Isambard Kingdom Brunel’. 

This retro loco, adorned in western green, was a rare catch in the British Rail days thanks to its ornate furnishings and distinct heritage livery. Despite declining into disarray, this fallen legend springs back to life for modern railtour duty, courtesy of Athena Simulations. 

Built in 1965, 47484 was one of over 500 of the Brush Type 4s in British Rail service. Assigned to depots throughout the country, 484 spent much of its working years on BR’s Western Region and was aptly named after renowned railway engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

In 1985, in accordance with the 150th anniversary of the Great Western Railway, a striking coat of GWR green was applied onto 47484. Finished with stylish numberplates and pinstripe lining, 47484 stood out as an exemplary member of the fleet, was often used for special duties, and gained a following among enthusiasts.

Unfortunately, this stature did not secure a bright future. 47484’s green became grime, and its reflection turned to rust when it was eventually put into long-term storage, with no promise of when it may return to its former glory.

With Athena Simulations’ Add-on, this unique locomotive returns to the rails in a virtually restored condition. The model features custom 3D nameplates and number plates (including the unique brass BR logo) and the variations in each cab end, after the real locomotive was rebuilt following accident damage.

Inside the cab, the locomotive’s systems reflect those present before being taken out of service. As such, more modern safety systems that would be required for running on today’s tracks are not implemented.

Mk1 Coaching stock

Being hauled behind 47484 are variants of the ubiquitous Mk1 coaching stock in BR blue and grey livery. These coaches have been remodelled, coming in BG, TSO, BSO and FK variants that are both Air and Vacuum Braked.

This is the first release to include these Mk1 variants in this livery and that are Dual Braked – features that has been requested by the community to allow for versatility when creating loco-hauled railtours in Scenario Planner, Free Roam and Formation Designer.


Class 40 and 45 locomotives

Also included are the Class 40 and 45 locomotives previously seen in the Northern Trans-Pennine and BR Heavy Freight Pack Add-ons.

SCENARIOS AND TIMETABLE GAMEPLAY

Scenarios – East Coast Main Line

The pack includes 10 Scenarios in total on the East Coast Main Line route Add-on. These feature depot movements, run-round movements and coupling as well as double-headed formations replicating special railtours along the East Coast Main Line.

At first glance, the inclusion of 47484 Isambard Kingdom Brunel on ECML may seem like an odd choice, but this locomotive was a regular visitor to Doncaster for regular repairs, servicing and repaints. The loco would often be placed on ad-hoc services from Doncaster or York to return the loco southbound. 47484 also spent a great deal of time on the ECML both on railtours and hauling the Royal Train northwards.

Some of the Scenarios have been loosely based on real life railtours from the past, such as the double-headed Class 40 in the snow paying homage to the famous Class 40 ‘Christmas Cracker’ railtours of the early 1980s.

Similarly, the ‘Isambard Comes Home’ Scenario is a recreation of the journey took when 47484 was painted in the GWR special anniversary livery and returned back home from Doncaster to London.

Timetable Substitutions on other TSW routes

In addition, a substantial amount of work has been done to implement the railtour services into the timetables of other Train Sim World route Add-ons as timetable substitutions.

The full list of routes impacted:

Implementation into the Diesel Legends of the Great Western Add-on places 47484 on the London Paddington - Reading route that it was much more commonly seen on during service, including stabling at Old Oak Common.

In addition, Athena Simulations have worked with Just Trains and the pack’s contents are also implemented into the timetables of both Blackpool Branches and West Coast Main Line: Preston – Carlisle.

In total, this allows the Add-on's locomotives to be substituted into some 300 timetabled services across all the above route Add-ons.