Last month, we asked James to give us an update on the Class 700, and he went ham on it. This time around, we have a release date for you, pricing information, sounds, and a teaser video sharing what you can expect.

James: “That’s right it’s me, back at it again with Class 700 news, and let’s kick things off with the most important update of the day, everyone’s favourite Desiro City is coming to Train Sim World 3 on July 11th!”

“The Thameslink BR Class 700/0 will be available on all platforms, for £12.99/ €15.99/ $16.99, and we will also have bundle options available to pick up the ultimate Kent High Speed experience!”

“As the countdown begins for more commuter action in the Medway Towns, I also have another little gift up my sleeve for you all, foster your foresight into the inner workings of the Class 700 with the manual! Be prepared for July 11th by familiarising yourself with the cab controls, procedures and included gameplay.”

Download the manual!

“To get a glimpse of the 700 in action, we will have a RailfanTV preview stream in 2 days’ time, July 6th at 1800 UTC, where Matt, JD and yours truly will showcase the all-new unit. If you just cannot wait that long though, never fear, as we also have a walkaround video which we can share with you today. See the Class 700 in action, including its dual-voltage capabilities”

“With the Class 700 releasing in a week’s time, the unit is essentially feature, physics and sounds complete – the Desiro City’s are certainly interesting to drive, much like the Class 395 the difference between AC and DC acceleration is noticeable, but what is a common factor throughout are the brakes. They, have, oomph; the fastest I’ve personally approached a station so far is close to 50mph, and I still made the stop! So while being daring is not a recommended driving practice, it’s certainly good fun to put the 700 through its paces in various conditions.”

“For the sounds, a mix of sources have been vital to our efforts, including files from the detailed Armstrong Powerhouse soundset. The distinctive DC traction motors are my favourite, with an extra twist compared to older UK Desiros, the motor phase sound change happens at 28mph rather than 20, which makes it a handy notifier for your speed approaching the limit through the dense Medway towns!”

“The Class 700 will complete the passenger experience on Southeastern Highspeed, bringing an additional 80+ services and a bumper-pack of 7 scenarios. Being a familiar sight to thousands every day, including many of us here at DTG, it’s been a labour of love – the seats might be a bit stiff, they might just be a way of getting from A to B, but they’re solid, effective, and plain old good fun!”

Thanks, James! We have some additional things worth mentioning, which we’ll discuss more on the preview stream on Thursday.

During the testing window, we’ve identified some difficulties with performance on certain consoles (specifically Xbox Series S) with all the new services being added to Southeastern High Speed. As a result, we will be providing a full timetable, and a smaller, less memory-demanding timetable, which will mainly remove some static stock and less-visible AI services.

Players will have the smaller timetable by default in Journey Mode, and the option to try the more memory-intensive timetable in the services menu!

And finally, by way of an update, we’ve not been able to put the Thameslink Stop Markers we mentioned in last month’s Roadmap into the launch release for the Class 700, but they are firmly in our sights for an update further down the line.

The Preview is at 18:00 UTC this Thursday (6th July), so set your alarms and join us!

This blog was created by Simon Schofield

I designed this yesterday on tsw3, which is a new route covering Manchester Piccadilly, via Glossop onwards to  Hadfield. Hadfield is the terminus. This also includes station new infrastructure, which adds to the Charming ambience. The travel experience takes in a metropolitan and rural backgrounds

This blog was made by simon schofield

Experience the Class 323 from Manchester through to Derbyshire in the next Train Sim World 3 route Add-on! Train Sim World 3: Glossop Line: Manchester – Hadfield & Glossop is coming 27th June.

A new operator, a new route and some exciting new gameplay features! Glossop Line: Manchester – Hadfield & Glossop may have some familiar elements – not least the starring unit – but this short, unique and complete line has plenty to offer for both new players and those with existing UK content.

We have a unique loyalty / launch offer, which you can read more about further down and details of two new gameplay features for this route – the ‘On Guard’ Guarding Scenario and ‘Gossip Line’ Photography Scenario.

The Class 323 has proved popular among railfans since its introduction in 1994 and became an equally popular addition to the Train Sim World fleet in Birmingham Cross-City Line: Lichfield – Bromsgrove & Redditch. At the end of 1997 these distinctive EMUs were introduced to the Glossop Line, working under a number of guises before becoming branded under the current operator Northern.

The standout feature, recognisable from in the cab or on the platform, is the whine that the traction motors emit during acceleration and deceleration. Sounds formed an important and detailed part of the process for the team during the initial development of Birmingham Cross-City and you can read more about how these were recorded by revisiting our November Roadmap from last year.

For Glossop Line, the features of the Class 323 remain very much the same, ensuring a dependable and enjoyable experience from inside the cab, but through a distinctly different environment to that of the suburban West Midlands. On the outside, the unit displays the purple hue of Northern’s current livery along with unit numbers that reflect the fleet used in this part of England.

Guard functionality also returns but as a fully interactive gameplay feature in the ‘On Guard’ Scenario, where players perform various duties outside of driving, including checking passenger tickets! A full in-depth look at how we developed this new and exciting feature is covered in the recent June Roadmap.

Modern Manchester is represented in Train Sim World for the first time in Glossop Line, with Manchester Piccadilly Station forming the terminus at the western end of the route. This iconic and important station for the northwest becomes the latest major UK station to be featured in Train Sim World, joining the likes of Birmingham New Street, London Victoria, Leeds, Glasgow Central and Liverpool Lime Street from previous route Add-ons.

Heading east, the route forms part of the historic Woodhead Line which ran its way through the Pennines via the Woodhead Tunnels to the city of Sheffield. This line closed east of Hadfield in 1981 and it is here where the current line and this route Add-on terminates. A few miles south, another terminus exists at Glossop. Trains from Manchester call here before changing ends and continuing to Hadfield and the same happens in reverse – trains depart Hadfield and call at Glossop first, before changing ends and continuing west along the line to Manchester.

Dinting Station forms (along with Glossop and Hadfield) one of three Derbyshire stations along this route and is also the location of the impressive Dinting Viaduct built in 1844. Stations west of here fall within Greater Manchester and feature the likes of Guide Bridge, Flowery Field and Broadbottom.

The complete end-to-end(-to-end?) route offers a different setting for the Class 323 with a slower pace and unique operation at both eastern termini.

Another new gameplay feature!

In addition to the exciting Guard Scenario mentioned earlier, players will also be able to do some on-foot exploration with a camera in hand as part of another unique gameplay feature in Glossop Line.

The ‘Gossip Line’ Scenario tasks the player with taking some specific photos as they complete a drive along the line, with photo points at some of the stations. Once the journey is complete, the player will see a photo gallery at Manchester Picadilly station for them to review at the end!

2 tph (trains per hour) will run between Manchester Piccadilly and Hadfield, calling at Glossop along the way, requiring tight timekeeping and diligent driving when approaching some signals.

Early morning and late evening ECS (Empty Coaching Stock) runs will be playable between Manchester and Ardwick Depot, which is located between Ardwick and Ashburys Stations at the western end of the route.

AI Class 323 services will also be seen running off the map in services from Manchester to Crewe, Manchester Airport, Stoke-on-Trent and Liverpool Lime Street.

There are also some service layers to look forward to for players of both Train Sim World 3 and Train Sim World Compatible content:

• EMT Class 158 (Midland Main Line) will appear as AI services at Manchester Piccadilly, with one playable ECS movement to operate.
• Class 66 RHTT will be playable during the relevant in-game seasons (Sept-Nov) and feature as static stock all year round.
• Railtours! Both steam and diesel railtours will be playable utilising locomotives and rolling stock from Tees Valley Line (Class 37 + Mk2 Coaches), Northern Trans-Pennine (Class 47, Class 20 + Mk2 Coaches) and Spirit of Steam.
• Freight Occasional freight services between Hyde North / Guide Bridge and Ashburys / Manchester Piccadilly.

Along with a host of other seasonal static and AI layers using stock from the West Somerset Railway, Southeastern Highspeed, Great Western Express, Midland Main Line and more!

A discount of 10% will be available from launch to most players who have previously purchased Birmingham Cross-City (and thus, the Class 323). A breakdown of these Launch / Loyalty discounts is as follows:

• Xbox: 10% discount for players that own Birmingham Cross-City (ends 31st July 1000 BST)
• Steam: 10% discount for players that own Birmingham Cross-City (ends 31st July 1800 BST)
• PlayStation: 10% launch discount for PS Plus members (ends 31st July 1000 BST)
• Epic Games Store: 10% launch discount for all players (ends 4th July 1600 BST)

This is the first time we’ve worked to bring savings for our most loyal players and we hope there will be similar opportunities to do so across all platforms in future!

Train Sim World 3: Glossop Line: Manchester – Hadfield & Glossop route Add-on will be available from June 27th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Epic Games Store, and Steam for £19.99/$24.99/€24.99.

Join the Railfan TV team on Twitch, YouTube and Facebook at 18:00 UTC on Thursday 22nd June for a preview of Glossop Line.

Find out more about Train Sim World 3 by following @trainsimworld on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok.

this blog was created by simon schofield