Train Simulator: China Clay for Export Route Add-On DLC

Full of bugs, don't bother. 26/4/2024.

The route is a bit short, but very lovely. I enjoy it quite a lot!

Short and Sweet. May be to short if you just like running the routes. This route at the currant sale price,is worth getting. The route as lot Potential. Also worth getting if you want to expand your routes.

If you want a fabulous Cornwall-based branch, go for Falmouth. If you want a detailed Mineral railway, go for Maerdy. If you want part of this route in better quality, go for JT Cornish Mainline. You have dozens of alternatives apart from this route, so why bother yourself to buy this one? Even the East Midland Coal is better than this. This route is only comparable to some of the oldest route like the GWML.

While the prospect of this was good, the execution is lacking. The detail is poor compared to what it could've been, and the scenarios are broken. No matter what I do, I can't complete "out with the old" successfully. The lighting is a bit plain and doesn't have the same atmosphere as other routes

Even though i bought this in a sale I would say that 90% discount is more realistic for this route. It is too short, simplistic and poorly made with clunky unrealistic scenery. The stations, signal and other unique assets are low quality and make even the stock assets look reasonable. It looks as if it was thrown together in a month and released before it reached a reasonable length with at least Newquay, Burngullow and Bodmin Road included. I have seen far better freeware routes. On the plus side it's an area I know and has enough of a passing resemblance to be mildly distracting... for a few hours at most.

Okay a review, firstly there are those that complain (wrongly or rightly) about the full price of a 'normal' route, that being £24.99, and of course it depends on how big/how complex/how detailed those routes are. The recent Teesdale route is a good example, a decent sized route with good complexity and nice scenery, so the price tag could be justified, However, when developers start to produce routes like China Clay, which are mainly very small, and used primarily for shunting etc. I think that £15 is perhaps only justified if the detail on the route itself is pretty enough to generate longevity in what may quickly become boring. In this case I can't honestly say that this applies here. As much as I want to enjoy this route there are some major flaws, and not just in the route itself, but also the scenarios. The detail on the route is okay, but lacks 3D trees to give it depth and detail, and the distant scenery isn't wonderful. The night lighting is extremely sparse and needs work which leads me onto the scenarios, or two in particular; Tavistock mixed clay, and the dark evenings are drawing in. It is virtually impossible to see anything out of the cab on both these scenarios (and given the lack of decent exterior lights on the BR loco), which renders the scenario utterly dull and pointless. Some buildings such as the loco shed only have exterior graphics and are not fully rendered in 3D, so on one scenario (I think it's 'blazing a trail'), you literally have to drive the wagons into a non interior rendered building, very poor indeed. To sum up, it needs a bit of extra attention to bring this up to scratch, or reduce the price. For £10 more you could get the wonderfullly detailed Western Lines Of Scotland,far far superior. A shame really.