Train Simulator: Wutachtalbahn: Lauchringen – Immendingen Route Add-On DLC

AWESOME! This route has awesome scenery. Line speed is mostly 40km/h, but that doesn't make it any boring. There's enough stations to stop at, enough speed restrictions (I especially love the 20km/h limit at railroad crossings), and plenty of whistle-signs to let that lovely whistle sound. Lauchringen to Immendingen is pretty much uphill only, so that's the easy way if you don't like doing downhill. Speed limits vary between 10km/h at some yards, to 80km/h on the section between Blumberg and Immendingen. Shortly 130km/h when you join the main line, but too short to actually reach that speed. The section between Immendingen and Immendingen Zimmern is electrified, but that's only a few kilometres. There's a few tunnels but not too many. There's basically two types of stations on this route; old ones for your steam train to stop, and new ones for more modern DMUs to stop. That makes the Wutachtalbahn interesting for DMU operations too. And it includes the BR86. An awesome little locomotive. It's Pro Range but even a non-pro can drive it (you can operate it like any other steamer). Comes with Donnerbuchse coaches in green, green weathered, and red variants. You have to manually make the consist for Quick Drive if you want the BR86 to haul some coaches. Also comes with two types of modern freight wagons, I don't know why. These consists will also make their appearance on your German routes when doing Quick Drives. I don't know why Dovetail took this approach, because BR86s hauling Railion Shimms wagons on your electrified routes look a tad out of place.

I'm not too big into German routes, but I do enjoy heritage routes. This is a decent German heritage route, I think. It looks decent, and runs decently well. Id definitely say pick this up over just the BR86 pack, as its more bang for buck. The BR86 is not too bad, though I personally cannot say has to how accurate it is. It is fun to run though, and goes well with the included stock. Mix this with some 3rd party content, and you'll have a decent looking museum route!

I bought this game DLC yesterday, Big problem locomotive that comes with it is uncontrollable. When going up steep inclines with the throttle set to 0 and 0 engine engagement. The locomotive keeps accelerating going up hill, I keep stabbing the emergency brake back to 41 mph from 50 mph but it keeps accelerating, lost most of my points gained to speeding. Also the speed changes are not to be seen, so lost more points to speeding. One part of the track, I am going 50 mph and then you are in a 10 mph zone lost 10.000 points. No pleasure in playing this game till it is fixed. Very annoying when the locomotive defies physics. I will not rank this, till I get some help with this problem.

Providing a connection between the edge of the Black Forest and Upper Rhine is the Wutachtalbahn route. Once used for military traffic, freight and passenger work the route is set in modern times with the infrequent traffic to be seen now is the occasional DMU services and the preserved railway. The route is set on a grade so depending on which end you start from the majority of the trip will be either uphill or downhill. Primarily single track with a few passing loops and signals makes scenario making on this picturesque route a bit difficult. The route speed is generally 40kph but speed restrictions between Bf Weizen and Lauchringen will drop this even lower. Provided rollinstock is limited to the DR BR86 *available to purchase on its own* DR Thunderbox coaches in clean green, worn green and worn red, covered vans and cement wagons. The route has a few issues. The first one is a 10kph zone outside of Bf Fützen that starts before the enforcing sign. The second is some signs and signals requiring PZB to be acknowledged despite having no magnates with them. It's a nice route overall but does require extra DLC to really bring it to life.

An unusual German route for TS as it's not electrified for most of its length. In real life it's part steam heritage, part regional railway, and part mothballed, so you can convincingly run almost any non-electric German stock from the last sixty years. The central section has some big loops, spiral tunnels and long viaducts, but the gradient isn't too extreme. It's nicely modelled and has quite a charming rural feel to it. The stock and scenarios are bizarre. The BR 86 is valid, but having it pull modern wagons is not. I don't know why DTG didn't throw in a regional diesel MU, that would have been good. It's a nice place to run German stock in quick drive as AI is minimal in real life, so you won't miss it. I give it a qualified recommendation, which means buy it in a sale.

I highly recomend this route to all who love the slightly overgrown preserved historical routes. This is a beautiful senic rural route with deep ties to its roots. All of the german railfans who I've spoken with have praised this route for its accuracy and beautiy and I would highly recomend this route as well. This is a must have for all classic railfans and those who love this history of the rails. Worth every penny of the cost in my opinion. Edit: If you love the Wakayama & Sakurai Lines or The Story of Forest Rail then you will LOVE this route.

As other reviews have said - one engine, little AI and poor scenarios however it does have potential for sceanrio writers. There are other locos that can be added e.g. Class 38, class 52. DTG have missold this a bit as the ads state the engine is a "DB BR 86", it most certainly is not. It is a DDR era 4 DR class (BR) 86 NOT a prewar or war time loco as stated elsewhere. I already had the BR 86 in DR form and hoped for a DB version despite the pics showing the DR version. The difference ? - DB era 4 (computer numbered) locos were numbered 086 xxx-x and DR locos 86 1xxx-x and DB locos had Deutsche Bundesbahn plates on the cabside, DR had Deutsche Reichsbahn plates. A big error by DTG which could easily be avoided by asking the right people - German Railway Society perhaps? Not withstanding I repeat it has potential for those prepared and able to do a bit of work but straight off as a download it is a poor DLC. I cannot therefore recommend it to those that just want to play the game.

Wutachtalbahn is a pleasant route going through German countryside. Unfortunately there's a great many problems, but there's a few positive things as well. I'm giving this a negative review because of the many broken scenarios and achievements. I buy content almost exclusively for the scenarios it comes with, and for that purpose, this dlc is completely broken. If you're buying it to create your own content, go for it. The lowered price reflects the fact that you only get one locomotive (but it's a good one), the dated scenery and the relatively short route. Most of it is 40-50km limits so it still takes a while to drive end to end and there's a few sidings which would allow some creativity I think - something that is largely unused in the default scenarios. Had it not been for the scenario problems, I would have quite enjoyed running this route. One significant thing of note: There are a number of complaints in reviews stating that the signage for speed limits isn't there. Ignore them; it is. They're just relying on the HUD only. There is two spots where the speed changes on the track and it doesn't show up on the HUD, but the signage is next to the track alerting the astute driver to the upcoming changes. + The locomotive. It's a pleasure to drive! It's not complicated but it's textures are good, and the sounds aren't bad - at least by TS standards. The locomotive really is the best part of this package. + There's not a lot of rolling stock, but what comes with it works and isn't bad. + The route is pretty, tho the assets are dated. That also means the frame rate is wonderfully high through the entire thing. + The scenarios do not knock you with points if the locomotive slips, which is fortunate, since it does slip a lot. Unfortunately, the negatives are just too much to wade through (for me) which is quite sad. This route could have been so nice! I did overall enjoy it but I just can't give a positive review to something so shoddily put together and that has not been patched in 3 yrs as of this writing. - Most of the scenarios are broken in one way or another. One scenario only has 3 checkpoints with 200 points each making it impossible to finish correctly. Another confiscates points for being late even when you are 2 minutes early. I don't understand how that happens. Even looking in the editor everything looks correct, yet when I arrived a solid 2 min early I got a sudden 4000 point negative hit for being late. I ran it again and had the same problem, tho I was slightly faster and a slightly smaller negative hit. A couple of them have the old problem of just not registering points. That'll probably be ok with some people who don't care about the achievements or career levels. One scenario has 2 too many check points, so you can get up to 400 points taken away and still end with 1000. - As I mentioned above, the textures are old but the route can be pretty. The major problems are when you come up to a tunnel and it's blocked by the side of the mountain. I can't understand why this is still a thing... You can drive through it of course, but.... c'mon. Still sloppy. - Because of the aforementioned scenario problems, half the achievements are broken. Either because the scenario gives you points, the scenario doesn't allow you to get the number of points required for the achievement, or in the case of 8600 points total, there is not that many points obtainable in the dlc. Overall its plagued largely by scenario problems that in most cases, would only take a few minutes to fix.

This is a very pleasant route for those who like rural scenery and steam locomotion. The route is well built and nicely modelled albeit with a few things that show hurry, a fair few floating assets (particularly vegetation) track sometimes not attached to floor etc etc but it can be put right with a small amount of knowledge using the editor. My personal preference is for branch lines at medium/low speed so my review is based on the fact that I LIKE these, and realise that there are those who will not go for this type of route. So, as it turns out I love the route, it's not over the top spectacular, it's just nice, typical and has plenty of atmosphere. So now that I have said I like it, could I make some suggestions please?. First of all. the scenarios are really really dull. The blurb speaks of 7 "challenging" scenarios. Well. first of all, there are actually FOUR. This is because four of the claimed seven are parts one and two of the same scenario. So running a simple passenger train from one end of a 40 mile line to the other is a two part scenario. Why that should be is anyone's guess. And this scenario is literally a passenger train (ready made up and waiting at the departure platform) travelling from one end of the line to the other stopping at all the stations. There is no uncoupling, shunting, nothing. No turn arounds. Just a straight trip up the line without even a refuel. To refer to this as "challenging" is a bit cheeky. With a LOT of scenarios on recently released routes, the only challenge is to reach destinations at the specified time which is usually quite difficult, but that is a really lazy way of making a scenario "challenging". The AI content is utterly minimal. At the start of each section an identical train to the one you are driving pulls into the platform next to you. There is no point in watching the signals, they are all giving you the line. Another two part scenario does the same thing with a frieght train... no uncoupling, picking up, dropping off... just a straight procession down the line - just in the opposite direction to the passenger scenario and it's raining in this one. One wonders why this freight train has to stop at every passenger platform on the route? Without picking anything up? There is no stock visible in sidings, no rakes of vans or coaches anywhere to be seen.... I often buy routes in the hope that there will be some new vegetation that I can use in my own modelling... not much to shout about here, a couple of new items I haven't come across before, some nice weeds and a bit of gorse/broom I haven't seen before. And some nice white willow herb. And then there's the whole "preserved line" thing. This railway would have been amazing if DTG had had the vision and desire to make a really interesting line. A 1942 backdrop was when this railway was at its most interesting period, but I realise that would mean creating some new assets - BADLY needed!!! Steam Railway simulation should be about the Steam Era. I would have paid more than double the asking price for a railway with authentic 1940s or 50s stock. authentic buildings from the line's heyday. As it is, it's a reasonably priced route that can be worked on by more advanced simmers who can write their own scenarios, fix the many scenery errors and backdate it. I hope I will see a backdate available on the websites sooner or later. It's a beautiful route though, and I recommend it to anyone who likes the Branch Line experience.

How to sum my feelings from this route? Effort - A Execution - D Scenarios - F So, basically, we finally get a steam heritage german route, where we can run the existing rag tag fleet of german steamers in their native enviroment. Now, this is good. Signalling is bad, it could be even said - "DTG level bad", none of those -beeep- has obviously never bothered to learn how german signalling works. DTG had several options how to tackle the inevitable question of rolling stock. They could have provided the usual cut down version of their venerable german catalogue, most notoriously BR101 and BR294 + wagons in order to at least emulate something remotely resembling real thing. Or, they could have actually done the right thing and included the entire EU asset pack, which incidentaly contains several german heritage locos (V200*, DR and ÖBB BR52 and even BR294 in older livery). They did neither of those, they chose the third one - the only loco contained is BR 86, which is still sold separately, so previous owners of the pack get yet another f-u from DTG - so this modern day route is being serviced by default by pre-WWII** steamers... The only redeeming feature are the Donnerbuchsen in DR livery, though they could at least include more than one model and few reskins (and even that - these are 3rd class wagons only and 3rd class was abolished in Germany decades ago, there should be at least some 2nd or 1st class wagons for variety). This is bad, DTG level bad. And finally, scenarios are typical DTG race track nonsense, with few AI trains (if any at all), but with ridiculous timings. This is ugly, DTG level ugly. So here you have it - this route requires significant investment (both time and money in form of additional DLCs) in orderto be fully utilised. So in summary, I am not saying that you should not purchase this, I am just saying, that you deserve to be warned, that this route is half-baked at best and requires significant user input to be enjoyable. *Oh, I forgot - they would have to fix the V200 headlights (I provided rough patch how to do it and made in public domain on UKTS years ago, so surely, they could do better than me) and perhaps also make BR52 finally TSX compatible. **yes. I know, that this is in fact ex-GDR DR livery. This Baureihe was, however, produced pre-WW2 and also during WW2 (it became rather ubiquitious throughout the entire "greater Germany"), hence my description. Edit: spelling and some mild corrections and additions