Recommended addons?

[Niall]

What are the best addons for TS (routes, no locomotives only)? I particularly like British and German routes.
There's a few addons I think look good including Three Country Corner, Frankfurt U-Bahn and Edinburgh to Glasgow. I already have Munich to Augsburg and London to Brighton.

Also is there normally a sale around Christmas as I think €30 is too much for one addon. Thanks!

[pavig]

It depends on what kind of services you like to run. Different routes are better suited to commuter, intercity or freight services. That might narrow down which routes you will get the most interest out of.

Another way I have chosen routes is by checking workshop scenarios for the routes I already have - often another particular route will pop up as additional required dlc in many scenarios. That can give an indication of which routes work well together with the ones you already own by supplying locos or other assets that are shared in many workshop scenarios. I believe if the locos supplied with the route are native to another route in your collection they will also appear as random AI vehicles.

[The Growl]

The south london network, london to brighton, and the midland mainline, they all connect up, and they're very popular.

[LeadCatcher]

All of them :-)

I have thoroughly enjoyed the Three country corner route - bought it before it was offered through Steam.... The Frankfurt U-Bahn is nice, but got repetative after a few runs for me.... Nice route if you like short runs between stations and multiple stops per run

[Niall]

Thanks for the suggestions. I just want to add that I particularly like commuter routes/routes with lots of stops.

[Pilot]

Personally I am thinking about London to Brighton. But if you're going to buy this, go with this package instead which is only £4-5 quid more but includes 3-4 other DLC's. http://store.steampowered.com/sub/46129/

[pavig]

^^^ what Pilot said. That package is a good deal. Both of the routes included are heavily represented in the workshop and quite popular. Good trains to boot.

Definitely check out the steam page for any adon you are interested in because many come in packages that are better value than buying the DLC alone. You have to tinker about to find them. I just got the GEML London Ipswitch + a Class 90 (awesome train) for cheaper than the route alone. http://store.steampowered.com/sub/33561/
So route $40, train $20, route + train = $25? It makes no sense! The store is full of these odd hidden deals. You can also fund them under "bundles" in the train simulator website store. (The actual website, not the in-game store.)

[Growler]

The OP has stated he has London-Brighton already. I'd certainly go along with The_Growl here; for another good start-stop commuter route then the Southern London Lines network might be ideal; and as already mentioned has the advantage of linking up with the London-Brighton route [there's a Southern London Lines to Brighton workshop route, that links these two official DLC routes together]. ECML (London-Peterborough) would be good if Niall doesn't have it already, a true commuter run but North London. Based on the stated preferences I don't think the Edinburgh-Glasgow route would be so good, it's not really stop-start. A nice route, especially for freight but not a brilliant commuter run.

A short run, not for everyone, but certainly a true Scottish stop-start commuter route is the GARL (Glasgow Airport Rail Link). It's never been popular because of its relative short length; but if picked up for a good discounted price in a major Steam sale might be well worth considering.

As for German, then Mannheim-Karlsruhe springs to mind. Both for high speed ICE commuter runs, also combined with the independent slower true commuter/freight line that winds its way around the modern direct line. A very nice route IMHO for HSTs, commuter, and freight.

I fully agree with LeadCatcher on the Frankfurt U-bahn. I bought it because it looked something different, essentially being an underground/overground metro. And it certainly has hundreds of stops. But that's the problem you're stoping every 2-3 minutes at maybe 30 or so stops in a single scenario. After a couple of scenarios, I was another one that found this route extremely repetitive; and haven't played it since. Anyway hope there's a few more handy pointers for you.

[LeadCatcher]

Originally posted by Niall:

Thanks for the suggestions. I just want to add that I particularly like commuter routes/routes with lots of stops.

Well then the Frankfurt U-Bahn will be right up your alley then.... Nice representation of that system.

[BigT57]

You asked about sales. There will probably be some DLC on sale in two weeks when TS2016 is released. The next big sale will be the Black Friday after Thanksgiving, at least here in the US. Then of course there will be the Christmas sale. If you are patient and wait for sales you can build up a nice collection for not very much money, that is what I have done since buying TS2015 Steam Edition in last years Christmas sale.