Hauptstrecke - Hamburg to Lübeck Review ~ Train Sim World 3

Here's my two cents on the TSW version of the Hamburg to Lübeck route. It's only 63 kilometres (or 39 miles long), and is mostly linear with the exception of one freight-only branch. By default, you only get to run DB Regio services with the BR112 electric locomotive or freight services to and from Hamburg Rothenburgsort with the MRCE ES64U2 'Taurus'.
It takes less than an hour to cover the whole route, with the experience being made even worse by the bland and unremarkable terrain through which this line runs. In my opinion, this is one of the weakest German routes ever made for TSW, and it's only beaten by the awful Hauptstrecke - München to Augsburg DLC.

[@maxklein2057]

The Taurus was initially designed as a mixed passenger engine. It comes standard with door controls and is regularly leased out to flixtrain to haul passenger services. Just like the BR 152 and BR 185 which are also able to haul passenger services.

[@userSchlonsch]

I‘m from Hamburg so this route has a special place in my heart. The large stations are recreated quite well, especially Hamburg Hbf and while the red DB Regio trains haven’t been running on this line for years (other companies have taken over), it’s still great to see Europe‘s second busiest station in the sim. Especially since it almost feels that way since we got the highly needed timetable update. Overall I‘ll still say that it’s just very mediocre overall and unless you have a special affinity for the route there are other German routes that are much better while still offering the same commuter and simple freight services.

[@purplebrick131]

As far as I know DB still operates all RE8/80/8X services as well as the RB81 to oldesloe. The new trains are the corporate livery of NAH.SH, the Verkehrsverbund, but operated by DB.

[@KRYST4LCLR]

@8:15 Although abit too late, the problem with the poles that carry the overhead wires for the trains, is to do with the fact that, once the track is put down on any given route, the poles that lay the overhead wires, run parallel with the track, this happens in train simulator classic aswell. Note that, instead of trains clipping through the poles for the overhead wires, some poles would be seen half hovering & half placed normally. A good example of this, albeit on a completely different route & game is, DTG's WCML South - London to Birmingham, when passing Primrose Hill not far from London Euston, you can see certain overhead wire poles, half hovering & half placed normally.

[@huncho1057]

Amazing video as per usual. Everything you’ve said is right on par. I didn’t hear you mention anything about how DTG were too lazy to put the correct Dosto variant on the route. In Reality, the Dosto passenger cars use high floor versions with doors closed to the ends of the car where the middle level is. Of course though, DTG reused the same Dostos that have been reused since Main spessart bahn.

[@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga]

I wasn't aware of any inaccuracies with the coaches when I made this video, but someone else pointed it out to me in the comments and now I just feel even more annoyed at Dovetail's laziness.

[@StiWiiRage]

As someone who lives in Ahrensburg and drives with bike to work. I come by Ahrensburg Hauptbahnhof and Ahrensburg Gartenholz everyday. Let me say it's painful to see just how inaccurate both station's are. It feels like the only used google map so they have the basic layout but the data must be 10+ years old.

[@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga]

You know Dovetail really screwed up when a local is unhappy with how the route looks.

[@Polynom1995]

You said "the brakes are quite annoying as well, because they feel to strong and take too long to release". I have to break it to you. The air brakes in TSW are not very well made. But they actually apply and release much too quickly already. While electric brakes in an EMU apply and releasy quickly in general, for air brakes it depends on the train's length. By steering valves in the steering vehicle, you change the pressure in the braking pipes in the whole train. The longer the train, the longer the pipe and the longer the time a pressure change needs. Long fright trains are the extreme case. These are increadibly difficult to brake properly -- at least in real life, as the brakes need quite some seconds to apply or release. You actually have to learn and practice to get good results, and drive with a lot of foresight. But the developers of TSW probably didn't want the experience of driving a long fright train to be difficult and frustrating for the common TSW player who just wants to drive a train, and is not willing to take a week long Braking long trains 101 course. So they fiddled with they braking physics a bit, making the brake more responsive and therefore made it a lot easier to brake a train in TSW (or they just didn't get the metrics right, but I assume that it was on purpose in this case). Anyway, what I want to say is: Braking a train with air brakes is actually challanging. That's just how it is. Even with a rather short train like the Innovation Double-decker Trainsets here, it is something you have to practice to get a good result and you need to drive with a lot more foresight than with an EMU.

[@the_vehicle_spotter]

A bit more information about the Danish DMU (also known as IC3/ Class MF) it used to go from Copenhagen to Hamburg via Lübeck but the route changed due to the construction of a tunnel. There are also now very few of them from Copenhagen to Hamburg as they have been replaced with Vectron withcIC coaches. I hope that help😄

[@PROTSW4]

I know this isn't completely relevant to the video, but I do think the Loco addon bundles are better priced than the loco addons themselves, but I'm very glad you made this review, as I was close to purchasing this!

[@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga]

There's less (original) content in those bundles, so to me, it makes sense why they're cheaper. But I still think they're a terrible idea.

[@potatoman451]

Loco addon bundles are there to add gameplay. Think of it as a scenario pack in tsc. It's basically the same. A couple of scenarios and new gameplay or it subs into services

[@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga]

But there are equally good (or better) scenarios out there for free, which begs the question as to why the payware ones are payware in the first place.

[@PROTSW4]

@@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga The only good loco addon bundle is New Journeys Expansion Pack, which I purchased yesterday. The route (Schnellfahrstrecke Köln) feels much busier and many more services are playable. But I do not own any part of the TSW3 loco addon bundles.

[@TB76Returns]

I got this on sale, so I didn't play full price. The lack of Hamburg S-Bahn AI Only trains is unsurprising, I didn't expect otherwise. The 112 I found somewhat unpredictable with the AFB as when I put it to the line speed, it would often go above that when for example going down the gradient from Hamburg Hbf, so I ended up putting it 10 kph below the line speed. There was a scenario with the 182 that crashed midway through and I haven't attempted it again. Another issues is when I did a service with the 146, as they are seen on the line, I could not turn the coach lights on whatsoever, which was annoying. These little things just let the route down.....although I do play it sometimes

[@nwsimon]

On the subject of the MRCE Taurus, these are identical to the all-purpose OEBB locos, so would have passenger and freight setup. As MRCE are a spot hire company, these would be versatile, and have been seen on passenger trains. I agree it's quite a boring route though. NB before the Danish IC3s went to Copenhagen, this was served by the sadly departed Diesel ICE-TDs, which would have been interesting to see

[@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga]

Any additional members of the ICE family would be welcome in TSW, especially the ICE-T and her diesel counterpart. I'm honestly bored of only having the ICE-1, ICE-3 and ICE-3M in the game.

[@True_NOON]

I got this on sale cuz why not , and tbh a main reason why i didnt get bremen oldenburg , cuz essentially its an even worse Hamburg lubeck with the exact same stock on LRR anyways , with enough people hammering away on the workshop to repaint the Mint coaches into Verkehrsrot anyways

[@ledbus]

Omg thank you, I am not the only one who would love the Danish train and even line. There should be more variety of trains and a danish one would be cool. I love driving in that train as it's quite nice, hope DTG at some point listen to their players who wish for something new other than, as you perfectly said it, the typical UK, US and German lines.

[@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga]

I don't know too much about Danish railways, but any route with the IC3, IR4 or ET/X31K would be great in my eyes.

[@alexanderditlevsen7357]

Thx man it would be so nice something from my country Denmark Danish routes would be great

[@ronik24]

Nice review! 🙂 Just for your info: "Taurus" is a registered name by Austrian ÖBB, so only ÖBB 1016s and 1116s are correctly called "Taurus". The versions of any other railway like DB or MÁV or private railways don't carry any name at all. It is just a Siemens ES64U2 or Eurosprinter. Usually, these are just called by the class number of the corresponding railway, e.g. DB 182. "Vossloh" is pronounced with a silent "h" at the end.

[@EuropeanRailfan]

Have you seen the Class 700 DLC? That thing has Class 450 sounds instead of the correct sounds

[@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga]

Not this again. Trust Dovetail to record sounds from the wrong flipping unit.

[@potatoman451]

@@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga dtg couldn't record from a moving 700 (they only got static 700 sounds) or get dc sounds from ap because the person who recorded the 700 for ap didn't give permission from what I'm reading. So without desiro sounds, they had to find recordings and the only thing they could record was the 350 that Daisy from wmr recorded

[@maffarick]

​@@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga If you watched their preview stream for the 700, they could not record the DC sounds IRL. There is a mod on the Train Sim Community website that has proper sounds, though.

[@Atrail_Mckinley4786]

​@thetrainspotterfromtauranga769 For some reason they got the AC sounds from AP but couldn't get the DC sounds from AP for some odd reason

[@maffarick]

The AC sounds are from Armstrong Powerhouse.

[@RmsTitanic59]

Can you do review of northern transpennine?

[@maffarick]

What is your favorite electrified German route in TSW?

[@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga]

Main-Spessart Bahn

[@dertsw4repainter382]

Befor the new Stadler Kiss Trains The DB Replace the 112s with the DB BR 445 Siemens Twindexx EMUs with Highflor Doppelstockwagen on All RE7,and RE8 and later on the RB lines

[@purplebrick131]

The RE8 never got the Twindexx EMUs (thank god, they're so unreliable they'll be replaced a decade earlier than was planned)

[@patrickcraft2375]

We seriously need some new German routes that are actually interesting and different. DTG have made so many electric routes that it feels like all these routes feel the same but with different and “new” locomotives. The Niddertalbahn (while overpriced) is a different and nice change from the repetitive electric stuff.

[@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga]

As expensive and short as the Niddertalbahn is, I still like it because of the excellent scenery detail and its distinctly different services.

[@purplebrick131]

If they remade this exact route set after the completion of the fehmarnbelt and the S4, it'd be way more interesting. We now have real good looking KISS EMUs, there will be a train separation in Lübeck with the two units heading to Neustadt and Travemünde respectively, the S4 should be included and will get us new stations and rolling stock, and since itll be the new main route for Scandinavian traffic there will be significantly more long distance and freight traffic here. Its got potential, but as it was when the game is set it's very dull.

[@JackSparrow-ur6pw]

6:09 How the hell did you find a train like that.

[@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga]

Oh, that was one of the timetable mode services on Ruhr-Sieg Nord. I can't remember exactly what it's called, but it has the name 'Werdohl' in it.

[@HSTguydoesTrainSimulator-hc9jk]

where did you get the Danish loco from

[@True_NOON]

Diesel mutiple unit DBS IC3 (class name)

[@blondiblau2007]

how ab the br 423

[@potatoman451]

It isn't on this route in tsw

[@maxr.3396]

The sounds of the BR 143 and 112 are very good. This route is still an absolute joke and it feels like a money grab to me. Why they are making routes with such big mainstations and tracks which will be empty anyway? They should make more branch lines like the Niddertalbahn or more highspeed routes with regional services beside the highspeed line. I know some examples of that in germany which could be made quite easily i think. For example the Schnellfahrstrecke Ingolstadt-Nürnberg with ICE and regional service which calls at a few more stops. It runs trough great scenery.

[@potatoman451]

The 143 is actually better from dra onwards. Even rsn has decent 143 sounds. The 112 uses the old 143 sounds which became worse when dlcs got transferred to tsw2 like all other sounds

[@TheSimulatorGuy2003]

I bought This route yesterday for 5.49$ usd

[@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga]

Was that for the console version (I only play TSW on PC)?

[@TheSimulatorGuy2003]

@@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga pc

[@StiWiiRage]

The route was part of the humble bundle some weeks ago.

[@YukariAkiyamaTanks]

The Taurus sounds to deep and too fast.

[@Atrail_Mckinley4786]

I never bought this route. For me it just wasn't appealing. Also, dtg only used the low door coaches when in real life, trains would also use high door coaches because some platforms on this route were a bit higher. There was backlash over that at the time, but dtg never bothered to add the high door coaches The DB BR 406 ICE3M does not run on this line in reality. In real life the DB BR 411 ICE T runs on the line in real life. The ICE 3M is used for international services only. But I do agree with your opinion on this route. It is very bland and not interesting at all

[@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga]

I can't say I'm surprised that Dovetail didn't bother adding the ICE-T. Now that we've got a proper German high-speed line in the game (Kassel to Wurzburg), I don't see why they shouldn't add anymore than just the ICE-1 to the game. Incidentally, I wasn't aware of any high-door coaches for this route. Trust Dovetail to ignore the community's suggestion.

[@Atrail_Mckinley4786]

@thetrainspotterfromtauranga769 On Kassel-Wurzburg, the ICE 3 doesn't really run on that route quite often. The majority of trains that run on that route are ICE 1's and ICE 2's so it would be nice to have a ICE 2 and ICE T

[@jordanperosiel-williams7236]

Wait this route still exists???? Yes that's how bad of a route it really is

[@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga]

I don't blame you for forgetting that this route exists. It happens to me as well; I often forget that the West Somerset Railway is also in TSW.