The Pacers were literally a bus body, widened and mounted on freight chassis. Without bogies they were incredibly uncomfortable on the rural routes they were designed for and ended up mostly on commuter routes in the North. Weirdly they were both hated and loved. They were incredibly noisy, draughty, leaky and uncomfortable. You felt every jolt as they went over switches and going around a curve they produced deafening squeals. Initially an emergency solution to a shortage of rolling stock as the original DMU's reached the end of their life, they ended up lasting more than 30 years until disability legislation around step-free access came in, meaning they had to operate coupled to a compliant unit like the class 150 or 156 until 2021. I absolutely hated them when I had to use them to get to work, but now they're gone, the 'nodding donkeys' are actually missed. As a kid it was exciting riding on a train that felt like a trampoline.

lmao those suspensions looked great on your failed attempt

Loving the positivity in the way you've reviewed this route, given that at the end you say it's not something you'd usually choose to buy or drive. That's really refreshing. 👍

Ok, well this is crazy - Blu Games himself driving around my old neighbourhood 😅 welcome! I believe this expansion is set in 1986, when I would've been a kid knocking around on Preston station checking out all the goings on. So much nostalgia. Two of my grandparents lived near St Annes-on-the-Sea railway station, so I used to ride Pacers over from Preston to visit, and my other two grandparents had a dairy farm to the north of Poulton-le-Fylde station (on the other branch). The expansion is all very much as I remember those lines at the time. Except for Preston station's canopy being a lot cleaner than it was in real life. The construction next to the line is when they were building a road called Tom Benson Way, now a busy bypass road in Preston. The Pacer is a bit of a love/hate legend - it was a cheap unit that effectively allowed dying branchlines to stay open, but good grief they were awful to ride on; hot or cold, noisy, smelly and bounced so much they always felt like they were about to jump off the track. Funny you mentioned it sounds like a bus, it was developed from the Leyland National bus (which is why it was so cheap and terrible). I wasn't planning to upgrade to TSW4 just yet until I saw this route, now I don't really have any option 😅 it's a must. Cheers for sharing this 👍

Because I live in Preston, this route holds a special place in my heart

Hola boss man Blu! Another banger as always, once again, no surprises. I've actually been to ormskirk many times and whilst it's not exactly as it looks today, it's pretty damn accurate for the time period, solid video again man, you rock!

Other than the ticket office that model of Preston station is extremely close to reality (minus the mini Starbucks by platform 4).

First video I've watch from you blu and what a video and this is very imersive to the UK Construction everywhere road works 🤣

Fair few Golf Courses in Lytham. The one to the left of Anssall and Fairhaven is Royal Lytham and St Annes which has held the Open a few times

The tiny little platform at Midge Hall with one guy there? He’s the signalman, he allows you to enter the next single track section by giving you a physical ‘token’ (hence Midge Hall token exchange). The ‘buzz buzz’ when the doors are closed is the guard doing that - IRL the driver should acknowledge it by giving ‘buzz buzz’ back (B on the keyboard). Oh, and your braking technique is a little enthusiastic! IRL a driver uses just step 1 90% of the time, meaning that the brakes go on up to three quarters of a mile from the stop… It sounds a little like a truck or bus because these things used a bus/truck driveline when new. But it wasn’t up to the job so in the 1990s, this was replaced by a beefier Cummins engine and a torque converter transmission, so if you drive some Pacers on this route it’ll set off at constant revs all the way to about 45 mph when it drops into direct drive.

Suspension looks great!!

I've yet to buy tsw4 but I must say this is making me want to buy it. I really wish though that dovetail would just have the one title and just do a yearly subscription for the price of each of the yearly base games as a upgrade to what you already have but each year you get the tech update for free.

The one guy you stopped for was giving you a token to to say you were the only train on that line with said token, while you have it no other train can enter till you give back token further up line.

I'm Dutch...but love to drive this line

man i wish i knew about TSW4 before i bought TSW3... cool video anyway!

The train is based off a bus called Layland

That specific train was actually built on a bus chassis as it was cheap did mean they’re were comprises to things like comfort when riding the train tho

It sounds like a bus because the train was made from a bus company search up the pacer bus then the pacer train look at the similarities

We need the old Blackpool steam route with the grand central station sadly no longer there.

that minimal hud is kicking yo as LOL

Question: I’m thinking of getting TSW4 and I don’t know what the actual games includes, (DLC not included) Does the Blackpool north and west Somerset railway come in the game?

It’s a bus on a train chassis

Do you know if this route is available on PS5?

Every time I go to Blackpool o park at st Anne’s on the sea station it looks as good in game as real life

i have this game on xbox

Pacers are like old buses on wheels. They are dirty, noisy and overcrowded. Most local stations are rundown. British train travel is unpleasant but playing on the sim is more fun.