Train Simulator: BR Blue Diesel Electric Pack Loco (DLC)

I'll be straight with you: this DLC is a niche purchase inside an already niche hobby, and that's not a criticism. It's a tightly focused collection of diesel and electric traction from one of the most distinctive periods in British railway history, roughly the 1960s through the mid-1980s, when that flat, greyish Rail Blue livery covered almost everything BR owned. If you care about that era, the locomotive variety here is genuinely interesting. If you don't, nothing in this pack will convert you. The roster covers five distinct classes, which gives the pack more breadth than a single-loco add-on at a comparable price point. The Class 09 is a compact 0-6-0 diesel shunter built for yard work and short freight hops. The Class 33, known to enthusiasts as the 'Crompton', is a Type 3 diesel built for the Southern Region and capable of supplying electric train heating, which makes it a more flexible passenger hauler than you'd expect. The electro-diesel Class 73 is the most mechanically interesting of the lot: it can run on the 650/750V DC third rail in electrified territory, then switch to its own diesel engine when the conductor rail runs out, which creates genuinely different driving behaviour depending on the route segment you're on. Rounding things out are the Class 416 2EPB and Class 421 4CIG electric multiple units, covering suburban and longer-distance Southern Region passenger work respectively. Rolling stock support is solid for what the pack is trying to do. OBA wagons and General Utility Vehicles (GUVs) are bundled in, letting you form freight and parcel or newspaper runs behind the diesel locos. The scenarios shipped in the pack are tied to the Chatham Main Line: London-Gillingham route, which is a required separate purchase - that dependency is the pack's biggest practical drawback and one worth flagging loudly before you click anything. Three built-in scenarios cover a range of the included traction, and the Steam Workshop extends that considerably for free, which is the usual Dovetail lifeline for scenario-light DLC packs. Quick Drive compatibility means you can take any loco from this pack onto any Quick Drive-enabled route in your library, so the content isn't walled behind a single corridor. The honest limitation here is the same one that applies to most Dovetail loco packs: the out-of-box scenario count is thin, the route dependency stings if you don't already own Chatham Main Line, and players without interest in the specific historical period will find nothing to grab them. The Class 73's dual-mode operation is the standout mechanical hook, and the livery accuracy is the draw for rail enthusiasts who want their rolling stock to look right. Community sentiment on the small pool of reviews sits at a positive majority, which tracks for a pack that basically delivers what it says on the tin for an audience that already knows what it wants.

Alex · Scout Team

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