Lus0rius' Blog

This article is a translation of Jimmy Armstrong's French review. I have not tested the product myself.

Hello and welcome to this review of Rivet Games' new network, the Glasgow Suburban Northwest!

So back to the roots for Rivet Games with a Scottish route! They offer us a suburban network on the north bank of the River Clyde, serving Glasgow and its inner suburbs. The electrified main line runs from Helensburgh in the west to Springburn in the east via the Glasgow underground section. Several lines branch off from this main route, some of which are non-electrified, such as the route to Glasgow Queen Street upper station (via a portion of the Edinburgh - Glasgow line, also available on Steam separately and created by Thomson Interactive, formerly known as Rivet Games).

 The DLC costs € 29.99 (£ 24.99) on the Rivet Games store as well as on Steam and includes two trains: Class 320 (EMU) and Class 158 (DMU).

The route

• The track is pleasing to the eye and the transition to the soil texture and vegetation is well managed.
• Catenary masts are well crafted and well positioned. In addition, the equipment is quite diversified, with the presence of tentioners. The only regret I have is the non-functional neutral sections.
• Ambient sounds give extra life to the route.
• Stations are well detailed; those in the central segment have a nice atmosphere.
• Ground textures are pretty, the dominant grass is neither too light nor too dark. I noticed only one drawback at Glasgow Queen St in winter: ballast is not covered with snow between the tunnel exit and the canopy.
• The journey departing from Helensburgh is spectacular with the River Clyde being close to the track, reminiscent of the shores of Lake Constance! (Schaffhausen - Kreuzlingen; Konstanz - Villingen).
• The sky is beginning to show its age, it would have been interesting to have maybe a new skybox, or at least a new Sun, because the current Sun is made of concentric circles of light, a gradient disc would be more visually pleasing. Clouds, on the other hand, are beautiful as always.

On the banks of the River Clyde!

The trains

• Class 320
  • This 3-car EMU has basic functionnalities, allowing you to drive without constraints. Please note the lack of a vigilance device.
  • The sounds of the train are pleasant, both inside and outside the cab, a two-tone whistle is implemented with separate keys (Space bar and B)
  • Physics are good, acceleration is neither too slow nor too fast; braking is also very well managed.
  • Very nice sparkle effects on the pantograph.
  • It would have been interesting to be able to scroll the destination indicator during the scenario as on the Armstrong Powerhouse Class 320 for example.

The modelling of the Class 320 is accurate and the Scotrail Saltire livery is superb!

• Class 158
  • This 2-car EMU also has basic functionnalities, and is therefore suitable for driving without headaches. Here again, there is no vigilance device.
  • The sounds are also good, both in the cab and outside, and the separate two-tone whistle is also there.
  • The provided version has a different headlight block from the Class 158 included with the Fifth Circle Line, which is a plus.

This Class 158 has just reached the Edinburgh - Glasgow line, here again the modelling is accurate.

The scenarios

Six career scenarios are included in the DLC, allowing you to discover the route in different seasons with both trains. As the stops are frequent, care must be taken to respect the timetables without exceeding the speed limits, which vary frequently on the various journeys.

• Roll on Summerston
• Run For The Hills
• Clydeside Direct
• East Dunbartonshire Commuter
• Washed Out by the Loch
• Where There Once Were Shipyards

Beginning of the winter scenario in Class 158 at Anniesland station, and there is already some AI traffic.

Conclusion

Having seen a lot of negative criticism before the route came out, I was afraid that these critiques were well-founded, but at the end I think that the work done on this add-on is excellent! You can feel a very Scottish atmosphere on this route, the choice of vegetation and scenery is a good reflection of this region in northern Great Britain! The network allows hours of gameplay, and is not boring. It is well worth the 30€, I recommend this DLC!

P.S. This review was made on a mod expressly given by Rivet Games. However, I tried to be as objective as possible.

To see more...

https://youtu.be/LpoRHZfxgKU - credits Alan Thomson Sim (English)

https://youtu.be/fvY1ZFObmlg - credits Train Sim TV (English)

https://youtu.be/_alNYaoEyfQ - credits France Simu (Français)

Thanks to @Jimmy Armstrong Sim for his review, translated by Lus0rius.

Hello everyone! I invite you to come back to Switzerland, specifically to the Engadine, on the latest Rivet Games route released yesterday for € 29.99 (£ 24.99) on Steam, with an additional 20% discount for its launch.

Rivet is therefore coming back on the RhB narrow-gauge network to offer us the route from Pontresina to Scuol-Tarasp, a total of 57 kilometres that can be covered in one hour without stops.  The route starts in the Upper Engadine, where it runs for 7 kilometres on tracks already available with the Bernina Pass add-on. The Engadine takes its name from the river Inn, which flows for over 500 kilometres to the Danube, passing, among other places, through the Austrian city of Innsbruck. As you can see, this river will follow us on our rail journey and will allow us to appreciate the gorges it carves, especially around Zernez and shortly before Scuol railway station. This station is located at the border between the Lower Engadine and Tirol, and is a dead end. Although at a lower altitude, this part of the valley is wilder and narrower than the Upper Engadine.

Landmarks are recognizable at first glance, it is a pleasure to cross the villages of Engadine.

Rivet succeeds once again in making us feel the mountain atmosphere with a large number of custom assets in the buildings, the region is very recognizable. The forested areas are beautiful in summer, however in winter the texture of the soil does not match the trees at all, which produces a not very aesthetic distant rendering when trees are spaced far enough apart to see the ground. Another drawback: Rivet uses very little grass assets to fill the fields, which gives an impression of emptiness that you can see when watching their trailer. When a lot of freeware routes have a higher level of detail, it hurts a bit. However, we can still appreciate the fact that the route is perfectly optimized and will run on all PC configurations.

These empty fields are fortunately not the most common landscape of the route.

The locomotive used in the scenarios is the Ge 6/6 II, already present in their RhB Enhancement Pack 04. This time, the locomotive is included with the route; I'm glad the studio didn't make the same mistake as they did with the Surselva Line, where we had to buy the rolling stock separately! The modelling of the engine is of excellent quality, the pantograph is dynamically lowered under tunnels and the locomotive door can be opened. The functionalities, as usual with Rivet, remain quite basic: among others, no dead man's pedal emulation and the single-speed wiper comes back. However, I note that a decent number of indicators in the cab are functional and that the dynamic braking - quite particular on this loco - has been correctly reproduced. The audio part is rather a nice surprise and the tachograph noise is a real pleasure, however the sound of air friction seems to suffer from a bug and sometimes cuts off abruptly in the middle of a tunnel only to come back a few seconds later.

The modelling of the cabin is very well done.

Finally, six scenarios (plus a tutorial) are provided, allowing both freight and passenger services to be driven. The route and locomotive support request stops and most scenarios benefit from dynamically changing weather - there is always a chance of a shower. The route is demanding and requires constant vigilance, especially since the locomotive, as in reality, has no speed set. However, the lack of grade indication signs reduces immersion in the scenarios somewhat. Speaking of reducing immersion, doors regularly open on the wrong side in the station to let passengers get off where there are no platforms, the same bug as on the Schaffhausen-Kreuzlingen route - a bug that was partially fixed by me.

This challenging route takes us across many bridges and tunnels.

Conclusion

As you can see, I'm less enthusiastic about this route than I was about Rivet's previous ones. Let's be clear, the add-on is still of very good quality, but I have more and more the impression that Rivet is getting too comfortable with their success by offering us recycled RhB rolling stock and routes that are quite similar to each other - except for the Gotthardbahn and Schaffhausen-Kreuzlingen, without trying to improve their mapping techniques. When will we get an add-on from western Switzerland? So, once again, Rivet keeps its consistency in quality... and in drawbacks! 

P.S. This review was made on a mod expressly given by Rivet Games. However, I have tried to be as objective as possible.

To see more...

https://youtu.be/wfLdX6UUrws - credits Mavericks Bastelstube (Deutsch)

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/661294507  - credits fanfa95 (français)

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/661986733  - credits Lus0rius (français)

Review by Lus0rius : Youtube - Twitch

Good evening everybody! With a bit of delay, I decided to make us travel by looking at a Romanian route that came out this spring on Train Simulator at the price of 30 €. The Bărăgan route, as it is called, was developed by Rail-Studio, a group of independent creators already known for their engines and a freeware route. I would like to congratulate the studio's audacity in trying to innovate in the add-ons scene by offering content from a country that is very little known to the average player.  However, the distribution of some free third party assets in this paid package caused it some problems - the route was taken off sale a few days after it was published, only to be quietly republished in April. Since this problem seems to have been resolved with the creators of the assets, I suggest we start this review.

First impressions: the stations and their surroundings are very well crafted.

The add-on reproduces a 60-kilometre route (and not 229 as one might interpret from the description of Rail-Studio!) in south-eastern Romania, between the small towns of Brăila and Făurei. It is in fact a section of the route from Bucharest to the Moldavian border in the far east of the country. Făurei is known for its railway test centre with two circuits of 2.5 and 14 kilometres respectively, also reproduced in the simulator. The centre, built in 1978 and modernised a dozen years ago, recently hosted the new Stadler Euro Dual locomotives tested for HVLE.

It is required to create your own scenario to access the test centre, which allows to put one of the two French BB 17000 locomotives sold to Romania in 2007.

The route is admirably reproduced, the stations benefit from specific assets and the track sides are very well crafted, especially in terms of vegetation. However, as in reality, the route is very flat and straight, the track crosses fields for a good part of the way. This boring aspect is largely compensated by the cities of Făurei and especially Brăila, where the tracks cross a long charming residential area. The laying distance of the assets is quite small, but as there is little relief it is not noticeable. A little bug I encountered, the shadows are not displayed in the landscape even in the middle of the day, maybe for optimization reasons...

This kind of life scenes often make the trip more enjoyable.

Romanian signalling is well implemented and has a safety system similar to the German PZB. The catenary is also well done. There are many scenarios, however, they require additional free rolling stock available on the developer's website as well as the Škoda 109E downloadable here. Note that two missions use obligatory payware engines, the diesel locomotive 060-DA, which I have not tested.

The signalling is compatible with the Škoda 109E and therefore replaces the PZB if the selected country is Germany.

Although there is no train included with the route, this flaw is largely compensated by the quality of the engines used, even the free locomotives have an advanced simulation (even AI whistle at the departure of a station!). These scenarios include both passenger and freight services and even a shunting mission. Two drawbacks however, the Quick Drive mode is not available and the scenarios do not use the test centre at Făurei, although it is reproduced and decorated.

Night atmosphere is very pleasant!

Conclusion

Even if the route is a bit short and lacks variety, it is beautiful and excellent for discovering a new region. There are quite a lot of scenarios, so there's plenty of fun to be had for a while. However, it's up to you to see if you're willing to pay 30 euros for a route provided without new engines.

To see more...

https://youtu.be/AERppCUInfA - credits Railworks View (no commentary)

https://youtu.be/_c2fASsQMNo - credits France Simu (français)

https://youtu.be/mgKlWZ_lc90 - credits Mr.Bandit (română)

Please note that these videos were recorded on earlier versions of the route. The version reviewed here is 1.2.

Hello everyone ! Behind this unlikely title is the Rivet Games RABe 523, released today for €19.99 / £14.99 with a small additional discount until 4 June. For the first time with Rivet, the add-on includes no route, but it does include five career scenarios - including a driving tutorial - for players who own the Gotthardbahn from the same developers.

The RABe 523 is part of the first generation FLIRT series built by Stadler and is, as its German acronym indicates, a light EMU for Swiss regional traffic. It should be noted here that although the Flirt 3 already exists in Train Simulator, it is only used marginally in Switzerland. Regarding the Flirt 1, the Swiss Federal Railways have two 15 kV single-current models (RABe 521 and 523), one dual-current model suitable for France (RABe 522) and one suitable for Italy (RABe 524). Rivet has chosen to reproduce the 523, which is the most widespread of the four, with 61 trains in circulation on the RER Vaud, the RegiOlten and the S-Bahn Zug. On the other hand, as the S-Bahn Zug does not go beyond Erstfeld, we come to the first sad thing in Rivet's add-on: the train they have reproduced does not actually run on any of their routes! Our Italian friends would have appreciated the 524 which runs for real on the Gotthard route and all the way to Milano Centrale. Fortunately, it will find its place in TS on the recent Zurich - Olten route, but without displaying suitable destinations...

The 523 can be used in Quick Drive mode where it is more likely to be found... The S8 on the DOT-LED display, however, corresponds to the S-Bahn Lucerne/Zug.

After this introduction, it's time to appreciate the creators' strong point: modelling. Here again, it's splendid, as much for the exterior as for the cabin or the passenger view - whose default location, however, is rather poorly chosen (fortunately, you can navigate between several seats with the arrow keys). I particularly like the sliding footboards and their metallic effect, which I haven't seen much of so far in TS. The roof, especially in winter, is beautiful. Small disappointment, the side textures are a little too clean, which is less immersive. Another remark I make for all Rivet add-ons: the rolling stock is provided in a single livery. I would have greatly appreciated having the RER Vaud, Stadtbahn Zug, or even TPF and TransN versions, their respective numbering being effectively in the game but only with the SBB livery! For scenario creators, a version without passengers can be obtained by putting the letter "u" at the end of the train number.

Although there was a lack of winter textures for the Re 460, those of the RABe 523 are very well done!

Features of this Flirt are a bit more advanced than on DTG engines, but as a user of the Expert driving mode, I was hoping for a semi-realistic startup procedure with maybe a controllable DMI screen. Unfortunately, on this point Rivet is to TrainworX what Milka is to Lindt (I'm not going to make friends with this very Swiss comparison)... Despite this lack, driving is pleasant, ZUB and vigilance are present, enable it with Shift+Enter (number pad) and acknowledgement can be made with the same Enter key. There is also as a destination display system, with about forty customizable routes. Nevertheless, instrument lighting in the cab is too dim, so that you sometimes don't know whether a button is on or off.

Destination displays inside the train also changes dynamically.

Let's continue to explore its features... The vehicle is compatible with request stops and will display an "H" next to the speed indicator if one of the passengers wishes to get off. There are also a gear selector for the wiper and retractable mirrors (their switch is next to the dead man's pedal). Small but nonetheless sensible attention, the brake indicator cylinders located at the bottom of the cab change according to the application of the air brake and the hand brake.

Little touches like this one make me think that Rivet is heading in the right direction.

A quick look at the physics of the engine, not being an expert I find it more successful than for the GTW/RABe 526 of the Schaffhausen-Kreuzlingen route, with which the transition between coasting and acceleration was quite brutal (particularly noticeable with the VSoll/speedset). The Flirt has a smoother ride, however, the transition between electric and electro-pneumatic braking at low speed is the same as the GTW's and is therefore not realistic.

Let's now come to the audio review, where there are good and bad points. The sounds at a standstill and during acceleration below 30 km/h are good, at least I think that they were recorded on the real machine. Good points also for the sounds of the air when windows are open and for the two-tone horn (which is unfortunately not totally clickable, but available with B and the space bar) ! However, many mediocre sounds come from old add-ons, such as the brakes, the ZUB - which, by the way, is not supposed to make any noise when released - and more generally, everything you hear at speed. The train volume in tunnels is too high compared to the outside, which is unpleasant.

Tip: Drive with the windows ajar to enjoy the sounds better.

The provided scenarios are a good plus and allow you to extend the gameplay time on the Gotthard route considerably, as long as you disregard the inconsistency of the rolling stock with the reality and the lack of omnibus services. Yes, the 523 is primarily a regional service coach, but small stations are not accessible on the Gotthardbahn and Rivet only offers Regio Express services.

Even if it is the RABe 524 that normally runs on the Gotthard route, seen from afar the differences are minimal.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Rivet Games are true to themselves: excellent modelling but not very advanced features and sounds to reconsider. We're no longer in 2014 and many third-party developers have set a higher standard. The stock of the Scottish studio leaves me with a bitter aftertaste, that's why I give them a rating similar to the one the GTW/RABe 526 received. Come on Rivet, one more effort and you'll be my favourite developers on TS!

P.S. This review was made on a mod expressly given by Rivet Games. However, I have tried to be as objective as possible.

To see more...

https://youtu.be/Q2VYUSAbHzw - credits Rob Jansen (English)

https://youtu.be/XOpIDVfixI8 - credits Train Simulator (English)

https://youtu.be/VGsf3-jQqtg - credits iajer (German

Hello everyone! I'm back today on the blog to tell you about a route that caught my attention as soon as it was announced: Schaffhausen - Kreuzlingen, developed by Rivet Games and available since Friday, March 20th for a little more than 30 euros on Steam.

To put it in context, it is a single-track railway of 46 kilometres located in north-eastern Switzerland, in the Thurgau region. It forms the western part of the S8 line of the S-Bahn St. Gallen, known as the Seelinie (Lake line), and is operated by Thurbo, a company 80% owned by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB). This route stands apart from the other creations of Rivet Games because it is neither touristic nor located in the mountains. The line runs on one side along the northern part of the Swiss Plateau and on the other side along the Rhine and the Untersee - the narrowest part of Lake Constance. It connects Schaffhausen and Kreuzlingen, two cities with less than 40,000 inhabitants, by crossing a mostly rural area.

The stations are of high quality regarding the modeling and the details that are added.

The route itself is excellently developed. The scenery, both in towns and in countryside, is mastered and fits to reality. The assets laying distance is correct and the atmosphere of this route is successfully rendered, especially when you reach the lake shore, which is very pretty, both in game and in real life. We can particularly feel Rivet Games' experience in creation of landmarks and buildings specific to the route: stations benefit from perfect 3D, high-definition textures and a particular attention to detail, we are far from the empty platforms of the 3CCR for example. Please notice that a bug causes the train doors to open on the wrong side in stations - a problem that I have already patched. This route uses the usual Rivet Games signalling, you may not like the light emitted by the signals that change abruptly depending on the player's distance, but its implementation is very efficient - I'll come back to this when talking about the included rolling stock. The catenary is laid cleanly, even if it doesn't fit completely with reality.

Rivet offers us a glimpse of the German side of Lake Constance, which we didn't even ask for!

Let's move on to the rolling stock included in this add-on... First disappointment, there is only one power unit included, the RABe 526 2/8 EMU from the Stadler GTW family and built in two series between 2005 and 2013. And now you may be wondering if you've been cheated... Indeed, this EMU already exists on Train Simulator since 2014 and its release by ChrisTrains! However, even if he has modelled the Thurbo livery, the Dutch developer has not implemented the Swiss signalling systems and his GTW Thurbo does not have any advanced feature, unlike its very nice Dutch and German homologues. Consequently, the 526 from Rivet is to date the only truly Swiss GTW in the game.

Some dirt on the bottom of the car enhances the immersion - a little touch too rare with some publishers.

Rivet has done an excellent job of modeling the train, the exterior as well as the interior is of excellent quality... I even had fun walking around the train in free cam to enjoy the model! However, even if the line is very well optimized, this modeling has a price to pay and can put a strain on the smallest PC configurations... The cab is more polished than ChrisTrains', not only in terms of textures but also in terms of controls, which are placed more realistically - the CT model includes German safety systems, which are obviously not used in Switzerland. Several passenger views are available by navigating with the arrow keys, and they are all very good. In addition, Rivet's engine is very pleasant to drive. Integra and ZUB signalling systems are correctly implemented, the dead man's pedal can be activated and many buttons on the desk are operable. Other features include retractable mirrors, windows that can be opened and a destination display system that can be set in the cab.

The cab is very clean and finely crafted, everything is in 3D.

The physics of the train, although difficult to handle and a little rough, fits pretty much to reality - taking this train every day to get to school. However, I come to Rivet's weakest point, which didn't change despite complaints about its previous Re 460: the sounds. In motion, the sounds of wheels and air friction are present, but you can clearly feel that a lot of engine and compressor noise is missing. In the cab, this problem is relatively unnoticeable, but in a passenger or external view it becomes disturbing - it seems that the add-on suffers from bugs on this side, let's hope that this will be corrected soon... Another thing that bothers me a little bit, the lack of rolling stock could have been solved by adding different liveries, especially since the company Thurbo is known for its wrap advertising. Unfortunately, only the basic livery is available... Let's hope that the community fixes this problem quickly.

Due to the single-track system, AI traffic is quite rare, except in large stations like Schaffhausen.

The route is provided with two Railfan scenarios and seven career scenarios, including a driving tutorial. However, the missions are not very diversified due to the lack of rolling stock: there are only passenger services, which is due to the choice of the line itself: the few industrial spurs have not been used in reality for several years. However, some good innovations can be noticed, such as random request stops, train splitting along the way, training scenarios without intermediate stops, etc. Unfortunately, the scenarios do not use real timetables, which many routes are missing and which I think is a shame. The route is also available in Quick Drive mode, where you can choose any departure or arrival station.

The city of Schaffhausen is well done, except for a few 2D trees that are a little too bright.

Conclusion

Rivet had set itself a great challenge: to make us love a short single-track route and an EMU already existing in TS... Well in my opinion, the gamble was a success! Rivet keeps its skills - excellent modelling and pleasant train - to deliver us once again a mature add-on, despite the GTW's sound problems. To get a better overview of the route, you can watch related videos at the bottom of this article. I take this opportunity to wish you good luck and good health to all of you during these very special times!

To see more...

https://youtu.be/qg0qJ3vDmXw - credit Mavericks Bastelstube (German)

https://youtu.be/5Ax2moNC3As - credit iajer (German)

https://youtu.be/wbEL2khYvTw - credit MrCrrispy

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/572193975 - credit Lus0rius

The Chatham Main & Medway Valley Lines add-on, which was released last year, is on free trial until Monday, 6pm (UTC). You won't be able to play it for free after that date, but it has an interesting discount: for the same price as the Chatham Main Line alone, you will also get the Medway Valley Line! Indeed, DTG offers us here a combination of two routes and since the Medway Valley Line is not available separately, I will focus on this one - especially because it is less well known to the public than the Chatham Main Line (CML).

Straight ahead is the Medway Valley Line, on the left the track goes to Rochester and the bridge goes to London.

The Medway Valley Line, as its name suggests, follows the Medway River along a north-south axis in Kent. In-game, the route starts from Strood (station connected to the CML) and runs about 30 miles to Tonbridge. It is therefore quite short for Train Simulator, but it has many stations. The developers have nevertheless added an 7 miles extension from Strood to Gravesend, next to the Thames River. All this combined with the CML, the add-on allows you to cover 82 miles, enough to have fun for a long time.

The extension from Strood to Gravesend varies with a straighter - and faster - route than in the Medway Valley.

After the introduction, let's come to the game experience. The scenery is really pretty, we feel the atmosphere of the Kent countryside with the line that winds between the hills and the Medway River - which is often relatively close to the track for our pleasure. Stations and other landmarks are very well modelled, as usual for DTG. They don't forget the details, since some tags and rubbish can be found on the tracks. On the other hand, the distance scenery is sometimes (rarely) absent, but you won't notice anything if you are inside the cab. The ambient sounds are also there, although I would have preferred to hear more.

The landmarks, such as the typically British stations or the Medway Viaduct in the background (on which the HS1 passes towards the Channel Tunnel) are beautifully reproduced.

Let's move on to the rolling stock included: it's a small disappointment for me, because everything is already familiar. Concerning the EMUs, it is the same rolling stock that was available with the CML, namely Class 375 and 465 in different liveries. These two are also included in many English add-ons, so nothing new here. On the other hand, it is quality rolling stock, even if we can deplore a slight lack of functionalities. Regarding freight, the add-on includes Class 59, which was not in the CML, but was included in other British DLCs. So we can finally drive freight trains in Kent County!

The Medway Valley is well suited for freight because the line is bordered by several industrial spurs.

Concerning the additional scenarios compared to the CML, 9 career missions are included with 4 Railfan scenarios and 2 Quick Drive. All of them have a large number of AI trains, so you will never feel alone on the line. And if we count the scenarios already provided with the CML, then the total number of career missions is 17 ; however, some scenarios go together.

Fortunate coincidence: this image proves that we meet a lot of AI - freight as well as passengers. In the background you can see Rochester Castle overlooking the Medway.

I will finish with a quick overview of the CML. This line, published in 2016, is also a pleasant surprise for me, since I had never tested it before. The scenery is of the same level as in the Medway Valley, but the many stations in the London suburbs contrast with the bucolic countryside of Kent and give rise to more challenging scenarios. The only weakness of the CML is that some parts of the route duplicate the London-Brighton and the London-Faversham lines that I already own; however, these are relatively short sections.

The emblematic London Victoria station... a little empty for a weekday at 8am!

To conclude, I would like to say that this network is one of DTG's best achievements in Great Britain, although I regret the lack of originality in the rolling stock. Its only drawback is its usual price, but since it is testable and buyable at -50% until Monday, I can only encourage you to try it!

Small villages, woods and rivers: this is the main scenery of the line, for our visual pleasure.