It’s time to go Overground on the latest London line to come to Train Sim World. Get ready for an Aventra adventure in Train Sim World 4: London Overground Suffragette line: Gospel Oak – Barking Riverside, arriving 19th March!
The Route: Gospel Oak – Barking Riverside
150 years in the making; the Gospel Oak to Barking Line was happenstance-constructed through the means of multiple companies building adjacent lines. As links, junctions and various termini were built and changed, this meandering route through no less than 7 of North & East London’s boroughs took shape as a vital strategic railway.
Once earmarked for closure, and allowed to be rundown into disarray, Transport for London (TfL) took the line under their wing alongside other routes in 2007 when London Overground was launched to transform them into lines fit for the future. State-of-the-art throughout, the line from Gospel Oak is now an electrified, high density passenger route, making use of the brand-new Class 710 Aventra, while also still leaving space for freight as part of the National Rail network.
Having spent years with an avid community following, the route became affectionately known as the ‘GOBLIN’, a portmanteau of Gospel Oak - Barking Line. But from February 2024 it was announced that the route would be known the Suffragette line as part of TfL plans to name all of the London Overground routes to make the network easier for customers to navigate. Once rebranding is complete later this year it will be known as the Suffragette line, in recognition of how the early 20th century working-class movement in the East End, paved the way for women’s rights – empowering women to have a significant impact on society, in the past, present and will continue to do in the future.
The in-game route has scenery that represents the built-up area around this part of north London, including dense collections of residential buildings and lighting that recreates the suburban atmosphere after the sun has gone down.
A dedicated team of route builders have put a lot of effort into unique scenery assets on the route, including the two distinctive stations at Barking and Barking Riverside. The former being a large interchange station for other London lines and the latter being a brand-new station in anticipation of the riverside development that is very much under way.
As well as the standard route maps, our route builders have had a lot of fun hiding 25 Goblins around the route, in reference to the informal name given to this line by locals and enthusiasts. Some of these have been placed in some difficult-to-find locations, making them a little more challenging than typical route collectibles!
New EMU: London Overground Class 710 Aventra
One of the latest trains in TfL’s fleet comes to Train Sim World in the form of the Class 710 Aventra. Introduced in 2019, these sleek and modern electric multiple units replaced older stock and have variants running under other operators throughout Greater London, including the Class 345 units on the Elizabeth Line.
In-game, the interiors will be familiar to London commuters and tourists alike with relevant signage and PIS displays present, as well as the distinctive moquette found on the seating.
In the cab, the experience is very much dominated by the use of screens, with no analogue dials in sight! Players looking for the window blinds will need to find the button for it, as these are operated by a switch rather than by hand. Like the Thameslink Class 700 loco Add-on, the Class 710 supports dual voltage functionality for use on routes with third rail electricity in Free Roam.
Due to the way in which the game treats third and fourth rail power on the Train Sim World Compatible route Add-on Bakerloo Line, players wanting to drive the Class 710 on that route will need to enable Scenario Planner’s ‘Off the Rails Mode’.
Services, layers and Gameplay
Up to four trains per hour (tph) run along this line between Gospel Oak and Barking Riverside resulting in 154 playable services for the Class 710 in and amongst a total of over 1,000 services when factoring in AI and layers from other pieces of content. Timekeeping will be important throughout each service run, as will stopping points with trains fitting snug into the length of some platforms.
Freight services will be available to the vast majority of Train Sim World 4 players as these will layer in from the East Coast Main Line Class 66 and FKA wagons, though other Class 66 variants (including from recently released Gameplay Packs) will be available to select for those that own that content. Additional freight using other forms of rolling stock will also layer in such as those from Southeastern Highspeed.
Other playable service layers include the RHTT from the Train Sim World Compatible Loco Add-on Bundle, as well as both diesel and steam rail tour services from other Train Sim World route Add-ons.
Between Crouch End and Harringay, the line crosses the East Coast Main Line, where players will glimpse passing LNER Class 801 Azuma services in the form of AI traffic utilising the full ECML timetable. Other AI services present include the Thameslink Class 700, Flying Scotsman and a 1938 Underground Stock rail tour for players with the relevant content.
There are also some sneaky Easter Egg AI services that players may spot throughout the route, similar to those found on Southeastern Highspeed. We’ll let you enjoy hunting those down for yourselves...
The majority of AI traffic is formed of additional Class 710 London Overground services utilising parts of other Overground lines that run under, over or join with the Gospel Oak – Barking line. This includes a short section of the Lea Valley Cheshunt / Enfield Town Line that crosses perpendicular to the Suffragette line between South Tottenham and Blackhorse Road.
Scenarios are centred around various special events throughout the year, with players having to negotiate specific operations for Hallowe’en and Bonfire Night, as well as busy football fixtures and weather-related disruption.
Train Sim World 4: London Overground Suffragette line: Gospel Oak – Barking Riverside route Add-on will be available from 19th March for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Epic Games Store, and Steam for £24.99/€29.99/$29.99
Join the Railfan TV team on Twitch and YouTube at 19:00 UTC on March 14th for a preview of Train Sim World 4: London Overground Suffragette line: Gospel Oak – Barking Riverside.
Find out more about Train Sim World 4 by following @trainsimworld on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok.
