Stepford Express, sometimes simply referred to as Express, operates rail services to various districts around Stepford County, such as Stepford Central, Benton, Leighton, Morganstown and Llyn-by-the-Sea. With the release of SCR Version 1.9 on 15 May 2022, the operator began serving the Newry Zone, Eden Quay and Westercoast. It is also the most expensive operator in the game to unlock, as trains start at 2,250 points.
Stepford Express is classified as a Category III high-speed rail operator by International Union of Railways (UIC) definition.[1] Rolling stock is specially designed for high-speed operation, capable of reaching the maximum line speed of 125 miles per hour. The majority of the network also uses dedicated or specially upgraded tracks suitable for running at 125 miles per hour, although some sections (such as the Newry Branch) have lower maximum speeds, in part due to geographical constraints and its urban nature.
A full journey on the main line, from Stepford Central via Benton to Llyn-by-the-Sea takes between 21 and 23 minutes. If taking the route via Morganstown, the route takes 20 minutes on stopper routes, while the fastest route, only stopping at Leighton City, takes 16 minutes for the journey.
This operator bears a pink rose (#FF0080) colour scheme as of Version 1.7. Before that, the brand was simply Express and bore a deep violet (#6B1E6B) colour scheme.
History[]
2018[]
- 7th January: First traces of Express could be seen, where a new express line was built. The works included new Platforms 5A, 5B, 5C, 6A and 6B at Benton, passing tracks through Coxly and Bodin, and Platforms 1 & 2 at the pre-V1.1 Stepford East abandoned, later removed to make way for the passing line. The platforms were shifted. Stepford Connect was rerouted via Angel Pass due to the cancellation of Metro and the old line that bypassed Angel Pass was allocated for Express. Works also happened east of Benton, where a linking line from Benton to the fast lines near Hampton Hargate was built.
- 22nd December: BanTech mentioned that Express would not be coming in V1.1 as they prioritised AirLink instead, hinting that Express would be coming in future updates.
2019[]
- 11th May: BanTech unveiled the roadmap. Under Q3 of 2019, it mentioned the Express line, which got people hyped because they would be getting Express over the summer.
- 22nd September: BanTech announced that the Stepford Connect extension to Llyn-by-the-Sea, as well as the Express line, was delayed.
- 29th September: Mattyx2013 showed off Faymere and commented "This station will be served by Stepford Connect but is a cool place to watch Express trains pass at speed!".
- 5th October: Charlie (SCRTeamOfficial) revealed Northshore station and commented "Fancy a wander on the beach? Stepford Connect and Express can help you out with that! Introducing Northshore". This confirmed to the public that Express was skipping Faymere yet stopping at Northshore.
- 18th October: Mattyx2013 showed Llyn-by-the-Sea and a Class 43 for Express, which got the public hyped up again and confirmed Express was stopping at Llyn.
- 25th November: BanTech showed a picture of the Class 43 at Stepford Central.
- 17th December: The Express operator was introduced with 4 routes (R075, R076, R077 and R078) and 2 new trains: the Class 43 and the Class 801.
2020[]
- 22nd February: Faymere Green TMD was added and Westwyvern was upgraded having Stepford Express signs instead of Stepford Connect, making it the first station to have Stepford Express signage.
- 18th March: Stepford Central received its second upgrade of the year, making it look very modern.
- 26th March: An unconfirmed train was revealed, but the community quickly identified it as a Bombardier Voyager train and it was believed to be in use on Stepford Express.
- 28th March: A photo of three Bombardier Voyager trains at Stepford Central was revealed. It was confirmed that two of them were Class 221s and one of them was a Class 220 on X (formerly Twitter).
- 15th April: Both of these trains were released, with 1 new route also being added.
- 3rd October: A sneak peek was released on the SCR Official Discord server of a small snippet of the map presumably for V1.7. At a quick glance, it looks like Express will be rebranded and going via Morganstown starting in that update and Morganstown will become the first station to serve all 4 operators in the game.
- 10th October: Head of Brand Design tpx_jm released a sneak peek of the new express livery of the rebranded Express logo.
- 28th October: Managing Director Charlie_RBX posted a sneak peek of the upgraded Class 801 in the new Stepford Express livery.
- 29th October: V1.7 was released. NGv3 upgrades for the Class 801 units, as well as 3 new routes (R080, R081 and R082) that run via Morganstown.
2021[]
- 19th February: Version 1.7.2 was released, which brought along an upgrade of the Class 43 to NGv3, as well as adding a buffered HST variant and the first 7-car train, the 5-car HST variant, making it the longest train in the game at the time, beating the Class 185. Unique stop markers for these trains have been added at Benton and Westwyvern.
2022[]
- 27th February: A sneak peek of the updated Class 220/Class 221 was released. Later that same day, Version 1.8.3 released, containing mesh-upgrades of the Voyager, making Stepford Express the first operator in SCR to have a fully meshed fleet.
- 1st April: A photo was released, showcasing an HST stopping at Newry Harbour. Despite players thinking it was just a joke, as the photo was released on April Fools, Stepford Express began serving Newry Harbour in V1.9.
- 12th May: A sneak peek showed a Voyager and a HST at a Waterline station (presumed to be Newry), leading players to believe that Stepford Express will receive an extension over the Newry Branch (which is highly speculated to receive a full overhaul) in the near future.
- 15th May: The operator was extended to Newry Harbour, Newry and Eden Quay, adding 4 new routes (R083, R084, R085, R086). Additionally, Stepford Express began calling at Westercoast via R083. All services heading to Newry Harbour, Newry, and Benton use the Morganstown Flyover between Morganstown and Morganstown Docks. This update also brought Stepford Express a new map.
- 1st September: A new map was released, having been delayed and supposed to release in V1.10.
2023[]
- 2nd April: Version 1.10.7 was released, bringing a revamped St Helens Bridge.
- 17th July: Version 1.10.8 was released, bringing a re-meshed Class 801, alongside the Class 802.
- 31st August: Version 1.10.9 was released, introducing the Class 397.
Rolling Stock[]
Current Fleet[]
Class Number | Image | Top Speed (mph) | Price (Points) | Carriages | Manufacturer | Train Family | Date Put Into Service | Date updated to NGv3 | Routes Operated On |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
HST (Class 43) | 125 | 3,000
(800 per variant after unlocking) |
4 (Standard and Buffer)
5 (5-Car) |
British Rail Engineering Limited | InterCity 125 | 17 December 2019
(5-car and buffer: 19 February 2021) |
19 February 2021 | ||
Class 220 | 2,250 | 4 | Bombardier Transportation | Voyager | 15 April 2020 | 27 February 2022 | All routes | ||
Class 221 | Purchased along with Class 220 | 5 | Bombardier Transportation | Super Voyager | |||||
Class 397 | 2,250 | 5 | CAF | Civity | 31 August 2023 | All routes except R086 | |||
Class 801 | 2,250 | 5 | Hitachi | A-Train | 17 December 2019 | 29 October 2020 (17 July 2022 remeshed) | All routes | ||
Former[]
- None at the moment
Future[]
- None at the moment
Train Models[]
Train Models | NGv1 | NGv2 (CSG Model) | NGv3 (Mesh Model) |
---|---|---|---|
Percentage | 0% of fleet | 0% of fleet | 100% of fleet |
Number | 0 | 0 | 5 |
*Main train and variants are considered one train.
Depots[]
Current[]
Former[]
- None at the moment.
Future[]
- None at the moment.
Sidings[]
Current[]
Former[]
- None at the moment.
Future[]
- None at the moment.
Stations[]
The map below is interactive: click the stations to see the pages.
Current[]
- Stepford Central (♿︎)
- St Helens Bridge (♿︎)
- Newry Harbour (♿︎)
- Newry (♿︎)
- Eden Quay (♿︎, northbound only)
- Benton (♿︎)
- Elsemere Junction (♿︎)
- Morganstown (♿︎)
- Leighton Stepford Road (♿︎)
- Leighton City (♿︎)
- Edgemead (♿︎)
- Westercoast (♿︎)
- Westwyvern (♿︎)
- Northshore (♿︎)
- Llyn-by-the-Sea (♿︎)
Former[]
- None at the moment.
Future[]
- None at the moment.
Routes[]
Criticism[]
- The release of Stepford Express has been criticised by some players for being "rushed". Originally there were only 2 trains available: the Class 43 which was very blocky and under-detailed and the Class 801 which uses the same model copy-and-pasted over from AirLink's Class 802.
- The livery was often criticised for not seeming to make any sense and being different on each train, with an LNER-style purple line along the side of the Class 801 while a fading angled edge was used on the Class 43, with a completely different style used on the Class 220 and Class 221.
- However, lots of the criticism diminished with the 1.7 update and future updates as the livery was refreshed to look much more modern along with the Class 43 and 801 being updated to much more detailed mesh models, as well as Stepford Express running through the Morganstown Branch.
- With the release of V1.9, Stepford Express now serves Newry and Newry Harbour. This was criticised by some players for being unreasonable as these services share the same tracks with Waterline.
- Express via Morganstown Docks isn't logical as the Morganstown Flyover is not electrified, so the only train that can actually run on that line is the Class 43 as it uses diesel and electric power.
Trivia[]
- Matty's sneak peek of Starryloch showed a fragment of a purple-coloured train, which aroused speculation that it could be an Express train. It was later revealed to be the Class 43 (HST) alongside the long-waited Llyn-by-the-Sea sneak peek.
- This is the only operator without a train belonging to the Electrostar family (i.e. Class 377, Class 387) on its fleet.
- Prior to the introduction of Stepford Express, the majority of their tracks had been or were already in use.
- Before Angel Pass was given a service, Stepford Connect trains used the express middle tracks between Coxly and Benton. Platforms 1-3 at Stepford Town (Stepford Central) and Platforms 1-2 at St Helens Bridge were formerly used by Stepford Connect.
- AirLink trains have also used the Express tracks between just west of Hampton Hargate to Leighton Stepford Road since the Five Million Update.
- The 5-car Class 43 holds the record between V1.7.2 and V1.10 for the longest train in SCR, with 7 coaches, beating the AirLink Class 185 (Double) by one carriage.
- After V1.10, the Class 345 was released on AirLink, consisting of 7 coaches, which makes the train tied with the 5-car Class 43 for the longest train in SCR, if accounting for the number of coaches.
- The Class 345 is still the longest train in the game if accounting for the entire length of the train.
- The Class 801 is extremely similar to the Class 802 running on AirLink, with the exception of class numbers, liveries, fully electric, rather than bimode, and different operators.
- The route with the lowest number of stations skipped is R079, which doesn't skip any stations served by Stepford Express.
- Prior to V1.9, Stepford Express served the least amount of stations on the network, at 11 stations, all of which were also served by Stepford Connect.
- 4 of those 11 had Stepford Connect and Stepford Express share platforms, namely Leighton Stepford Road, Leighton City, Edgemead, and Westwyvern (terminating services only). Llyn-by-the-Sea used to have this feature as well before its revamp in V1.7.2.
- After V1.9, Stepford Express beat Airlink in the amount of stations served, now having 15 stations served. This means Airlink now serves the least amount of stations in the network.
- Since V1.9, R083 services call at Westercoast, making it the twelfth Stepford Connect - Stepford Express interchange station.
- As of V1.9, Stepford Express shares five stations with Waterline, being Newry Harbour, Newry, Eden Quay, Benton and Morganstown. Stepford Express and Waterline share platforms at all of them except Benton[note 2] and Morganstown.
- 4 of those 11 had Stepford Connect and Stepford Express share platforms, namely Leighton Stepford Road, Leighton City, Edgemead, and Westwyvern (terminating services only). Llyn-by-the-Sea used to have this feature as well before its revamp in V1.7.2.
- All of the 15 stations that Stepford Express serves are also served by other operators making Stepford Express the only operator to not have any uniquely served stations.
- Before V1.9, when Stepford Express was extended along the Waterline tracks to Newry Harbour, every station it served was also served by Stepford Connect.
- Many people in the community believed that a Class 91 (InterCity 225) was actually supposed to run on the line, evident in a showcase of future SCR trains made by former Product Developer OverheadWires.
- He later clarified that the showcase of the Class 91 is just a part of his PDV application where he tries to demonstrate a style of train that could work for SCR.
- He stated that this model was never intended to be used in SCR.[2] However, this model can be added to other games.
- If this train was put into service, it would be the third locomotive-hauled train in the game, as well as the first push-pull train, as the Class 43 locomotives are technically power cars, and the Class 68 involves a locomotive at either end instead of a locomotive and a Driving Van Trailer (DVT). However, it is planned to include a DVT with the Class 68 in the future.[3]
- This is the only operator in SCR where all trains share the same maximum speed of 125 mph.
- This is the second operator to feature First Class sections in trains, the first operator was AirLink.
- This is the only operator where all trains were Next Generation from the initial release.
- The colour of this franchise was planned to be orange, but it received a dark magenta colour scheme upon release. The orange franchise is AirLink.
- There are platforms for Express at Millcastle Racecourse and Millcastle, however, no services call there. This could be changed in a future update, either with services or the platforms being removed.
- This is the only operator in SCR to have no trains with double doorways and commuter-style trains.
- This is also the only operator to have no trains with 3 coaches or less.
- This operator used to pass at least one station on every route on an in-use platform, but when V1.4.6 was released, R079 was added, and that route doesn't skip any stations on in-use platforms.
- This is the only operator with trains without functioning cab doors for Guards.
- It is also the only operator without a train where the local door is the penultimate door of the last car of the train. The Class 801 does not use its dummy door in its first class compartment so it is not counted as a functional door.
- Before V1.7, this was the only operator where tracks do not split off in different branches.
- The tracks now split in V1.7 with routes via Morganstown.
- AirLink used to have this trait until Airport Terminal 3 opened.
- This is the only operator where the line splits into two separate lines and rejoin at a separate point.
- This was the last operator to get a rebrand, after AirLink.
- This operator serves the route with the most stations being skipped; R081, which only stops at 3 stations covering a total distance of 24.3 miles.
- This is the only operator where all their routes were named instead of using their two terminating stations.
- This is probably because all Stepford Express routes originated at Stepford Central prior to V1.9.
- Even routes to Newry are named. For example, they're displayed as "Newry to Llyn" instead of "Newry <> Llyn-by-the-Sea".
- Waterline also has this trait, with R015 being named "Morganstown Shuttle", the only route to have a name variant.
- The least used station on the line is Elsemere Junction with only one route serving this station.
- Prior to V1.8, Leighton City also only had one route serving it, before it became the main station of the Leighton area.
- However, Elsemere Junction is not shown in Stepford Express' spawn page as a passenger. This was also the case for Leighton Stepford Road for AirLink before V1.7. This issue was fixed in V1.8.
- This station is also the only AirLink operated station that Stepford Express stops at.
- This is the only operator that does not serve the Airport Zone.
- Prior to V1.7.2, Stepford Express had no headquarters. After V1.7.2, it got its own headquarters, at Llyn-by-the-Sea, as part of the latter's upgrade.
- This is the only operator to not have any depots/sidings that exclusively spawns its trains.
- Stepford Express operates the lowest amount of rolling stock types in their fleet, with only 5 different classes (excluding variants).
- The conversion of the Class 220 and Class 221 to NGv3 in V1.8.3 makes Stepford Express the first operator to have an exclusively mesh-only fleet.
- It is the most expensive operator in the game at the starting price of 2,250 points.
- Between V1.9 and V1.10.8, the Class 220 was the only train that can operate on all routes in Stepford Express, as R086 can only be operated by this train.
- Before V1.9, all Stepford Express routes stopped at Stepford Central. This could be considered as the operator's hub.
- After the aforementioned update, no stations have all routes stopping at it, though Stepford Central still has 70% of Stepford Express routes terminating there.
- The Class 801 and the HST are the only two Stepford Express trains to utilise special stop markers at stations.
- Most routes of this operator that go onto the Newry branch do not have Faraday Road TMD as an available spawning point. The only exception to this is R086.
Gallery[]
Notes[]
References[]
- ↑ Pyrgidis, Christos N. (21 April 2016). Railway Transportation Systems: Design, Construction and Operation. CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4822-6216-2. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
- ↑ Toby [@OverheadWires] (1 June 2022). "I did indeed make a 91 ... However, it is/was never intended to be in SCR" (Tweet). Retrieved 5 June 2022 via Twitter.
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