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Why Marylebone?

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Why Marylebone? 21/03/2015 at 04:26 #70131
GeoffM
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I'm just curious really. Looking at the sales figures, Marylebone is - by far - the best seller of all the sims. Literally 23% more than the next nearest rival (Birmingham New Street, no surprises there), with several others having only slightly lower sales than New Street.

To me, Marylebone is not the obvious simulation to buy. So why did you buy it?!

And thanks for doing so.

SimSig Boss
Last edited: 21/03/2015 at 04:27 by GeoffM
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Why Marylebone? 21/03/2015 at 05:36 #70132
Javelin395
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270 posts
I've not purchased Marylebone so can't answer that question.

What I can do is tell you why I purchased the sims I have. West Hampstead was my first paid for sim because living in Sheffield I have an association with the MML. The two Victoria's were my next purchases because I grew up in Kent and therefore like the idea of controlling lines I used to travel over. Also, I like the London terminii sims in general because they are usually busy.

Then came Wembley Mainline. That was an easy choice because it is a major London terminus and I'd enjoyed Clive's Euston sim. The West Midlands multibuy was next because I was keen to try my hand at Birmingham New Street and decided I might as well get the set by taking advantage of the reduced price. Finally came Wimbledon and Feltham - again taking advantage of a multibuy although I primarily wanted Wimbledon as it controls the biggest London terminus (and Waterloo was my first introduction to SimSig).

Not yet purchased any of the Scottish sims because I still have the free ones. what with my decreasing disposable income and other sims keep being released the Scottish ones keep dropping down my wish list !!

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Why Marylebone? 21/03/2015 at 06:17 #70133
kaiwhara
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584 posts
I buy a sim based on interest in the area. I grew up in the Southern Region before I relocated back to New Zealand where I was born, so naturally Southern sims are of particular interest. Beyond the automatic ones that I have purchased on that basis, I base it on whether I like the look and feel of the sim, and the trains through the area, and whether or not I actually know anything about the location. On that basis some of the Scottish and Anglian Sims (like Paisley and Motherwell) miss out, purely because I know nothing about them, the areas they cover and why they are significant. It isn't because they are not good sims (I imagine they are), just I don't get enjoyment in simulations when I don't have any context or inherent understanding of them. Note, I do have the McSims (Edinburgh, NE Scot and Central Scot) and thoroughly enjoy those.

What I particularly like about Marylebone is that it's probably most like the network I have controlled in real life, congested with lots of trains, with only two lines and some junctions with lots of conflicts. I didn't know much about the Chiltern or Metropolitan Lines at all before this sim, now I have a keen almost unhealthy interest in "The Met" and am fascinated by Chiltern!

I suppose this is commercially sensitive, but is there any sort of numbers or rankings as to how the sims perform? Purely interested to know what people have gone for!

Sorry guys, I am in the business of making people wait!
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Why Marylebone? 21/03/2015 at 08:12 #70136
Haraubrad
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103 posts
I bought the Marylebone sim because as a fireman in the 50s/60/s at Woodford Halse MPD I used to work into Marylebone and Neasden via Alesbury & High Wycombe. Also I was senior signalling inspector at Banbury prior to retirement (13 years ago) and once did a shift in Marylebone Control when it was situated in the offices there. I can recall the extra running lines being put in between North harrow Junction and Watford South Junction. Most of the bridge girders had been lying by the side of their subsequent places during and after the war. the war having put the project on hold. The signal box at Chorley Wood had a signal in each direction with an illuminated "A", so it could be treated as an automatic signal when the box was switched out.
Aubrey

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Why Marylebone? 21/03/2015 at 08:33 #70137
Forest Pines
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525 posts
I think Marylebone was the first loader sim I paid for (the very first I paid for was Didcot). I bought it because I've always had a liking for the LNER in general and the Great Central in particular; I already had the donationware ex-Great Central sims of course but wanted to complete the set.

Since then I've bought the Victoria multipack because of childhood holidays in Kent, West Hampstead because it looked interesting to play, and the West Midlands multipack because of BNS.

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Why Marylebone? 21/03/2015 at 08:47 #70138
Steamer
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3921 posts
Marylebone looked like a really good simulation, and as it was one of the first Payware simulations I bought it immediately. As the number of Payware simulations has increased, I've become a bit more selective and delayed my purchases so I only buy the simulations I really want, as I can't afford all of them!
"Don't stress/ relax/ let life roll off your backs./ Except for death and paying taxes/ everything in life.../ is only for now." (Avenue Q)
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Why Marylebone? 21/03/2015 at 09:12 #70139
mfloyd
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186 posts
I've bought all of them, but unfamiliar area to me so wanted the challenge!
Ripley, Derbyshire
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Why Marylebone? 21/03/2015 at 10:10 #70140
miker15
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50 posts
I now live in Stanmore, and before that in a house which backed onto the Met and Chiltern lines just south of HotH. I rode from HotH to Uxbridge 2 days ago. I have found comparing the sims with reality very interesting. My other regular sims are NNL, (I use the real thing regularly) and KX, because before I moved to London I lived in St Neots and had fairly frequent meetings in London and used the ECML to get there.
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Why Marylebone? 21/03/2015 at 10:27 #70141
tjfrancis
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358 posts
well i buyed marylebone because of the iecc and it one of my local stations is on this line as well
I am dyslexic so please consider this when reading my posts
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Why Marylebone? 21/03/2015 at 10:35 #70142
jc92
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3629 posts
The Appeal for me was it being an IECC Simulation of a real IECC exactly as per real life. its a really big control area which is surprisingly managable.
"We don't stop camborne wednesdays"
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Why Marylebone? 21/03/2015 at 11:06 #70143
RainbowNines
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272 posts
Mostly having used the Chiltern a lot.

Echo a few other comments about the fact it's the real deal, etc. That's not to devalue the other sims which aren't IECC in real life, but there's definitely a bigger appeal because what you see And do on the sim is broadly similar to what happens on the ground.

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Why Marylebone? 21/03/2015 at 15:32 #70147
belly buster
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368 posts
Just to buck the trend, I have most payware sims but not Marylebone.

And the reason? It's too "tall". I run on a laptop and I really dislike having the vertically scroll bar - especially with a large amount of unused real estate. New St is just about on the limit of being ok and is forgiven as there's little opportunity to make it shorter.

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Why Marylebone? 21/03/2015 at 17:01 #70149
Oddjob
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130 posts
I wont repeat the "Its real" etc but there is that, and as a single player I can manage it there are one or two larger sims where I have struggled a bit. Lastly the section between London and Amersham is very familiar as I lived in that neck of NW London in my younger days
Last edited: 21/03/2015 at 17:08 by Oddjob
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Why Marylebone? 21/03/2015 at 17:18 #70150
Splodge
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702 posts
I bought it because I've bought and enjoyed almost every other simulation (the only exception being the quieter ones of Fenchurch St and Portsmouth).
There's the right way, the wrong way and the railway.
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Why Marylebone? 21/03/2015 at 17:35 #70152
rodney30
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158 posts
having rode the line in the early 90's with the old dmmu's (class 115 i think). i was interested to see what had happened to the line over the years. and also due to it having lul on it make it all the more interesting than the other sims available no disrespect to other sims or there developers.

i used to live in sittingbourne in kent so the closest sim is victoria eastern or central but i now live on the south coast and my nearest sim is southampton.

all the sims are of great enjoyable ability and i wait to see what if any are next.

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Why Marylebone? 21/03/2015 at 18:21 #70155
Andrew G
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548 posts
As well as providing a full IECC control area it has the interesting option of turning on the full LUL section, a busy and interesting part of the LUL network.

While I can understand the inclusion of Banbury to allow Chiltern to test WTT options (and in the linger term chaining) I think this does detract a little from the overall simulation.

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Why Marylebone? 21/03/2015 at 18:38 #70156
Hawk777
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386 posts
I own Marylebone. Why? It seems that paid sims started coming out fairly recently—there were, I believe, some rather old ones, but then none for a while, and then some new ones started appearing, starting with the McSims if I remember correctly. Having thoroughly enjoyed the freeware sims for many, many hours, I immediately jumped on the chance to buy the McSim pack, seeing it as an excellent deal compared to, say, the price of a dinner out or movie ticket—more, but also something that lasts a massively longer time. So it was an obvious purchase. As more and more paid sims came out, I started to realize it would be years before I got time to actually play them, so I stopped buying—shortly after Marylebone came out. This isn’t to say I won’t buy any more sims, just that I won’t do so while I still have a big backlog of sims to play (both those I’ve already paid for and all the freeware ones).

So, the short version: which sims I bought is roughly a function of the order in which they were released.

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Why Marylebone? 21/03/2015 at 18:41 #70157
GW43125
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495 posts
I personally bought Marylebone because it gives the ability to control both a fair-sized terminus and a large-ish area, with ARS for those times when you only want to signal a small area, so it was the first I bought. Long story short, it's a purchase I'm not regretting!
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Why Marylebone? 21/03/2015 at 20:34 #70161
GeoffM
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6282 posts
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Thanks everyone - some useful insight there.

I won't reveal actual numbers but here are the top 12 rankings:
1. Marylebone
2. New Street
3. NEScot
4. Edinburgh
5. West Hampstead
6. Wolverhampton
7. Coventry
8. Cowlairs
9. CScot
10. Fenchurch
11. Vic Central
12. Vic SE

SimSig Boss
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The following users said thank you: ozrail, kaiwhara, welwyn
Why Marylebone? 21/03/2015 at 21:57 #70166
Muzer
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718 posts
My friend NSEFAN's parents' house is in the Chilterns, so he knows Chiltern Railways well, so he naturally has it. So it was a natural first choice for a paid sim for me as I could play it multiplayer with him.
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Why Marylebone? 22/03/2015 at 06:21 #70171
kaiwhara
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584 posts
" said:
Thanks everyone - some useful insight there.

I won't reveal actual numbers but here are the top 12 rankings:
1. Marylebone
2. New Street
3. NEScot
4. Edinburgh
5. West Hampstead
6. Wolverhampton
7. Coventry
8. Cowlairs
9. CScot
10. Fenchurch
11. Vic Central
12. Vic SE
Cheers Geoff. Not the order I was expecting them to be in, but that was exactly what I was after.

Cheers!

Sorry guys, I am in the business of making people wait!
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Why Marylebone? 22/03/2015 at 09:31 #70176
TimTamToe
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655 posts
If I recall I think this was the first payware after the Mcsims. The Scottish ones hadn't interested me, (area wise) and Marylebone looked a good challenge but also good for a single player especially integrating all the LU services when things go t*ts with the delays turned on.

Since then as others have said I've been selective on which I buy and have mostly stuck with local areas and areas I have data to write tts for (mostly the south east)

Gareth

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Why Marylebone? 22/03/2015 at 09:59 #70177
pedroathome
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887 posts
Just a thought here, but would the high sales figures of Marylebone be something relating to the fact that it was the first payware sim released which WAS NOT previously released as a freeware sim?

A more interesting comparison might be the order which would be seen in say the first month, or 6 months of a sim being released rather than the total numbers? That way you'd have a more level field for seeing the figures


James

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Why Marylebone? 22/03/2015 at 10:01 #70178
delticfan
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476 posts
I haven't gone for the Marylebone sim, like other posters, preferring to go for the areas I'm familiar with. I've got the full West Midlands batch plus Stafford, all of which are of course excellent. Reading some of the comments on here though I might give it a try.
Mal.

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Why Marylebone? 22/03/2015 at 13:47 #70186
arabianights
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138 posts
" said:
Thanks everyone - some useful insight there.

I won't reveal actual numbers but here are the top 12 rankings:
1. Marylebone
2. New Street
3. NEScot
4. Edinburgh
5. West Hampstead
6. Wolverhampton
7. Coventry
8. Cowlairs
9. CScot
10. Fenchurch
11. Vic Central
12. Vic SE
I have to say that #3 there is much more surprising to me than #1...

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