Medway Valley Line - Out Now!

Kent Life is Calling! Get ready to hop across the Medway and explore 170 years of history with the Medway Valley Line from Firefly Simulations - out today for Train Sim World 6! Drive rural Southeastern services with the Class 375/3 and 375/6, and explore a detailed rendition of the Garden of England between Strood, Paddock Wood, Tonbridge and the county town of Maidstone.

If you just want to get stuck in, I’d hardly blame you, but stick around here for Key Feature details, timetable information, and the Southeastern Highspeed Improvements patch!
The Story so Far

• Season of Reveals

  • The route was announced on December 8th

• February Roadmap

  • Progress on the route was shown

• March Roadmap

  • First in-depth look at the Class 375

• Deep Dive

  • A full historical insight into the route with 45 screenshots!

• Preview Stream VOD

  • a first glimpse at the route live in action below

The Manual
Take a read of the manual to get familiar with the route, the Class 375 and its features

Key Features - Route

• 26 miles from Strood to Tonbridge

• Industrial and rural scenery, closely following the River Medway

• 13 updated miles from Gravesend to Rainham

• Strood, Maidstone West, Paddock Wood and Tonbridge have accessible station interiors

• Stations with ticket barriers have animated barriers when you or an NPC walks upto them

• Cuxton, Maidstone West and Wateringbury signal boxes have visible interiors

• Animated animals in fields such as sheep and horses

• Seasonal scenery; month-dependent hot air balloons, lambs in fields, volume of river traffic

• Accessible on foot areas for exploration, including Aylesford Village, North Halling Crossing, footpath at New Hythe

• “This train does not stop here” announcements for non-stop trains through stations

Key Features - Train

• Class 375/3 and /6, featuring older style headlights, 2+2 seating layout and appropriate cab changes

• For the first time, an accessible toilet on a passenger train in Train Sim World!

• For the first time, interactive UK GSM-R functionality (Expert Mode only)

• Working CCTV panels in guard mode (Expert Mode only)

• Emulated Driver Open, Guard Close dispatch procedures

• Custom announcements, with “bing bong” audio cues

• Adjustable cab seat height

• Cab egress handles (Expert Mode only)

• Attachable track recording camera on the 375’s lamphook

• 2x named Class 375/6s; 375619 "Driver John Neve" & 375623 "Hospice in the Weald"

• Additional destinations listed in the PIS page of the TMS to reflect the following accurate destination formatting; Strood via Maid West, Pad Wood via Maid West and Tonbridge via Maid West

Key Features - Gameplay

5 Scenarios, each including the Expert features, plus AWS and DVD being enabled by default

• Early Morning

• Looking for Trouble

• Unexpected Express

• A Baaaaaad Time.

• It’s Snow Good

A full timetable based on the 2025 Working Timetable, including:

• 3/4 Medway Valley Line diagrams covered by Class 375/3 (67 services)

• 1/4 Medway Valley Line diagram covered by Class 375/6 (21 services)

• BR Class 465/9 player-only substitutes into this diagram

• Peak time BR Class 395 services to/from Maidstone West, plus a railtour to Tonbridge (9 services)

• Peak time BR Class 465 services between Gillingham, Strood and Gravesend, including an ECS move to Maidstone West and back (7 services)

• South Eastern Main Line services between Tonbridge and Paddock Wood with the 375/6 (83 services)

• Chatham Main Line services between Rochester, Gillingham and Rainham with the 375/6 (134 services)

• Class 465/9 substitutes into Gillingham services

• North Kent and Chatham Main Line services with the Class 395 (63 services)

• Thameslink services with the Class 700, plus a test run along to/from Tonbridge (85 services)

• 3W75 and 3S71 RHTT diagram based out of Tonbridge (9 services)

• Cargo Line 1 Petroleum services running Heathrow Aviation Fuel trains (5 services)

• Cargo Line 2 Aggregate services (7 services)

• Light engine Class 66 movements (4 services)

• Medway Valley Venturer Railtour with Class 33 & Mk2 coaches (4 services)

• Evening Rounder Railtour with Class 47 & Mk2 coaches (2 services)

• The Flying Kentishman Railtour with Flying Scotsman, Mk2 coaches and 47 (1 service)

So if you own Southeastern Highspeed, Thameslink Class 700, Cargo Line 1 & 2, RHTT, West Somerset, Class 33 and Flying Scotsman that’s a total of 501 playable services!

There is also of course...

• Class 375/6 and Class 465/9 Hastings Line and Tunbridge Wells AI at Tonbridge

• Class 375/3 masquerading as Southern Class 377/3 AI at Tonbridge, with intent for Rivet Games’ Southern Class 377/3 to substitute in at a later date

• Class 375/6 Maidstone East Line AI at Maidstone Barracks

• Class 395 High Speed 1 AI at Cuxton

Journey Mode Chapters 1-4 introduce you to the route and then focus on particular conditions such as night time driving. Chapter 5 offers a full “day in the life” across the route.

Southeastern Highspeed Improvements

Alongside the Medway Valley Line release, we are pleased to share the improvements that Firefly have made to the rolling stock included in Southeastern Highspeed, the Thameslink Class 700 and Railhead Treatment Train. This update not only improves each train, but also acts as a first pass on texture memory improvements.

The update will be rolling out from now (10am UTC) but please give upto 24 hours for the update to take effect.

Class 395, 375/9, 465/9 and 700

• Optimized the textures and materials on each train to reduce their footprint in memory

Southeastern Highspeed

Class 395

• Adjusted the brightness of some textures and glass so as to not appear over-exposed

• Fixed the rapidly rotating headlight switch

• New gauge emissive/textures

• Upgraded to WeatherGlass V2 for new weather effects on the windscreen

• Added the default TSW GSM-R (not the bespoke Firefly version)

• DRA keybind added (default = PgDn)

• Added Southeastern branding to the driver’s uniform

• Clock now matches local time

• AI horns added

• Stopped passenger doors from being openable while moving

• Suspension added, with damping tuned for smoother response

• Roof fans now fully animated

Class 465/9

• Adjusted the brightness of some textures and glass so as to not appear over-exposed

• Adjusted the hue of the tail lights to look red as they could often appear pink or white in colour

• Upgraded to WeatherGlass V2 for new weather effects on the windscreen

• Moved the default camera position for better visibility

• Added the default TSW GSM-R (not the bespoke Firefly version)

• Removed low resolution sky reflections from the windows

• Fixed external door button animation

• Fixed some door audio bugs

• Headlights adjusted to be cast more light and be more realistic

• Wiper switch sensitivity adjusted

• Motor blower audio fixed (it used to immediately cut out and didn’t loop)

• Light fixes for AI

• AI cab light is no longer always on

• AI horns added

• DRA keybind added (default = PgDn)

• Added Southeastern branding to the driver’s uniform

• Guard signal bell no longer plays twice when you press the button

• Reduced the attenuation falloff for the cab fans as they were audible in other trains some distance away

• Suspension added

Class 375/9

• Added the default TSW GSM-R (not the bespoke Firefly version)

• Suspension added

• AI horns added

• Upgraded to WeatherGlass V2 for new weather effects on the windscreen

• Added Southeastern branding to the driver’s uniform

• Headlights now turn off when AI ends a service

• Improved the DVD/DSD to better reflect how it behaves on the real train

EWS Class 66

• Fixed the tail light configuration upon AI starting a service

• Fixed day/night headlight setting selection being flipped for Cab 2 upon AI service startup

• Replaced exterior lights emissive texture with the one from GWE Remaster’s upgraded 66

• Added suspension taken from GWE Remaster’s upgraded Class 66

• Upgraded to WeatherGlass V2 for new weather effects on the windscreen

• Reduced internal wiper volume

• Adjusted texture brightness curves and brightness levels

Rail Head Treatment Train Class 66

• All of the above as per Southeastern Highspeed’s EWS Class 66

• AI now correctly shuts down the RHTT radio upon service shutdown

Thameslink Class 700

• Headlight intensity and attenuation radius increased for better visibility

• Headlight LOD fixed so cones no longer pop in close to the player

• Headlight naming corrected to match realworld terminology: Day Light → Dipped Beam and Night Light → Main Beam 

• General brightness adjustments to textures and glass to prevent overexposure

• Headlights further adjusted as part of an additional polish pass

• Upgraded to WeatherGlass V2 for new weather effects on the windscreen

• AI horns added

• Horn attenuation adjusted for more natural audio behaviour

• Compressor audio corrected

• Sparking effects added

• Passenger saloon lights reduced in intensity and given a warmer tone

• Cab lighting reduced and warmed for a more realistic ambience

• DRA keybind added (default: PgDn)

• Reflections removed from interior of windscreen to stop 3rd rail sparks being visible inside the cab

• Suspension added, with damping tuned for smoother response

• Roof fans now fully animated

• Additional attenuation tweaks applied to lighting and effect