Recent reviews by Pyrotrainthing

I would recommend anyone give this game a shot. A charming aesthetic, with plenty of neat touches for railfans to notice! My only feedback is I wish there was more signals for if trains pass through certain sections like some wyes but there's plenty of passing tracks so it's more of a nitpick.
If there's more planned for the game I'd love to see it when it's ready but honestly this is my personal Game of The Year at the moment!

So much cheese. Worth the wait, hopefully these folks make more games in future! Would be nice to have DLC tied to railroads or something in my opinion.

This is such a treat as a fan of the show & Railway Series. I get a big grin on my face when I play it.
It is obviously not perfect, it has bugs; At the time of writing, you can clip out of Gordon's Cab from the front at the backhead/where the controls all are. Sir Topham Hatt also doesn't look the best, I think I'd almost wish they went with a more stylized look akin to what fan modelers do in recreating the human characters from the Model or CGI eras of the show.
Crovan's Gate's appearance feels like a mix between the CGI-era & Railway Series one. It'll take some getting used to, though because the whole layout is more like the CGI-series in how the station is built for the Skarloey Railway. It doesn't really follow Reverend Awdry's track plans. Though to be fair, this can hopefully be modeled & mapped out in time, I'd imagine myself & plenty of fans would purchase a full-package Skarloey Railway experience, or a slew of original or recreated stories that are set on the Little Western (Duck & Oliver's Branchline)
My biggest complaint is that there's only what was shown off before launch in terms of characters. That's Thomas, Percy, Gordon, Emily, Diesel, Bertie in the base game & James as the DLC. This means no Mavis or Toby on the Ffarquhar branchline, nor any appearances of other characters like Edward, Henry, or the Skarloey Railway engines at Crovan's Gate. Nor any non-rail vehicles besides Bertie (examples: Terrence, Harold, Trevor, Bulgy, George, or Butch)
This also means anywhere that isn't the mainline or Thomas' Branchline aren't modeled. This means the Little Western, Arlesdale Railway, Culdee Fell, Brendam Branch (excluding Cronk Scrapyard), Kirk Ronan Branch, Peel Godred Branch, Norramby Branch, or any others that could be added from TV/CGI Series continuity like the Harwick Branchline, or the line to Ulfstead Castle. Despite this sounding negative, it's fine considering the level of care & detail that had to be put into recreating even a scaled-down version of Awdry's maps. I look forward to seeing if Dovetail add more & any more collectibles to future expansions if there are any.
Extra Feedback:
-Need skip button for intros/dialogue
-Controls to decrease brake & decrease throttle rather than w & s controlling throttle & brake respectively)
-apparently there's cut stories & sequences of stories? It'd be nice if they were eventually polished & added.
-custom weather should save between sessions.
-you should have the option to continue the next segment of timetable mode after you complete a segment, assuming that it isn't the last segment in the mode.
-whistle chords/levers in the cab
-reorganize the books in the bookstall at Knapford Station to order of when they were released.

I will likely update this review later in Early Access but here's my current thoughts:
Pros (as of 0.4.3, in no particular order):
-Like the driving
-Like the gimmick of loading and unloading.
-Passenger Loop is good if you know how to get good routes with stations (outside the default 2 maps)
-Default maps are solid if you don't want to build your own map
-Personally like the BR Class 08 Shunter.
-I like the terrain deformation when you build track. I would love to see tunnels down the line.
Cons (as of 0.4.3, in no particular order):
-building can be limiting if you don't want to deform mountains because tunnels aren't a thing.
-Driving controls do not have hotkeys at the moment
-The lack of Industry variety makes the gameplay loop get old after a while.
-In-game economy can vary by the chunk and you do not know how much prices will be until a building that buys and sells is placed & not all the prices are in the player's favor for freight currently. Logging Camp is an exception because it gives you a total about what you'll get from a chunk.
-Game consumes lots of vram at the moment.
-when anything derails, you cannot rerail it, you only can delete and replace it. A crane would be a good future addition
-Map UI does not stay loaded, can be troublesome to bring up switches to throw as a result.
-Switches only come with one choice of foundation type (ballast) which can be limiting if you have to build on elevation.
-Bridges & Walls can only be built with track on it, you can remove the track only after placing it; These can bug out if you do not place track as you had placed the bridge/wall section in my experience.
-limited variety of biomes, but that's not a huge downside compared to industry variety

Certainly not the most polished game nor the cleanest update schedule & graphics, but the game's solid enough for me. If it sees any future updates what would really help the game is more solid groundwork options to lay down than just bridges and also being able to place said bridges (excluding modular bridges) or groundwork at a curve should we want to.

I mixed weed with gasoline, chilis, and several other ingredients and turn people into zombies with their heads on fire.
If that doesn't sell you on this game I don't think this game's for you.

Probably the best money-to-value pack provided.
The Bell's Gap is a nice locomotive and the Red Mountain Depot is a nice building, only complaint is there's no wheat seeds compared to the default Freight Depot.
Oh, I guess there's also a skin for Montezuma.

Quick summary: I don't recommend this DLC, I think your money would be better spent on anything else, if you want this just to say you have it, go for it, but I don't think this is even worth the 5 bucks you'd spend on it.
If there ever was something to exemplify the problems of Railroads Online's development: It's this DLC. You have a locomotive that people easily will like, but it's inaccurate to anyone who knows locomotives. You then have a caboose, something players also like, I have nothing to say about it because it's an average model, though the golden 8-ton porter makes me think it was intended for the Pioneer pack.
That leaves us with the props; The trees, plants & rocks are fine. My real problem comes with the animals. They're simply animated props. Instead of giving animals low-powered AI that keeps distance from the track & player despawning when far enough from any players; The Developers opted to allow you to place the animals yourself, those animals do have animations, sure. But it feeds into a greater problem Railroads Online has in making you feel like the only people around are those you play with.

Finally, a war game for me

There are certified new adventures awaiting you here, buddies!