Speculation has been mounting that TSW4 was a hoax devised simply to create discussion in the Train Simulation community. Today's leaks provide nearly conclusive evidence alone of its existence and the validity of the original article.
So what is this new development?
The DLC depots!
What is a depot?
Depots are the logs of game store content, kept in the store's backend and only accessible publicly through websites such as SteamDB.
Train Sim World, being listed on both the Epic and Steam stores, not only has a separate depot for each game in the series, but for each additional bundle, route and loco.
Why is this relevant?
Analysis of Dovetail Games' depots specific to the Epic Games store has revealed around one-hundred new depots were created in May and June. These are all codenamed 'Smithfield,' and I suspect this is TSW4's internal codename. TSW3 had the codename 'Pentadecagon,' and all DLC that appeared in depot 'dumps' as they are known before they were announced were labelled 'Pentadecagon' followed by a number or code.
Two 'Pentadecagon' depots remain, it is likely these are leftover third party TSW3 packs that are unannounced and that will either release in the next month or be carried over to TSW4.
As for the new 'Smithfield' depots, they are numbered in two sets: Smithfield1 to Smithfield83 and Smithfield101 to Smithfield115. I believe the first set is carried-over existing DLC (which will be credited to your account if you own the corresponding DLC on a former title) as there are currently ~80 DLC listed for TSW3, and if you add its three base routes we arrive at 83. The second set then would be new content, and would explain the absence of a significant DTG route for some time. Included in these 15 packs is likely additional third party content, such as Alan Thompson Sim or Union Workshop's upcoming projects that have received little airtime.
Some of these depots contain additional information:
•Smithfield109vectron – obviously the unnamed German electric loco on the Roadmap
•Smithfield104Flying Scotsman Centenary Edition – probably a DLC for a potential East Coast Main Line (may be a base route for TSW4)
•smithfield103PrePurchase – probably a base route available for preorder in August
•smithfield102PrePurchase – as above
•smithfield101PrePurchase – as above
Note that the three above are doubled by regular 'Smithfields' without the PrePurchase suffix. I suspect these apparent pre-order packs will be removed after TSW4's release date arrives.
The Flying Scotsman DLC is of interest as it suggests an ECML route is upcoming- potentially ECML south and potentially a base route for TSW4.
when will TSW$ get the LIRR Penn Station Branch and the nyc subway 7 line