Prynhawn da! Good afternoon everyone! Turning back to my beloved Wales today, to propose you my personal South Wales Main Line interpretation. In particular, I'll focus on its Bristol Parkway-Newport-Cardiff-Swansea section (via Severn Tunnel). Without forgetting Temple Meads link (BSW Line). Offering you two possible ways to bring this route in, based on concrete and realistic opportunities for its realization. Would be set in late-2022/early-2023. A complete mainline experience, with "bus-stop" and faster "direct" sections. There are stopper, semi-fast and intercity services, as well as freight traffic. Climb aboard, the journey to South Wales is about to begin! This is South Wales Main Line: Bristol to Cardiff or Swansea! GENERAL FEATURES This route features: - 89.5mi(144km) total rough lenght (too much for a single dlc!). - Double/4 track/s, standard gauge (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in/1435mm), electrified 25kV AC OHLE/unelectrified (depends on section). - 1:50 (2%) max gradient (last third of the route). - 75-90mph(121-145km/h) average speed (up to 100mph-161km/h). Seems rather unlikely that such a long mileage can be achieved. So, the following layouts can be adopted: a) Bristol Parkway-Cardiff Central + Temple Meads Link. - 43.5mi(70km) long, covering the electrified mainline + BSW link section. b) Cardiff Central-Swansea. - 46mi(74km) long, covering the unelectrified westernmost section. Route is managed by: - Network Rail. Passenger service is operated by: - First Greater Western Ltd (GWR). - Transport for Wales Rail Ltd. - CrossCountry (XC Trains Ltd). Freight service is operated by: - DB Cargo UK Ltd. - Freightliner Group Ltd. - GB Railfreight Ltd (GBRf). - Colas Rail Ltd. THE ROUTE Top: General view of the route. - Red: Welsh side mainline. - Blue: English side mainline+BSW link. - Pink: Severn Tunnel. Bottom: Bristol area detail. Top: Newport/Cardiff area detail. Bottom: Swansea/Margam area detail. STATIONS This route includes: Option "a": 10+1 active stations/stops. Option "b": 13+1 active stations/stops. The calls are, as follows: - Bristol Temple Meads - Lawrence Hill - Stapleton Road - Ashley Down worksite (2023+) - Filton Abbey Wood --> Bristol Parkway --> Patchway - Pilning Severn Tunnel / England-Wales border - Caldicot/Cil-y-coed (Gloucester-Newport Line) - Severn Tunnel Junction/Cyffordd Twnnel Hafren - Newport/Casnewydd - Cardiff Central/Caerdydd Canolog - Ninian Park/Parc Ninian (Cardiff City Line) - Pontyclun/Pont-y-clun - Llanharan - Pencoed - Bridgend/Pen-y-bont - Pyle/Y Pîl - Port Talbot Parkway/Parcffordd Port Talbot - Baglan - Briton Ferry/Llansawel - Neath/Castell-nedd - Skewen/Sgiwen - Llansamlet - Swansea/Abertawe Reference depots are: - St Philip's Marsh TMD - Barton Hill TMD - Stoke Gifford IEP Depot - Canton TMD - Landore TMD - Maliphant IEP Depot STATIONS PICS Bristol Temple Meads main station, imposing eastern terminal of our route. Top: Bristol Parkway station, on mainline to Swindon. Bottom left: Patchway stop. Bottom right: Severn Tunnel Junction station. Top: Newport station, 2nd rail hub in Wales. Bottom: Cardiff Central main station, Wales' key rail hub. Directly from CCC. Please put your LIKE here first, thank you! Continue Below...
Page 2 Top left: Bridgend station. Top right: Port Talbot Parkway station. Bottom: Swansea terminal station, westernmost point of our route. PASSENGER SERVICE GWR CL / London Paddington-Cardiff Central/Swansea/Carmarthen [intercity]. B1 / Portsmouth Harbour/Salisbury-Cardiff Central [stopper]. B3 / Bristol Temple Meads-Gloucester/Cheltenham Spa [stopper]. B4 / Penzance/Taunton-Cardiff Central [stopper/semi-fast]. B8-9 / Weston-super-Mare/Bristol Temple Meads-Avonmouth/Severn Beach (+Filton Abbey Wood) [stopper]. TfW 4 / Manchester Piccadilly-Cardiff Central/Carmarthen/Milford Haven [stopper/premier]. 5-6 / Maesteg-Cardiff Central-Celtenham Spa [stopper]. 7 / Swansea-Cardiff Cental(+West Wales) [stopper]. 11 / Holyhead-Cardiff Central/Maesteg [stopper/premier]. 16 / Ebbw Vale Town-Cardiff Central/Newport [stopper]. XC - Nottingham/Birmingham New Street-Cardiff Central [semi-fast]. Plus all AI Only services at Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea. Some railtour opportunities, carried out by Pathfinder Railtours/Locomotive Services Ltd. FREIGHT SERVICE Sectors involved: - Metals/steel. - Aggregates. - Intermodal. - Timbers. - Coal. - Petroleum/Chemicals. Services to/from yards/sidings & plants along the route, to North (Via Welsh Marches/Gloucester) or South UK (Via Swindon). Some end-to-end trips within the route are also present. Without forgetting the RHTT service: Margam Yard-Stormy. ROLLING STOCK PASSENGER - GWR BR Class 800/0-800/3 & BR Class 802/0-802/1 IET BMUs & TfW BR Class 175/0-175/1 Coradia 1000 DHMU [new/to be included]. - GWR BR Class 166 & Class 165/1 Networker Turbo DHMUs & TfW BR Class 150/2 Sprinter DHMU & BR Class 153/3-153/9 Super Sprinter Diesel-hydraulic railcar [already ingame]. - GWR BR Class 255 Castle HST trainsets & BR Class 158/0 Express Sprinter DMU & TfW/XC BR Class 170/1-170/2-170/6 Turbostar DMU [layers/driveable]. FREIGHT - DB Cargo UK-EWS/Freightliner BR Class 66/0-66/5 "Shed" Diesel-electric mainline loco + BCA/BZA & IHA Wagons [future DLC?]. LAMPOIL This route would easily pass the DTG process, acting as a prime UK core route candidate in a new game iteration! Continue Below...
Page 3 ROUTE PICS A) Redcliffe District/Southeastern Bristol view. B) St Philip's Marsh TMD. C) Barton Hill TMD. D) MoD Abbey Wood Complex. A) Stoke Gifford IEP Depot. B) Severn Tunnel (1886), 4.3mi long, major rail work here. C) Prince of Wales Bridge (1996) (Second Severn Crossing). D) Caldicot & its Castle. A) Llanwern Steelworks & Sidings. B) Newport general view. C) Newport Town / Usk Railway Bridges (& Newport Castle Ruins). D) Newport AD-Mendalgief Sidings. A) Tidal Yard & East Moors Steelworks. B) Cardiff general view. C) Canton TMD. D) St Fagans Castle & Museum Centre. A) Margam Knuckle Yard. B) Port Talbot Steelworks, giant iron&steel hub of the Welsh coast. C) Landore TMD. D) Swansea general view. ROUTE VIDEOS Trains at Bristol Temple Meads (2023). Trains at Severn Tunnel Junction (2021). Trains at Cardiff Central (2022). Trains at Swansea (2023). All RIGHTS and CREDITS to the original authors. Like my suggestion? Don't hesitate to tell yours and correct me, if there were any inaccuracies! Caravatt .
Great suggestion . I think a reasonable length would be Bristol to Cardiff but with the Severn Beach branch included for extra variety
Part of me does wonder whether some or part of this could be the UK route for TSW6 (or whatever comes in the autumn). They would be daft not to make use of the renewed GWR licence and with TfW already on board that covers most of the service bases. Though from a purely personal POV I would prefer to see it set back in a slightly earlier era (late 90's) when there was more freight traffic about including steel and iron ore around Port Talbot and Llanwern.
This! Also think that some sort of Bristol "network" would be possible, reusing Networkers/158s there! This way you can also have Avonmouth Docks for freight! Great idea! PS. The Severn Beach branch could also provide a great vantage point over the Prince of Wales Bridge!
This sounds like a great route to feature in TSW. All the stock possibilities. It would be nice to pass through Cardiff on TSW to head further west or east on, say a Castle Set.
Yep, totally agree with you! Depends If you like those wires overhead or prefer to enjoy the scenery without those poles side-by !
