Route Midlands In Blue: Derby - Birmingham New Street + Daw Mill, Sinfin & Willington (1986)

With a length just shy of 50 miles, the line between Derby and Birmingham New Street was a hive of railway activity and variety during the 1980s, with local passenger services in the hands of 150s whilst HSTs and 47/8s ruled the roost on the CrossCountry workings, with a reducing number of Class 45/1s helping out on some workings. The freight scene was dominated by Class 20s and a multitude of 45s, 46s and 47s on most other workings as well as the occasional Class 31 appearance. With freight terminals at Lawley Street, Washwood Heath, Daw Mill Colliery, Kingsbury, Burton Wetmore, Willington Power Station, the Sinfin branch as well as all the sidings around Derby, there should be enough activity to keep players entertained for hours.

Proposed Rolling Stock

• Class 43 'HST' in InterCity Swallow & Executive livery

The Class 43 'HSTs' first entered service on the CrossCountry services in 1981, and their introduction to the Midland Mainline a year later saw a swift cut to 45/1 duties in the area, with quite a few being banished to the North of England as featured on Northern Transpennine. They ran in 7 coach formations on CrossCountry workings, and had their original Valenta scream during the mid 1980s.

• Class 45/1 'Peak' in BR Blue livery

The Class 45/1s were a 50 strong subclass of the Class 45s that were fitted with ETH capability, leaving 88 Class 45/0s that retained their steam heat boilers and associated equipment. During the late 1980s, Class 45s were most common on the Poole and Bradford Interchange workings, as well as occasional freight workings. Some locos were named by Tinsley and not all of the 45/1s received the sealed beam as above, a list of these locos is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...ouid=101383693189443602325&rtpof=true&sd=true

• Class 47/4 in InterCity Swallow livery (yellow and black headcode panels)

The Class 47/4s were the most extensive subclass of 47s, going up to a fleet of 253 locomotives, 250 of which were numbered 47555. The subclass was numbered from 47401 all the way to 47655, although 47548 was excluded from the numbering for some reason. These locos were in charge of all of the 47 loco hauled workings outside of Scotland as well as appearing on freight traffic for those who don't own the 47/3 from Preston - Crewe after that releases.

• Class 150/1 in Provincial livery

The first Class 150/1s were introduced to service in 1985, with them originally allocated to Derby Etches Park and appearing on local workings from Derby to Matlock, Sinfin, Crewe, Nottingham and Birmingham New Street alongside a selection of Class 101s and other 1st Generation DMUs that clinged onto a limited amount of workings to Birmingham, Nottingham and Leicester.

 

Route layers:

Preston - Crewe (when released): Class 20 + 47/3 on workings to Willington Power Station, Burton Wetmore and Lawley Street FLT as well as the Baglan Bay tanks. MGR wagons for workings from Daw Mill Colliery (Cl45 + 47/3)

Preston - Carlisle: Class 87 on AI WCML workings at Birmingham New Street, FFA wagons for workings to Lawley Street FLT and WCML AI, Class 101 on local workings to Birmingham alongside Class 150/1. Class 08 for trip workings from St Mary's Yard and other locations in Derby, Burton & Birmingham.

Heavy Freight Pack: TEA wagons for workings to Sinfin and Kingsbury Oil terminals

Class 31: Double heading on TEA wagons to/from Kingsbury Oil Terminal as well as services from Birmingham New Street to East Anglia (loco shunts at New St would be player drivable).

Tees Valley Line: Class 37/5 and BBA wagons on workings from Scunthorpe, Immingham, Redcar and other steel locations to South Wales.

 

Hopefully done by JT

 

100%, they would ace this

 

Very nice, though if you set it back a few years a good opportunity to get the beloved Class 120 Cross Country DMU in TSW.