Today I introduce a route that actually is quite cool, scenic & iconic. Stations: Blackburn Rishton Church & Oswaldtwistle Accrington Huncoat Hapton Rose Grove Burnley Manchester Road Hebden Bridge Mytholmroyd Sowerby Bridge Halifax Low Moor Bradford Interchange (Most trains reverse here towards Leeds & route hop available to A&W Lines Here) New Pudsey Bramley (W Yorks) Leeds (Route Hop Available to A&W Lines & NTP here) (Todmorden will be available to drive to too) Fleet: Class 195 (Virtually identical to it’s sister loco the Class 331 EMU despite the Class 195 sounding like a bus) Comes in 2/3 Car Variants as shown. Class 150/1: Reasons for this fleet: The Class 195 would be very easy to manufacture in game as it’s essentially a glorified pacer using a class 331 body and is a WORKHORSE on this route. The Class 150/1 is the Class 150/2 with an altered cab and is an essential for this route. Driveable Layers: Northern Class 158 (once it arrives this is another workhorse on this route and would it give it more opportunity to spread it’s legs on a fully diesel timetables route) Class 66 & Class 70 will be the main traction for freight on this route (I wish I could give more but I’m not too clued up on freight). Class 331, Class 333 & Class 801 will be able to drive between Leeds & Neville Hill TMD. Reasons for this route specifically: I chose Blackburn over Manc Vic as I feel Vic would be TOO empty without TPE stock. This route has the variety, the iconic-ness, the fleet, the scenery & everything in between to become an amazing route and in my heart driving the class 331 without being able to then go onto the class 195 is heart wrenching especially since we have the majority of the Sprinter, Turbostar & IET family’s can we get the Civity family too a wrap the first two are an easy completion with 2 amazing routes to go along with them, the 3rd one may be a little difficult but thank you for reading please take this into consideration and enjoy
I may also add there could be a specific scenario where we see AI Class 805’s around Blackburn on diversion!
Just a few things to add/point out about this route as it’s my local: - 158’s don’t run up here anymore as they all got transferred to the East. Depending on the year the timetable is set in, like 2018-2020 or a few years earlier, , you would be able to add the 158 as well as the 142 and 153 and a new loco, a 155 but the 195 probably wouldn’t be available then. Also got to take in to consideration depending on what year, what livery as prior 2017 I believe, it was arriva northern rail with the purple and blue and I believe after 2017 when they came under the government, they started getting rebranded into the blue and white Northern livery - the current trains that run on the route is as followed : NT 150/1, NT 150/2 (all being transferred from east to west), NT 156, NT 195, Class 66 GBRF multiple times throughout the day doing clitheroe cement works runs as well as ribblesdale quarry aggregate runs past hellifield and back past Blackburn and the odd engineering wagon moves through Blackburn to Basford hall, Class 70 Colas Mon-Fri/Sat doing the Carlisle-Chirk Log runs, passes through Blackburn between 16:30PM - 17:00PM, Railtours including steam, Scotsman has been up here a few times but very rare, Sir Nigel Gresley A4, Tangmere is always coming through in the summer, WCR class 57’s, Blue Pullman HST although rare, 37’s, and not long ago, I saw a 57 I believe doing a rail tour to Euston and there was a train that had never been up here before on the back… Les Ross class 86! What a sight! Obviously doing the return trip from Euston as Blackburn isn’t electrified. overall, the timetable has A LOT of potential! - Blackburn King Street LMD (Light Maintenance Depot), built and opened in 2017 to help store some northern fleet whilst the WCML development was going ahead. The Depot was built on the Former King street nuclear coal yard I believe which back in the day saw a lot of coal being stored on the depot and distributed around the county! I currently work on here
Happened during Easter that and I believe in December or January whilst the bridge up at Penrith was being replaced, got some good videos of the 805’s passing through Blackburn!
Well timetable wise it would be around 2025-ish or even still 2026 as I still see Class 158’s along the line as that’s the right era for what I’ve suggested otherwise I wouldn’t have suggested the new stock & layers I did thank you anyway though
Yes I believe it would be a good trainspotting scenario at Blackburn with them passing through or stopping at a signal etc
Yeah 100% but the 158’s don’t go Blackburn anymore which is true. They do I believe go through Todmorden but that’s it. The 158’s would only work coming out of Leeds!
Also I’m talking from a Blackburn perspective as I’m local there and work there but obviously the stock is scattered along the whole route, im just speaking for the Blackburn perspective
That’s why I said Todmorden is included as you can run Leeds - Wigan & Reversed (As far as Todmorden) so the Class 158’s were put as a layer haha
I know the class 158’s were for the main section of the Calder Valley as they are still operating in that area
Oh 100%, they are quite the workhouse on the route as a whole as well as the 195! Do miss them up here, my depot use to get them. there was 1 up here a few weeks ago doing a Leeds -BPN replacing a 195, quite a rare sight but yeah, I’d so love for this route to come! I previously requested Preston - Colne as that would also be a good run including the line up to Clithereo!
I'm about to suggest the Manchester-Todmorden-Halifax-Bradford-Leeds route So, would be a yes, but only if it will set in the mid-90s/early-10s! Love that mix of Sprinters and Pacers . Good suggestion, though .
Yes all these northern diesel routes are quite amazing but I’m a sucker for a nice scenic route with a Class 195 despite me not really being a fan of diesels built after like 2010. I do really like these especially the engines!
Oh yeah, the 195’s are unique to others because of their distinctive bus gearbox. They have a ZF-EcoLife 6-speed and really do like getting off quick with the torque! Would definitely be cool to see in TSW 7 Eventually! I know it will happen, they have to. They have the body of the Civity from the 331, both share the same exact bodies and bogies, the cabs are quite literally 99% identical, only difference being no buttons for AC overhead and just a re model of the underframe for the engines and a physics and sound set. It will happen
