Warning. This route has been suggested before. But I wanted to post this to get a good full in depth look at what this line is all about. DESCRIPTION This line is one of my local train lines and is a route I would love to see in Train Sim World 2. For anybody who doesn't know much about this line, the Metrolink Antelope Valley Line is a commuter rail line owned and operated by Metrolink. The route goes from Los Angeles Union Station, to Lancaster. The route length is 76.6 miles long and contains 12 stops. Longer than the Peninsula Corridor, but shorter than the CSX Sand Patch Grade. It also has less stops than the Peninsula Corridor so less station modeling has to be done. From going through the mountains between Palmdale and Via Princessa, to the neighborhoods of Santa Clarita, to the busy highways in Sylmar, to the industries from Burbank all the way to Los Angeles, this route has a good variety of scenery along the way. IMAGES OF ROUTE CORE ROUTE The core route would come with the main route, one main train, and 2 other possible trains (but could be DLC) The main train you would get with this route is the EMD F125, Hyundai Rotem passenger coaches, Bombardier Bi-Level Coaches (to get mixed consist) and the Hyundai Rotem Cab car. This loco was the replacement for the EMD F40ph, F59ph, F59phi, and soon the MP36ph-3C, capable of speeds up to 125mph and can carry up to 10 passenger coaches. 2 Possible other trains that could be added but could be DLC are other current operating trains on the line which are the MP36ph-3C, and Union Pacific. There is another train that also still operates on this line, but only a few are in operation which I will talk about later SOUNDS For the newer gen Metrolink trains (F125, Rotem Cab Car,) they will need a custom horn. Luckily it uses the same bell as the MP36ph-3C on the peninsula corridor and the Amtrak ACS-64 on the Northeast Corridor. The newer gen metrolink trains use Nathan K2 Horns. Older gen Metrolink trains use P2 models (somewhat similar to the ones on the Caltrains on Peninsula Corridor) DLC There are many options for DLC on this route. (Mostly different locomotives for Metrolink that are out of service) EMD F40-PH Only one of these were ever delivered to Metrolink and is currently out of service EMD F59PH This was a very popular locomotive on Metrolink. Only 3 of these still operate to this day mostly as shunters for the Metrolink yards. This could open up some extra missions to use the F59PH. Although I would love to see some mainline timetables with this as well EMD F59PHI Another very popular loco on Metrolink. All of these are now out of service. LIVERIES Metrolink has a wide variety of liveries over the years with their older gen locomotives. With livery editor being added to Train Sim World 2, it would be interesting to see a randomization of the main liveries of Metrolink to give each loco some variety. Maybe we could even get presets of these liveries so we can choose what livery we want to use when doing timetable mode. CONCLUSION This would be a very cool route to add to Train Sim World 2 in the future. It has a good variety in scenery from winding around the mountains, to the bustling city of Los Angeles. There are also many different choices for possible DLC to give the route even more variety and more possibilities to open up with the up and coming livery editor. This would be a very nice fit to the Train Sim World collection since we don't have many American commuter train routes in Train Sim World yet. If we get more long routes like CSX Sand Patch Grade in the future, this would be a great fit. This train line has a special place in my heart as it is my local train line and I would love to see this get added to Train Sim World 2 in the future. Ride on railfans!
Amazing, I would also like to see this route (along with other MetroLink routes) in the future, especially with TSW 2! The mp36ph is already in the game with the peninsula corridor, so all that DTG needs to do is create a new livery for it as well as other railroad specific details (both interior and exterior), the f125 would be a great addition to TSW, along with the rotem cars! The bombardiers are also in the game (included in mp36 dlc for peninsula corridor), so a new livery would also need to be created. As for the UP there could be ES44ACs, SD70s, and switchers such as GP60s, overall this is a great route to add in TSW!
Yup. Although I think the Dovetail team still has to completely remodel each train, even if its from another route, kinda like CSX Sand Patch Grade which got completely remade from scratch
Yea, but at least they already have a design or “frame” for the loco, meaning they just import the model (mp36 as example) from a previous route, unbranded, unlettered, blank, no paint or art work on it, like a gray model. Like this one, except that I couldn’t find one with an mp36, but, how DTG has “reused” previous locomotives such as the GP38 was by using the same strategy. So, DTG only needs to import the mp36 file then add any railroad specific features (some locos from other railroads have additional exterior features or have relocated components compared to other railroads’ locos, such as the headlight placement on the CSX GP38 compared to the UP GP38), and then add the MetroLink white/blue stripe paint scheme, they could reuse some sounds from the Caltrain version as they both have the same bell and horn, so it doesn’t really have to be rebuilt from scratch, it just needs to be modified a little. I’m not saying that’s exactly dovetail’s strategy but I think I have an idea, correct me anyone if I’m wrong.
yesss i love the sound of this we need a LA union station route to san bernardino or even redlands that would be so cool i would love love love to see that!!!