This is a proposal for a route extension rather than an entirely new route. As the South London Network has 2 major areas that can be expanded upon, I shall be looking at them seperately. Proposal 1: Southeastern Expansion This expansion would extend the South London Network south east to Heyes, Orpington, and Bromley North, with routes 1 & 2 of the Tramlink network being added between Beckenham Junction, Elmers End, and West Croydon. As this extension would add in the Thameslink Catford Loop Line, there would be additional merit in also extending the line north to include Charing Cross, Waterloo East, Cannon Street, Elephant & Castle, and Blackfriars stations. This would create huge opportunities for new scenarios for both existing rolling stock, and new rolling stock that is yet to be added. The list of rolling stock that would operate on this expansion is as follows: Class 375 (Southeastern) Class 376 (Southeastern) Class 465 (Southeastern) Class 466 (Southeastern) Class 319 (Thameslink) Class 700 (Thameslink) CR4000 (Tramlink) Variobahn (Tramlink) Various Track Maintenance Trains (Network Rail, Balfour Beatty, Tramlink) Proposal 2: Southwestern Expansion This expansion would extend the South London Network south west to Chessington South, Epsom, Epsom Downs, and Beckenham Junction. As with proposal 1, Charing Cross, Waterloo East, Cannon Street, Elephant & Castle, and Blackfriars stations would have merit in being added due to the existance of Thameslink routes from Blackfriars to Wimbledon and Sutton. This would additionally feature the entire Tramlink network between Wimbledon, West Croydon, Beckenham Junction, Elmers End, and New Addington. As above, this would provide a wide variety of scenarios for rolling stock both new and old. The list of rolling stock that would operate on this expansion is as follows: Class 377 (Southern) Class 455/8 (Southern) Class 456 (Southern) Class 450 (South West Trains) - Sometimes used when Class 455 and Class 456 unavailable. Class 455/7 (South West Trains) Class 455/8 (South West Trains) Class 455/9 (South West Trains) Class 456 (South West Trains) Class 319 (Thameslink) Class 700 (Thameslink) CR4000 (Tramlink) Variobahn (Tramlink) DB Class klv 53 (Tramlink) As an overview, these expansions both expand the route to include the major London Terminals that serve the lines that can currently be driven, and will additionally add the lines to Beckenham Junction and Elmers end with either a partial or full recreation of the tramlink network. These also both add at least one terminus for the Thamelink routes that terminate in the suburbs in South London, and a selection of new suburban branch lines and routes for either Southeastern or Southern and South West Trains. With regard to size, each expansion will double the size of the existing route. Route Map Key: Red: Existing South London Network Blue: Proposed Southeastern Expansion Orange: Proposed Southwestern Expansion Purple: Proposed expansion to include major terminals for Southeastern and Thameslink routes. Pink: Tramlink network. (Only areas east of West Croydon Station in Southeastern proposal. Full route in Southwestern proposal.) P.S. Please can someone teach me how to add polls to these suggestions/proposals?
No objections except that SLN itself is badly outdated, so a new route is really needed as trying to add track updates would break scenarios. It would also need a new route merge from Danny, and the existing one has 250 scenarios on it just on the Workshop. Oh, and then there is London Bridge, in huge need of new through tracks and potentially going as far as London Blackfriars (yes, Elephant and Castle can be added, and the full WCML 5.3 freeware route is now represented in some way) and on to King’s Cross so it can connect with the MML. That would allow for full Thameslink services in a route merge, and both Cannon Street and Charing Cross are natural to complete here since they are otherwise isolated. Also, add on Waterloo since we have it already. That gives us a great chunk of the London network itself in one route, and just having the Thameslink is an improvement. I have seen Orpington on timetables though, and that might be interesting...but it appears on the Chatham route (I think the direct line is broken up, it comes from Victoria). So there is reason for adding the track. By the way, Sutton and Mole Valley to Horsham is under production as freeware. I previously suggested this route. I would not mind DTG picking it up nearing completion to reward the route maker for it, and then selling it themselves. Kind of like what Rivet did, but some folks may complain about it like with Suburban Glasgow. The link from West Croydon is in there too, I think. And. no, no PS4. TS is not there unlike TSW.
UPDATE: Looks like we're getting the Blackfriars part. Maybe not all the way through, however. I think this will also give us Charing Cross (and hopefully a remodeled London Bridge!), but not sure about Cannon Arm. No word from that on whether the route continues to King's Cross or even to Farringdon, a station I know Danny would really need for the Thameslink merge. The down side for you is that it extends Chatham Medway and goes to Dover, nothing to do with SLN. https://live.dovetailgames.com/live/train-simulator/articles/article/chatham-main-line-coming-soon
I think that if the line from Clapham Junction to shepperton via both Richmond and Hampton Wick with also part of the London Underground between Putney and Wimbledon.
I'd support any extensions to existing parts of the network, it all adds to the immersion. Ideally the South East London one would go out to Gravesend and Tonbridge to fill in a couple more gaps while they're at it. There's a Desiro City in development though on hold the last I heard, which would suggest we're either getting Thameslink, SE London or SW London at some point.
