FORT WILLIAM - MALLAIG West Coast Railways and ScotRail run services from between Fort William and Mallaig. One of those services is called The Jacobite. It is a Harry Potter style Steam locomotive that operates a special service in the mornings and afternoons. It is a Class 8f Strainer and is operated by West Coast Railways. There are also ScotRail services between Fort William and Mallaig operated with Class 156's. This route is really special because it goes over the famous Glen Finnan Viaduct (Harry Potter bridge) and people from all around the world to ride on the train and on the route. I would love to see this route because it's a Scottish route and it has a mix of Steam and Diesel Locomotives. Please look at this and tell me what you think. Scenarios: Timber!- Drive a ScotRail service from Fort William to Mallaig as far as Glenfinnan due to a tree that has fallen on the line. A Snowy Service- Drive a Christmas Jacobite service from Fort William to Mallaig and then bring it to the Depot. A to B- Drive a ScotRail service from Mallaig to Fort William, then get on the Jacobite service and drive it back to Mallaig. Steam Shunted- Prepare a Jacobite for Service and Bring it in to Fort William. Freightline- Drive a Freight Service to Arisaig from Fort William. Sleepy Service- Prepare the Caledonian Sleeper for Service and Bring it into Fort William.
I'm not sure on this but I thought it was the black 5s that were known for the Jacobite not the 8fs. The problem I see with this route is that according to the scotrail website there are a grand total of 4 trains per day. Even when you do include the rail tours it's not going to offer a great deal of game play.
Probably the most suitable highland route for TSW - definitely needs to be made at some point! There's four trains per day each way (eight journeys in total) operated by Scotrail. There is up to two return journeys operated by the Jacobite tourist trains (another four services) and their associated runaround/marshalling manoeuvres in and out of the depot at Fort William. Fort William itself has numerous small industries for timber and cement, giving scope for short freight runs and more shunting. There's also the fuel depot outside Fort William station and you'd get away with some engineering trains too. So plenty of variety if you ask me, not simply a timetable with lots of services that follow the same stopping pattern every 30 minutes.
You could set it back in Class 37 loco hauled days and have plenty to do, with stock moves at Fort William (we would need some sleeping cars!) and various freight traffic in the Fort William area. You could also have Journey Mode with the same run being offered at a later stage in different seasonal conditions e.g. summer, then winter. The scenery would be the big sell and apart from the steam loco appeal, a Class 37 is going to give a better view than a 156!
I think it would be better for it to be more modern so we can have more SoctRail trains and so we get the new Fort William Station. We could also have the Caledonian Sleeper in it for players wanting to shunt. The Glasgow Queen Street route from Fort William would be considered Out of Bounds because of the Size of the Route
There is also more possibilities for scenarios in the modern route. Timber!- Drive a ScotRail service from Fort William to Mallaig as far as Glenfinnan due to a tree that has fallen on the line. A Snowy Service- Drive a Christmas Jacobite service from Fort William to Mallaig and then bring it to the Depot. A to B- Drive a ScotRail service from Mallaig to Fort William, then get on the Jacobite service and drive it back to Mallaig. Steam Shunted- Prepare a Jacobite for Service and Bring it in to Fort William. Freightline- Drive a Fright Service to Arsaig from Fort William. Sleepy Service- Prepare the Caledonian Sleeper for Service and Bring it into Fort William.
Outside chance at best. As stated even if you go back to the days of hauled trains and add in the Jacobite excursions, traffic levels are still low. It certainly wouldn't fit with flying to a spectacular location as mentioned in other threads. The closest commercial airports to Fort William are Glasgow or Inverness.
The route itself is only slightly bigger than Kassel Wurzburg (please pardon my spelling) so maybe it could get made
As much as Id enjoy running a steamer over the line, as Old Vern states traffic levels are really low on this route and I just dont see enough variety and longevity in the game play. And as much as it would be fun to shunt a Scottish Sleeper service (or Br/Scotrail - depending on era) around Fort William, is it really realistic to expect DTG to create rolling stock and liveries for a twice a day stock movement? I think not.
