Hi All, As in title of the thread, I'm looking for a recommendation of a route or routes, where there are some interesing freight services available in timetable mode. What I mean by "interesing freight services" is something completely opposite to non-stop freight run from A to B point. Good example of such is the Class 66 services on East Coastway, where you have to arrive to aggregate siding, load the wagons, uncouple the loco from one end of the consist and couple it to another and then depart back to Lewes. Or a services on Mein Spessart Bahn, where you are in charge of heavy consist, you are arriving to Laufach, where 3rd loco is being connected to help you climb the hill to Heigenbrucken, where you need tu uncouple that extra loco and then continue the run to Gemunden. So, in other words, I'm looking for a route where there is something to do along the freight run: loading/unloading, change in consist etc.
TVL has some good freight runs, more so if you buy the Class 20 and Class 31 DLC. You might also consider some of the US routes such as Sandpatch or Clinchfield.
Sand patch grade has a good variety of freight services. You've got switching, loco prep/move services, coal loading and end to end runs. Like OldVern mentioned, clinchfield is good too. You've got multiple parts of services that would take a full day in real life. Moving freight cars and locos around, loading coal, going down the mainline to the spur or branch line. There's also some end to end runs if you fancy those. Tvl is another one with mainline runs, loading, unloading, running empties, running full loads, etc with many different freight cars. Along with the class 31 and 20 which are great dlcs. Ntp heavy freight pack is also nice. You get different types of 08 services. The 40 adds some new services I believe and mostly subs in. Peninsula corridor has unique freight runs. There aren't many but they are unique. Rsn is also good. End to end runs, moving freight cars to a different location, loco moves I believe, etc. So you're not always doing one thing on repeat the entire timetable. Bro is great. You get loco moves, full length runs, runs to and from hude, runs to and from bremen neudstadt to bremen grolland Sehs is another good route with different freight services. The rhtt adds even more to this route and every new route that has come out in the uk so far in tsw Oakville is good too. It is mostly mainline runs, but you also get a good mix of switching and some loading. If you like shunting, then the g6 and 363 are really good. The g6 has unique services in rro. The 363 has good service variety on rsn.
Well you got this entire thread https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/awesome-tsw-service-mode-runs.32010/
Worth getting the MP15 switcher DLC as that adds some non passenger runs, too - and it's a nice loco.
In the land of His Majesty, we have the East Coastway as you say. GWE freight is a little bit sad since it is basically Reading to Acton and back (I don't even think you can change ends!) London Commuter just got an update that brought in freight, and there is a decent variety in services (Clapham to Hayward Heath, Redhill to Streatham, a couple of run-arounds, and a quick wagon swap) Southeastern High Speed has a nice freight timetable with a decent mix of services from Hoo junction to Strood and Dartford, with a fair amount of shunting too. I hear the BR Heavy Freight Pack (which needs Northern Transpennine) brings some nice services, but I don't have that so I don't know. Spirit of Steam has a few timetable issues, but most freight services work, and there seems to be a decent variety. There's even a scenario where you are free to shunt some wagons around a very small depot with an 8F. West Cornwall Local, probably not. I haven't heard anything special about its freight runs but I don't have the route so not sure about that.
BML just added a load of new freight services including the run around at HHE to go into Ardingly sidings and vice versa
Thanks to all of you for your suggestions! Ok, those are looking really interesing, exactly what I'm looking for. For US routes: what is the usual mainline speed with the loaded consist? Is it crawling at about 25 mph most of the time? I'm asking as I haven't played any of US content route yet, but have read here that usually those runs are, well, very slow. If you recall, can you please share some more info about what is unique in those services? I don't own TSW3 yet, but thanks for mentioning it, I'll keep it in mind for future. I would love to run those, but I'm on PS4, so those are not available for me yet. If I'm correct GWE has also some Class 66 freight runs (13 in total I believe) - are these varied or just A-B runs?
Not sure if it was mentioned already: WCL has some really clever scenarios involving the Class 37 and the Gronk (If you own Diesel Legends). Quite unusual, these.
arek#2842 Almost all the us freight routes have you going at 25mph on average. Mainly cuz of steep gradients, twists and turns, heavy consists, safety and not wanting a runaway train. Oakville is the only one where you can go 60mph. In terms of other routes like spg, clinchfield and cane creek, and horseshoe curve your speed averages to around 25mph. US freight is slow due to many reasons from safety regulations, steep gradients, twists and turns, heavy consists. You don't want your train to derail or become a runaway due to the brakes not being effective or going down twisty track at 60mph. There are some routes like sherman hill and horseshoe curve where there are higher speed limits, but you never want to go the limit because your brakes will become ineffective and cause a runaway train since those routes have the longer consists. For peninsula corridor, here are some of the services. For example, one service has you operating the inbound empty hoppers headed to pier 96 and the ongoing contaminated soil removal process. Another run has you operating inbound aggregates. Then there is cutting and switching of the hoppers and aggregates to prepare them for unloading and services for the actual unloading. Then preparation services for the outbound hopper runs. There are 9 services for the gp38-2. The mp15 also has interesting runs and would recommend you pick that up. You get rescue runs where you pick up a broken down train and bring it back to cemof. You got services where you move hoppers up and down the line, creating a special train consist. Each service is unique. There are 11 services for the mp15. It might not sound like a lot but the gameplay is really good.
How about Niedersachsen Bahnstrecke Bremen Oldenburg you get a mixture of freight mainline and loco moves. Switching American Railroader term for British Shunting you need Nahverkehr Dresden VVO DB Baureihe 363 & Rhein-Ruhr Osten DB Baureihe 650 Vossloh G6
So in conclusion there is: Sand Patch Grade (SPG), Peninsula Corridor and Clinchfield from US, Oakville from Canada, Tees Valley Line (TVL), West Cornwall Local (WCL), Northern Trans Pennine (NTP) with Heavy Freight Pack (shunting only) and now also London Commuter (BML) from UK. That's really good, I wasn't expecting so many routes to be honest What about the German routes? Besides BRO I saw that some of you have mentioned RRO (mostly shunting services with G6 I guess) and RSN, but what about Nahverkehr Dresden Riesa or Tharandter Rampe? Those 2 routes are equiped with DB 363 shunter by default, so there must be some shunting services, but what about any other like loading/unloading, changing consist on the way betweet A and B, something else?
There are a few missions for DRA involving the BR185 and the BR363, but not much variety. The most complex mission is a scenario where you drive a consist of tankers plus the BR363 in tow from Riesa to the chemical plant. You must be aware that the BR363 cannot exceed 75kph when towed. When you get there, you stop in the sidings, decouple the BR185, then switch to BR363 and pull the consist into the plant. There you drop the one you brought, and bring back a different consist, stop back at the sidings, and then switch to the BR185 and drive them all back to Riesa. In the BR363 timetable, you have a number of services which are all copies of the following: 1. drive consist from Chemical Plant sidings into the Chemical Plant (as above) 2. drive consist from Riesa to Chemical Plant sidings 3. drive consist from Chemical Plant sidings to Riesa -> the only difference between these missions is how long you need to wait at the sidings red aspect before you can join the mainline. The DCZ has a few freight missions with BR185. One interesting scenario makes you drive a consist up the Tharandter Rampe with two BR185 locos, which is not too bad. However, there's a timetable service where you need to do the same with a single loco, and that one can be very tricky, depending on the weather. I remember that on my first attempt it started raining, and after slowing down to 60kph in the middle of the uphill drive, I wasn't able to reach the summit. I had to restart the service and select July for guaranteed good weather. Mind you, I was very inexperienced driving freight at that time, I think it was in my first week playing TSW3. The BR363 timetable services on DCZ are shunting in the Freiberg yard. Also quite repetitive.
https://train-sim-world.fandom.com/wiki/Nahverkehr_Dresden https://train-sim-world.fandom.com/wiki/Tharandter_Rampe AFAIK, apart from the "Chemical Plant Zone" scenario on DRA (which is quite cool BTW) the other freight scenarios are A to B runs. And with the additional "bonus" of possibly running into a gridlock when driving into Dresden (red light issues). IIRC DCZ has some Railpool freight runs where you have to couple to another BR185 and then double head to Chemnitz. But Chemnitz has no yard, so you basically bring the freight train to the main station. Freiberg has some shunting and consist composing.
Dcz has more freight variety than dra. Loco freight runs in dra are end to end with the 363 doing the shunting moves such as moving freight cars and moving to and from riesa to the chemical plant. In some services, you have to wait quite a while to let other passenger and freight cars pass since your are low priority. Dcz on the other hand has shunting moves with the 363 and the g6 subs in. The included railpool 185 does runs to and from freiburg to Dresden and full length runs.
Ok, mamy thanks again to everyone who participated in this thread, your inputs helped me a lot in selection of buying future DLCs if I'll be in mood for some serious freight runs
I thought of this thread after a brilliant freight service from Ruhr Seig Nord (RSN): DB 80401 - Finnentrop to Hagen - 12:04hrs It's a great service for several reasons, namely it isn't just a typical A to B and also it also takes quite a long time, I completed after 1hrs 32mins with the BR 155 Press.
