There aren't many routes in the United States that see a 50/50 mix of freight and passenger, but the RF&P sub or Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac subdivision, is one of them. The line was originally built by the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad (I'll let you guess where the current name for the line came from) and became part of the CSX network in 1991. The route is approximately 115 miles from the Nation's Capital of Washington D.C. to Richmond VA, and features 16 stations, two freight yards with some industries to switch in between, and the scenery is quite varied with a mix of urban, suburban, riverside running, high bridges, farmland, and forests. There is even one section of the route where the mainline runs in the middle of a street through the downtown of the popular railfanning town of Ashland VA. The line currently sees 3 different operators: CSX CSX provides the freight service and sees 20-30 trains a day. This line sees a wide variety in freight traffic including intermodals, mixed freight manifests, unit coal trains, trash trains and locals. Amtrak There are 22 Amtrak trains a day, including Northeast Regional Services, Palmetto, Carolinian, Silver Star, Silver Meteor, and Auto Train Virginia Railway Express There are 16 Virginia Railway Express commuter trains a day, these operate from Fredericksburg VA to Washington D.C. servicing about half the length of the route. Passenger Motive Power: This would be the perfect route to introduce the P42DC as new motive power. With 22 trains a day all being powered by it, it would definitely merit it's creation for the game. Being an East Coast route, most of the Amtrak trains use amfleet cars, so the creation of new passenger cars wouldn't be necessary for half the trains, the long distance trains use viewliner sleeper cars and baggage cars so some new rolling stock would be required to accurately recreate them. The Auto Train would require the creation of Superliner cars, and new autoracks specific to Amtrak, so these services would likely be absent. This train could be added in the future, perhaps with new loco such as the B32-8WH The ACS-64 could also show up for AI services at Washington Union Station providing additional life to the route. Washington is also a location for engine swaps as the line from Washington north is electric, and south is diesel. Providing commuter service along the line is Virginia Railway Express. I'm not sure if DTG currently has a VRE license. VRE trains use MP36-3C locomotives and Nippon Sharyo bi-level cars, both of which are currently in the game. If DTG cannot get a VRE license, these services may also be absent, VRE only operates 16 trains a day on this line, which already sees 40-50 other trains a day, so there would still be plenty to do if these don't make the final cut, the only downside would be half the stations would be unused. Freight Motive Power: CSX is sole freight operator on the route. The majority of the services would be road freights running between Bennington Yard outside Washington D.C. to Acca Yard outside Richmond VA with a few switching and local services in the mix. If DTG wanted to reuse existing CSX locomotives, the best choices would be the AC4400CW for road freights and the GP38-2 for locals/yard switching. The SD40-2 and C40-8W could also add layers or substitute on existing trains. I would also like to make some recommendations for new power: ES40DC (great for road freights) ET44AH (great for road freights) SD70MAC (great for road freights) SD40-3 (great for road freights, locals, and switching) GP40-2 (great for locals, and switching) Rolling stock needed for this route is present in number existing routes. Boxcars, open hoppers, covered hoppers, tank cars, and well cars could be updated from SPG. Refrigerator cars from Sherman Hill, and Trash Cars from either NYC TSW2020, or HSC. Gondolas from HSC. There is also an interchange with the Buckingham Branch Railroad at Doswell, these trains would most likely be absent in the game since shortlines usually don't make it into the game. Thank you for taking the time to look at this suggestion!
I thought that NER ran between Boston and Washington, but didn't know that it goes even further! Awesome suggestion btw.
Most just run between Boston and Washington but a handful continue to either Newport News or Norfolk via Richmond
let me see the American SFS Hannover Würzburg Kassel to Würzburg Hbf in terms of length. Why not add in an AC6000CW as DLC here if applicable
Hell yea the AC6000CW! It's needed in YN2 and YN3 (aka the Dark Future) liveries and it can be reskinned to both UP and PRLX ex-CSX liveries.
Good point and for UP version it should arrive for Sherman Hill alongside new freight cars so does the CSX version for this route
This route would be nice to have, especially the p42, but with 115 miles it is too long, and there is no real place to cut in half. The longest route as of now is 115.5 miles (KWG) but it has only 2 stations and DTG said a few times already that station assets take a lot of effort to make.
That’s the one unfortunate thing, there isn’t a good stopping point if the full route isn’t possible. Fredericksburg is the mid point of the route but there are no freight facilities there so the freight trains stopping there would feel forced, and not all Amtrak trains stop there so it’d be creating a fictional stop for 1/3 of the services similar to how not all Acelas stop at Trenton but all do in TSW. Fredericksburg to Washington would at least be a complete run for VRE trains, or Fredericksburg to Richmond would be more beneficial to freight services since Richmond is the location of the significant Acca Yard. Either way some services would feel like the stopping points are forced instead of natural. Kassel Wurzburg at least showed us that routes over 100 miles are possible, so hopefully one day they become more common since many US routes are typically this length.
