Hello all, TrainGeek08 here back again with another suggestion, this time it's the WCML (I know, I know) but the section between Carlisle and Preston (or 'Over Shap' as it is called in TSC) but at the time of the 86s and 87s dominating intercity services in their final years before the 390s were introduced at the turn of the century Price: GBP: 29.99 EUR: 34.99 USD: 39.99 Stock included in base route: The British Rail Class 86 in Virgin livery (can be unbranded if there are licensing issues) The British Rail Class 87 in Virgin livery (again, can be unbranded if there are licensing issues) And finally, the 82 DVT for operation on the non-loco end of consists Training: Class 86 Introduction Class 87 Introduction DVT Introduction Scenarios: 86 Over Shap: (Difficulty - 2) Drive this Virgin Trains service from Preston to Carlisle led by an 86 locomotive with Mk3 coaches Double Taps: (Difficulty - 4) A 86 has broken down at Lancaster, so an 87 has been sent to take the set out of service back to Carlisle but there is a lot of traffic today so it's gonna be busy and you have a train to rescue... Driving a Van: (Difficulty - 1) Drive this DVT on a southbound run from Penrith to Preston on a clear day and no delays are expected on the journey today Eighty Seven: (Difficulty - 3) Drive this 87 service from Preston up to Oxenholme where your service is cancelled due to a brake failure on one of the Mk3 coaches you are pulling It's Grim Up North: (Difficulty - 2) Drive this 86 from Carlisle to Preston during a miserable day where it is foggy and there is moisture in the air waiting to get heavier so keep your wits about you driver... Potential DLC, Layers, Stations & POI coming up on Pages 2 & 3...
Page 2: Potential DLC: The British Rail Class 90 in Freightliner grey livery for freight operations along the route Training: Class 90 Introduction Scenarios: A 90 at Ninety? (Difficulty - 1) Drive this 90 light loco from Carlisle to Preston whilst heading for Crewe Basford Hall for stabling and this loco still has it's 100mph capabilities so go as fast as you need Slow Freight Up Shap: (Difficulty - 3) Drive this Class 90 container train up from Lancaster to Carlisle whilst looping at certain points along the line to allow 86s and 87s past as you are only allowed to go 75mph Lightly Loaded: (Difficulty - 2) Drive this lightly loaded freight train from Carlisle to Preston, where another crew are waiting to take the train to Crewe Basford Hall where the service terminates having come from Coatbridge Layers: The British Rail Class 101 DMU (NTP/TVL) for operation on the Morecambe/Heysham Port services from Lancaster Stations and POI on Page 3...
This seems like a nice idea but you either get the licensing or don't make it at all I'm not having another IOW 2022, I think this route would be better off in Intercity with the 86 and 90 if you want to go retro
Page 3: Stations: Carlisle: Carlisle railway station, or Carlisle Citadel, is a Grade II* listed railway station serving the city of Carlisle, Cumbria, England. It is on the West Coast Main Line, 102 miles (164 km) south-east of Glasgow Central and 299 miles (481 km) north north-west of London Euston. It is the northern terminus of the Settle and Carlisle Line, a continuation of the Midland Main Line from Leeds, Sheffield and London St Pancras. It was formerly the southern terminus of the partially-closed Waverley Route from Edinburgh. It is so named because it is adjacent to Carlisle Citadel, a former medieval fortress. The station is owned by Network Rail. Penrith (for the North Lakes): Penrith North Lakes (also shortened to Penrith) is a railway station on the West Coast Main Line, which runs between London Euston and Edinburgh Waverley or Glasgow Central. The station, situated 17 miles 69 chains (28.7 km) south of Carlisle, serves the market town of Penrith, Westmorland and Furness in Cumbria, England. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Avanti West Coast. Oxenholme Lake District: Oxenholme Lake District railway station in Oxenholme, near Kendal, Cumbria, England, is on the West Coast Main Line and at the start of the Windermere Branch Line to Windermere. The station, which serves as a main line connection point for Kendal and Windermere, is managed by Avanti West Coast and owned by Network Rail. Lancaster: Lancaster railway station (formerly known as Lancaster Castle railway station) is a railway station that serves the city of Lancaster in Lancashire, England. It is one of the principal stations on the West Coast Main Line. It is located 20 miles 78 chains (33.76 km) from Preston and is the zero point for mileages onward to Carlisle. Preston: Preston railway station in Preston, Lancashire, England, is an interchange railway station on the West Coast Main Line, half-way between London Euston and Glasgow Central (206 miles from London Euston, 194 miles from Glasgow Central). It is served by Avanti West Coast, Northern Trains and TransPennine Express services, plus Caledonian Sleeper overnight services between London and Scotland. It is also served by the Calder Valley line to Leeds and York, and by branch lines to Blackpool, Ormskirk, and Colne. Points of Interest: Shap Summit: Shap Summit refers to three different route summits in close proximity, of the A6 road, M6 motorway and the highest point of the West Coast Main Line railway in England, near to the Cumbria village of Shap in North West England. Lancaster Castle: Lancaster Castle is a medieval castle and former prison in Lancaster in the English county of Lancashire. Its early history is unclear, but it may have been founded in the 11th century on the site of a Roman fort overlooking a crossing of the River Lune. In 1164 the Honour of Lancaster, including the castle, came under royal control. In 1322 and 1389 the Scots invaded England, progressing as far as Lancaster and damaging the castle. It was not to see military action again until the English Civil War. The castle was first used as a prison in 1196 although this aspect became more important during the English Civil War. The castle buildings are owned by the British sovereign as Duke of Lancaster; part of the structure is used to host sittings of the Crown Court. That's it then folks, hope you enjoyed this rather different one from me, put your thoughts below as per usual, I've been TrainGeek08 as always, enjoy the rest of your day and goodbye
Well if DTG can get the license, then routes set in the InterCity era could exist but I don't know if DTG already has access to that license though
Thanks mate, it's always nice to mix it up a bit sometimes with some backdated route/loco suggestions
Brilliant suggestion mate as per usual. I would say to go for early 90s with the exact same rolling stock but just in the much nicer InterCity livery. A lovely section of line which is best enjoyed from the cab of a 86 or 87. As you may or may not know I am from the Eastern side of the country so I don't know these rails very well but would 47s and HSTs also be about the line at this time (early 90s) or am I just thinking wrongly. Also this is very, very hypothetical and unlikely but alternatively you could set it in the same year as JT's route and then combine it with that. Take that as you will but that would just be brilliant. Anyhow I'll stop rambling and just finish by saying excellent suggestion mate.
I love the route, but I'd definitely prefer it set in the current day. But would probably buy it either way.
Totally agree mate, the InterCity livery would look great on an 86 and an 87 in game I was thinking of setting it at the same time as JTs upcoming route and for a merge to occur and I like the idea and hope it comes to fruition
Fair enough, not everyone likes older routes like your NTP or TVL but if this route was modern day, you'd have 390s and 397s (licensing dependent) with 90s or 88s as DLC and the 158 (or if a 195 is made before this one) layering in (in Northern livery though) for the Morecambe/Heysham, Barrow and Windermere services
I would say BR Classic and before the lines around Carlisle were rationalised, i.e.when you still had the independent freight lines, the power station and Dentonholme Yard plus the full layout at Kingmoor including the hump.
I'm not too sure about if any diesel locos would have been used on freight during that time period but if anyone does, that would be a great help
So same era as NTP and TVL then? It would be nice to have Kingmoor in as well for an appropriate end point for freight services rather than looping them in Carlisle station
Having looked at the linked video, I found that 86s and 87s in BR Blue livery were also seen on some freight/parcels services along the route
Not a fan of the suggested Virgin livery, but I do like the trains. I also remember the TSC route being decent fun, so bring it on. Now if we could get the Intercity Swallow livery onboard, that'd make it extra epic IMO
Lots of people are wanting InterCity Swallow, which is the more likely option as who knows if Virgin's license could be reobtained by DTG but the InterCity Swallow livery would look great on an 86/87 + Mk3 rake + DVT
Class 31s, 37s, 47s, 56s, 60s, 86s, 87s, 90s, would all have been seen on freight in the early 90s on this route.
So of those, the 31 from TVL, the 37s from TVL/WCL and the 47s from NTP/WSR in addition to the 86 and 87 from this suggestion would operate freight trains Thanks for the very helpful information
The fun part is running 155 MPH via C-APT on Class 370 APT train if set in the early 1980s. You might as well add in a Marshalling Yard here
Oh good suggestion, where I am going to disagree is the period, either it is BR blue APT era (1970s) or Modern day(2017+) there has to be a 125mph tilting train with this dlc
Yeah, it would be nice for an APT in game but I've set the route 10 or so years after the APT was around
Thanks, glad you liked the suggestion WCML is a tricky one with time periods, you can do steam, diesel, APT, early AC electrics and modern day with the 390 but it's nice to mix it up for a change
To add to that, given that we know for a fact the chances of merges are extremely unlikley (but not impossible) as confirmed by DTG, you can split it into seperate routes like in TSC. Have south modern for pendolino/desiro/electrostar/capitalizer action, "Over Shap" (Preston-Carlise) be Diesel/APT era with the APT and 47, WCML north be AC electric (early) with the 86, and you could have WCML midlands+northwest in steam era. Again given merges are extremely unlikely you might aswell split these major routes giving a taste of diffrent eras along it.
And as for the suggestion itself - As always, Brilliant. WCML shap in this kind of era is EXACTLY what we need for TSW sooner or later, albeit for a little less linear routing you could also add the Morecambe branch line and Maxwelltown Branch lines (would fit somewhat given the era) roughly bringing the mileage to 90-ish miles I belive.
Thanks, Morecambe would be great as you could drive the 101 up there but I've never heard of the Maxwelltown branch but I'm guessing 101s would have operated there as well?
True But honestly for ECML, The majority of the route has little to no backdating potential, especially in the south. Having the King Cross-York route (split between two routes) with maybe the Kings cross-Peterborough being FCC based and Peterborough-York being the modern one works. Having York-Newcastle be Deltic era is a must and as for north honestly Im fine with anything for Newcastle-Edinbrugh. Whoops went on an ECML tagent in a WCML thread.
It was a fairly small branch closed after the bleeching cuts HOWEVER, it was used for freight services for way after so it would allow for some heavy freight oppunities. Actually looking back Im cant remember if it was the bleeching axe that shut it or it just shut do to low count so I might have some details wrong in this reply - The WCML over shap route for TSC is set in a simmilar era and has this branch so I might quickly double check this by using that.
Fair enough, so the freight layers mentioned above would add more industrial freight to the route then?
I'd prefer the route in the 80's for one very simple reason... The APT-P needs to feature in TSW in some capacity and WCML Shap in the 80's is just the route for it. If we go off the habit of a new route having one new train, we could have a BR Blue 87 as the new featured stock, BR Blue large logo 47 as the "reworked" stock and then this beauty following up as a loco DLC. Perfection! DTG already made the 370 in TS Classic so I imagine they'd still have all the research material for it. There's also practically zero chance of getting Virgin branding in TSW either, DTG did have it at one point but eventually had to delist all Virgin branded content from Steam for TS Classic.
Fair enough, the APT is iconic and like you say it is in TSC so if DTG still have reference material for the APT, then they can set the route in the 1980s with this included Hence why I said when I introduced the stock...
Cheers, the 91 didn't operate on the WCML except for the section between Carstairs and Glasgow Central but the 90 does still operate there to this day on Freightliner freight runs along with the more regular 66
A really good suggestion mate, I love the stock you have included. This would be an instant purchase for me
Thanks, glad you liked the suggestion and that you would be interested in getting this route in this era
I'd love the route as portrayed in Train Sim Classic. WCML over Shap has branches so that is a huge plus. I found it 20 times more fun than Newcastle to York ECML. I think the BR Blue tap changers and various rolling stock has something to do with it. Also Western Lines of Scotland.
