Hello Everyone, I have an awesome route suggestion, one that I know would be a great one, I suggest that the Hudson Line be added to the TSW Franchise. This would be an awesome route to add because it seems to be the perfect fit for a route that DTG could do. My reasons why this would be a great route for TSW will be posted down below. So lets get into what the Hudson Line is. Oh and also I will be featuring the Amtrak Empire Connection line as that is also part of the Hudson Line and it would be a great feature to have in the game. The Hudson Line is a commuter rail line owned and operated by the Metro-North Railroad in the U.S. state of New York. It runs north from New York City along the east shore of the Hudson River, terminating at Poughkeepsie. The line was originally the Hudson River Railroad (and the Spuyten Duyvil and Port Morris Railroad south of Spuyten Duyvil), and eventually became the Hudson Division of the New York Central Railroad. It runs along what was the far southern leg of the Central's famed "Water Level Route" to Chicago. At Croton-Harmon Station, the line is divided into 2 sections. Between Croton-Harmon and NYC the line is electrified by an electrical 3rd rail pickup, serving suburban stations located relatively close together. Most of the electrified zone has four tracks, usually two express and local tracks in each direction. For a few miles in the Bronx there are only two or three tracks. Local service is usually provided by electric trains, while diesel trains run express. North of Croton–Harmon, the line is not electrified and is mostly double-tracked (with a few triple track areas); the stations are also spaced further apart. Service between Croton–Harmon and Poughkeepsie is provided by diesel trains; these generally run express and skip most of the lower stations. From just north of Spuyten Duyvil to the end of the line, the Hudson Line forms the southern portion of Amtrak's Empire Corridor, the former main line of the Central. The planned Penn Station Access project would send some Hudson Line trains to Penn Station along the Empire Connection, with two new intermediate stops along the west side of Manhattan. The Hudson Line is colored green on Metro-North timetables and system maps, and stations on the line have green trim. The New York Central used green color-coding for the Hudson Division as early as 1965. The Amtrak Empire Connection Line: The Empire Connection (or West Side Connection[17]) allows Amtrak's passenger trains traveling on the Empire Corridor from Albany in upstate New York, and beyond, to enter Penn Station. Before its construction, Empire Service trains came into Grand Central Terminal, requiring passengers bound for Northeast Corridor trains to transfer to Penn Station via shuttle bus, taxicab, subway or on foot.[18] This was a legacy of the fact that the Empire Service lines had previously been part of the New York Central Railroad, which built and owned Grand Central, while Penn Station was owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad. The two stations had never been connected, even after the PRR and New York Central merged as Penn Central in 1968 and after Amtrak took over intercity passenger rail service in 1971. On April 7, 1991, all of Amtrak's trains departing for or arriving from Albany and points north began using the Empire Connection into Penn Station, ending Amtrak service to Grand Central. Down below is a list of locomotives and rolling stock that would come with the route as well as maps, timetables, and other forms of picture and route reference: 1. The M7 and M3 Electric Multiple Units. Since they already exist in the game, the engines can just be recycled from the Harlem Line route. 2. The GE P32AC-DM The P32AC-DM units should be included in the following liveries posted below each picture. Lets first start off with the Metro North ones first. A P32AC-DM in the standard Metro North livery. A ConnDOT P32AC-DM in the New Haven Mcginnis livery. Locomotives #228-231 wear this paint job. Metro North painted some of their P32AC-DM units into heritage schemes for their 40th anniversary as well. They need to be included because they look awesome. P32AC-DM locomotive #208 in the 1980's beach ball livery Metro North locomotive #211 in the New York Central Livery. Metro North unit #201 in the Conrail livery Locomotive #217 in the Penn Central livery that was used on the older EMD FL9 units. Amtrak also owns the P32AC-DM, they currently roster 18 locomotives. Amtrak's P32AC-DM units regularly see service on the Empire Service, Maple Leaf, Ethan Allen Express, Adirondack, and the NYC section of the Lake Shore Limited. An Amtrak P32AC-DM in Phase V. Notice that these ones don't have the escape hatch on the nose. The escape hatches are mostly common on the Metro North ones since they are required to have them in order to operate in the Park Avenue Tunnel that leads into Grand Central Terminal. A rebuilt Amtrak P32AC-DM in the new Phase IIIb livery Notice how this one has the escape hatch just like the Metro North units, they were fitted onto the Amtrak ones in 2018 since all Amtrak services were temporarily moved to Grand Central Terminal due to track work on the Empire Connection around Penn Station. P32AC-DM cab interior A Metro North Shoreliner Cab Car A Shoreliner Cab Car interior Rolling stock for the line should include the following 1. Amtrak rolling stock should consist of Amfleet 1 and 2 cars, Viewliner sleeper, diner, and baggage cars. A viewliner baggage car A viewliner I sleeper in Phase V Viewliner I interior A brand new Viewliner II sleeper in Phase IIIb A viewliner diner in Phase IIb Viewliner Diner interior 2. Metro North rolling stock should consist of Shoreliner coach and cab cars. Here are some videos and pictures for route reference. https://youtu.be/9TVR3RRvcbE?si=L9LEkemyK9ZsFQtq https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Tunnel https://youtu.be/tdDS1xRdTh4?si=xcetAGVM6m41a5ni https://new.mta.info/document/136536 https://youtu.be/TEVmKTL71kQ?si=1tno-8FyM0sjMRWN https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Line_(Metro-North) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Line#Empire_Connection https://youtu.be/iLSMy5GIMRs?si=fWg7Id1uZmpkk27T All credit goes to the rightful owners of these pictures and videos. Now here are my reasons why this seems like the perfect American route to include in the Train Sim World Franchise. 1. Having 2 different terminus stations at Point A is a great change of scenery and making a portion of the route would be easy since it already exist in the game, mainly the section of the Harlem Line from Grand Central Terminal to Harlem-153rd street station. Penn Station would also be easily added into the route as well since it already exists in TSW. 2. Since is seems like most of the American content DTG is making is mostly focused on passenger stuff right now, this is perfect because this line is mainly used by passenger trains, the other great thing is that licensing won't be a problem since they already got the MTA and Amtrak license. 3. There's plenty of awesome scenery along the line besides just the Hudson River, there's also another tunnel along with some beautiful mountains. 4. Some of the locomotives and rolling stock I suggested be added to the route already exists in the game too, the M7's, M3's, and the amfleet coaches. Anyways that's all I need to say. Hopefully this revised version of my original post is much better.
+1 In my younger years I lived in that general area, would be nice to see it in-game, but just a suggestion, try breaking up the wall of text into more manageable reading paragraphs.
I take your word on that, hopefully this one is a little better, I can go back and edit if necessary. Most sincere apologies for the Information overload.
Enthusiasm takes hold, Mistakes are made, and in my years I have eaten a few bowls of crow in short, we shake hands and have a good time, enjoy the game, inmsert game here"___" as BEST we can. And hey maybe this time it won't make DTG run for the hills, or have they already?
Let me see a TSC route highly requested and at Tarrytown you go under the Tappan Zee Bridge TV local news programmes use this name Mario Cuomo Bridge
My local route, and one I would very much like to see. A couple of notes though... - I don't see DTG doing every P32 scheme as presented. One in the current Metro-North red, blue, and silver scheme, and one in the Amtrak Empire Service scheme would suffice. Possibly we could get a "Heritage Pack" DLC down the road, but there's no way you get the CT DoT units as well as all of the heritage units in one pack with a route. - While I am a proponent of getting Amtrak LD equipment in the game, you really don't need the Viewliner cars added with this route. Only the Lake Shore Limited uses it on trains 48 and 49, so you really wouldn't be missing much if it wasn't included. That said, a "East Coast LD" DLC pack including it, along with scenarios for the other DLC that uses Viewliner equipment would be a good inclusion at a later date. - I'm also not sure if DTG would be willing or able to go all the way north to Poughkeepsie. I think if this were to see the light of day, you would end up with a clone of the TSC route, especially if you had both Manhattan terminals simulated. It would be shorter, but you'd still get some great scenery and commuter action.
I do agree with you there, I would expect the P32AC-DM heritage units being included as seperate DLC, even if we do end up with a clone of the TSC version, here's hoping that they might do the unelectrified portion as well.
I agree that the Hudson Line would be an amazing route to add to the game. I would hope that the full route, from Grand Central and Penn Station to Poughkeepsie would be possible but if it has to be cut much shorter, then I would suggest the last station being Peekskill instead of just Croton-Harmon. Peekskill is where there is a city of around 24K that is just 2 stops north of Croton-Harmon, making it a somewhat significant station, it allows for there to at least be a teeny bit of diesel territory, and it is also where the line reduces to 2 tracks. Ending at Peekskill would just be if the line can’t end at Poughkeepsie so that we aren’t just cut off at Croton-Harmon.
No services end at Peekskill, and Amtrak trains don't stop there. Croton is the more logical ending point as it is the end of electric territory and a stop for both Metro-North and Amtrak diesel services. Peekskill is a pretty station area, but it wouldn't feel right starting and stopping services there.
I know, but it’s better than just Croton-Harmon being the last station, If a service in real life ends at Croton-Harmon, I’m sure it would end there in the game and if not then either way you cut it it is not a full service. Peekskill would just be my preferred end point if Poughkeepsie is not possible. Poughkeepsie is still the ideal end point.
Definitely a great suggestion. The Hudson line is my home line and I really hope to see this be a reality in TSW. If the New Haven Line gets created later down the line, I can see the M8, Acela, LIRR M7, M9, and ACS-64 being layers for the Hudson line. This time around though, I think the line should also go up to Poughkeepsie to properly simulate prototypcial services with the shoreliners/P32AC-DM. This was missed in TSC but thankfully someone in the community unofficially created a great workshop extension that brings the line all the way up to Albany. While some push pulls start and end at Croton Harmon, it would be great to have it go north to Poughkeepsie. With the upcoming JT route being 100 miles and some of the latest DTG routes being somewhere between 45 and 60 miles, I think 73 miles is definitely doable for DTG. I just hope the Hudson line does not get the same treatment that the Harlem Line got, as that was a missed opportunity in terms of distance
Here's hoping that the licensing issues will be resolved. That is the unfortunate reason it never came with the NS Heritage Pack.
