Route Route Suggestion - Ecml North - Edinburgh > Berwick Upon Tweed/newcastle (route Options)

ECML North - Edinburgh > Berwick Upon Tweed

General Information

• 11 (+2 optionable) Stations in total
• Runs from Edinburgh Waverley to Berwick Upon Tweed.
• All rolling stock exists, only a route-build
  
• c.50 Miles

Rolling Stock
Class 801 Azuma

Desiro Class 380(/0 and /1)

Class 385 (/1 and /0)

Class 170 Turbostar

Class 158


Route Map

Running from Edinburgh Waverley to Berwick Upon Tweed, the route is about 50 miles long. with 3 main routes and 2 additional routes.

LNER - EDI>Berwick;
4 Trains per day stopping at Dunbar, with an hourly service to Berwick provides a consistent basis for AI trains, commuter and express services, with a full Edinburgh > Berwick journey taking just shy of an hour and a few consistent speed changes to keep it interesting.

SCOTRAIL - Edi>Dunbar/North Berwick
An end-to-end route with Peak time travel up to 3 trains per hour calling at Wallyford/Prestonpans allows for a busy commuter line, with interesting diagram times (e.g a train starting at Prestonpans, instead of the route terminus at North Berwick)

A train every 2 hours on the Edi>Dunbar route, calling additionally at Musselburgh and Wallyford provides additional stopping patterns, giving an interesting and active playset with little time wait at either-end of the terminus' to allow for fun.

SCOTRAIL - EDI>Millerhill EMU Depot
Where EMU's are put to bed every night, allowing for multiple differnet sets of trains to be stored here, as this route is also on the beginning of the borders railway, a timetable could be made stopping at Brunstane and Newcraighall (the +2 optionable stations) with the SCR class 170/158

EDI > Craigtinney TMC Depo
Hitachi's main depo for north, allowing for further storage of 385 EMUs and clas 80x trains, a timetable service of waking up Azuma's and putting them back to sleep could be made here.

There is also multiple options for railtours, with Craigentinney and Portobello Depo's both being used for steam train turnarounds.

AI Layers
Class 801 & 803(Lumo) - Fast services from Edi that skip Reston, Dunbar and Berwick
Class 170/158/385/380/390 Pendolino/Class 800 - Services going through Waverley with next station being Haymarket.

Summary
This route would be a great addition to TSW's current Scottish/LNER collection, featuring brand new stations at Reston and East Linton, with a large mix of commuter (slow and fast), express, freight and railtour options and a mix of Depo shunting work with Portobello, Craigentinney and Millerhill being used.

There is also the possibility of including AI stops for CrossCountry and TPE, or potential additional EMU/DMU options.

This route would take you down the beautiful east coast down into north England, and gives every different type of user the experience that we all crave from TSW.

That brings us to the end of my suggestion, thank you for reading!

 

Would be better off going all the way to Edinburgh as a lot of trains make few stops along the line.

 

This *has* to go all the way to Newcastle, and bonus points if Northumberland Line included as a branch line.

I also think this route should come with a loco, either XC voyager or TPE 802. TPE 802 is probably preferred.

 

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Definitely agreed it would be great to go all the way to Newcastle! - I think in one of the previous streams it was mentioned that Edinburgh>Newcastle was an idea instead of the current ECML South that we currently have from Peterbrough>Doncaster, however was inevitably chose the other option purely just due to length track - so an idea could be made if we can't have EDI>NCL, we could have a happy middleground, which still allows for a solid mix of commuter, express and fast-commuter services!

A route to Newcastle could also benefit with a new EMU from either TPE or LUMO's 802/803, definitely something that we'd love to see!

Another Idea is that, the route is based pre-2019, when class 91s' still ran all the way up to edinburgh, this could provide a great reason to re-skin another HST for LNER's northern servicies, then making a new loco out of the beautiful 91!

I believe we could still use the 158/170 for Tweedbank services, and the 380/385 services for North Berwick/Dunbar if the route was based pre-2019.

 

I think really Newcastle would need to feature for this route to make much sense. Otherwise it’s a little like EUS to MKC, but I can see where you are coming from.

Drivers routinely change over at NCL.
BWK to NCL is unlikely to come on its own.
Lots of LNER services don’t stop at BWK, but all on this section stop at both NCL and EDB.

Would rather TPE as they operate stoppers on this route and lumo would be low service count.

You are tempting me with the 91, but I think it’s important for it to be in the same era as PBO -> DON for route hopping consistency. However if they were able to also do a backdated timetable, bit like DLOGW I suppose (don’t own it, but I think that’s what it is??) then I’d be up for that with 91s and HSTs.

If from NCL, Skyhook could make a NT 158 DLC.

 

Yeah TPE would be a better bet, make use of the bay platforms at NCL and have a stopping pattern at Reston, cracking' idea!

No reason why 91's couldnt still be added for PBO-DON as they still run from KGX-Leeds! Not sure if it would break reality, bit iffy agreed though.

Skyhook 158 for the Northumberland line is a great idea! - this would be the ultimate commuter/express/semi-express route with all those branchlines.. I'd be worried that with all of the scotrail lines, plus TPE, plus LNER, plus NCL & Notherumberland line, this could get waaay too big too fast. - Would have to draw a line somewhere

 

Just a shame Lumo might be difficult, it's the only section of line they can be properly used.

 

Definitely pro adding 91's in the PBO to DON section. This is prototypical for the era.

 

To Newcastle would be way too long for DtG, at 124 miles plus branches, I don't even think Just Trains would take that! If ECML North comes in any form it will be to Berwick-upon-Tweed and with the branches to Millerhill and North Berwick I feel that would be sufficient. Even to Alnmouth is 90 miles!

 

From what I’ve read, I think the length is more a limitation due to development timeframe/income.

Therefore, to compensate for this, DTG could either:
- Sell the route for a slightly higher price than normal (like JT @£32.99 for WCMLOS)
- Not include a new train with this, just the 801 for those who don’t already have it, and release loco DLCs further down the line - though personally I would prefer it did come with a new loco

Whatever they need to do, but it must go to Newcastle

 

Though not in my top five, I'd love the Newcastle to Edinburgh section of the ECML. I agree that if it just used existing traction from TSW then more time could be allowed within the development timetable to make a longer route. Maybe that's a bit simplistic given that I don't know who does what at DTG obviously.

 

I think a new route that does not include a new loco could be an excellent way to introduce Edinburgh>Newcastle, but, I think that we could be missing an idea here.

An extra route suggestion could be Berwick - Darlington, a much more reasonable expectation - and with the new route jumping feature could be brilliant if we were able to make it Berwick > Darlington (maybe even to york) via Newcastle. It's a bit longer of a route but would allow for a split-approach to be made and a brilliant way to use route swapping and would give us a significantly bigger ECML suggestion.

I wouldn't want to push this idea too far, so I think sticking to the one idea, with the option of having future DLCs down the line, an Edinburgh - Berwick ECML North is a solid route combined with all the different branches (3 Depo, - 4 if we include Haymarket Depo which i think we should.) - 2 branch lines (Tweedbank as far as Newcraighall) and North Berwick / Dunbar.

A limited route Edinburgh - Berwick, with a new TPE Loco (to allow semi-express services stopping at East Linton and Reston) or even the creation of a pre-2019 route with LNER Class 91s (while still being able to use the 380/385/170/158) is a brilliant option

 

I'm just conscious that, in terms of large stations, and if the ECML could not be made in full, splits really aught to be (based off what we already have)

EDB -> NCL
NCL -> YRK
YRK -> DON (ideally as extension to current DON -> PBO)
DON -> PBO (in game)
PBO -> KGX

And this works ok with what *could* be realistic, as LNER have crew depots at EDB, NCL, LDS, DON, KGX and crews occasionally change at YRK.

Otherwise it's a little disjointed in terms of realism etc. if we get, for example

EDB -> BWK
BWK -> DAR
DAR -> DON
DON -> PBO
PBO -> KGX

I'm not really a fan of route hopping in terms of realism, especially as you can't yet carry over a service, but I recognise it's the best we have for now.

I would like to see the whole ECML come to the game over time, but would want it to be in more realistic splits. Preferably I'd prefer the full route in one DLC (of course it'd need a higher price) but that's incredibly unlikely to happen sadly.

 

Bring it on to the game if Newcastle to EDN. have Just Trains the TSC version maker re create this route for TSW 5. JT made the TSC version of your suggestion

 

Seems like the baseline for the route has already been created! Much shorter length than the Island Line, but something similar could be done if a bulk of the route has been created previously on TSC, is there a way to port this over? It's totally different engines so I'm assuming not so much..

 

I *think* Matt previously said before content can't be ported over and then used straight away. Can't remember if it was flat out impossible, or if it could be ported - but so much needed to be done to it, for compatibility + to bring it up to TSW standards, that it was not much more helpful than just starting from scratch.

 

Still hoping for a backdated ECML set in the 1960s-70s with a Class 55 Deltic. A preserved Deltic could be added to the current ECML route for railtours, though. There is a BR diesel pack coming soon which I think should come with a Deltic.