Yes was in the weekday timetable. Odd how you want held unless it was a odd glitch my end? I will retry the service later on and see if it happens again
On Manchester Airport Commuter there is a nice rail tour pairing in the Class 87. Run in summer for a nice sunset run: 1Z91 at 1905 Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly Spoiler You start at Wilmslow of course but it makes you wonder how cool this would have been from Crewe. Around 4 miles from Piccadilly there are some caution signals to deal with You then have 20 minutes to walk round Piccadilly and explore the station if you haven't had a chance to do this yet. Then change to the other loco for... 5Z91 at 1944 Piccadilly to Crewe Spoiler This is an ECS service to presumably return the set to LSL at Crewe. You are routed on a slower line through Stockport so you have a big slow down to 20 to manage. Then between Stockport and Alderley Edge you need to remember where the neutral section is as they do work on the Class 87. I've not had them work on any of the modern EMUs on the route. You are then held at a red just outside Alderley Edge before you are able to stop to finish for a driver change
ICE1657 Wiesbaden Hbf to Dresden Hbf, 19:18 ex Frankfurt Hbf One of the few ICE-T services I was yet to drive on Frankfurt Fulda but a fun one! Ran this in early September so I had a little bit of daylight leaving Frankfurt but was well into darkness beyond Hanau. Spoiler Things start off normal enough to Hanau where you are held at the signal before the station, this is where you meet the ICE 1 you’ll be following all the way. Bit of LZB action once you get back up to speed, and then the fun of repeatedly catching up to the ICE 1 (which of course is running at non-GNT speeds) through the curves all the way towards Fulda. That’s nothing too unique on this route, but is really good fun, especially if played in the dark and HUD-less. However, once you approach Fulda you are chucked onto the fast / main line and actually overtake or run in parallel with that train you’d been following since Hanau, as it catches up to a freight train on its way in to the station. A really nice ending to see the damn thing and race it to the platform!
As a prequel, when you own the Frankfurt Sbahn, you can also drive this ICE1657 too from Wiesbaden to Frankfurt. Quite a fantastic run full of PZB action
I loved piecing together those two runs and watching afternoon turn to sunset as I made my way to Frankfurt and Fulda. Thanks! The first service was about 15-20 minutes late and, on the expert timetable, I had to fly over to an IC service and close the doors to release a red just outside Frankfurt. Needless to say, I was too late to continue the run via route hop to FFA. I presume the upcoming SKW gameplay pack will have this run continue from Fulda.
I did it on normal timetable and worked flawlessly for me, arrived just a minute late due to leerzug S8 passing me over at Stadion. Note that this train continues also on Nahverkehr Dresden in Expert 101 timetable as non-numbered "ICE Frankfurt Flughafen - Dresden" at 22:59.
Not strictly a signalling challenge but thought I would throw this in here. After watching (JT) Tom’s preview of the Class 86 pack where he demonstrates running with one traction motor isolated, you can also do this with the Class 87. So take any Class 87 run, before you set up the cab go back into the engine compartment, find and open the traction motor switch cupboard and knock one of them out. The performance effect is quite startling and you will have to drive much more attentively. With less power on hand you will also get more sustained thrash as you keep power on longer. Enjoy, though not sure I would try with two TM’s knocked out.
For those who like simulating shift patterns: WCML Shap: Spawn at Preston 14.15. 0S85 North Union Yard to Preston @ 1419 (loco is actually at the loco sidings at the station) Couple up to 1S85 and take it to Carlisle (interesting stopping pattern - Lancaster, Oxenholme and Carlisle) Wait 10 mins and then take 1S71 back to Preston. If you want to make it more interesting, 0S85 starts at North Union Yard at 1329. Nothing particularly interesting or special about any of these, apart from being able to simulate a shift pattern (imagine you started at 1.30pm (12.43pm if doing 0S85 at 1329) and finished at 17.32). Although for some reason, despite 1S85 being formed of Mark 2 carriages, you are allowed to reach line speed of 110mph, while the coaches have a top speed of 100mph.
Frankfurt S-Bahn RE2 (4263) Koblenz Hbf to Frankfurt (Main) Hbf at 16:08 with the BR425 A really nice run with an enjoyable EMU; I am on PC with the full timetable and have all the German layers. Spoiler: Just Run It! You catch up to an S9 and then wait for crossing traffic from RE3 29526 which is behind a westbound S9. A little wrong line running rounds out your approach to Frankfurt where you head straight at an ICE waiting for you to clear. RE3 29526 is also caught up in this tangle and is a very good run as well. However, I had to remove a train at Wiesbaden at the end to complete it so I didn't post it in this thread.
