It's been some time since DTG released an American freight focused route. I believe the last one was Cajon Pass in 2022, so I think it's time a new one is created. Connecting UP's Mojave yard to the Cajon Pass route is the relatively late (in railroad expansion terms) built Palmdale Cutoff. While it does not see as much traffic as Cajon Pass, it would link up well with the existing lines in the area. (flickr, Mickoo737) The Route The Colton-Palmdale Cutoff is a 78 mile route from Palmdale to Union Pacific's busy West Colton Yard. The route was created by the Southern Pacific and was finished in 1967, with the West Colton Yard opening in 1972. From the Cajon Summit, it runs parallel to BNSF's Cajon Pass route to Keenbrook Junction where the line splits off going south to West Colton. The route offers a nice contrast between the bustling West Colton Yard, the scenic Cajon Pass and the rural landscape north of the San Gabriel Mountains. West Colton Yard features one of the largest hump yards on the west coast and handles a lot of Union Pacific's Southern California traffic. Cajon Pass already features in the game, but it could do with some touch-ups similar to the successor NEC New York routes. The most interesting part of this route in my opinion is that it would create a circular network around the San Gabriel Mountains, using the Antelope Valley, San Bernardino and Cajon Pass routes already in the game. To help illustrate this, there is a map, hastily created in MS Paint, of the routes in game underneath. Route hopping should be included to both Cajon Pass somewhere on the southern part of the route and to Antelope Valley in Palmdale. Green: Antelope Valley, burgundy: San Bernardino Line, orange: Cajon Pass, and black: Colton-Palmdale Cutoff. Locomotives The route should include a new freight locomotive belonging to Union Pacific. So far the game lacks a UP GEVO which is what I think should be the "hero" locomotive of this route. If that isn't possible a UP dash-9 or SD70M could be created in its place. The BNSF GEVO seems alright and one of the better made US locos in game, so if created, it would hopefully be at least as good as the BNSF one. The UP SD40-2 or GP38-2 could also be included and upgraded to the latest TSW standards. (flickr, HighHor$epower) BNSF equipment should layer in from the Cajon Pass route and older UP content can substitute from Sherman Hill, Cane Creek and Peninsula Corridor. Rolling Stock Most of what is needed should be in the game in some form already. However, there seem to be a lot of manifest trains running this route, so one or two new freight cars could come in handy. For example, a gondola or coil car. Features Some additional features that could elevate this route would be: Working hump operations in West Colton Yard. More realistic DPU operations. Working EOTD data. Working distance counter. Working accelerometer (updating at a much higher frequency than the current SD70ACe). Better freight car substitution to create more varied consists. Conclusion While Southern California has seen a lot of content in TSW so far, this route would take advantage of that and build on what is already made to give a potentially good freight experience. On the other hand, apart from the southern portion of the route around West Colton Yard, the route would be sparse as not that many trains run on the Cutoff itself on a given day, which some may see as a negative. I mainly want a new freight focused route, but I thought this was interesting as it would connect with Cajon Pass and Antelope Valley in addition to introducing West Colton Yard.
Pitfalls I can see are that 1. It's already in Run 8 and, 2. From driving it in Run 8, apart from being UP it's just more arid desert driving from A to B with not much in between. It kid of works in R8 because it's part of a huge network, not sure if it would appeal as a standalone.
I totally get that, and I probably wouldn't want this either if we didn't have the other routes in the area in TSW already. And there are other freight routes that would be better. However, due to DTG halting development of US freight, because of lack of access (that's what I understood they said atleast), I thought coming back doing something familiar could be reasonable. This would at least be an option to create a decent sized US freight route, borrowing some parts from Antelope and Cajon.
While West Colton Yard itself definitely sees enough trains in a regular day to warrant an entire route being based around it, I don't think the Palmdale Cut-off sees enough trains and action to warrant the effort into a 78-mile stretch of track without being part of a much larger system, as seen in Run 8. I am a huge supporter of anything North American freight-related in TSW, and I definitely see the appeal, especially with the route-hopping capabilities you mentioned. But unfortunately, I don't think this route would be interesting enough, since it is just another desert freight route with relatively low traffic. Instead, I would like to add some ideas of my own on how an addition like this could be made possible. My first idea would be to just incorporate West Colton Yard and a section of the Palmdale Cut-off into the Cajon Pass route in a remaster. The original Cajon Pass route, along with all of the other NA freight routes in the game, are currently due for a remaster. The extended Cajon Pass route would include: UP trackage rights on the original Cajon Pass route via a timetable remaster and layers, the portion of the Palmdale Cut-off that runs north from West Colton all the way up to Summit at Cajon, and a fully modelled West Colton Yard. This works because, on its own, West Colton Yard does actually see traffic from BNSF trains via transfer services and trackage rights, so with the base route, BNSF trains would still operate normally, just with a small service extension of about 3 miles, as San Bernardino and West Colton are very close to each other. But with the gameplay pack, West Colton Yard would be put to full use with trains departing north, east, and west out of the yard at all hours of the day, similar to how AI trains layer into busy commuter routes to make them feel more alive despite you not being able to drive them. The Cajon Pass route and Palmdale Cut-off also basically hold each other's hand all the way up the grade. This would make the route feel non-linear in the sense that you can drive trains up and down multiple different lines into different yards while only adding about 13 miles of track all around. The Palmdale Cut-off section would still terminate at Summit, since the route would still be BNSF-focused. But the addition of the UP trackage rights layer, Palmdale Cut-off, and West Colton Yard would add some serious variety. Overall, the Cajon Pass route would substantially benefit from this addition, as well as the hardcore US freight players getting options to further enhance their route by adding some new locomotives, tons of new services and scenarios, and tons of variety to one of the strongest US freight routes in-game already. My second idea is that Dovetail could simply make the Sunset Route between Downtown LA (LATC Intermodal Terminal) and the summit of Beaumont Hill (roughly 85-90 miles). This would, in a sense, satisfy your need for the LA Basin area to be more connected with routes in TSW. The starting point for this route would be the LATC terminal, which is literally right across the river from LA Union Station, which is already modelled in 2 routes. The route would then stretch through the Alameda Corridor, which is famous for many train robberies taking place recently on intermodal trains. The route then meets with other vital UP subdivisions in the area around Pomona; these could vaguely be included to add as separate start and end points for trains. The route then continues through Pomona, where we reach yet another highly industrialized stretch with a large intermodal facility. Continuing on, the route passes West Colton Yard, the real star of this route. West Colton Yard would feel like a bustling freight hub, as it does in real life, with the variety and density of a well-done timetable. Continuing out of the LA basin, the route climbs Beaumont Hill. This is yet another famous landmark on the route, well known for its manned helper operations, that provides yet more variety in the timetable. The route finally concludes in Banning, California, just past the summit of Beaumont Hill. This provides a good endpoint for the route and gives trains a small distance to finish off after disconnecting their helpers. The locomotives used for this route could be the same ones as you proposed earlier, such as the UP (C45AH) Tier 4 GEVo, SD70M, and the C45ACCTE (Tier 3 GEVo). Overall this route I think would be a welcome addition to the game, with plenty of variety as well as scenery since it goes through the not-so-dull part of California. This proposal is also more feasible than the Cajon Pass remaster.
I agree with all your thoughts about West Colton. West Colton is the largest freight yard on the west coast. As for locomotives, I'd love to see a UP C45AH (ET44AC), C45ACCTE (ES44AC), SD70M (including US 250th and Abraham Lincoln #1616, as well as different cab and radiator versions), GP60/GP62/GP60E (common yard/local power in the LA area for UP), SD59MX, SD70AH-T4, GP40-2/N, C44-9W/C44ACM rebuild, and/or C60AC/C44ACM rebuild. I suggested a Southern Pacific late 1980s-early 1990s (pre-UP merger) version of West Colton Yard based on the old Microsoft Train Simulator route. That route included the Keiser Steel Plant near LA, as well as some cool SP modern-ish locomotives. As for SP motive power: GP60, GP40-2, GP38-2, SD40R, SD38-2, C44-9W, AC4400CW, SD70M, MP15DC, MP15AC, B39-8
I think you would at least have to extend the route to Mojave to make it somewhat viable, since Mojave see's local trains running freight from WC to Mojave to be interchanged so the CalPortland plant west of Mojave, Trical south of Mojave, the and the now halted Trona branch gets served. (Along with a few industries in the Antelope Valley) But as mentioned above, Run 8 already does all this and does it more interesting than what DTG can do.
