A suggestion I have got for a UK rail route set in the North of England. The route is: Manchester Victoria to Leeds (via Huddersfield and Bradford interchange including Brighouse). Yes I know we have the Northern Transpennine route but with the modern day one it can include drivable rolling stock such as: - Class 150/1 - Class 150/2 - Class 156 - Class 158 - Class 195/0 - Class 195/1 - Class 185 - Class 802 - Class 769 - Class 331/0* - Class 331/1* - Class 332* - Class 170* - 225 set* (91 + mk4 carriages + 82) - Class 66** - Class 60** *AI trains that can be used around Leeds and players can drive them in and out of Neville Hill or Holbeck **Can be used on their GBRf, Freightliner and DB runs around Manchester With these rolling stock it can create a busy route that cover key settlements and areas such as Manchester, Huddersfield, Bradford, Leeds and more. The timetable could be based on the May 2025 timetable with services lengthing from 10 min depo runs (to/from Newton Heath, Neville Hill and Holbeck loco sidings) to 1 hour and 20 min runs (from Manchester Victoria to Leeds via Brighouse). With using the May 2025 timetable it can include some of the Transpennine route upgrades that are taking place throught the line to Leeds (via Huddersfield). When it comes to layers on this route there can be additional layers which include: - Class 220 (Cross Country services around Leeds) - Class 800 (LNER services arount Leeds) - Class 323 (Used on rare Liverpool and Wigan NW services from Victoria) - Class 66 (For the light locos and frieght movements) - Class 70 (Same as Class 66) - Railtour services that can be ran by additional heritage locos (This is only a brief overview of the route) I know I might have waffled on about this potential new route but I do think it would be a good route if it does go ahead.
I believe the actual NTP route should be remastered into a modern version instead of a separate route - like the idea though.
Another modern Northern England route would be the Settle & Carlisle Line set in the modern day. The modern Northern Transpennine route with a Class 60 does sound great. More British heavy freight locos are needed.
I doubt DTG would remake NTP as a modern day route, there are plenty of other routes to make without duplicating what’s already in the sim. And modern trains would require little effort to drive over the route compared to the challenge of bringing a loco hauled train or Class 101 through the hills. What NTP does need is a nice remaster and another classic loco or DMU to expand the fleet.
Personally I'd rather have new routes that were actually new and not what we already have just with a sprinter instead of a 101
Something on the Eastern side of the Pennines this time please. A modern-ish Leeds electric network with the lines to Doncaster and Skipton with maybe a new Civity, an older EMU and the Class 91 (which layers on to the Doncaster to Peterborough section of the ECML). And Neville Hill Depot for loads of ECS moves.
