Union Pacific Sunset Route Proposal This is a proposal for a highly trafficked American heavy freight route for TSW2. Union Pacific’s Sunset Route is their southern transcon line that runs essentially between the west coast of California through the southern United States to Texas. The Sunset Route is a busy line that sees dozens of bustling freight trains per day. A lot of the traffic is intermodal but there are plenty of manifest and unit trains as well making for an impressive amount of diversity on the route. Picture1 by EpilepticWeasel posted Nov 22, 2020 at 2:31 PM The section I am proposing is from Tucson, Arizona to Wilcox, Arizona. A stretch of roughly 90 miles. Unlike much of the Arizona desert, this section of southeastern Arizona has some challenging grades and winding turns for trains to negotiate as well as some impressive high desert scenery. Grades reach 2% in places. The route is a double track mainline. The western end of the route being Tucson, has a large yard that will make a good starting and stopping point for freight traffic as well as add in the opportunity for breaking down and building trains in the yard using smaller yard switching locomotives. Yard switching is very prevalent in TSW2 but it allows for a break in the monotony of just running trains back and forth on the mainline. Tucson is Union Pacific’s principal terminal in Arizona. It includes a yard and maintenance facilities for both rail cars and locomotives. Union Pacific serves the Port of Tucson, an inland port for intermodal containers that is just a few miles to the east of their yard. The Port of Tucson is not a large port, but is growing rapidly as business such as an Amazon Distribution Center have recently begun moving into the area for easy shipping access from the port. This port would offer up the unique opportunity for the loading and unloading as well as building and deconstructing of intermodal trains. This is something not seen yet in TSW2. There are lots of loading and unloading activities for different types of freight cars, but intermodal is not yet one of those. Picture2 by EpilepticWeasel posted Nov 22, 2020 at 2:31 PM Wilcox on the east end of the proposed route is right about where the winding grades end and the line becomes flatter and straighter again and therefore losing the appeal of running heavy freight up and over steep winding grades. If DTG wanted, they could end this route further to the west, this was just my proposal. Another appealing aspect of this route is that there is a section between Tucson and Mescal where the eastbound and westbound mainlines actually split away from each other for several miles and even cross over one another at the Cienega Creek Bridge. Something unique and very cool. Notable points along this route with their elevation include: Tucson 2518’ Picture3 by EpilepticWeasel posted Nov 22, 2020 at 2:31 PM Cienega 3380’ Picture4 by EpilepticWeasel posted Nov 22, 2020 at 2:31 PM Picture5 by EpilepticWeasel posted Nov 22, 2020 at 2:31 PM Mescal 4077’ Picture6 by EpilepticWeasel posted Nov 22, 2020 at 2:31 PM Benson 3590’ Picture7 by EpilepticWeasel posted Nov 22, 2020 at 2:31 PM Picture8 by EpilepticWeasel posted Nov 22, 2020 at 2:31 PM Dragoon 4620’ Picture9 by EpilepticWeasel posted Nov 22, 2020 at 2:31 PM Cochise 4230’ Picture10 by EpilepticWeasel posted Nov 22, 2020 at 2:31 PM Wilcox 4170’ Picture11 by EpilepticWeasel posted Nov 22, 2020 at 2:33 PM Amtrak’s Sunset Limited also runs along this route opening up the potential to introduce this train as well. The Sunset Limited stops at Tucson and Benson. While there are only two stops, this would still be a great train to introduce because it would add the highly requested P42DC locomotive and Amtrak Superliner bi-level cars. It would also add even more diversity to the route. Rolling Stock I believe that DTG should release a UP route with EMD locomotives. They are not yet in the game and Union Pacific utilizes a lot of them, this would add something new and exciting for players. Options include: SD70ACe Picture12 by EpilepticWeasel posted Nov 22, 2020 at 2:33 PM SD70M Picture13 by EpilepticWeasel posted Nov 22, 2020 at 2:33 PM SD90MAC Picture14 by EpilepticWeasel posted Nov 22, 2020 at 2:33 PM There are of course all the yard switcher locomotives that everyone is familiar with that would come with the game to be able to do some yard movement operations. Other GE locomotives that would make good options for road diesels include: AC6000CW Picture15 by EpilepticWeasel posted Nov 22, 2020 at 2:33 PM ES44AC Picture16 by EpilepticWeasel posted Nov 22, 2020 at 2:33 PM ET44AC Picture17 by EpilepticWeasel posted Nov 22, 2020 at 2:33 PM Train cars can include well cars, autoracks, boxcars, tank cars, covered hoppers, and the center beam flat cars. All of these are already in the game and some would just need some tweaking of the paint to fit the UP route. All of these can be run as unit trains or combined into different manifest consists. A suggestion for a new freight car not yet in the game would be the piggy back spine cars to allow for the incorporation of high priority Z trains that carry trailers with packages and mail for UPS, FedEx, etc. These can also be combined with the double stack container cars as they often are in real life. Picture18 by EpilepticWeasel posted Nov 22, 2020 at 2:33 PM Amtrak’s Sunset Limited would consist of the P42DC locomotive and the bi-level Superliner passenger cars. Picture19 by EpilepticWeasel posted Nov 22, 2020 at 2:36 PM A unique DLC option could include a UP officer’s special. This could include a heritage locomotive and the Union Pacific business cars. Picture20 by EpilepticWeasel posted Nov 22, 2020 at 2:36 PM Conclusion In conclusion, this route is a busy line that is well known and offers up lots of opportunity for both in game content and DLC. Trains utilize lots of DPU's both on the end and in the middle of trains. It hits every major point a TSW2 route needs to make it great. As discussed the freight yard and locomotive facilities offer players the ability to do yard operations in addition to just mainline running. The Port of Tucson is a unique opportunity to add intermodal diversity. The yard also offers a good stopping or starting point for trains on the mainline. Amtrak has two stops on this line adding the possibility of a fun high speed passenger service. Despite what people may think about the desert, it can be very beautiful and this stretch of the line certainly is. Believe it or not this area actually gets snow on rare occasions. Players will get to battle the steep and winding grades as they tackle the Sunset Route east of Tucson while keeping high priority intermodal trains on time that are a vital part of the Union Pacific Railroad empire. I hope that DTG will consider this, as I think it would be fun for a lot of people. Let me know what you think.
The ex Lordsburg Subdivision of the Southern Pacific (As nicknamed the Stormy) would like to see this area in TSW2 (or TS2020) even in the modern era.
Extremely well written proposal, this should catch DTG's eye. This would be a fantastic route to have, I actually see some these intermodals from this route on their way to the east coast and Norfolk Southern interchange. A particular part of your proposal catches my eye: the photo with the mid-train DPU. I took a trip to UP's triple track main between North Platte and Gibbon, Nebraska, and saw many trains with these mid-train locos. It is an amazing operation to watch, absolutely awe-inspiring! This would be fun to recreate in TSW 2 and I know players would like the challenge of operating multiple units. God bless, and nice job again!
I think this would be a fantastic idea with the amtrak and freight services. Sorta like Penuisula Corridor. I think we need more american routes in general because with just three u.s routes in the game (MTA Long Island Railroad, Peninsula Corridor , and Sand Patch Grade) the american side could use some more love in my opinion. Also Train Sim World 2 is becoming more like Train Sim Germany with the butt load of german content coming out for tsw2 and I hope dtg will start releasing more American Passenger routes instead of more german content
Well, there are 2 new US routes on the roadmap. Hopefully more North American routes will show up once those release.
Well those two new american routes are all freight only routes. They should personally invest more in making american passenger routes or making a passenger and freight route in one like Peninsula Corridor or even this route which has both passenger and freight
I would like to see the FEC/Brightline line in Florida. This would bring a new railroad into the game (and the first class 2), and it should also bring the ES44AC into the game. This would also allow the Brightline commuter trains to be in the game too. That I think would be fun to drive.
Very good proposal. The nice landscape, the heavy mainline diesels and the Sunset Limited are so impressive. Especially the SD70 and the AC6000CW would be a very good addition to my TSW2 northamerican loco collection.
If we get the Sunset Route, I'd love some SP diesels and for the route to be set in the 1970s-80s. An SP U-Boat, SD45, SD40, or GP40-2 could be great loco ideas. For the modern UP version, I'd like to add the GP60 or GP15-1 for locals and switching and the new EMD SD70AH-T4. The UP #1996 SP Heritage SD70ACe is my favorite of the UP Heritage units. If we get any of them, I want all six liveries.