Sutton And Mole Valley Lines

Discussion in 'Route Suggestions & Proposals' started by Cyclone, Jan 6, 2021.

  1. Cyclone

    Cyclone Well-Known Member

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    Part of this line is already incorporated into South London Network, from the Straetham Junction with the Brighton Main Line through to Peckham Rye, where the route could theoretically be continued to London Bridge or even to Cannon Street across the later bridge, if desired (Charing Cross is also a longer option). The part south of Straetham has yet to be utilized in any DLC.

    Before looking at the main path, let's find West Croydon. The London to Brighton DLC ends without recognizing the station, while South London Network only goes sllghtly further, adding the station and ending the line after that. We would be expanding this to include Carshalton Beeches, prior to reconnecting to the main line at Sutton before a branch to the Epsom Downs.

    Entering from Straetham there is an immediate branch to the Sutton Loop Line, going to Tooting. This line branches to the South Western Main Line at Wimbledon with separate stations and a crossover track, but otherwise continues to Sutton Common before meeting the Portsmouth Line to Horsham. There is a curve back towards Sutton and the loop ends. The Sutton Loop also includes a branch via the Wimbledon–West Croydon line, providing further routing options via Dundonald Road, Mitcham, Waddon Marsh, and others prior to arriving at West Croydon.

    The main path goes from Straetham to Mitcham Eastfields, Mitcham Junction, Hackbridge, and Carshalton en route to Sutton. The West Croydon line merges in by this point heading to Cheam. After Ewell East and Epsom Town, a separate South Western Main Line branch coming from Raynes Park through Motspur Park (another branch from here to the Chessington branch line), Worcester Park, Stoneleigh, and Ewell West merges with our line at Epsom, our second major stop (after Sutton). After Ashtead, we pass under the M25 en route to Leatherhead, where another diverging branch occurs to Bookham prior to meeting the New Guildford Line. We travel on our line through the Mickleham Tunnel to Box Hill & Westhumble, and onwards to Dorking, the third major stop on the route. Prior to the line terminating, we continue through Betchworth Tunnel under the North Downs Line and into Holmwood, Ockley, and Warnham. Finally, we meet the Aron Valley Line and terminate the route at Horsham. If we want to, we could connect the Portsmouth Line from the Sutton Common branch to here as well, though this may not be necessary.

    The route is served by the same Class 377 used for London to Brighton, so we already have the assets. We just need the track. In my playings of scenarios on London to Brighton, I note that this route does not yet exist on my recordings. After I upload them, I would like to later be able to add a note into the description saying that the route now exists and you can drive it separately.

    This would also be a nice way to update the area where the Brighton Main Line and South London Network both merge with the line, and I wonder if at this point merging them all into one single updated DLC converting all scenarios to work on the new line might also be a nice package. I think merging at least South London Network with this would be a good move. I mean, you can go from London to Brighton to Dorking via Redhill, but that's a different line completely and would need another DLC (the North Downs Line, to be specific). London to Brighton could be merged to allow for the Three Bridges connection to Horsham, however, via Crawley, Ifield, Faygate, and Littlehaven.

    My suspicion, however, is that a merge will probably NOT take place, and therefore my hope is that at least this individual line can be created and a merged version made possible on the Workshop using it. It would be a nice way to connect London Bridge and London Victoria, and possibly even London Waterloo via the Portsmouth Direct Line, to Sutton and Horsham.

    Here is the information I sourced for this post.
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2021
  2. budtheweiser

    budtheweiser Active Member

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    Great Idea for a route in the southeast of England
     
  3. tsted.designs

    tsted.designs Member

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    A freeware version of the Sutton & Mole Valley Lines is available from: https://trainsimstore.weeblysite.com/product/the-sutton-and-mole-valley-line. However, this freeware version includes: London Victoria to Dorking, Horsham via Sutton and Epsom, London Bridge to Sutton and Epsom Downs via West Croydon and the Croydon Tramlink between Wimbledon and East Croydon. This is probably a good project to follow as it is still a work in progress and probably likely to expand to areas outlined by the OP.
     
  4. Cyclone

    Cyclone Well-Known Member

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    I got an immediate page not found when I clicked that link. What I am wondering is whether someone saw my thread and made a move to monetize the freewqare route, like Rivet did to Suburban Glasgow.

    EDIT: OK, I found the page. Here's the issue I have with it: it requires a lot of stuff that has to be added to the game in order to make the route function. I fortunately have most of the routes required (I might even have all of them, including Western Mainlines), but I don't like having to look around and acquire all sorts of other DLC items to make this work. This is where I say a proper self-contained version, which also does not rely on the AP models for scenarios, would be a benefit to bring to Steam for purchase.

    That said, it looks like a lot of the paths I mentioned are part of this project, so I have downloaded the ZIP file and will have to take a look at it eventually, just having to replace the AP models with models I already own The external items that would be omitted on a Steam version include AP Class 375EP, AP Class 66EP, APW Class 456, AP JNA wagon pack, AP Class 319 Vol 1 pack, AP Class 455/8 Sound Pack, Superalbs Class 700 (yes, I get that this is free), AP Weather Pack, Simvue Class 377 111 reskin, Rscott Croydon Tram, VP Class 73 Reskin pack, Superalbs Class 377/6 and /7 reskin, and AP Class 170 Enhancement Pack, plus any requirements for any of these items specifically. That's a LOT to make the scenarios work and a LOT of editing I would have to do. Aside from these scenario requirements, I am missing the VP tree & Grass pack, some Jamesclass37 things, the AP track enhancement pack, and some other miscellaneous elements. So it might be possible to drive if I have edited versions of the scenarios.
     
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2021

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