Anyone familiar with, or travels through any NW region I would imagine has seen these units; they span large parts of the Northern region to some degree. Between the two classes, around 100 units have been built, and the only external difference between the two classes are that the 331 is electric, and the 195 is a DMU. Without these units in TS2020, large parts of the Northern operated region is effectively stuck in mid 2019 when the region's multiple units were predominantly class 319, 323 and a mixture of diesel stock (150,156,158etc). Without these units, many future developments of large parts of the region will sadly be lacking any realism. The region's 142 have all but gone now, and the older Sprinter class units are disappearing too. Northern operate a huge region of the UK network: Cumbria, Lancashire, the Fylde Coast, down into Southport/Merseyside, Manchester across to the Yorkshire coast (Hull, Scarborough etc), and as far as up to the North East... and as far south as Nottingham. A lack of Civity unit will have far reaching impact for future route development across a wide part of the UK as these units can be seen across a wide range of this map. In Yorkshire for example, 331s are replacing older 321 and 322 units. They have replaced 319s on the Blackpool to Manchester Airport route, and will begin to replace 319s on the Liverpool Lime St services. In fact, the Liverpool Lime Street to Crewe via Manchester Airport is the longest route on the Northern operated map, and will be predominantly Civity units soon. Surplus 331s will operate all electrified commuter services between Hazel Grove and Blackpool North, Manchester and Glossop/Hadfield and Manchester and Stoke-on-Trent. Introductions on these lines are to begin towards the end of 2020. Yes, it's an ugly Spanish built piece of multiple unit mediocrity... but it's actually quite important for many future routes and scenarios.
Given that much of the OHLE routes for the north have been done by third parties, it would make sense that the new consist that run on those routes would also be done by those third parties.
An interesting unit, one I haven't seen personally, what scenarios would you have these units Pookeyhead?
Liverpool Lime St to Manchester Airport (class 195).. obviously only as far as Piccadilly as there's no DTG route any further. That would be a good run, with opportunities for lots of AI traffic on this route. The Barrow to Manchester Airport service using a 195 could give a good run down the WCML from Carnforth to Preston. There's a service from York to Doncaster (Class 331) that could use ECML Modern, with a lot of scope for an interesting scenario. The real opportunity would be to bundle the CAF units with a TS version of Leeds to Manchester, which is a gaping hole in the DTG route portfolio if you don't mind me saying. There are third party routes that cover part of this, but a DTG route from Leeds to Victoria would be great! You thought it would be worth it for TSW, so why not do the same (but modern version) for TS? TS has more users after all. CAFs run this route all the time... can't move for the damned things. Having a 195/331 would also fill a massive need for this in other routes. I know you're under no obligation to create stock for routes that others produce, but also being able to buy the CAF from DTG as a stand alone model would earn you a pretty penny I'd imagine as there are 3rd party routes crying out for this unit. Leeds Lines Phase 2 and Harrogate Loop; Northern Lines Electric and Manchester Huddersfield spring to mind. Build it, and they will come
The proper route for Leeds to Manchester using the Class 195 is Calder Valley Line Manchester Bradford Leeds route Northern Rail. This is different from First Trans Pennine Express which uses the Standege Tunnel route using class 802s & Class 185s which is the Manchester Huddersfield Leeds routing.
