Introduction Hello all, I bring yet another suggestion. The Southwestern Mainline is a busy mainline connecting London (Waterloo) with places such as Basingstoke, Southampton, Bournemouth and others. Operated primarily by South Western Railway (SW Trains in this suggestion), the line has plenty to offer. The route in this suggestion is Waterloo - Basingstoke, with branches to; Chessington South & Hampton Court, and included the Northern section of the Portsmouth Direct Line between Woking and Guildford. All of these combined make up 60 miles and 52 chains. Set in early 2017, a few months before SWT ceased operations. "Welcome to the Southwestern Mainline, this permanently busy mainline connecting London to the South West. See the line between London and Basingstoke, with branches to Hampton Court and Chessington South" Rolling Stock Included Class 450 Class 455 Potential DLC(s): South Western Express (Bundle) Class 444, Class 159, Class 158 Class 456 Layers (In) Class 377 (East Coastway, Rush Hour: BML) AI Layers at Guildford, Wimbledon & Clapham Junction Class 387 (Rush Hour: BML) AI Layers at Clapham Junction Class 166 (GWE) AI Layers at Guildford, Basingstoke. In place of Class 165. Layers (Out) All Stock (Included or Potential DLCs) Laying at Clapham Junction (to BML) Re-use of Rolling Stock: (From other routes) N/A (From this route): Class 455 (Included) & Class 456 (Potential DLC) The Class 455 & 456 could both be added onto Brighton Mainline, operating Southern services in the London 'Metro' area. Class 158 (Potential DLC) Could be used all over the UK Stations Waterloo - Woking (24mi 27ch) 17 Stations London Waterloo Vauxhall Queenstown Road Clapham Junction Earlsfield Wimbledon Raynes Park New Malden Berrylands Surbiton Esher Hersham Walton-on-thames Weybridge Byfleet & New Haw West Byfleet Woking Woking - Guildford (6mi) 3 Stations Woking Worplesdon Guildford Woking - Basingstoke (23mi 34ch) 7 Stations Woking Brookwood Farmborough Fleet Winchfield Hook Basingstoke Hampton Court Branch (1mi 49ch) 3 Stations Surbiton Thames Ditton Hampton Court Raynes Park - Chessington South (5mi 22ch) 6 Stations Raynes Park Motspur Park Malden Manor Tolworth Chessington North Chessington South Entire Line: 60 Miles 52ch/ 32 Stations Services Station names in brackets indicate Start/End points in game. The end points will only have Brackets if the real end point is off-map. 2tph Waterloo - Basingstoke (Class 450) (Calling at Clapham Junction, Surbiton, Walton-on-Thames, Weybridge, Woking, Brookwood, Farnborough, Fleet, Winchfield, Hook) 1tph Waterloo - Portsmouth (Basingstoke) via Basingstoke (Class 450 / Class 444 DLC) (Calling At; Woking, Farnborough, Basingstoke) 1tph Waterloo - Weymouth (Basingstoke) (Calling at: Clapham Jcn, Woking, Basingstoke) (444 DLC ONLY) 1tph Waterloo - Haslemere (Guildford) (Calling at Clapham Jcn, Woking & Guildford) (Class 450) 1tph Waterloo - Portsmouth (Guildford) (Calling at Clapham Jcn, Woking, Worplesdon & Guildford) (Class 450 / Class 444 DLC) 1tph Waterloo - Portsmouth (Guildford) (Calling at Woking & Guildford) (Class 450 / Class 444 DLC) 1tph Waterloo - Exeter (Basingstoke) (Calling at Clapham, Woking & Basingstoke) (Class 158/159 DLCs ONLY) 2tph Waterloo - Alton (Woking) (Calling at Clapham Jcn, Surbiton, West Byfleet, Woking) (Class 450) 2tph Waterloo - Alton (Woking) (Calling at Clapham Jcn, Surbiton, West Byfleet, Woking) (Class 450) 2tph Waterloo - Weybridge (Clapham Jcn) (Calling all stations between Waterloo & Clapham) (Class 455 / Class 456 DLC) 4tph Waterloo - Waterloo via Whitton (Clapham Jcn) (Calling all stations between Waterloo & Clapham) (Class 455 / Class 456 DLC) 4tph Waterloo - Waterloo via Kingston (Appears twice; Waterloo - Clapham Jcn (2tph each way) and New Malden - Waterloo (2tph each way) (455 / 456 DLC) 2tph Waterloo - Windsor & Eton Riverside (Clapham Jcn) (Calling at Vauxhall inbetween) (Class 455 / Class 456 DLC) 2tph Waterloo - Chessington South (Calling at all stations except Queenstown Rd.) (Class 455 / Class 456 DLC) 1tph Waterloo - Dorking (Motspur Park) (Calling at all stations except Queenstown Rd.) (Class 455 / Class 456 DLC) 1tph Waterloo - Guildford via Epsom (Motspur Park) (Calling at all stations except Queenstown Rd.) (Class 455 / Class 456 DLC) (Re-appears at Guildford as AI) 2tph Waterloo - Shepperton (New Malden) (Calling at all stations except Queenstown Rd & Earlsfield) (Class 455 / Class 456 DLC) 2tph Waterloo - Hampton Court (Calling at all stations except Queenstown Rd.) (Class 455 / Class 456 DLC) 2tph Waterloo - Guildford via Cobham (Surbiton) (Calling at limited number of stops) (Class 455 / Class 456 DLC) (Re-appears at Guildford as AI) 2tph Waterloo - Woking (Calling most stations) (Class 455 / Class 456 DLC) AI Only services Basingstoke - Salisbury (Basingstoke) - 159/158 DLCs ONLY Depot This route is served by Wimbledon TMD, and Clapham Junction also has Carriage Sidings. Final Words So why this route? Well, I think there aren't many routes with more variety and potential than this. I've set the route in 2017, so that it's still SWT, and also the GWR & Southern layers are era-valid. As for Rolling Stock; The Class 450 is the primary loco in terms of services. The Class 455 operates Suburban services, so it's a good mix. The DLC Bundle (158,159,444) is made up of the trains that operate the more Express-like services. The 158/159 are incredibly similar, so from a development standpoint It'd probably be like just 2 trains. The 456 is in the same category as the 455, but I chose the 455 to be in included group. Thanks for reading. Route Map: (Ignore Worcester Park & Wandsworth Town, I forgot to remove them)
Excellent idea and for the 455 it can receive a reskin for Brighton Main Line since Southern Rail has them too.
Only one mistake , most oft the weybrofhe run via Wimbledon so they would have many more stops than you say
Wonderful suggestion, i rode on the Hampton court branch line to Waterloo a couple of days ago and it’s a nice route, with a frequent service; You always enter a drag race at Clapham junction! Also there could be an ai aggregates train at Clapham junction. Would 100% buy
Great suggestion. South Western has some great route miles. The spur past Worcester Park doesn't necessarily need to be removed and could go a couple of further stops to terminate at Epsom. Travelled this area so much in the 1990s.
How long is the part from Waterloo to Southampton? If it is still a perfect Length for a TSW 2 Route, I would see it go all the way to Southampton.
Waterloo - Southampton is around 79 miles. I was originally going for that but I changed it when I got the length.
just as a correction to this, the Weybridge services run via Staines and Virginia Water rather than Wimbledon, so correctly wouldn’t feature on this route except how it’s been proposed between Waterloo and Clapham
I’d love to see Waterloo in the game and it’d be easy for dovetail to do since they already have Clapham junction they if this route were added I’d love to see the 377 traffic along the line as well
Excellent idea including the branch lines. I have always wanted the Southwestern Mainline in the game. However, it would be nice if it could go to Southampton Central (79 miles 17 chains (79 miles rounded), but I guess that would be a bit too long. Still, excellent suggestion.
For my uni I have travelled on this route quite a few times, it has a mix of almost countryside with city views. Would be nice to see this route recreated for TSW2. As you said a lot of the assets in this potential route could be reusable.
Yes, but I much prefer the older units to the Aventras :P . Also the SWT livery is more fun than the SWR one, for me. Which 455 variant are you thinking? They're all really different, just wondering if there was a favourite look. Personally, I'd go with the /7's just for the odd carriage in the middle!
Exactly! Though converting it to/from a 455/8 for BML would be a bit more work, the result would totally be worth it!
Oh I absolutely agree, I also prefer the older 455's, 456's and the Desiro's, but I'm just trying to sell the route XD, a lot of people like the newer trains, so if it had all of the above it really would be a route for everyone to enjoy. I really hope they consider this one. Would love to recreate the waterloo to guildford that i have to do to get to uni.
Same here, though I also really like the 707s but I've heard licensing for them is tricky... The only trains I'm not such a fan of are the even newer 701s... but maybe I'll like them once they're in service. It would be a really good route and j really like the idea of having multiple branches off the mainline!
