So here we are at the last of three routes that featured in that thread talking about 'Rush Hour' style routes that will featuring as part of TS 2022, but as it turns out, it will not be my last suggestion out of that thread, as I plan to do one more route from that sometime next week. But in today's suggestion, we will once again be focusing on a section of the Northeast Corridor, one that was adapted fairly recently for TS Classic and a section that seemed to be quite popular in the poll I did, being the 3rd most popular US route that featured in that thread behind the two US routes that I have already done suggestions threads on already. So for TSW, we've had a section around New York, we've just had Boston-Providence for TSW2 and I've already suggested New York-New Haven. But today, we are going to be focusing on the first leg of the route heading North out of Washington D.C. Towards Baltimore. But first... What he said in that post As always, click on the link here to check out all the other routes and vote in the poll if you haven't already. Right, let's get into this. The Route Itself Now the Northeast Corridor is a route that has been adapted for many Train Simulators over the years. TS Classic/TSW/TSW2 are no exceptions. In fact, up until this section came out, the NEC had been adapted three times already, two for TS Classic and one for what was TSW at the time. Now back in December last year, and around 6 months before we knew they was adapting Boston-Providence for TSW2 as part of Rush Hour, DTG released the most recent section of the NEC for TS Classic, which of course of Washington-Baltimore. Now while the route didn't bring any new rolling stock to the table, it was still decently popular and seemed to be quite well received. Now when focusing on TSW2, I will admit that there might be better sections of the NEC out there that would be far more interesting than this, but there are some things about this section that would help it stand out from the other section we have seen so far. So let's pause a moment and take a look at what this route would look like on a map. Map of the Whole Route Section heading out of Washington D.C. Section between Bowie State & Odenton Section between Halethorpe & Baltimore Penn So to once again running through some stats, the total length of the route you see here is 41.7 Miles (67 km) with the main route being 40.2 Miles (64.7 km) and the remaining 1.5 Miles (2.4 km) making up the lines leading in and out of the maintenance facility at Washington D.C. But despite it's decent length, it only has 9 stations in total, which 2 further depots (both around Washington D.C.) and with Amtrak's maintenance base at Odenton also being represented here. So as you can, is route layout is pretty simple. It's a straightforward A to B route with no real branches, diverting part or any real frills to speak off. I many ways, this route is a lot like Boston-Providence, both in the way it is laid out and also in the rolling stock that runs on this section which is a mixture of diesel and electric power. Probably the most comparable part of this route to Boston-Providence would be the section around Washington Union station, which would have a lot of traffic coming in and out of the station for both services that run along the route and AI trains that either represent the other MARC routes not represented or Amtrak trains continuing South to various destinations across North America. On the subject of Amtrak, one major advantage this route has over Boston-Providence is that fact that Amtrak is a lot more prominent on this route compared to that route. On Boston-Providence, there was a few Amtrak services, but since most Amtrak services on the NEC terminate at New York Penn, it's nowhere near the level of Amtrak services of this section of the route as it's not just Northeast Regional than run on this section, but also a ton of long distance services that go beyond Washington to various other destinations across the country such as Chicago, Charlotte, New Orleans, Miami and so many more. I would even say that Amtrak outnumber the MARC Commuter services on this route as, while I do feel like MARC services would take up a large majority of the services on this route, it would be nowhere near the level of what was available with the MBTA services on Boston-Providence. Now the only other place of interest along this route would be Amtrak Odenton Base located just north of Odenton, which is used by Amtrak to store maintenance trains and equipment used during engineering work out on the main line. Now while engineering equipment wouldn't come with this route, some of the freight cars from Sand Patch Grade would be placed in here just to give the yard a bit of life, similar to how that route adds freight cars and locos to the various yards alongside Boston-Providence. So let's once again take a break from talking about the route to show you some real life pictures of the route Pictures of the route in real life Washington Union Ivy City Maintenance Facility New Carrollton Odenton Base Odenton BWI Airport Baltimore Penn Available Locos Now this route wouldn't actually have any new locos coming with this route as the two locos that I am about to show you here are reused from other routes/loco add-ons. But on the upside, they would come in either a new livery or with a few new pieces of rolling stock to make sure they aren't just a complete copy from the last time they appeared in TSW/TSW2. Amtrak Siemens ACS-64 Yes I know it's the same loco that you keep seeing in pretty much every TS adaptation of the NEC, but I feel like this loco should at least be a mainstay of any route like this, that is if it's set in more modern times. But there are some things about the loco in this version that would make it stand out from the other NEC adaptations, specifically in the services they do. For this route, it's not just the usual Northeast Regional services that they operate, there's also a lot of other Amtrak services, mainly long-distance services, that pass through this section of the route. The services that they would operate would be the following: Northeast Regional Vermonter Cardinal Carolinian Crescent Silver Meteor/Star Palmetto It should also be mentioned that while the usual Amfleet I coaches would come with this loco, two new coach types would be introduced with route, these would include; Amfleet II Coaches Viewliner II Coaches Both of these coaches would be used on the long-distance services that operate on this route, specifically the likes of the Cardinal, the Silver Services, the Carolinian and the Crescent. Now while all of these service are full line runs, the patterns will vary from making stops at New Carrollton and BWI Airport, to running the entire length non-stop, giving some vary of service options rather than just doing the same service in each direction all day. MARC MPI MP36PH-3C The other loco to come with this route is a loco that I feel could also become a staple of many TSW2 US passenger routes in the future. This would also bring a new US passenger operator to the table with MARC. The main services they would operate on this route would be Penn Line services running the whole length of the route. They would also operate a tone of AI services representing the other two services that depart out of Washington Union (Brunswick and Camden Line). They would operate these services using Bombardier MARC IV Multi-Level coaches/cab car, as seen below While these services would be nothing more than full line runs, more of these services operate during peak hours, increasing the traffic levels on this route during the busier times of the day. Now I won't be talking about additional layers as A: I already mentioned this when talking about Amtrak's Odenton Base about putting freight cars from Sand Patch Grade in the yard as scenery and B: There isn't much else than can be added via additional layers other than that, so let's move on to loco add-ons. Future Loco Add-Ons Now this is where the fun comes in because while this route may feature two locos that we have seen before, there are a lot of locos that could enhance this further. I've got here three in particular that could really add to the overall experience on this route. But first, we have to get the obvious one out of the way... Amtrak Acela Express Now just like the previous NEC suggestion that I did, I have left this loco odd of the main roster and left it as a loco add-on for the future. The reason for this is A: I expect this to be a loco add-on for Boston-Providence at some point in the future and B: This wouldn't be the route to introduce it I feel as it isn't a section where they are capable of going at their fastest, whereas they can with Boston-Providence. But regardless of how it happens, the services they would add would still be the same as they would be Acela Express services which range from running non-stop the entire length of the route to making a single stop at BWI Airport in-between. MARC Bombardier–Alstom HHP-8 Currently the only electric loco in MARC's fleet, these locos are designed like an Acela Express, but are designed as an independent loco capable of pulling conventional passenger stock. These used to be a mainstay of Amtrak services on the NEC, but due to reliability problems and high maintenance costs, Amtrak replaced them after only a decade of service by the ACS-64's. MARC have 6 of them and are still using them on this route to this day. These would sub into the existing MARC services on this route, but would bring a brand new coach in the form of the Kawasaki MARC III Bi-Level coaches/cab car as seen below MARC Siemens SC-44 'Charger' The final loco here is also the newest member of the MARC fleet, entering service in early 2018, replacing the small fleet of AEM-7's they had. These, like the previous loco I have just mentioned, would sub into the existing MARC services on this route, but just like the previous loco, would come with a new coach. This time, it's the Sumitomo/Nippon Sharyo MARC IIB Single-Level coaches/cab car, among the oldest coaches in the MARC fleet. Both this, along with the previous loco I have just mentioned would help bring some much needed variety to this route and also, if it's possible to do it in TSW2, the coaches from these add-ons and the loco that comes with the route would bring in services that have a mixture of single-level and bi-level/multi-level coaches, which happens quite regularly on this route in real life. Conclusion So with that, both of the NEC suggestions that featured in that talking about potential 'Rush Hour' style routes now have their own suggestion talking about them in more depth, and to be honest, out of the two routes, I would definitely prefer to see the New York-New Haven section over this, but this route would still be a worthwhile edition to TSW2. The route, while nothing special, has a few elements to help it stand out over some of the other NEC adaptations. It's timetable, while being mainly consisting of line runs, has both more services running at peak and makes much more use out of Amtrak compared to some more promise NEC sections and while it's locos may not be much to write home about, comes with a few new pieces of stock to keep them fresh, not to mention the loco add-on potential this route has. To be honest, I could totally see DTG doing this section in TSW2 at some point to follow on from Boston-Providence as it's already been adapted for TS Classic, it's going to be part of TS 2022 coming this week and both this and Boston-Providence share a lot more in common than one might first think. But regardless of whether it happens or not or how they go about adapting this route into TSW2, this would still be a welcome edition to this game and would help continue the legacy of the many times that the NEC has been adapted for Train Simulation. As always, if you have any ideas that you would like to see on this route, or you feel like there's something that can be done differently with this route, then feel free to let me know in the replies down below. That's all from me, and I'll see you all next time. Image Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/15/...-washington-has-a-grand-development-plan.html http://www.trainweb.org/oldmainline/was8.htm https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amtrak_platform_at_New_Carrollton_station,_August_2014.jpg http://2018.cartersxrd.net/PhotosTains/amtrak-maintenance-yard.html https://wikimapia.org/810041/MARC-Odenton-Train-Station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BWI_Rail_Station https://nec.amtrak.com/project/second-project/ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amtrak_ACS-64_650_SB_at_Wilmington_Station.jpg https://www.flickr.com/photos/30707075@N08/39881958682 https://www.caf.net/en/productos-servicios/proyectos/proyecto-detalle.php?p=189 https://trainspo.com/class/1692/unit/16/ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MARC_8046.jpg https://www.businessinsider.com/anticipation-for-new-acela-trains-after-single-ride-2021-2?r=US&IR=T https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier–Alstom_HHP-8 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MARC_445_(14853560574).jpg https://www.railpictures.net/photo/698823/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/69735015@N04/40999903905
Great suggestion and if you are wondering MARC Bombardier Double-decker coach can be reskinned to NJ Transit Paint for Raritan Valley Line and Northeast Corridor Philadelphia Trenton New York. The Viewliner & Amfleet IIs do Run to Boston-Providence as trains 65,66,67 the Twilight Shoreliner service. Therefore this route must tie into Boston-Providence via a 2021 update. Avelia Liberty will be DLC High Speed Train together with MARC HHP-8 Siemens Charger
Problem is MARC is another NA commuter rail that DTG most likely can't get a license for, as seen with the TS22 version of the route, where all of the MARC rolling stock was plain white.
Seems like this route has potential, but is also very similar to other routes already in the game, especially since your base route would have no new locos. To me, the only way I would be excited about this suggestion would be to have the Acela included in the base route, which could then layer into Boston Sprinter if you own both DLCs. I understand the points you made as to why is should be a add-on, but this route needs something special to set it apart IMO, and the Acela would do that.
The highlight of this route would be an HHP-8 locomotive addon, with MARC being the last operator of these locos (That's why I'm also hoping for an HSP46 for Boston).
