I would like to emphasize some things that are quite interesting about the route and BR612, and maybe some points where DTG could put some love in during the development to get them right For the BR612: - The engines are placed in the middle of the train, close to where the coaches of a unit are permanently linked together. In those areas, it was always quite noisy, but the closer you were sitting to the cab, the quieter it got (the bogies under the driver cabs are non-driven ones). The little area between the cab and the door was actually very quiet and a good choice for a comfortable ride. - I do not know what reference vehicle DTG is using, but the ones operating on the IRE1 and RE3 were mainly based in Dresden, but could also be based out of Hof. I hope the corresponding text on the vehicle side will reflect that and we don't see something like Leipzig, Kempten, Kassel, Ulm or Erfurt written there. - For about 1 year, the trains were repainted into the IC livery and operated as long distance trains as a replacement for the BR605 ICE-TD. This was in 2004, so we will probably not see it in TSW, but nonetheless interesting - The trains were having some issues with the bogies in 2005/2006. You will notice that the units have a white sticker in the front window, and this was a result of these issues and marked units that were "fixed". You still see these today. For the timetable: - In the beginning of the 2010s (where this is supposedly set), the trains would mostly operate as 2x BR612 coupled together. In the mornings and evenings, the front unit would run all the way to Nürnberg, while the back unit would terminate and stay in Hof (especially for RE3 services). This was also reflected on the train PIS. The first and last trains during the day would run as single units during the weekend, sometimes even during the week. - The IRE1 and RE3 were using different routes between Hof and Nürnberg. While that has no influence whatsoever on the route we will get in TSW, it will show up on the station PIS. The IREs would go via Bayreuth, whereas the REs would go via Marktredwitz. - What I always thought to be an odd thing is that the trains of both directions would call at platform 10 in Chemnitz, where platform 11 and 12 would be the more natural choice for through trains. Both trains going towards Nürnberg and Dresden would call at the same platform, within a couple of minutes of each other. Probably to make the change to other trains easier, as the platforms 1-9 could be reached without any further stairs from platform 10. The trains towards Nürnberg would leave shortly before the full hour, and the ones towards Dresden shortly after if I remember correctly. Since these trains were quite often delayed, that was a very unfortunate choice since they would often block each other and add to the delay. - The RB30 services have a connection at Chemnitz. They were scheduled to wait at Chemnitz for 5 minutes, to allow transfers to the RE6 (see also below) and regional trains of "Erzgebirgsbahn" going south to the mountains. For AI: - As mentioned in another thread before, it would be nice to get all the traffic we already have in Dresden as AI for this route. In addition, the BR612 also operated on the RE1 towards Görlitz, and would be leaving from the lower dead-end platforms towards Dresden Neustadt. It would be nice to see those as AI as well. - In Chemnitz, the RB45 going to Riesa and Elsterwerda should be added as AI. Those trains would operate with similar trainsets as the RB30 (BR143 and 2-3 Dostos), and would have a connection at Chemnitz with the RE3/IRE1 services. Furthermore, the RE6 going to Leipzig would be operated by double BR612 trainsets and should be added as well, it has connections with the RB30 services. If anyone else has some interesting facts to add, please add them below
Wasn’t the ‘IC’ livery actually the ICE livery (no difference I suppose)? And those sets were specifically reclassified as 612.4, a meaningless technicality overall since the only change was the livery and the fact that they substituted the 605’s for a short while, but a technicality which would all but guarantee we don’t see the livery due to the fact that the 612.4’s essentially only ran on the Dresden - Munich ICE route.
The livery never got the "ICE" tag and the services were marketed as IC connections, so I'd assume the goal was an IC livery, but yeah, the differences are marginal in the end. I mean in theory, the route code says it will be based after 2010, so we wouldn't see this. But then, the route code also says it comes with two AC trains, which it obviously does not, so who knows, maybe the route will be set earlier and we'd see the 612.4 although I doubt it. I don't quite understand your last point. The 612.4 never ran as an ICE nor to Munich, the longest route they serviced was Görlitz all the way at the Polish border to Nürnberg via Dresden and Chemnitz, so they would be running on the route we will get.
The way I understood it was that the 612 was used to substitute the 605’s as they were out of action, thus they were repainted and re classed as the 612.4, and covered the 605’s services between Munich & Dresden? in any case, like you, I doubt we’ll see them.
That is correct, but the 605 never ran all the way to München (from Dresden that is), the ICE17 back then was only running Nürnberg - Dresden and the replacement 612.4 did the same, but as far as I know it was more a "new service" rather than a replacement per se, since it was no longer marketed as the ICE17 afterwards.
Just look at SKA for example, it also has the wrong code, it is not the first time this happens Nobody from DTG seems to care since it is also not changed when being pointed out.
In my times travelling on this route I have rarely seen freight trains. I believe normally there would be no freight trains going down this route (since it would be a dead-end for them or there are "better" options for example along Dresden-Riesa), but when there are problems for example between Dresden and Riesa they could use this route as a diversion. There might be a couple of freight trains, but it is rather rare - which to some extent might also be a result of the Tharandter Rampe, which is a short section of the route that is quite steep (something along the lines of the Spessart Rampe on MSB). I do hope we get a freight layer to add a bit more busy-ness to the route (probably not proper English that one ), it would certainly not be "wrong" to have freight services
I'm quite concerned about their reference vehicle overall. If it was stationed in Baden-Württemberg or Bavaria there is a small chance they could have ended up with a modernised unit which has a few differences compared to the ones used at that time, for example an LED display in one of the windows on each side per car, three multi-purpose areas instead of one, different first class designation and other minor details. If it instead was one stationed in Erfurt that is totally fine as the only major upgrade was an automatic announcement system. I wouldn't mind if the text where it is based doesn't read Dresden or Hof. It wasn't uncommon that they were (momentarily) shifted between depots, e. g. Dresden having Leipzig units, Hof having Kempten units and so on.
You mean a Schiebeilokomotive on the area around Tharandter Rampe. Just like West Germany Deutsche Bundesbahn Main Spessart Bahn Aschaffenburg-Gemünden. That's the job of DB BR155 DR BR250 during the DDR Years.
I imagine that riders who paid the ICE double-tariff rate would have been very miffed upon boarding a two-car DMU with regional seating and no amenities!
I am really interested in understanding how source material is being accrued in light of recent events.
