Hello and welcome back to another route suggestion. Now you may be noticing something different about my profile picture.. yes.. it used to be a P42DC and now it's a Siemens Nexas because I just wanted to change it to a train that's more like me. And the route I am suggesting now is some routes in Victoria Australia. Obviously there are many rail lines in Victoria but I am just gonna pick a few. This game really needs an Australian route, well I don't mind TS1 but in TSW the seats, the controls, the door opening/closing and many more sound more realistic. This would make a much better addition in TSW because like some modern day British routes, Metro routes are really similar. But lets get into it!! Victoria's Railway Network (some from the future) METRO MELBOURNE Metro is a Commuter rail that runs around most of Melbourne. Trains travel via the City Loop and terminate at Flinders Street. However there is a secret underground tunnel that sometimes leads into unexpected locations, but I really can't explain too much detail about that so please look at the map if you wanna find out more about it. Metro platform station name boards are blue. Every line has a top speed of 80 km/h outside the city. Metro have ordered new multiple units called HCMT (stands High Capactiy Metro Train) that are still being built and delivered today and running on the Pakenham line but when the new Metro lines are constructed they will have HCMTs as well. Lets now talk about some Metro routes. FLINDERS STREET - BELGRAVE / LILYDALE The line to Belgrave is 36 km and the Lilydale line is 37.8 km. The two lines seperate by junction after Ringwood station. However some days they run the other way through the tunnel to Flinders Street. All Stops BELGRAVE LINE Belgrave Tecoma Upwey Upper Ferntree Gully Ferntree Gully Boronia Bayswater Healthmont Ringwood Heatherdale Mitcham Nunawading Blackburn Laburnum Box Hill Mont Albert Surrey Hills Chatham Canterbury East Camberwell Camberwell Auburn Glenferrie Hawthorn Burnley East Richmond Richmond Parliament Melbourne Central Flagstaff Southern Cross Flinders Street LILYDALE LINE Lilydale Mooroolbark Croydon Ringwood East Ringwood Heatherdale Mitcham Nunawading Blackburn Laburnum Box Hill Mont Albert Surrey Hills Chatham Canterbury East Camberwell Camberwell Auburn Glenferrie Hawthorn Burnley East Richmond Richmond Parliament Melbourne Central Flagstaff Southern Cross Flinders Street Loco info X'Trapolis Manufacturer: Alstom Build date: 2002-2004, 2009-2020 Numbered: 1M-288M, 851M–986M, 1301T-1444T, 1626T–1693T Length: 71.68 m Horse Power: 1,930 Top Speed: 143 km/h View attachment 75386 FLINDERS STREET - CRAIGIEBURN Flinders Street to Craigieburn is 24 km and is on the other side of the city. However sometimes V/Line trains run on that line but continue as far as Shepparton and Albury. But as for the locos, they are still Metro but a different class. All Stops Craigieburn Roxburgh Park Coolaroo Broadmeadows Jacana Glenroy Oak Park Pascoe Vale Strathmore Glenbervie Essendon Moonee Ponds Ascot Vale Newmarket Kensington North Melbourne *Please note* the order of the stops below this point can change* Flagstaff Melbourne Central Parliament Flinders Street Southern Cross Loco info Comeng These units are Metro's oldest operating trains. But in a couple of years these multiple units will sadly be.. retired and they are currently being scrapped. But however I'm so happy that I can still ride on them until 2028. Manufacturer: Commonwealth Engineering Build date: 1981-1988 Numbered: 301M–468M, 471M–554M, 561M–680M, 691M–698M 1001T–1084T, 1086T–1127T, 1131T–1190T, 1196T–1199T Length: 24 m Horse Power: 250 Top Speed: 115 km/h Siemens Nexas Manufacturer: Siemens Mobility Build date: 2002-2005 Numbered: 7T, 1131T–1190T, 1196T–1199T Length: 24.1 m Horse Power: (Unknown) Top Speed: 142 km/h V/Line V/Line is Victoria's regional train company that runs everywhere around the desert in Victoria, although some continue as far as New South Wales and a few sometimes run on some Metro lines, but if you wanna find out what Metro lines scroll up to the map and if any lines are purple that means V/Line trains can run on those lines. All trains start at Southern Cross station in the city. V/Line platform station name boards are purple. But lets talk about some V/Line routes. SOUTHERN CROSS - GEELONG This route is one of V/Line's most common line and one of my favourites. The route distance is a total of 72 km. All stops Southern Cross West Melbourne South Kensington Footscray Sunshine Ardeer Deer Park Tarneit Little River Lara Corlo North Shore North Geelong Geelong Loco Info There are two liveries for the N Class. Rebuilt N Classes use the new phase and Non Rebuilt N Classes use the classic livery. Manufacturer: Electro Motive Division Build date: 1985-1987 Numbered: N451-N475 Length: 18.87 m Horse Power: 2,476 Top Speed: 130 km/h Classic Livery New Livery VLocity Manufacturer: Bombardier Transportation Build date: 2004-Present Numbered: 3VL0-3VL28, 3VL30-3VL92, 3VL95-3VL106 3VS93, 3VS94 Length: 25.25 m Horse Power: 750 Top Speed: 160 km/h Conclusion Thank you guys so much for listening! If I made a mistake feel free to reply and correct me. This should be the first Australian route because of how similar it is to modern British and I love using horns and Metro use horns when they are departing and when they pass crossings. But other than that, see you next time.
Unless DTG can find a local partner and make an extremely good business case, it sadly seems unlikely an Australian route will happen any time soon.
Great overview of some of the system! Is there any particular reason you chose to focus on putting forward the Belgrave, Lilydale, and Craigieburn lines? I certainly agree they are good options. When mentioning the distances of both the Lilydale and Belgrave lines, its also useful to mention that they share the same line for 24.5 km on their journey out of Melbourne. This means that to make both lines just 55.1km (34.2 miles) of unique trackage needs to be developed. At that scale you could include the 5.9km Alamein branch at Camberwell to make a 61km (37.9 miles) total route that covers almost the entire 'Burnley' operational group. This excludes the additional 16.8km it would take to develop the already semi-independent Glen Waverly line (In fact in that 2025 map it shows its already planned to be split from the Burnley group). Although a 77.8km (48.34 miles) route isn't unreasonable on the surface, at that point there would be a number of stations needed that is far beyond anything made so far in TSW2. That being said I would personally advise against the Belgrave/Lilydale/Alamein lines being the first Victorian/Australian route developed. If local votes on the most popular Melbourne rail lines are to be believed; The Belgrave Line will be the most locally popular and thus, will be the most locally scrutinised route. So something a bit less high stakes to help build up the right assets and talents would be better at an early stage, as the first Melbourne route. I personally think the Sandringham line fits this requirement. It is isolated along it's own path for a majority of it's routes, it doesn't require the entire City Loop tunnel and stations to be developed at once, it doesn't require both complex and detailed Melbourne train terminus' to be made (only Flinders Street, not Southern Cross), it doesn't run out past the west of the Melbourne CBD with its huge freight yards, it runs a single train type, and yet it is still a very nice and historical route. For a lot of the same reasons the Glen Waverly line could be developed independent of the Burnley group and that would also mean that the approach to Melbourne's city centre and the City Loop is already made for a future Belgrave/Lilydale/Alamein route. There's also the option to do a V/Line route between major country towns like Wangaratta to Albury on the Albury line, Ballarat to Ararat, on the Ballarat line's Ararat branch. I've added this thread to the list of Australian proposal thread as a Victorian/Melbourne general discussion thread. There's plenty of individual Melbourne/Victorian route proposals listed if you wish to check them out. List found here: https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/australian-proposal-suggestion-master-list.41526/
Excellent idea and if you are wondering what date Craigieburn line opened it's September 30th 2007 because Broadmeadows what's the original electric terminal 1919 to September 29th 2007
Here is a bunch of links I collected and posted in a different thread about Australian routes, that are even more useful here: (If any links are unavailable please check the wayback machine/internet archive) Old (still highly relevant), extremely detailed, and high quality grading/pathing charts available for almost every line in Victoria are available here: https://www.victorianrailways.net/grades/gradehome.html There's also old diagrams/blueprints for both general widely used infrustructure elements, and specific elements here (eg. stations, signal boxes) (ranging from 1855 to 1981+): https://www.victorianrailways.net/infastuct/infastructhome.html This bit catalogues every station in Victoria and most have signalling diagrams (ranging from before 1890 to 2008+) https://www.victorianrailways.net/photogallery/index_i_m.html And here are signalling blueprints and rules & regulation books (ranging from 1864 to 1980) : https://www.victorianrailways.net/signaling/signalhome.html This channel has an excellent collection of various cab ride videos in HD which would be incredibly useful in the creation of a route (some feature commentary about speed/signalling/procedures); https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtdTpDamVj0z6-ZKMPZYytw Here are a bunch of other documents I found available from Metro trains Melbourne: "Metropolitan Railway Network Train Operating Protocol" https://web.archive.org/web/2019032...ins.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/373.pdf "BURNLEY GROUP OPERATING PROCEDURES" https://web.archive.org/web/2019032...010-15-Burnley-Group-Operating-Procedures.pdf "Operating Procedures Infrastructure Works" https://web.archive.org/web/2019032...erating-Procedures-Infrastructure-Works-1.pdf "OPERATIONAL INTERFACE PROCEDURES" https://web.archive.org/web/2019032...es-5b12760c-961b-4a0d-84b3-406395078513-0.pdf "Regional Fast Rail Operations and other defined Corridors" (V/Line operations) https://web.archive.org/web/2019032...ast-Rail-Operations-Rev-17.01SW.0042.2017.pdf I found the PTV (Public Transport Victoria) Style Guide, their "Visual Identity Toolkit" which lists all the Hex and RGB codes for every colour used across Melbourne and Victoria's public transport (V/Line, Metro, Yarra Trams, Buses). It is not the full guide that includes everything about all branding elements because it was released in response to request for just the colours but it is still very useful. https://www.righttoknow.org.au/requ.../4/PTVH2977 MSG 2018 2.4 Colour v10 PA v2.pdf
Collection of publicly available archived documents/drawings/plans/blueprints covering pretty much every area of railways in Victoria from the Public Record Office Victoria: (Note most of these documents are not online and either need to be freely photographed by any member of the public in the reading room of the archive, or by submitting a copy request to PROV and have the copy received either digitally or in printed form, or by being accessed by a hired research agent.) Victoria Railways and Tramways, Rules And Regulations (ranging from 1878 to 1997) Technical Manuals (ranging from 1935 to 1999) Signalling and Communications Drawings (ranging from 1886 to 1993) Railway Rolling Stock Drawings and Tracings (ranging from 1859 to 2006 - The series contains plans, sections and elevations for steam, diesel electric, electric, hydraulic and mechanical locomotives, electric suburban trains, rail tractors, carriages, vans and wagons. Essentially from it's description this should contain a huge amount from the start of railways in Victoria to trains in active service right now (barring any refurbishments beyond 2006)). Description List of Railway Rolling Stock Drawings and Tracings located in VPRS 3426 (Microfilm index to the drawings/tracings collection above) Drawings, Suburban Cars (ranging from 1917 to 1979 - Includes historical formerly commonplace Swing Door 'Tait' trains (1887-1973), Red Rattler 'Tait' trains (1910-1984), and Harris trains (1956-1988), and the only just out of service Hitachi trains (1972-2014)) Technical Manuals and Drawings, Electrical Workshops, Railway Vehicle Maintenance Division (ranging from 1916 to 1994 - General plans to hyper technical diagrams of components and competent functions functions like wiring and circuits) General Files, Vehicle Standards and Engineering Division (ranging from 1950 to 1993 - Various test results on Harris and Comeng trains - running tests, and wheel slip tests, etc) Working Timetables (ranging from 1874 to 1995) Railway Workshop and Depot Architectural Plans (ranging from 1885 to 1999) Plans of Railway Station Buildings (ranging from 1909 to 1961 - Lots of still standing stations, and also lots of ones that have been redone since) Electrical Traction System Design Drawings (ranging from 1923 to 1984) Melbourne Underground Railway Loop Construction and Loop Stations Redevelopment Project Records (ranging from 1969 to 1993 - Melbourne's only underground section with stations right now - almost every single service uses the underground loop) Spencer Street/Southern Cross Station Redevelopment Project Files (ranging from 2000 to 2007 - Includes complete blueprints and diagrams of the current modern Southern Cross Station Melbourne's regional rail terminus and major suburban station) And while on the topic of Southern Cross Station I believe these blueprints come from PROVs collection: (Note: Overall the accuracy is high but there were some changes before construction; The office building on top of one side of the station was built at a later time with a different design, there was no Westend Hotel or residential towers built, the wave roof does not extend over the Bourke Street Bridge, the Lonsdale Street Bridge was not constructed) Here are drawings for the Alstom X'Trapolis 2.0 purchased for Melbourne. They are of a similar design to the currently under construction Transperth C-Series from Alstom that will serve Perth.
I reckon Caulfield - Frankston - Stony Point would be pretty decent. No need expend massive effort to model the city, it's quite scenic running along Port Phillip Bay on 'sky rail', and you can have EMUs, a DMU, and diesel loco steel trains to Long Island.
