Well, it's been a while since I've done one of these, but I'm finally coming back to tackle another route that featured in that thread taking about potential Rush Hour routes. Now so far, most of the routes I have covered have been mostly UK routes with a few US routes thrown in here and there and so far, I have only done one German route that featured in that thread which was Rheintalbahn: Mannheim – Strasbourg & Offenburg, which was the least voted on German route in the poll did at the time I wrote that suggestion (It is, as for now, the second least voted on German route in front of Hauptstrecke München – Rosenheim). So today, it's only fitted that we finally talk about what the most voted on German route was, which actually has been quite a fascinating story. You see, when looking a how routes from certain countries performed in the poll, I see that with the UK routes, it may have changed hands a few times, but it's mainly been 3 routes up at the front (East Coast Main Line South, South London Network & Portsmouth Direct Line in that order), with US routes, it has been one route that is easily out on front and no other US route has come close (Northeast Corridor: New York – New Haven) but with German routes, there has never really been a route that has a clear most popular and as of right now, the most popular German route that feature is a actually a tie between two routes, which one of them will be the focus of today's suggestion. The one I have picked is probably the more promising of the two, has the potential to make pretty epic TSW2 route and is quite a recognisable classic on TS Classic and that is Hauptstrecke Hamburg – Hanover, between the aforementioned places mentioned in the title. But as always with these suggestions, let's beginning with a quick reminder of what was said last time. What he said in that post All the other routes that featured, along with the poll can be access from the link here. So with that done, let's begin talking about this route. The Route Itself Now there a lot of things to say about Hauptstrecke Hamburg - Lübeck as a route and with what came with that route, that I'm has been well document by this point, for both better and for worse. But there is one thing that I will say about it, for a route set out what is Germany's busiest railway station, Hamburg Hbf, it doesn't really do it must justice. I mean, it's timetable may a decent amount of services, but it's not really that interesting with a pretty repetitive timetable consisting of many the same services with only a pair of IC services from the DB BR 101. Maybe if there was more AI at Hamburg, it might actually make it more valuable, but because the way the route, and it's timetable, has been laid, it's gives the route limited potential to do anything interesting and any future loco add-ons wouldn't really bring much else other than similar services to what we have now. But say you a route that takes much more advantage of Hamburg Hbf, then I would say the main line to Hannover Hbf would probably be the best option available. This route has been available for TS Classic for as far back as when the game has been around, being release originally in July 2013. I did actually have this route once, although I didn't play with it as much as maybe I would have like to, but do remember the big yards on that route, which was one of the reasons why I bought it back then. Plus, since that route was made nearly a decade ago, a modern adaptation on TSW would be incredibly welcome and would bring a route that is way bigger than anything we currently have now. Plus, compared to Hamburg – Lübeck that we have right now, the potential in this route is so much greater with a much bigger timetable, more variety of trains running on it, is over 3x longer that what that route could ever offer (even if that might be a challenge for TSW2) and the opportunities that this route presents are so much greater and so much more interesting that what Hamburg – Lübeck could ever offer. Which hopefully, we will cover as many of them as possible in this suggestion. As always, I have made a map of what a TSW2 version of this route would look like, so without further ado, here it is. Map of the Whole Route Section out of Hamburg Hbf towards Maschen & Stelle Section around Uelzen Section around Hanover Going over the stats, the total length of the route you see here is 135.4 Miles (218 km) which includes the main line between Hamburg Hbf and Hannover Hbf (110.6 Miles or 178 km), a pair of Hamburg S-Bahn sections that cover 2.77 Miles (4.45 km), the Hanover S-Bahn branch to Flughafen (2.2 Miles or 3.6 km) along with a 0.9 Mile (1.5 km) diversion through a yard at Hannover-Nordstadt, and a combined 18.9 Miles (30.4 km) making up the various depots and yard dotted all along this route. The route as has 30 stations, 2 passenger depots (One at Uelzen and another located just beyond the end of the route at Hanover) and 10 freight yards (2 at Hanover, 1 each at Celle, Lüneburg and Maschen and 5 dotted around Hamburg and it's port), also keep in mind that the stats for depots and yards are likely to be higher and finding out details about those kinds of things are actually quite difficult. So as you see, there's a lot to break down from the route map I've just shown you, but probably the first thing that comes to attention is the massive yards dotted along the route. The biggest of them all is the marshilling yard at Maschen, covering an area of 280 hectares and at 4.3 miles (7 km) long and 0.4 mile (0.7 km) wide, it is the largest such yard in all of Europe and the second biggest in the world behind Bailey Yard in Nebraska in the US. This yard would serve as probably one the routes biggest focal points alongside the two end stations and would house various freight trains coming in and out of the yard along with a few shunting services here and there. The place also has massive eight-road shop for rearing the various wagons and an engine shed for loco maintenance. There's certainly a lot in potential in this yard to offer some really fascinating gameplay, but what could also enhance this yard is the place of various static wagons and loco around the yard to give some life when trains around running around here. But Maschen isn't the only noteworthy yard on this route, you also have the freight yards at Lüneburg and Celle and the branch that goes down to the yard at the Volkswagen plant at Hanover. But then you have the 5 located in around Hamburg. One of them is at Rothenburgsort, which you may recognise from Hamburg – Lübeck and is there to give a decent start/end point for freight services, we also have yard located just northwest of Hamburg-Harburg station which feeds into the other three yards, dotted all around the port of Hamburg. One is even the end point of a branch that goes down to the Holborn Europa refinery. The reason why I included this branch here will be seen later, but it's mainly to support a certain loco that I have chosen to be included as part of this route. This would give some interesting gameplay, but also provide some exploration opportunities on foot to areas that might not get the same level of traffic compared to other parts of this route. But onto the main route itself, it may be a very long route, but it's also a quite a fast route. From 1978, all the way up to 1987, parts of the route were upgraded in stages in order to support speeds of 124.3 mph (200 kph), this means that despite it's long length, the fastest services that run in this route, mainly IC/ICE services running non-stop, take just over an hour to traverse the whole length of the route. What this means is that, while this route not quite as fast as other high-speed route that have come in TSW2, this would mean you would get to travel faster for longer than most of the current highs-speed routes we have right now. This route also has two completely different S-Bahn lines, one at the northern end and one at the Southern end of the route. The Hamburg S-Bahn section between Hbf and Harburg wouldn't have any trains running on it, but it has been all laid out and my thinking is that should a Hamburg S-Bahn add-on come along, it would add Hamburg S-Bahn services along this route, including down to the underground station at Harburg is that is represented here. The Hanover S-Bahn on the other hand, would have trains running on it, as for loco for those services do exist and I even put onto this route the branch down to Flughafen (which is an underground station) just so you would get the most out of these services on this route. It was even as far as I'm aware on the TS Classic version of this route, so having it here as well would provide some continuity between the two versions of this route. So now we've talk about this route a bit, let's see what this route actually looks like by showing some real life pictures. Pictures of the route in real life Now I won't be showing any images of Hamburg Hbf as well already have that station in TSW2, this will mainly be focusing on the new stations and places that this route would bring, so let's get into them. Port of Hamburg Freight Yards Hamburg-Harburg Maschen Marshalling Yard Lüneburg Uelzen Celle Hannover Flughafen Langenhagen Mitte Volkswagen Hannover Plant Hannover Hbf Available Locos So onto the big part now, deciding what locos to come with this route. Now when I first those this section for the big thread talking about potential Rush Hour routes last year, I had 3 loco to potentially come with this route. I have since grown this to 5 locos (and 1 cab car) that would come with this route. As for two that I have added since then, you will find out what are later, but for now, let's start by going over the locos that are still here from before. DB BR 401 ICE 1 Fair to say we are kinda due more ICE locos at some point, but what better to follow up from the ICE 3 with the original Intercity Express loco, the ICE 1. These were first originally built in 1989 and introduced into service two years later and have since been a huge mainstay of ICE services across Germany and are capable of reach speeds of 174 mph. A typical formation would usually consist of two power cars at either end and a rake of up to 14 intermediate cars, which can consist of a First Class car, a Second Class car, Service car and a Restaurant car, recognisable from it's raised roof needed in order the kitchen equipment inside and from the fact the car has no doors on it's sides. On this route, they would take charge of the ICE services on this route, running between Hamburg and Hanover on a variety of patterns. So would run the route non-stop, some make a stop at Harburg on the way out and some make several stops at several stations along the route such as Lüneburg, Uelzen and Celle. Metronom ME 146+4th Gen Doppelstockwagen This is an interesting one as regional commuter services on this route are not served by DB, but rather by a company called Metronom. The company has been around since 2002 and has been operating trains in Northern Germany (mainly the lines between Hamburg-Bremen and Hamburg-Uelzen) since 2003. Services on this route are normally operated by a BR 146 (titled as an ME 146) with 4th gen Doppelstock coaches/cab car in Metronom livery. For those wondering if it's the high door or the low door version of the dostos feature here, it's surprisingly both versions. A typical Metronom consist on this route would usually mainly have a rake of high door coaches, but seperating this rake from the cab car is a low door carriage. So potentially, this route could have two versions of the dosto carriages. For services, they would mainly run three services on this route. The first being RB 31 which runs between Hamburg and Lüneburg, RE3 which runs between Hamburg and Uelzen and RE2 which continues on from Uelzen down to Hannover, along with a full line that sometimes happens during certain times of the day. They would also take advantage of the depot at Uelzen, which is used to maintain the fleet when not in use. DB BR 424 For Hanover S-Bahn services, we have this unit which, I'll admit, looks pretty much exactly the same as the BR 425 we have right now. For what I could gather, the only thing difference between the 424 and the 425 is that these have a lower floor height for working on the low platforms of the Hanover S-Bahn network, but that's seemly about it. Maybe someone in the replies will point what actually makes this different from the 425, but I couldn't see anything major from my view But regardless, these units would add the S-Bahn traffic about Hanover. The main two services they would operate are S4 & S5. S4 starts at Hannover Hbf and travels all the way to Langenhagen Pferdemarkt before continuing on off the route towards Bennemühlen while S5 would continue down the branch to Flughafen which is also served by S8 services at certain times of the day. Plus, these units would also appear at Celle as AI traffic, representing the S6/S7 services that terminate there. Dispolok ES 64 U2 Now my original plan with freight on this route was to just have it be an additional layer from other German routes in TSW2, but like what with my Rheintalbahn suggestion, I realized that it would do a massive disservice to a route that has such large yards that wouldn't see much action if you didn't have the layers required for freight on this route. So when picking a freight loco for this route, I wanted to stay close to what Hamburg – Lübeck had, so the choice here is a ES 64 U2, but instead of it being in MRCE black, it comes in Dispolok's yellow and grey. These are the locos that would take charge of the freight services on this route and there's a variety of pattern that these services could take. Whether that would be service that run the full length between Rothenburgsort and Hanover, to turning off the route at Celle, to even making a stop at the marshalling yard at Maschen, whether that would be to either pick up more wagons or just to drop off a freight service and park up near the loco depot before taking on another freight service later on in the day. There are some many interesting possible that could be done with these services. But wasn't the only freight centric loco that I wanted to add to this route... Captrain Vossloh G6 I also wanted to add a shunting loco to this route as well. But I didn't want to use the 363 again as it's already been used with Riesa-Dresden and will be used again with the upcoming Tharandter Rampe. That's not to say I do want to have it on this route, but I decided to make it an additional layer, as you will see later. So the loco I chose, as I did find evidence of it running on this route, is a Vossloh G6, similar to the one we just got with the loco add-on for Rhein-Ruhr Osten from TSG, but in Captrain livery. But this wouldn't be used around Maschen yard, or around the Volkswagen plant at Hanover, but around the port of Hamburg, being use to take tankers to and from the refinery via Hamburg-Harburg Yard, where the loco runs round it consist before taking it on to the refinery. If you want to about the wagons for this route, one of them would be new, which would be a Zans Tanker wagon (slightly smaller than the Zacns wagon we have now). The rest of the wagons would be reused from what we already have in TSW2. These wagons would include; Sggmrss Container Wagon Habbiins 344 Wagon Shimmns-TTU 722 Falns 183 Coal Wagon Laaers 560 Car Transporter Roos-T 645 Log Wagon Uacns Cement Wagon These would form a variety of consists, from mixed freights, to intermodal traffic, to coal trains and potentially many more interesting consists that these would make up. Additional services from other routes Now the first question that comes to mind with this section is, would Hamburg – Lübeck add anything to this route, other than having the locos substitute on this existing services? Well, there is one way this would add extra services and that is the DB BR 112, along with it's dosto's, would add AI traffic around Hamburg, which would represent the services that travel in the direction of Lübeck. It is also possible for this route to add AI traffic around Uelzen, representing RE20 services that terminates there coming from Magdeburg and and Hannover Hbf, representing RE8 coming from Bremerhaven-Lehe that terminates at this station. Many some of these service be represented by Main Spessart Bahn's BR 146.2 as it is a 146 that does some of these services, but for the sake of continuity between the two routes, I would recommend Hamburg – Lübeck for these services specifically. But probably the most noticable layer that could be added to this route is IC services using the DB BR 101, along with it's IC coaches. Of course, you would get a few full line runs represent IC 26 services between Hamburg and Hanover with it , but it would also add short services between Hamburg Hbf and Harburg, before turning off the route towards Bremen and subsequently on towards other destinations across Germany. Helping to compliment the ICE 1 already available with the route. The final layer I recommend here is shunting services using the DB BR 363, either from the loco add-on of the same name or from Riesa-Dresden. This would operate shunting services in the areas the G6 doesn't operate in, most noticeably around the Marshalling Yard at Maschen and around the Volkswagen Plant at Hanover, giving those areas a bit more life with this loco carrying out shunting operations around those areas. Future Loco Add-Ons In the final section, which focuses on what loco add-ons could be made for this route after it has been release. For this section, as passenger much every major passenger service that runs on this route has been represented here (apart from Hamburg S-Bahn, but that's a discussion for another time), I am going to focus on a pair of freight locos that could add some interesting and dynamic services to this route DB BR 261 Also known as a Voith Gravita, these locos where ordered by DB in 2008 to replace the well known DB BR 290's which dated back to the 1960's. Voith offers 5 variants of this loco, which range from a light shunter to a medium power loco. The one DB took on is classified 10BB which is designed from shunting and some freight operations, making them kinda a multi-task loco. On this route, It would mainly work around the Hamburg/Maschen area, performing shunting operations and the occasion run along the route, but they might also been seen and a various other locations around this route such as around Hanover, it's station and the Volkswagen plant located there. DB BR 151 Onto a rather fascinating loco that could do really well in TSW2, 170 of these locos where built between 1972 and 1978 to replace the ageing DB BR 150's, this locos is primarily used on heavy freight trains across Germany. They were also at one point capable of taking on passengers services, but because these locos lack the safety equipment required nowadays, this is no longer possible. On this route, it wouldn't just sub into the existing freight services, but it would also add new freight services using a new wagon, the Faals Hopper Wagon. These would be put to work on Iron Ore trains on this route, taking them to the Port of Hamburg and not uncommon to service these services double-headed by two of these locos as these trains can be very heavy, which make those services perfect for a loco like this. Conclusion on the next page...
Conclusion I'm sure many of you will say that this route is much longer than what we would usually get out of a TSW2 route these days, but to be honest, from what we have seen here, this route has so much potential that could make it one of best German routes out there. Or at least, better than the current Hamburg route that we have at the moment. There is much greater of trains running here, both with what could come with the route and from what loco add-ons could bring in the future, has a large and interesting timetable including what could be a greater freight section, it's could help it become a solid high speed-ish route by being able to go faster for longer than most high-speed routes that we currently have now and the route has so many yards, big and small that could offer a whole array of gameplay experiences, from shunting services, to just being able to explore these areas on foot. Plus, if it was to happen and the locos where exactly how they were here, it would make for a very colourful loco selection thanks to the various liveries and from the variety of trains operators that this route could bring (IC White, DB Red, Metronom Blue, White & Yellow, Dispolok Yellow & Grey and Captrain Line & Grey). I'm sure there's could be a lot of fun to be had in a route this big with so many gameplay experiences it could offer, but regardless of if it happens or not, or whether it happens in either the whole thing, or just a small section, this route would blow Hamburg – Lübeck out of the water, by offering a route that is far bigger and most important, far more diverse and far more interesting than what that route could ever offer to make a route worthy of being among some of best German routes out there in TSW2. If you have any ideas for 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 for the next route. Image Sources https://www.hafen-hamburg.de/en/transportation/rail/ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bahnhof_Hamburg-Harburg_1911111510.jpg https://www.reddit.com/r/openttd/comments/e07uuu/have_a_look_at_these_irl_tracks_from_maschen/ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bahnhof_Lüneburg_(Gleis_1-2).jpg https://www.pizzatravel.com.ua/eng/germany/9/train_station_in_uelzen http://geo-en.hlipp.de/photo/79176 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannover_Flughafen_station https://www.bahnbilder.de/bild/deut...angenhagenmitte-bei-hannover-am-21102011.html https://insideevs.com/news/443085/vw-group-more-rail-transport-green-electricity/ https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Hannover_Hauptbahnhof https://www.flickr.com/photos/maccookie/50091712782 https://www.flickr.com/photos/maccookie/50074626723 https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Metronom_Steuerwagen_Radbruch.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DBAG_Class_424 https://www.flickr.com/photos/129016838@N03/50068482936 https://www.flickr.com/photos/91759729@N08/34606175821/ https://www.rail-pictures.com/bild/...wagons/8866/tank-cars-zans-7844-054-6-of.html https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DB_Cargo_BR_261_032-7_(20709207123).jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DB_Class_151 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2877_Güterwagen_Faals_in_Uelzen,_Foto_2877.jpg
DB BR151s with Faals Falrrs Iron Ore wagons should be equipped with warning triangles with C-Akv couplers. These require P brake settings as found in Riesa-Dresden. If dual coupler equipped then it can do Main Spessart Bahn Banking services. The other Iron ore train locomotive is a DB BR189 usually found on Hauptstrecke Rhein-Ruhr Duisburg Gbf running Saarland Rotterdam via Duisburg-Oberhausen-Arnhem Railway to Zevenaar. Also uses Rbf Köln Kalk seen on Rhein Wupper bahn proposal
I enjoyed everything you did to explain this route Pictures and location of Services on this route I had watched yesterday the guy who did a video on this route from Trainsim 2015 which showed everything on route as he did a run with the DB BR ICE 2 and explained what was happening on route. Enjoyed very much hope this route can make it into TSW2 might post the video of his route very interesting to watch.
This one definetely has my support! The ICE 1 and Metronom as a new operator wpuld be great to see. I've also always loved the dispolok livery, though that's a siemens thing and I recall comments about them being difficult with licensing. The route itself could be a great place for freight, but most importantly, would give the BR 101 and ICE 1 a place to stretch their legs using LZB, with a dense timtable providing tons of services. The line is very busy, leading to very interesting and complicated operations, with freight and RB trains constantly being overtaken by RE, IC and ICE services. Though this would be another German electric mainline, this one is justified by the amount of things that makenit unique enough. A great and detailed suggestion, I love seeing someone put this much time in suggestions!
It’s certainly more mileage than what we should expect, however looking it over, I do think it’s a more realistic expectation of a longer route, the only issue I see with it development wise, would be the number of stations, also I’d wonder how much work a 424 would take to convert it from the 425, the rest of the stock seems like it would mostly be a new livery with some small tweaks, and then of course building the ICE 1. I would definitely love to see this, but I still am bordering on the side of maybe it’s just too much for DTG to create.
I think the ICE 1 is desperately needed in TSW. A modern veteran, a living legend. I've been in one actually 2 days ago and I still think it's the best out of all ICE generations. DTG made an ICE 1 for TS. So come on, it's time for this beauty.
Honestly I couldnt have phrased it any better, such an iconic train... In fact I believe its so iconic even our british/american rail fans would appreciate to have that train in the sim. Im just not sure how complicated it would be to get it properly done ingame due to its length and complexity in the configuration of coaches...
The ICE 1 is probably even a bit extra famous in the US due to it's tour of the country and testing on the NEC. After the ICE 3, TGV SE and Shinkansen it's probably the most iconic true high speed trainset!
I would really enjoy this, maybe have it come with the 101 + cab car though. Then it would be even better.
That would be great. But perhaps the BR 101 with IC coaches as standard eith the route and the cab car as DLC could be a compromise. But this route does need the BR 101 with cab car in some form to feel right and true to life.
When we speak about ICE 1 BR 401 Redesign version then...: It has two power cars with the cab each on one end of the train, so in game logic, this is 1 individual car. Board Restaurant WSmz (1 individual car) 3x Avmz first class seating (1 individual car) 1x Apmbsz (1 individual car) 6x Bvmz 2nd class (1 individual car) 1x Bpmz (1 individual car) So all together it makes 6 inidually designed coaches, one of these is the cab. So well.. I see, this is a LOT work for "only" one train. I still hope they one day decide to do it. Source: http://www.grahnert.de/fernbahn/reihung/fl401.pdf
Actualy i would pay 50 euros or more if dtg would make it in the way of the suggestion. Or they could make this the first "2 part" dlc for tsw, each available as single section for 30 euros. I mean seriously: dtg doesnt do extensions & dtgs routes are usually around 80km. I see a pretty black future for tsw if dtg isnt gonna improve their strategy about the routes longterm. Routes suggested from the op should be developed in my opinion, dtg has just to create a realistic business case around it. Sure for the actual "30 euro" price we wont get that entire package with its lenght.
Definitely agree with you and here is the question does DTG Metronom agreement cover this game or TS22 only
I think they once said that their Train Simulator licences do not also apply to TSW. But since they have one for TS, they know about the company, so I think the chance isnt that low.
