My route suggestion is something that would cover new lines for the simulator as well as new rolling stock. The route suggestion is the line from the Birmingham area to Worcester Foregate Street and Shrub Hill. I have chosen this route to suggest due to the numerous points of interest along the route with opportunities for many new trains and scenery details. As it has various starting points around Birmingham, it would be ideal to select one or two key ones that would provide the most interest for gameplay. I believe that the two starting points that would be best are Dorridge (on the Chiltern Main Line) and Whitlocks End (on the Stratford-Upon-Avon branch). Dorridge has its own services to Worcester and Whitlocks End has its own services to Kidderminster. Dorridge Station: Whitlocks End Station: There are various points of interest along the route: Tyseley station and depots (where the lines from Dorridge and Whitlocks End meet and has lots of scenario opportunities with railtours, loco moves, open days and ECS moves) Birmingham Moor Street Birmingham Snow Hill Stourbridge Junction (Branches to Stourbridge Town, and Briery Hill, freight only, go off from here) Kidderminster (site of Severn Valley Railway and terminating point for some services) Worcester Shrub Hill As you can see, this line has a very heritage feel to it with most stations having many classic GWR characteristics such as the station signs, canopies and the surrounding infrastructure such as the use of semaphore signals and presence of preserved signal boxes. Rolling Stock: The main train for this line is the London Midland Class 172, that would be new for train simulator. An interesting DMU to include would be the Class 139 for the Stourbridge Town branch. Chiltern Railways also operate services along most of the length of what this route would be (between Dorridge and as far as Kidderminster) so it would be nice to include a Chiltern 68 and Mk3 set, even just as AI to help give variety to included scenarios in the Birmingham area of this route. If possible, some Vintage Trains Tyseley stock could be included for railtour scenarios. An updated 50 could even be included as various mainline locos live in Kidderminster such as 50007, 50035, 50044 and 50049. The updates would mainly be for the textures and possibly cab features too. Scenarios: It would be good for the included scenarios to cover both Dorridge-Worcester and Whitlocks End-Kidderminster as well as other services such as Birmingham Snow Hill-Kidderminster etc. Free roam scenarios could be provided at locations such as Tyseley, Kidderminster and Worcester. Railfan scenarios could be at Tyseley, Birmingham Snow Hill, Kidderminster and Worcester Shrub Hill. Scenario potential: There are many other currently released trains that would also wok on this route if it were to be released. Passenger: Just Trains Voyager Armstrong Powerhouse HST 150/1 and /2, 170 Freight: Just Trains 60 Armstrong Powerhouse 66 Railtours: Class 50 Castle Class (Tyseley specials) Overall judgments: Starting at two different points in Birmingham will help with scenario variety, as will having two separate terminating points in Worcester. Foregate Street is the main terminating point for services on this line, and Shrub Hill will aid in lining up to make a network if the Cotswold Line from Oxford were to be in the pipeline. It is also a point of interest with its various semaphores and other classic infrastructure. Including the above rolling stock will provide the player with enough scenario potential from the get go, for those who do not have all the extra DLC but will also keep the included scenarios interesting for all. This route is commonly used as a diversionary route if the route via Bromsgrove to Bristol and the South West is closed, which justifies the above list of extra rolling stock that could be used on this line. What do you all think? Let me know through the poll and if possible a comment as well!
JustTrains have released most of this route. Also, DTG wouldn't earn much money if they create another train already in the game, made by another developer for this route.
I was brought up in Stourbridge so I'd love to see this but I think I've blithered about it quite enough in a thread in the TSW forum (Stourbridge Line Route Proposal). I lived there in the '70s and very early '80s and we took the train to Birmingham New Street at least couple of times year to see my dad who worked at the Museum there. Would you be kind enough to provide a link for that please?
