Waterloo - Reading Line

The Waterloo - Reading line is a third-rail electric line that runs between the stations of London Waterloo and Reading. The route is 69.8km (43.4 miles) long and features 26 stations. (Red on map)
This route forms the core of several other routes that branch out from this line, including the Staines - Windsor line and the Hounslow Loop line. This would mean that create a variety of different configurations for the route to be made available in, and there would also be a wide variety of different lines that can be added to make the route longer and have a larger variety of playable services.

Route map:


The possible branches that could be added to expand the route would add the following:
Staines - Windsor line: 10.6km (6.6 miles) of track with 4 additional stations. (Orange)
Hounslow Loop line: 12.0km (7.5 miles) of track with 7 additional stations. (Purple)
Chertsey Branch: 9.2km (5.7 miles) of track with 3 additional stations. (Pink)
Weybridge - Woking: 8.5km (5.3 miles) of track with 3 additional stations. (Lilac)

When combined, the full route with these branches would be 110.1km (68.5 miles) long with 43 stations to visit.
Players would be able to drive trains on the following services:
London Waterloo - Reading
London Waterloo - Windsor & Eton Riverside
London Waterloo - Hounslow (via Hounslow Loop)
London Waterloo - Weybridge (via Hounslow Loop)
London Waterloo - Woking (via Hounslow Loop)

The route could also be extended to include the Strawberry Hill Depot, adding 2 more stations and 2.5km (1.6 miles) of track. While there would not be any additional service patterns that could be added through its addition, scenarios starting or finishing at this depot would become a possibility.
This would extend the line to include 45 stations over 112.6km (70.1 miles) of track.

Due to licencing issues with South Western Railway, I would propose making the route as it was between 2015 and 2017, while it was operated by Southwest Trains, which DTG still hold a licence for.

Playable rolling stock would be as follows:

Class 450/0 "Desiro" - New EMUs introduced in 2004 to replace the old slam door units that were in use at the time. These are used on all SWT routes with the exception of the East of England line and the Eastleigh to Romsey line.


Class 450/5 "Desiro" - 28 Class 450/0 sets were modified to Class 450/5 sets during 2008 for use on services to Windsor and on the Hounslow Loop line. These had their 1st class seats removed and replaced with standard class 2+3 seating. Other seats were removed to improve standing capacity. These later had their 1st class seats reinstated with the introduction of the Class 458/5.


Class 455/7/8/9 - EMUs constructed between 1982 and 1985 that are used on suburban services in Greater London and Surrey. These were in operation with SWT since the privatisation of the southwestern region in 1996. These sets were first refurbished between 2004 and 2008 where the seats were upgraded to high-back Grammar seats and the doors were modified to open wider. These sets were again modified in 2014 with the replacement of the original Camshaft Control System with IGBT-VVVF drive, the replacement of the original DC traction motors with new, lighter and more reliable AC traction motors, and Knorr-Bremse brake controllers which allow for regenerative braking.


Class 458/0 "Juniper" - The Class 458s were built to fulfill SWT's request for 30 new air-conditioned four-car EMUs. These were originally introduced on SWT services between 2000 and 2003, however their protracted introduction led to SWT deciding to select the Class 450 "Desiro" as the replacement for the rest of their slam-door rolling stock. The Class 458 units were subsequently withdrawn from service in 2005 due to their notorious unreliability and replaced with additional Class 450s.
In 2006, SWT had decided to withdraw its Class 442 sets from service. The services that the Class 442s were withdrawn from used Class 444 and Class 450 sets instead, while the Class 458/0 was reintroduced to fill the gaps left by the Class 450s that were now being used on other routes. These sets were upgraded between 2008 and 2010 with RVAR-compliant internal displays, toilets and doorway lighting, CCTV and new seats and tables for first-class.
In 2011, the Class 458 fleet had regenerative braking enabled on all units and by 2012, the reliability had improved to the point that they became the first British train to achieve six-figure mileages between major failures. The last Class 458/0s were withdrawn in November 2015 ahead of their conversion to Class 458/5 units.


Class 458/5 "Juniper" - In 2012, the Class 460 units had been replaced on Gatwick Express services with Class 442 units. As SWT required additional additional rolling stock for its suburban routes, the Class 460s were converted to Class 458/5s as it was cheaper to convert the Class 460s to Class 458/5s than it would be to have them constructed as new trains. These were re-geared for operating on suburban routes, had new train management software developed to be compatable across the whole Class 458/5 fleet, an ASDO system was installed, and the seating arrangement was changes from 4-abrest to 5-abrest. The Class 458/5 units that had been converted from Class 460 units were delivered between 2013 and 2014, with the Class 458/5 units converted from the existing Class 458/0 units introduced between 2014 and 2016.


Class 707 "Desiro City" - SWT sought to increase its fleet of 5-car trains for use on suburban services in order to take advantage in improvements in infrastructure that would allow them to use 10-car trains on their suburban routes. These were originally planned to be introduced in July 2017, however the first units didn't enter service until the 17th of August, three days before the Southwestern franchise was taken over by SWR.

Playable rolling stock for non-regular scenarios:

LNER Thompson B1 61306 "Mayflower" + Class 33207 "Jim Martin" with BR Mk1 and Mk2 coaches. - 61306 "Mayflower" was used on a 3-a-day service between London Waterloo and Windsor & Eton Riverside stations over the summer of 2019. This marked the first time in 52 years that Windsor had a regular service provided by a steam locomotive.


Class 423/1 "4 VEP" - Upon the privatisation of the southwestern network, SWT inherited the 2nd largest fleet of Class 423 EMUs of the three railway companies that utilised them. All but 4 units were swiftly repainted into their new livery which featured an orange stripe. The fleet of Class 423s started to be withdrawn in 2004 and were completely removed from service in May 2005. During the withdrawal process, one unit (3417) was repainted into its original BR Blue livery. This unit was sold to the Bluebell railway and is currently stored at the Strawberry Hill Depot, near Twickenham.


Class 442 "5 WES" 442012 "Special Olympics" - During the Class 442's last day of operation with SWT, 442012 "Special Olympics" was used on a farewell railtour that started at London Waterloo, travelling to Windsor & Eton Riverside, Twickenham, and Shepperton, before returning to London Waterloo.
Scenarios for London Waterloo - Windsor & Eton Riverside and Windsor & Eton Riverside to Twickenham are possible with the proposed route, however the rest of the tour would require the additon of the Shepperton branch and the Southwestern Main line between Clapham Junction and New Malden.

Non-playable rolling stock that may be encountered:
Class 165 "Networker Turbo" (Between Reading and Wokingham) - Operated on the North Downs line by GWR.
Class 166 "Networker Turbo Express" (Between Reading and Wokingham) - Operated on the North Downs line by GWR.
Class 378 "Capitalstar" (At Clapham Junction and Richmond) - London Overground services.

Note: Map taken from Google maps. Image of Class 442012 taken from BloodandCustard. Image of LNER Thompson B1 61306 "Mayflower" taken from royalwindsorsteamexpress.co.uk. All other images taken from wikipedia.

 

I have actually already submitted a formal proposal for this. It also covers all the side track routes that connect and all rolling stock. You omitted Shepperton from a loop line which connects the PDL. Otherwise, you covered much of my own proposal here. I may have omitted Weybridge. Would have to review that.

One detail of my proposal is to start from the PDL and cut it off where the loop heads north, then create the Waterloo to Reading Line and any extensions from that. Graphical updates to the duplicated line may also be possible.