As we all know, Birmingham New Street on the Cross City is a bit dull and the route as a whole isn't the most interesting as it only has one train included with it (if you don't have any stock for the layers into the timetable) so here are some ways that the timetable for the Cross City could be improved, with things such as the addition of a depot or 2 as well as some new pieces of rolling stock. Option 1: The Camp Hill Freight Line + Stoke Works Junction Loop (Kings Norton - Landor Street Junction) New Stock: Class 60 in DB Schenker livery + BYA wagon With a length of roughly 7 miles, this little freight route branches off from the Cross City at Kings Norton and heads up to Landor Street Junction near the Lawley Street freightliner terminal. Some passenger services (mostly Cross Country) are sent via this route daily to allow the crews to retain track knowledge in the event of engineers work between Kings Norton and Birmingham New Street. This extension would create up to 10 brand new services in the timetable, with these being the Corby to Margam workings, the Wolverhampton to Newport workings, the Westerleigh to Lindsey workings & the Swindon to Toton workings (southbound train starts from Boston Sleaford sidings), with the latter 3 workings being guaranteed for Class 60 haulage whilst the others would have a chance of Class 60 but most likely be a Class 66. This extension of the route would also extend all previously existing freight services to start and end at Landor Street. Option 2: Soho LMD New Stock: Reskinned Class 08 + 37 With Soho depot being the main base for the Class 323 fleet, it's an obvious choice for the depot to be the first extension that should be put into consideration. All it would require is an extra 1 or 2 miles of track and a reskin of the Class 08 into Railfreight Grey livery to match the Soho depot shunter (as shown above). For a period of time during the Commonwealth Games, Class 37 no 37800 stabled at the depot in case of emergency, with it finding itself the recipient of some new stickers to fit the job (these being a Commonwealth Games 2022 sticker and a Soho depot sticker that matches the one displayed on 08805. Option 3: Tyseley LMD + Tyseley - Moor St New Stock: Class 172/0, /1, /2 & /3 The line from Tyseley to Birmingham New Street has a massive amount of usage during the day, with a multitude of freight services heading for the yard at Small Heath using the stabling sidings to run around the wagons before heading up to the yard. There is also the mass of ECS moves from Tyseley to New St at the start and end of service, with a few in the middle of the day too. The Class 172 would enable the addition of Birmingham New Street to Hereford services into the playable timetable, with these trains stopping at University and Bromsgrove in addition to the 0720 and 0800 departures from Birmingham to Bromsgrove and the 1641 departure from Bromsgrove into Birmingham calling at Barnt Green. The line from Moor Street down to Tyseley station would also be able to be worked by players on local services, with this adding a whole new dimension to the gameplay of the Cross City and giving it more of a busy feel, especially around Birmingham. In total, this expansion would create in excess of 350 new services for the timetable, with the Moor Street to Tyseley line being a pivotal part of this.
I didn't get that memo, is that what I am supposed to be thinking? I like the suggestions however I don't think they are going to make a class 172 just for a few miles of line, the class 170's are or were far more common on Hereford services than the 172. The Snow Hill lines I could see being a future DLC with the class 172.
Excellent I idea overall and for option 2 This should be class 08 and 730 because SEH expansion pack 2 getting the Railfreight Phoenix paint that way it will layer here
I'd say a TMD route extension would be best, but if we could extend the route alot further, i'd probably extend it down to Worcester or maybe even Cheltenham spa and add a Class 170/172 (a 220 as well if cheltenham spa)
