Hey everyone, I have an idea for a route from Australia. The Newcastle and Central Coast line in nsw, yes I know its a long one but bear with me. It is a very scenic route and is among the oldest lines in Australia and has remained mostly unchanged since the 1930s. The time period should be 2009 - 2010 because then Newcastle station is still open. The motive power being the V set and H set ( I'm unsure if the H set was doing intercity work at that time ) and the XPT express train which is just a HST 43 with big spot lights and better suspension. There would be no need to go all the way to Sydney Central as that would be a 3 hour drive so to Gosford will be a fun trip and the timetable will allow for it. The route starts In Newcastle nsw and gose to Central Sydney, it's 162km long has 37 stations and is operated by nsw train link aside from from the passenger trains I mentioned freight from Sydney to the port of Newcastle is numerous and ran by many Australian freight train operators including but not limited to, Pacific national, SSR and Crawford freight. I'm not sure if dovetail will like this one because of the length and the licencing issue but it is just an idea
H-sets/OSCARs were in use on CCN from as early as 2008 I believe, at least for the Gosford/Wyong-Central commuter portion (replacing Tangaras), not sure if they started running the full Intercity length at the same time or not. Still, you'd want them in there at least as AI traffic. And the XPT is way much more than just a re-skinned HST - the power car is half a metre shorter, different power and gearing to the HST Valentas/VP185s so the performance graphs would change significantly, and the carriages are based off an American design rather than the Mark 3. Essentially, it's a whole new train.
Wow I honestly didn't know how different the XPT was thanks for that. I had heard that coaches were based on American design but I didn't know how reliable it was. I still feel like the whole journey to central will be just too much for dovetail to replicate so if they did it I feel like to Newcastle to Gosford with OSCARS, Vsets and some freight with pacific national or an XPT as far as Gosford
Being a Novocastrian (who has taken countless V-set trips to Sydney) I'd prefer Newcastle-Gosford, but I'd also argue the scenery is better around the Hawkesbury so the southern half would be a better selling point. Gosford-Central would require layering in all the suburban A/B/T-set traffic though to make it feel busy enough (especially the Main West Line between Strathfield and Central) which is a lot of extra work, as opposed to the Newcastle end just needing the Hunter and Endeaveour railcars for the Hunter Line. From a freight/mixed-use perspective the Hunter Line would actually be a better choice too, as you get the added benefit of the coal trains going to Kooragang and Carrington as well as the mainline freight (but no electric passenger services, just the DMUs)
I aggree the hunter line would be alot easier from a dev stand ponit. For me personally as long as the original Newcastle station is in there I don't mind although they should at least do CNN to Wyong and have the Hunter line as a branch I know the Hunter line is a main line but for gameplay purposes it would be a branch as I imagine dovetail would only lay track as far as telarah
Nah! Not leaving anyone hang mate HAHA Check here Australian Rolling Stock | Dovetail Games Forums I've also created a useful thread on the Railpage forums for WIP and already available Australian routes List of Australian addons RW/TS (Page 1) / Train Simulator / Forums / Railpage If Railpage link doesn't work, don't panic! It's Railpage. Keep the link handy
