Well here we are again, after how well things went with the previous two suggestions made a while back, I managed to come up with another one here that has a similar vain to those two. This suggestion is going to be a follow-up to one of my favourite route suggestions I've done so far, West Coastway: Southampton & Eastleigh – Portsmouth Harbour & Havant. I'm really proud of how it turned out and it seemed to go down really with all of you on the forum. However, there was one particular loco that I suggested as a loco add-on that I thought 'you know, I might work well as a loco add-on here, but I think it can easily headline a route of it's own'. I'll get into what that loco is in a bit, but that's where we are now with this new suggestion, and after looking through many possible options for a route like this, I found the perfect choice here. So with that said, let's look into today's suggestion, which is the West of England Line, between Salisbury & Exeter St. Davids, and in a similar vain to the West Coastway suggestion, I'm suggesting it as a period route. This time, we are moving the timeframe slightly further forward to the early 1990s, specifically around 1990 & 1991. Background So like I've already said, this suggestion came about as a result of one specific loco that I suggested as a loco add-on for the West Coastway suggestion I did a while ago. That loco in question was the Class 50, which I said back then would be a awesome addition to TSW, regardless of whether it's a loco add-on or a main routes headliner. Now I may have put it as a loco add-on for West Coastway, however the more I thought about it, the more I realised that actually, this is a loco that deserves a route of it's own to really get to most out of it, compared to the limited opportunities it would get on a route like West Coastway. So the question at this point is, what route would we go for? …and to that, I feel there was only one obvious choice. I know we could have gone for a period Great Western Main Line between Paddington and Oxford, but A: We already have that with GWE (not to mention it received a period timetable pack with Diesel Legends) and B: I want such a route to have the Class 50 as it's main selling point, and a route like the GWML, would have also had to include a HST set (I mean, you can't really do a route like that and not do so right? Unless doing a version of it from now) which I feel like it would leave the Class 50 overshadowed. These points would eventually lead me to an adaptation of the West of England Line, focusing on the main section between Salisbury & Exeter. As for the time period, we are going to focus on the early 90's here (1990-1991) as these were during the final working years of the Class 50 on this route, before being replaced by the Class 159's that operate this route nowadays. So now we've found the route for it, let's see what it looked like on a map. Map of the Whole Route Area around Salisbury Area around Exeter Want to see the whole map? All you have to do is simply click the link here. So going through the stats here, This route in total is 91.1 Miles (146.6 km) long. The main Salisbury-Exeter route is actually 88.6 Miles (142.6 km) long, it's just that the remaining 2.7 Miles (4.3 km) is made up of the various yards and depots that can be found at either end of the route. There are also 15 station to be found along here, as well as 3 depots and 4 yards/sidings, the later of which can found again at either end of the route (Salisbury & Exeter) as well as the small complex at Chard Junction. Now the first thing to notice regarding this route is that it's long. If it was to be made, it would be the second longest TSW route behind Kassel-Würzburg (although it's far from the longest route I've suggested by the way), but this route is nothing like the high-speed nature of what Kassel-Würzburg offers. In fact, it is the complete opposite of what that route is. The thing is here, despite this route being single-tracked for most of the way (with a few exceptions), it's not a branch line route, as it's a vital link serving many west country towns like Gillingham, Templecombe, Sherbourne, Yeovil, Crewkerne, Axminster & Honiton( Some of these I've even visited in real life, as I do live very near of these places). But I must digress that this route, despite it's main, is not the main route connecting London with the west of England, as it's quicker to access Exeter and everything further west from London Paddington via both the GWML & the line between Reading and Taunton via Westbury. The beauty of this route I feel is that it's a route were you can have a proper good run. While single-tracked like I've just said, it's far from the twisty-turny nature of something like Camel Valley which I suggested previously. In fact, this route is mainly made up of gentle curves and long straight track. But that doesn't mean the route is flat all the way, in fact, the route is constantly changing in undulation, which probably the most noteworthy part being were the route drops from Crewkerne down towards Axminster, before making the climb back up to Honiton. That later section is also the most twisty part of the route, as you navigate your way through both the Blackdown Hills and East Down Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. However, with that said, it would still take a while to complete the whole route. A complete journey from Salisbury to Exeter, around the time this routes timeframe would take you just over an hour-&-an-half, as it's seems like the services stop everywhere along this route. But it would be far from a dull journey, as the countryside of the 4 counties this route passes through (Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset & Devon) provides a beautiful backdrop as you traverse your way along this route. Now with this being a route set at the beginning of the 1990's, you might be wondering at how this route would look around this timeframe, compared to what it is now, and from what I could gather, it wouldn't actually be that much different compared to now. For the most part, the route would have a bit of a grubbier vibe to it, to go along with the diesel-hauled services that operated this route back on those days. But that doesn't mean that it was completely the same route back then. Down below is a list of some of the more noticeable differences about the route back then compared to now. Templecombe didn't have a platform on either side of the single-running track. Axminster had only one platform and running track (second platform/running track wasn't reopened until 2009). Cranbrook station didn't exist back then (Was only opened back in 2015). But aside from these minor differences, the most major one would be around Exmouth Junction. It may not be much now (as it's were the line from Exmouth joins on) but back on early 90s, this area was actually a lot larger. The site had previously been a engine shed during the days of steam, which had been long closed by then and the site since reused as a supermarket, but the carriage sheds next door did still exist and while maybe wouldn't be used by anything service-wise, would be fully accessible. But the more noteworthy thing around here is actually the sidings that formerly served a concrete plant, which around the early 90s, was actually be used to serve a coal concentration plant. This wouldn't last much longer than the time frame this route is set in, as it received it's last trains later during that decade and has since been left abandoned, in a similar vein to the rest of the general area. Another major area that was a lot bigger back then compared to now is probably one of the more iconic areas of the route, Chard Junction. While nowadays a passing loop (and even the station that used to be there was long gone by the early 90s) the site was formerly home to a massive diary, which even had it's own sidings right next to them. Now I'm not entirely sure if these sidings were being used by around the early 90's, but I do know that the diary buildings were still around back then (unfortunately, they have all since been bulldozed to the ground) making this a pretty recognisable area to look out for along this route. It also should be mentioned at this point that this route would feature freight services, that are included as standard with the route and not via additional layering. Pretty surprising I know, but going through the resource material I was able to find online, I thought there was enough justification (at least in my book) to have some freight stock included with the route. As for what they are, you will find out later on. For now though, let's jump into some images of what this route looked liked during the early 90's. Pictures of the route in real life As a quick disclaimer, some of these images might not be exactly from around the 1990-1991 time period, but rather from somewhere around that time. It's just being able to find what I could online. Available Locos You might think at this point, with this being a single-tracked route for most of the way, that this route wouldn't have that may locos, maybe one or two at best. To that I say, you might be very surprised at the loco selection I have for you here. I have been able to come up with 5 potential locos for this route. But it's rather more like 3, as one of them is new, three are reused and the last one is more an optional extra, considering if this loco is already around in TSW at this point, but more on that later. For now though, on with the locos, and the first one should be pretty obvious here, considering that it's already been brought up here in this suggestion. BR Class 50 Welcome to the whole reason this route suggestion exists in the first place, to give this loco a route where you can have a proper run and give it a lot more presence than compared to whether it would be a loco add-on for a route like West Coastway or any other TSW route, whether that be already suggested, or what we already have. Now I've already talked about it when I suggested it as a loco add-on for West Coastway, so here, I want to mainly talk about it in the context of the route we have here. They started working on this route around the late 1970's, but were plagued with reliability problems from the offset, due to the over-complex design of these locos, resulting in frequent service failures and cancellations. This resulted in the whole class being refurbished between 1979 & 1984. During this time, the electronics were simplified, redundant features like slow speed control & rheostatic braking were removed, and modifications were made to the air-intake fan, which lead to many generator failures, which in-turn, eliminated the droning 'sucking' noise which have them the 'hoover' nickname'. After this time, they continued working on the West of England (along with services out of London Paddington) and when it came under control of Network SouthEast in 1986, many of them were painted in NSE colours. By the time the early 90's came along (this routes time setting) they were solely working on this route, and were starting to become unreliable again. This is mainly because they were not suited for work on this route, due to the stop-start nature of services here, and the extended single-track sections between stations, were if one would break down, it would just wreak havoc across the whole route. While many were withdrawn by the time, the were all eventually retired not long afterwords, and loco-hauled service were eventually displaced by the Class 159's that operate this route today (more on that later). For this route, they would come in two liveries, one would be the Network SouthEast livery (the revised version that had a darker shade of blue and where the stripes continue to the body ends)a livery that would look so good in TSW. The other liviery is probably the more iconic for this loco, the BR Large Logo Blue, which some 50's still wore around this time. While they would handle most of heavy lifting here, service-wise, I'm going to talk about that yet, as they wouldn't alone on that job, which is a nice segway into... BR Class 47/7 To help the Class 50 out, we have a slightly modified version of the Class 47, which is actually fitted with push-pull apparatus. Obviously it wouldn't be needed on this route, but the reason they have this is because they used to work up in Scotland on push-pull trains between Glasgow & Edinburgh, with also spread to Glasgow-Aberdeen. But many of them were eventually found their way there to temporarily replace the ageing Class 50's, which these were also succeeded by the 159's that I mentioned earlier. This loco would come in three different livieries, the standard Network SouthEast livery, the Red & White Parcels livery and an Ex-Scotrail livery with NSE logos (the later two liveries did show up in this route around this time). Working alongsiode the Class 50, they would be operating most of the heavy lifting on this route, service-wise. Mainly consisting of full-line runs between Salisbury & Exeter, which both of these locos would be able to sub into, allowing for some loco choice on the main services, and some variety to look out for while exploring this route. BR Class 205 'Thumper' (Bonus Loco) Now with this one, even though we don't have this in TSW yet, I've put this one here in the event that this loco does already exist by this point. Whether that would be via a loco add-on or as part of a route like West Coastway or any other route like it. The reason is because I feel like this loco fits into the slam-door nature of the route a lot better than something like a Class 159 would, not to mention that it wasn't technically introduced on this route until twos after the time-period I've chosen (The 159 I will talk about later, as I've included it as a loco add-on here). But onto the loco itself, I've already talked about in my West Coastway suggestion, where there, I suggested it coming in the traditional BR Blue & Grey livery with Network SouthEast logos. This time, we have it in the full Network SouthEast attire. While it is possible that they could run a few Exeter-Salisbury services (in place of a usual loco-hauled service) the main thing they would be doing here is short services between Salisbury & Yeovil Junction, which while I don't think there would be many of them, would still offer something different driving experience on this route compared to what would usually appear here. BR Class 37/0 This is quite fascinating one, as originally, I would have just had freight be a layer from one of the two period UK routes that currently has a Class 37 (Tees Valley or West Cornwall Local) but after doing some more research, even though the doesn't have that much freight running on it (or at least, enough that it would be noticeable) I feel like there's enough evidence to have a bunch of freight stock come with the route as standard. Besides, it gives you a good excuse to bring another Class 37 variant to TSW. Like the Class 47, this loco would come in three different livery variants, all of which showed up on this route around the timeframe. These are the BR 'Dutch' Civil Engineers Yellow & Grey, the standard BR Blue livery and the BR Trainload Coal Grey. I also envision these locos coming without a high-intensity lamp on the front of each cab, to further enhance this loco even more. The main thing they would be doing on this route is running coal train services between Exeter St. David & Exmouth Junction. But as it turns out, there's a chance that there could be one of two them that join the route at Yeovil Junction and travel down to Exmouth from there. These locos would also be used on ballast workings, and even being head a loco-hauled passenger service, usually as a result of the lead loco having broken down. BR Class 08 This loco, like with West Coastway, is only here to help do some shunting around some of the keys locations along the route, along with being static scenery stock. It would mainly be seen around Exmouth Junction, helping shunt coal trains to be taken out by the Class 37, but you also see it at Yeovil Junction and possibly even at Salisbury as well. Other than that, not much else to say here, so let's move on to what other rolling stock the route would provide. For passenger stock, we have the BR Mk2 coaches in Network SouthEast livery. These would be used by both the Class 50 & 47/7's. For freight stock, the Class 37/0 would be using two pieces of stock that already exist in TSW. These include: HEA Hopper Wagon (Same as the one from Tees Valley) YGB 'Seacow' Ballast Wagon (Same one from West Cornwall Local) For those wagons, it would be HEA's that you seeing most of the time, but you would also see the YGB's on a few ballast trains, which would actually run in-between passenger services on normal operating days. You could have the class 50 operate them, but I feel like that's more appropriate for a BR Blue liveried version of it, so the 37 would operate them instead (which would be appropriate as they were working them from January 1991 onwards). Additional services from other routes/loco add-ons Now to begin this section, I want to bring up some of the content that I included in the West Coastway suggestion that I made a while back, as some of that stock would also make an appearance here too. Of course the BR Blue liveried Class 205 would be able to sub into the services operated by the NSE 205, but the Class 33 would also show up here. Both being able to operate on the same full-line services that the Class 47/7 & 50's would, as well as AI services to Salisbury, utilizing the Mk1's that I suggested for that route on services heading towards Portsmouth in the east and Bristol/Cardiff in the west. I should also mention at this stage that the Class 205 (regardless of whether it's the West Coastway or the version featured here) would add AI services around Salisbury, representing terminates services coming from Portsmouth. But that doesn't mean we don't also have some stuff coming from routes that already exist in TSW. The main one here being the Class 101 (preferably from Tees Valley). These would operate small services between St James Park & Exeter St. Davids, which these services would divert off here and head towards Exmouth. One last layer that I could think up of would be the Class 31, which would add PCA Cement trains running within the Exeter area, mainly only between central and the riverside yards north of St Davids, from the research that I was able to obtain, with these services mainly being operate by the aforementioned 31. Along with these layers, there would also be the potential for some railtours as well, even if they didn't happen around this early 90's timeframe, they would still be worth adding to spice up this route a bit. One that could be added would involve the Class 40 for NTP's BR Heavy Freight Pack, while another would involve believe it or not, the LMS 8F from Spirit of Steam. Yes I know, but I have been able to find evidence that a railtour involving that loco did happen around that time (even if it took place two years prior). Continues on next post...
Future Loco Add-Ons To end this section off I have a trio off, not what I call loco add-ons, but rather loco packs. Since this route doesn't really have any new locos that would be worth adding here (even the new one is just a modified version of a loco already around in TSW). But that doesn't mean they aren't interesting, as they could help really enliven this route, as each add a new experience compared to what has already been talked about. But first, let's get the obvious one out the way BR Class 159 Ah, the loco that operates the line nowadays. Despite the fact that it was introduced in 1993 and this route is set roughly between 1990 & 1991, I still think it's worth including this as a loco add-on to give people the option of driving something more modern on this route. As for the class itself, these would eventually replaced the loco-hauled services that operated on this route back in the day. Despite several options being consider at the time, such as electrification, a shorted HST set and a modified version of the Class 165's called the Class 171 (not to be confused with the Turbostar units that came over a decade later) it was eventually decided to take 22 Class 158 from Regional Railways (that they actually over-ordered and weren't needed by them) and modify them for work on this route. Some of the modifications included adding first class seating, retention toilets and various other modifications. They entered service in June 1993 and have been the mainstay unit of this route ever since. The fleet was even boosted between 2007 & 2008, when 8 former TransPennine Express 158 units were rebuilt to 159 standards, but these wouldn't be available with this version, as they didn't exist at that time. For this version, the units would come in the livery they launched in, which of course is the Network SouthEast livery. This add-on would come with an additional timetable, which would allow you to operate this loco on this route, without having to mess up the existing timetable. The services they would operate are the same full-line runs that the loco-hauled stock ran back then and what they operate nowadays. Although this timetable would still have a few loco-hauled services here and there, to show the changing times as these units get introduced and the old loco-hauled stokc gets phased out. BR Class 438 4TC+BR Class 33/1 This is something that I previously suggested as a loco add-on for West Coastway, but I thought it might also be worth suggesting it here too. I've already gone over it back then. But to crash course it here, the 4TC set basically forms of a BR Class 438 set in the style of an old slam-door EMU set (Class 421/423) but is unpowered. This is provided by a Class 33/1 loco operating at either end, allowing for push-pull operations. While originally intended for use on the line between London Waterloo & Weymouth, they eventually found their way to other parts of the southern network, including evidence that they indeed operated on this route. The Class 33/1 would come in BR Blue livery, like it was in the West Coastway suggestion, but this time, in order to go along with the theme of the route, the 4TC set in now in NSE livery. These would mainly operate on full-line runs between Salisbury & Exeter, as well adding a few services that only go as far as Yeovil Junction for Salisbury. The 33/1 would also be able to operate on existing full-line services that use the Mk2 coaches (the ones that are usually hauled by a Class 47/7 or 50). Hunsley Barcley Weed Killing Train I've saved what could possibly be my favourite of these loco proposals for last. I remember seeing something like this when researching West Coastway, and while I didn't talk about it back then, I decided that with this route suggestion, I just have to talk about it here. The best way to describe this is that it's the Rail Head Treatment Train of the 1990s. It was usually based out of Rochester and then Clapham Junction from 1991, and was actually common sight across the UK rail network during that time. A consist would usually form of a pair of Class 20's at either end of the train, usually painted in Grey Hunslet-Barcley livery with a red-striple along the running board. Then for the rolling stock you have the following: TTA Tanker wagon (to the right of the image) An old Southern Railway GUV …and a rake of Mk1 Coaches, sometimes just painted lime green, sometimes painted two shades of grey (one lighter at the top & one darker at the bottom) with an orange stripe running down the middle of them. Its also possible that there could be other consists out there with different wagons/coaches & different locos, but that's the stock that would at least appear in this pack. While it would totally add weed killing trains to this route, I could also have it add such services to my previous suggestion, West Coastway. In fact, I could totally see this being used on a lot more UK period routes, whether they would be from what we already have, or what could come in the future, becoming a staple of these kinds of route for many years to come. Conclusion The best way I would describe this route in the end, is that this is a bigger, larger, single-tracked Northern Trans-Pennine in Network SouthEast colours. You have a route that a lot of people are very familiar with, that is both very long and open and runs though 4 counties and offers a really nice countryside backdrop as you navigate your way along, all of this offered with a early 90's flavour. You have a really surprising selection of rolling stock, that each offer a different experience for everyone on this route, including one that could become very popular with the Class 50. You have a timetable that, while maybe a little thin thanks to the nature of the route, would still be intriguing and offer a really fun driving experience, coupled with a few layers that could liven up some areas of the route, particularly around the general Exeter area and of course you have a nice selection of future loco add-ons that, while none of them are new locos per say, would give a new experience to this route, with even a few of them offering an experience that hasn't really been seen in TSW before (especially with the Weed Killing Train). But perhaps the biggest thing this route would bring is a genuine, proper, first introduction to Network SouthEast in TSW. I know we already had NSE stock with Rivet's IOW, but that didn't really bring all that much to the table, as all it was for a modern-ish route (pre-upgrade) with NSE livered stock. Plus, it is the Island Line, so you pretty much get what you get with that one (except for the steam railway, but that's for another discussion). With this route however, it would be a full NSE experience with locos, rolling stock and so much more. You could argue that there might other routes worth doing if you want a true NSE experience, but for a proper introduction, this would certainly be a good starting point, and if this route is made in the way that it is suggested here, it would unlike anything else you can in TSW so far. As always, if have any ideas that you would like to see on this route, or you feel like there's something that can be done differently here, then feel free to let me know in the replies down below. That's all for me, and I'll see you all next time. Image Sources https://twitter.com/SalopianLyne/status/1518339782853726210 https://www.kentrail.org.uk/gillingham_dorset.htm http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/wyke-crossing-to-templecombe-incl.html https://www.kentrail.org.uk/yeovil_junction 2.htm https://www.kentrail.org.uk/Crewkerne.htm http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/chard-juntion.html http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/beyond-honiton-to-chard-jct-excl.html https://www.flickr.com/photos/lickeybanker/11097340325 https://www.kentrail.org.uk/exeter_st_davids_8.htm https://www.flickr.com/photos/68347154@N05/14742318599/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/128627782@N05/15623551955 https://mark5812.smugmug.com/UKpicturesclassorder/Class-47-7-Original/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/37190-dalzell/11289897855 https://www.flickr.com/photos/64518788@N05/40984448662 http://www.johndarm.clara.net/GBphots91.html https://class37-growlers.weebly.com/class-372.html https://www.flickr.com/photos/markcarter/5683293640 https://www.flickr.com/photos/dwbphotos/41540147994 http://www.yeovilrailway.freeservers.com/251020.html https://www.hattons.co.uk/directory/vehicledetails/1549954/hea_hba_coal_hopper https://esngblog.com/2023/05/20/redhill-1990-2/ https://www.mattypsrailwaypics.com/class-159.html https://www.flickr.com/photos/treflyn/2880412208 http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/exmouth-junction-to-honiton.html https://twitter.com/beeranddiesels/status/990967535167262720 http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.o...n-3rd-april-1992-photographs-by-andrew-triggs
I've Decided to return to this suggestion in order to increase it's general appeal. While I haven't extended the route in any way, I've taken a page out of Just Trains' book and added more livery variants to some of the available locos, specifically the Class 50, 47/7 & 37/0. The suggestion has already been edited with the new liveries, but I'll use this post to just run down what they are. It should be mentioned before beginning that all of these liveries are appropriate for this route and did show up at some point around the chosen time period. So without further ado, here are the new liveries. BR Class 50 So in the original suggestion, I had it just come in the Network SouthEast livery, now I have added a BR Large Logo Blue livery, which is probably the more iconic livery for this loco. BR Class 47/7 Like the 50, this is originally just in NSE colours, now I have added two additional livery variants. One in the Red & Black Parcels livery with NSE logos on the front. …and the other is in literal ex-ScotRail livery (and a heavily weathered one at that) Seems strange I know, but you have to remember that these were Ex-ScotRail locos that were moved down south, and some hadn't yet been painted into NSE colours (even if it was just a handful at best). BR Class 37/0 This loco was originally just the BR 'Dutch' Civil Engineers livery, but like the 47/7, I have now added two additional liveries. But before that, I was able to find a better image of the 37 variant that I want for this route, which is the loco without the front high-intensity lamp. Onto the new liveries, the first in the bog standard BR Blue, which I'm surprised we haven't had yet for a Class 37. The other is a variation for the Trainload livery that we saw on Tees Valley, this time it's the Trainload Coal livery (but obviously, the loco variant here is vastly different from the one on Tees Valley). So that's all the new livery variants, and to be honest, I'm much happier about this suggestion than I was before. I way already quite pleased with this suggestion, but I also felt like something was missing, something that could really take this suggestion to the next level and this splash of colour was just what this suggestion needed, really added some great variety while also staying true and feeling appropriate for what was actually running around on this route at the time. Image Sources https://www.flickr.com/photos/128627782@N05/15623551955 https://www.flickr.com/photos/37190-dalzell/11289897855 https://www.flickr.com/photos/64518788@N05/40984448662 https://class37-growlers.weebly.com/class-372.html https://www.flickr.com/photos/markcarter/5683293640 https://www.flickr.com/photos/dwbphotos/41540147994
Great suggestion, I think this region needs represented in TSW and there is no better way to do that by doing a BR era route on the WoE Lots of rolling stock choice as well, that will get (insert DTG/third-party developer here) thinking about what trains to include in this route as standard and what to include as DLC
Ngl id much prefer a modern version of this all the good routes are in the olden days however I do like this route basingstoke to exeter was defo my favourite part of my journey from london
Yes to the route but no to the era. I would do it in the 70s with blue cromptons and blue warships with mk1s
From my experience between salisbury and exeter u dont really see many trains passing i think its 1 or 2 besides a 158 at salisbury
Instantly thought of this video when I saw the title - Class 50, same time period, same route.. a valuable resource for whoever plans to build this route Incase the video doesn’t load: search ‘Class 50 Cab Ride Exeter St. David’s to Salisbury’ on YouTube.
