Washington, DC to Charlottesville, VA The route from Washington to Charlottesville would in my opinion make an excellent second US route for Train Sim World. Starting at Union Station in Washington, the route travels through the First Street Tunnel to the CSX RF&P Subdivision as far as Alexandria. From Alexandria, the route continues via the Norfolk Southern Washington District to Charlottesville. There is also the possibility of adding the first Class III railroad to Train Sim World, the Buckingham Branch Railroad. The Buckingham Branch Railroad's North Mountain Subdivision diverges from the NS Washington District at Orange before travelling to Charlottesville on a separate route to the main line. As well as the numerous freight trains that operate along this route, Amtrak operates three services, the Cardinal, Crescent and Northeast Regional along this route as well as the Virginia Rail Express Manassas line. Locomotives Amtrak P42DC The P42DC is used by Amtrak on all three passenger services, the Cardinal, Crescent and Northeast Regional. This would allow for long-distance passenger services on this route. Virginia Rail Express MP36PH-3C The Virginia Rail Express operates along this route as far as Broad Run, the terminus of the Manassas line. A fleet of MP36PH-3C operates the commuter service along this route. CSX/NS Locomotives CSX Transportation runs the RF&P Subdivision from Washington to Alexandria. The locomotives from CSX Heavy Haul could be re-used for this section of the route. Also, the GP38-2 and SD40-2 could be repainted into Norfolk Southern Livery as well as the addition of a Dash 9-40CW or other locomotive run by Norfolk Southern. Buckingham Branch Railroad The Buckingham Branch Railroad operates a small fleet of locomotives along its routes including the North Mountain Subdivision. This fleet includes locomotives such as the GP16, pictured above, and the GP40 which could be featured as part of this route. Conclusion The route from Washington to Charlottesville would bring a variety of traction and operators to Train Sim World including Amtrak, Virginia Rail Express, Norfolk Southern & the Buckingham Branch Railroad. This will create a much greater variety of locomotives and services than previous routes for Train Sim World such as the Sand Patch Grade route, which only featured one railroad.
Oh yes. Please. I do think, however, they'd split this into 2-3 separate parts (DLCs due to their current trend with route making lengths and still early on in the game's lifespan), since the route itself, is ~116 miles in all. Would be a great addition to the game though.
I think the full Virginia Railway Express Manassas Line Washington, D.C. to Bristow, VA can work as one route and have the focus of it be Virginia Railway Express commuter trains and Norfolk Southern local freights. Then have Norfolk Southern's B Line from Manassas, VA to at least Front Royal, VA sold as an extension for it and have the Norfolk & Western J Class #611 included in the extension with the Norfolk Southern executive train passenger cars. I've ridden this route from Washington to Manassas and vice versa and even though it's 33 miles or so between those two cities, even if you ride Amtrak (which I did), it takes a long time, about an hour, to go from one end to the other. I rode two 611 excursions from Manassas to Front Royal and while that route is a freight-only route these days for revenue trains, it is still awesome for steam excursions.