Main Spessart Bahn. It's a route which, due to it's age, lacks a lot. It's set on a steep railway, so can be interesting operationally, and covers the middle of the line between Gemünden and Aschaffenburg - the latter being shared with the much more recent Maintalbahn Route. However, looking at the bigger picture, the entire Main Spessart Bahn, (or, Würzburg - Aschaffenburg Railway), runs from Würzburg to Aschaffenburg, before continuing as the Frankfurt Süd - Aschaffenburg Railway. Those are a lot of familiar sounding names, with Frankfurt Süd (and the line as far as Hanau) being introduced with the Frankfurt - Fulda route and Würzburg with the Kassel - Würzburg route. But, if extended to meet the KWG route at Würzburg, and Kinzigtalbahn at Hanau, this route would offer a network of four routes, a roughly 105-km route over the Spessart hills. The Route: Eastern Extension At the east, running from Gemünden to Würzburg, would be a 37km extention, with 9 new stations, and a few yards. Running west, from Würzburg Hbf, let's take a look at what's here: Würzburg Hbf A familiar sight to anyone who has the KWG route, Würzburg is a major hub for trains running through this part of northern Bavaria - sitting on the MSB route towards Frankfurt, the High-Speed line to Kassel, Hannover and the north, and other lines towards Munich. Würzburg-Zell Würzburg-Zell is an island, with two bypassing tracks. The station is also adjacent to a number of sidings, and a marshalling yard. Würzburg Rbf The much larger Würzburg Rbf (Marshalling Yard) sits to the north of the station, directly south of the Kassel-Würzburg Line, with it's northern end running below the High-Speed bridge. Veitshöchheim A two-platform station, again with bypassing tracks. The exit from Würzburg Rbf is adjacent to this station. Thüngersheim The beginning of the lovely section running along the River Main, winding alongside it's path. The other stations along this section are: Retzbach-Zellingen Himmelstadt Karlstadt (Main) After Karlstadt, there's around 10km of nothing until you reach Wernfeld (Hp) station, after which you curve around to Gemünden, the start of the section we know already. The High-Speed section At Gemünden, there is a high-speed curve connecting the MSB to the High-Speed Line, bypassing the aforementioned regional route. With the High-Speed line from this point towards Würzburg being represented in KWG, it would be quite an obvious addition, and allow for ICE trains to stretch their legs at the start/end of a service along the MSB. Otherwise, ICE services would end at Aschaffenburg. The Remaster The existing route - Gemünden to Aschaffenburg - would be a case of a remaster up to TOD4 standards, ideally with scenery improvements, too. The Western Extension The route in the west, unlike the Eastern Extension, is a much straighter route - not winding through a river valley, but instead powering north towards Hanau. The stations are as follows (from Aschaffenburg to Hanau)-: Kleinostheim Rückersbacher Schlucht Dettingen (Main) Kahl (Main) Großkrotzenburg Großauheim (Kr Hanau) Hanau This extension runs for about 20.3 km, serving the seven stations above, with speeds of up to 160km. Overall, the route comes up to 100km mark, bringing together the other routes in the region in a four-piece network: Green - New MSB route Orange - Existing MSB route Red - Other existing routes. Green/Red - New MSB route shared with existing route (KWG) Loco DLC/Included: DB BR 440 The DB BR 440 (Alston Coradia) is used by DB and State operators across Germany, and features on a number of routes, both in MSB, but across the TSW back catalogue. Main Spessart Bahn On the MSB route, there are services run by DB Regio Bayern, as well as the Hesse State Railway. The routes operated, in relevance to the MSB in this suggestion, is stated. DB Bayern: RB53: Würzburg - Gemünden RB79: Aschaffenburg - Gemünden (-Würzburg) Hesse State Railway: RB58: Hanau - Laufach Other Routes: Bremen-Oldenburg: S3: Bremen - Oldenburg S4: Bremen - Hude Dresden-Chemnitz RE3: Dresden-Chemnitz RB30: Dresden-Chemnitz Rhein Ruhr Osten S8: Wuppertal - Hagen (limited) Hauptstrecke Rhein-Ruhr RB33: Duisburg - Essen Kinzigtalbahn: Frankfurt - Fulda RB58: Frankfurt Süd - Hanau AI Appearances Additionally, non-playable AI could be found at: Aachen Hbf, Köln Hbf (SKA) Aschaffenburg Hbf (Maintalbahn) Bremen Hbf (BRO) Dresden Hbf, Riesa (DRA) Frankfurt Süd, Hanau (Frankfurt - Fulda) Hanau, Würzburg (This Route) Hagen Hbf (RSN) Mannheim Hbf, Kaiserlautern Hbf (Ludwigsbahn) Münich Hbf (HMA) Wuppertal Hbf (RRO) Würzburg Hbf (KWG) All-in all, it's a heavily prevelant train at Würzburg, which runs along both of the new sections of the route proposed. Sure, it's another EMU but it feels like a while since (ignoring ICEs) we've had one. And, with the ability to add to basically every modern-era German route, it feels like a DLC which could earn it's money's worth, especially for those with large German Route Collections. With that in mind, let's move onto the timetable and layers. Layers Meeting with three other routes means that layers for their trains would be quite an obvious move, so, the list would likely be: BR 401 ICE 1 (KWG) BR 403 ICE 3 (KWG, or SKA) BR 411 ICE-T (Frankfurt) DB BR 193 Vectron (Frankfurt) FT BR 193 Vectron (Flixtrain Vectron DLC) BR 101 (BR 101 DLC) BR 423 (Frankfurt) BR 114 (Frankfurt) BR 642 (Maintalbahn) BR 363 (Maintalbahn, DCZ or DRA) BR 204 (Standalone DLC) Services: ICE ICE 41 - ICE 3 ICE 41 is the primary ICE service along this line, running from Essen (sometimes Dortmund) to Munich (sometimes Garmisch-Partenkirchen). It runs between Würzburg and Hanau along this route; with Aschaffenburg being it's only intermediate stop. On a personal note - this service is the only ICE I've ever been on, and the only time I've been on the MSB, hence my interest in this route. ICE 91 - ICE T ICE 91 also runs along this route, although usually without stopping on the way. The route runs from Dortmund to Vienna, doing the TSW Tour as it runs along either HRR or RRO, then along Linke Rhinestrecke (no time travel involved), Frankfurt - Fulda, before ending up on this line. Trains usually run between Hanau and Würzburg directly, but occasional stops at Aschaffenburg do exist. Flixtrain Flixtrain operate services along the route, along their Munich - Frankfurt route (which also runs along the HMA route). This service stops at Würzburg, Aschaffenburg and Hanau. Intercity Intercity services run along the line although I can't find much. Regional RB53: (Bamberg-) Würzburg - Gemunden (-Jossa) DB BR 440 | Hourly RE 54: (Bamberg-) Würzburg - Aschaffenburg - Hanau (-Frankfurt) DB 146 + Dostos | Every two Hours RE 55: Würzburg - Aschaffenburg - Hanau (- Frankfurt) DB 146 + Dostos | Every two Hours RE 56: (Bamberg-) Aschaffenburg - Hanau (-Frankfurt) DB 146 + Dostos | Twice a day (Weekends) RB 56: Hanau - Kahl (-Schöllkrippen) DB BR 642 (Layer) | Hourly RB 58: (Rüsselsheim-) Hanau - Aschaffenburg - Laufach DB 440 | Hourly RB 59: (Frankfurt Airport-) Hanau - Aschaffenburg DB 440 | a few trains RB 79: Aschaffenburg - Gemünden (-Würzburg, occasionally) DB 440 | a few trains Freight With the addition of the new yards at Würzburg, and extra track towards Hanau, there are opportunities aplenty for freight. MSB includes the DB 185.2 for this. AI Services Making use of various layers, native stock, and so forth, AI layers are very prevalent at the main stations - Hanau, Aschaffenburg and Würzburg. ICE services and Regional services to destinations further afield appear at the former and latter, while Aschaffenburg collects a number of regional services. Route Hopping This route would offer route hopping at: - Aschaffenburg (with Maintalbahn) - Hanau (with Frankfurt - Fulda) - Würzburg (with Kassel - Würzburg) There could also be a loosely-justified hop between Niddertalbahn and this route at Hanau - connecting to Nidderau. Conclusion As is the case with most TSW2020 routes - Dovetail pushed the boat out with ideas but, with a combination of inexperience, a lack of a collection of rolling stock (which we have now), and the improved standards we have now, leave MSB feeling left behind. So, this is my proposal to overhaul it. I'm not suggesting a WSR or Cathcart-style remaster, to be clear - I'm suggesting a LIRR-style "2.0" DLC which is distinct from the original, with a new train (the 440) being included, making use of layers, and improving the DLC from it's original state. This route would run through some brilliant scenery and ultimately would create the largest multi-route network we have in the game - beating the Los Angeles trio. So, yeah, that's all I have to say; I've made my case for why MSB should be given a new lease of life. Hopefully this suggestion has convinced you to also dream of a virtual trip from Kassel to Frankfurt via the Spessart Hills, as i have. Take care. Thanks.
I genuinely wish, hope that this suggestion will come to reality considering just how much potential MSB has. It desperately needs a facelift since it's been through 4 (Soon to be 5) games.
I'd love to see this route upgrade come to tsw, however, in addition to what you wanted to add I'd also like to see the branch line Kahl(Main) to Schöllkrippen as to make the route not as linear as it was before.
I'd really love this, but Br440? That train is just so ugly, uncomfortable, slow, It could be a small Addon. I know it drives alot in this Area but if there comes an extension, the Br445 has to be in it. Its beautiful, the sound could be very easily just taken from the Br442, and it can be used in other Routes too.
Yes, this route would be such a good addition, especially as it would add to a Network of all the routes in the area. Just a small correction: The NRW services of the 440 are actually run by the 1440, which has a different front and cab layout.
