https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Highland_Line Source of many photos/also a great knowledge base: https://westhighlandline.org.uk/ I would like to suggest one of the most beautiful and scenic routes in Scotland, the West Highland Line, to be more precise the very northern part between Mallaig and Fort William. To quote some titles of videos linked below, "the MOST BEAUTIFUL train trip on earth" - ScotRail "Scotland's most picturesque railway journey" - National Rail Please bare with me if some facts are incorrect, I'm not a resident nor even from the UK. Feel free to correct me or add. Why this route? I think we're missing a scenic small diesel branch line - up to the newest standard of ToD4 - in Train Sim World in the United Kingdom, not always mainlines. Something like an english counterpart to the Niddertalbahn DLC. The route runs along the beautiful and stunning landscape of the West Highlands in Scotland, along mountains, lakes and over the world famous Glenfinnan viaduct. Apart of diesel services, there is also the Jacobite steam engine which has 2 daily services in summer. This makes the route outstanding and unique IMHO. Let me show you some more details. Location: Scotland (West Highlands) Section West Highland Line: Northern branch Operators: ScotRail / Abellio, West Coast Railways (Jacobite steam enigne) Type: Primarily passenger, but freight due to the Papermill sidings at Corpach and the smelter in Fort William Length: 41 miles (66 km) Maximum speed: 70 mph Number of Tracks: Single-track, standard-gauge Number of Stations: 11 List of stations: 1.) Mallaig 2.) Morar 3.) Arisaig 4.) Beasdale 5.) Lochailort 6.) Glenfinnan 7.) Locheilside 8.) Loch Eil Outward Bound 9.) Corpach 10.) Banavie 11.) Fort William The famous Glenfinnan viaduct, known from television or movies like the Harry Potter franchise. Its also represented in the videogame Forza Horizon 4. At the Loch Eil River Rolling Stock: Class 153 (Highland Explorer version) / ScotRail Class 156 (ScotRail) The Jacobite steam engine (2 daily services in summer) - operator: West Coast Railways Cab rides and other videos Thanks for reading.
Needs to be set back in the 70’s or early 80’s with Class 27 (maybe the transition to 37’s) loco hauled everything. Also plenty of freight at that time in the Fort William area and around Corpach. Main issue as always with this route, regardless of era and the beautiful scenery is that the timetable is very sparse, four trains a day each way excluding specials Fort William to Mallaig so replay value could get limited.
That the timetable is so sparse is the main reason why this route is unlikely to come into the game, unfortunately. I know its highly controversial, but the real life timetable might could get altered in the virtual replication or they could provide one real life timetable and one more dense timetable to make the route more attractive. Not the best solution indeed, but if only 3 or 4 services a day is a death sentence in regard to LAMPOIL, it seems kind of a last resort for the idea to bring such routes into Train Sim World.
