tl;dr: A Diesel-only railway with shunting as part of passenger services, tilting trains and many industries along the line still being served by local freight trains The Regensburg - Weiden railway is a ~87 km double-track main-line railway, which is not electrified. It has a maximum speed of 140 km/h (160 km/h with tilting) and mostly runs along/near two rivers: The Regen between Regensburg and Regenstauf and the Naab between (just north of) Maxhütte-Haidhof and Weiden. This means it's relatively flat. Starting point in the South would be Regensburg Hbf as well as Regensburg Ost. Passenger trains start at Regensburg Hbf exclusively, while freight trains may mostly start at Regensburg Ost. At the northern end Weiden is a passenger and freight station. Pictures and descriptions of the route can be found at http://bahnrelikte.net/strecken/5860.php There are also two additional lines I would suggest, which would improve the options for services on the route: Nürnberg Hbf - Irrenlohe railway on the section Amberg to Irrenlohe, which is around 20 km of single track main-line railway and would create a longer service on the 612 as well as a several short ones between Amberg and Schwandorf. Maxhütte-Haidhof - Burglengenfeld is a 6 km branch line, which is nowadays only used by freight trains. There are three companies for local freight on this branch. Passenger trains RE 40: Nürnberg Hbf - Regensburg Hbf via Amberg and Schwandorf. Runs every hour (every 30 minutes during peak hours), but terminates at Schwandorf every other hour. Uses BR 612 with GNT (ZUB122. ZUB262) over the whole section. RB 23: Regensburg Hbf - Marktredwitz via Schwandorf, Weiden stopping at every station. Currently run by Oberpfalzbahn using LINT 41 (1648), but could be substituted with 642 since Vogtlandbahn used those until 2014. There are two interesting options when it comes to the recent years on this line: Since 2024 the bi-hourly RE 2 and RE 25 have been split, previously these ran as the same train up to Schwandorf and were divided there with the RE 2 continuing to Hof (via Weiden) and the RE 25 continuing to Praha hl.n. (via Furth im Wald). RE 2: München Hbf - Regensburg Hbf - Hof Hbf. Since 2024 operated by DB Regio using BR 218 + Dosto. They are changing locos in Regensburg Hbf from mostly BR 146 (sometimes also 111) to or from Diesel traction. Sometimes the configuration is a bit weird with the control car right behind the locomotive. Before 2024 this was part of the Alex using a BR 223 (Siemens ER20) with old long distance carriages and usually a single Dosto. They changed locos in Regensburg as well to/from BR 182. RE 25: München Hbf - Regensburg Hbf - Praha hl.n. This is still an Alex train today, which is still doing the loco change at Regensburg Hbf as mentioned above. In order to get to Prague, they also have to change directions at Schwandorf, which means another loco change/loco running to the other end of the train. Before 2024 this procedure was more complex because RE 2 and RE 25 were divided there. Here are some videos about the dividing in Schwandorf: Freight trains While freight traffic on this railway is not as dense as it may be on others, there are freight trains running the entire length, mostly using BR 232 or Class 66. More importantly though, there are still many industries with sidings and spurs. Walhalla Kalk (lime and concrete) at Regensburg Walhallastraße Regensburg Wutzlhofen On Maxhütte-Haidhof - Burglengenfeld: TD Haidhof (Metal scrap recycling), Läpple (Metal processing), Zementwerk Burglengenfeld (lime). These could also be picked up in Maxhütte-Haidhof Schwandorf: Schwellenwerk (railway sleepers), Nabaltec (chemical products) Schwarzenfeld: Buchtal (clay, ceramic) Nabburg: Fluorchemie Stulln (chemical products) These create traffic with local freight trains. In Schwandorf there is also a lot of shunting with freight. Cab views Regensburg towards Weiden Weiden towars Regensburg (timetamp starting at Weiden) https://youtu.be/RFhNdXof-y4?t=3512 Regensburg towards Weiden (timetamp starting at Regensburg Ost) https://youtu.be/Al5uvsEDqZM?t=5395 Regensburg towards Amberg https://youtu.be/oT_hvN_9Zwk Turning this into a DLC For a new loco to include it depends where the focus should lie and what the progress on the 232 by TSG is. As a new loco either the 232 (mostly freight) or a 223 (Alex and freight) could be included. If the 232 is sold separately or not done yet, it could be used as a substitute with the 223 being used for freight trains. A 223 could also be used for potential future Austrian routes (ÖBB Hercules). For passenger services the existing 612 and 642 could be included (no new development, potentially one reskin). The 642 could also be a layer. Local freight trains could be pulled by 204 (this has been very under-utilised so far), while shunting or short distance trains could be taken over by the G6 or 363. As a layer there could be the new RE 2 consisting of 218 and Dostos, creating additional passenger services between Regensburg and Weiden. The Class 66 from many UK DLCs could also be used as substitution for freight trains (Bonus points if there's a version with German safety systems)
Same here brother. I'm very picky with my DMUs/Locos. But German Diesels seem to have a specific charm to them.
