Moin, TSW so far as covered a wide variety of styles of routes, from historic to modern, from fast streamlined commuter systems to heavy freight operations. So, why not have something very different once again? Namely, (almost) the bottom end of the rail transport spectrum in the form of a lightrail route. Only which one? Well, one that comes to mind is that of Düsseldorf, Germany, which is on the one hand your typical run-of-the-mill lightrail system, but nonetheless, thanks to serving the capital of North Rhine Westphalia (the heart of light rail transport in Germany if you will), still has a few fancy and above average infrastructure. The majority of the network is operated by Rheinbahn, Düsseldorf's public provider, while line U79 is run by Rheinbahn in cooperation with DVG of Duisburg, Düsseldorf's post-industrial hellhole neighbouring city to the north. The entire network would clearly be to much to ask, or even suggest, but the sections I've chosen here might be just so doable: First, line U79. The longest one of the network, connecting Düsseldorf and Duisburg as mentioned before. With the length comes a good amount in variety of scenery, from the urban centers of the two cities to the rural area between. Line U78 shares the majority of its routing with U79, branching off in the north of Düsseldorf to the impressive Arena/Messe terminal. A depot/service yard would be nice to have as well of course, and that's where line U75 comes in. The depot at Handweiser on the Neuss branch is where Rheinbahn sores and maintains their fleet of lightrail vehicles. While there is another depot located at Duisburg-Grunewald right on the U79, this is used exclusively by the DVG. Another company, another license... But back to the Neuss line. Once we've branched off from the main focus of this route anyway, we can as well add the section to Lörick and Seestern, where U70, U74, U76 and U77 run. A lot of lines, so by adding these handful of stations to the mix we would drasticly improve the replayability of this hypothetical DLC, and also allow for better utilisation of the not exactly simple scenery required here, including a massive cable stayed bridge across the River Rhine. One interesting detail from a driver's point of view would be, that the doors would not only have to be opened on the correct side of the train, but also the position of the folding stairs would need to be selected in accordance with each station - high-floor platform, or low-floor platform. This lightrail system is an upgraded tramway after all, and you can still tell that from the infrastructure at some places. General Location: Germany Era: Modern-ish. Length end to end: 38 km (U79) +9 km (U75 Nordstraße - Neuss Hbf) +2,7 km (U70/74/76/77) Belsenplatz-Lörick) +1,5 km (U78 Messe Nord) +0,5km (U77 Am Seestern) Length overall: 52 km / 32 miles max speed: 80 km/h / 50 mph # of passenger stations: 74 Service types: Light Rail # of tracks: 2-4 Electrified: OHLE Lines included at least partially: U79 (Düsseldorf Uni Ost - Duisburg-Meiderich Bf) U78 (Düsseldorf Hbf - Arena/Messe Nord) U75 (Handelszentrum - Neuss Hbf) U74 (Wersten - Lörick) U70/76 (Düsseldorf Hbf - Lörick) U77 (Wersten - Am Seestern) Suitable vehicles: Rheinbahn B80D (4200 series) (all lines) Rheinbahn B80D (4000 series) (all lines) Rheinbahn GT8SU (Line U75) DVG B80C (Line U79) Spoiler: Maps Maps Key Locations Uni Ost Düsseldorf Hbf - all downtown Düsseldorf Station share the same style and architecure. Arena/Messe Nord Neuss Hbf Duisburg Hbf Meiderich Bf Lörick Further Impressions Freiligrathplatz Belsenplatz Theodor-Heuss-Brücke Wittlaer Grunewald Luegplatz Oberbilker Markt - all Southern Düsseldorf Stations share the same architecture Waldfriedhof Kesselsberg Neuss-Am Kaiser Greetings, Mike. PS: In case there are any really old school trainsimmers out here, the U79/U78 is available as a freeware add on for TS2001/MSTS, if you want to take a more detailed look at what you'd get with this.
Addendum: Vehicles The vehicles for this route would be a novum for TSW as well of course. Rheinbahn B80D, 4000 series The original LRV of the Rheinbahn. Only few of these were built, and it would be perfectly fine to omit them in the DLC, as they are fairly similar to the 4200 series (see below) anyway: Rheinbahn B80D, 4200 series Now, these are by far the most common type of LRV operating on all of Düsseldorf's lightrail lines. A bit more modern than the 4000, made of aluminum instead of steel. The interior There's also a newer livery for these: All lightrail lines are typically operated with two-car trains, the only exception being the U78, which sometimes - namley during major events at the Düsseldorf trade fair (Messe) - uses three-car trains. Rheinbahn GT8SU These started their lives as tram cars rather than LRVs. A thorough modernisation over the last few years has turned them in to this rather questionable design: DVG B80C, 4700 series These are in many ways identid to Rheinbahn's 4000 series. They are Duiburg's contribution to the U79, owned and operated by DVG instead of Rheinbahn, and therefore would most likely require a second licensing agreement.
