Get ready for a very chunky and big suggestion! Introduction Hello! Today I am suggesting the roughly 90 mile route of South Wales from Bristol (Parkway & Meads) to Swansea, via the mainline and going under the 4 mile Severn Tunnel. I would mainly suggest it for the modern period and same as the Cardiff City Network. Reasoning will be later on. Rough route map: Swansea - Bristol Temple Meads & Bristol Parkway ^(Not to Swindon)^ ^(West = Swansea, South = Cardiff, East = Bristol)^ The route and stations: The South Wales Mainline is a key route for services to Swansea & Cardiff to England. It has many important stations such as Bristol Temple Meads & Parkway, Newport, Cardiff Central, Bridgend & Swansea. There are 21 stations on the network and around 85 miles of track. Fastest routes take around 1hr 30 and just under 2 hours for slow services. Principle Stations: Bristol Temple Meads Temple Meads is home to Great Western and Cross Country services from London, Wales to / from the South-West. It has an impressive 13 platforms. Bristol Parkway Parkway station is just north of Temple Meads and acts as an alternative from Temple Meads with services from London to Wales avoiding Temple Meads. It has 4 platforms. Severn Tunnel The Severn Tunnel connects England and Wales under the Severn River in an impressive 4 mile tunnel and has saved time from trains going around Gloucester above the river. Crossing into Wales... Newport Newport is the 2nd most busiest station in Wales, after Cardiff Central and has 4 platforms where Great Western, Cross Country and Transport for Wales services call at. Cardiff Central Cardiff Central is the most busiest station in Wales, was originally built by Great Western Railway. Its home to 8 platforms and through tracks for freight services. It serves GWR, XC and TFW. Bridgend Bridgend is after Cardiff on the way to Swansea, Its served by Transport for Wales with some GWR services to Swansea & London Paddington. It has 2 through platforms and 2 terminus platforms for TfW valley services. Swansea Swansea is the terminus for GWR Services from Paddington. It is the 3rd most busiest station in 2024 after Cardiff Central & Newport. It has 4 platforms and hosts many services to the West Wales Lines. There are plenty of other stations on the route that are not as important, totalling to 21 stations in total across the route. In order from Bristol to Swansea: Bristol Temple Meads Lawrence Hill Stapleton Road Ashley Down Bristol Parkway Patchway Pilning Severn Tunnel Junction Newport Cardiff Central Pontydun Llanharan Pencoed Bridgend Pyle Port Talbot Parkway Baglan Briton Ferry Neath Skewen Swansea There are a few train depots available on the route: Bristol Barton Hill TMD Located right outside of Temple Meads on the way to Swansea, left side of the track from Temple Meads up to Wales. Stoke Gifford Depot One of Hitachi's important depots in the West of England and located on the junction outside of Bristol Parkway. Cardiff Canton TMD Located just West of Cardiff Central on the way to Swansea. It is home to the TfW fleet and some GWR services. Swansea Maliphant / Hitachi Depot Located just outside of Swansea, it is another Hitachi depot and houses GWR's class 80x fleet. Now onto the trains... There are plenty of trains that can be put onto the route, both GWR and TfW share a good amount of network and are both important. Great Western Railway Of course everyone knows about the licensing issues with GWR but with the nationlisation process it'll be a little bit easier to get GWR trains soon (hopefully). Class 800 The Class 800 will be doing the main bulk of GWR services on the route, with services from Swansea & Cardiff Central to London Paddington & Bristol Temple Meads - (to the West Country) Class 166 The Class 166 can be re-cycled from GWE and will be used for plenty of regional services from Cardiff Central to Bristol Temple Meads. Class 43 The HST Castle Class sets will be doing many Semi-Fast services from Cardiff Central to Bristol Temple Meads - (to Penzance) and can be re-cycled from GWE. These could be used instead of the Class 800 if the developer doesn't make the 800. There are many other trains like the Class 158 for GWR. Transport for Wales There are plenty of TfW trains that could be used for this section and some better than others. Of course the MK4 Sets with Class 67s & DVT would be nice but it wouldn't fit with this route and won't have a good distance to travel. Class 150/2 This train can easily be re-used from Cardiff City network. It will take up the chunk of services from Cardiff to Swansea and other destinations. Depending on the Era, we could have the Class 197 or the Class 175. Class 197 The (fairly) new class 197 trains will be taking up services like the Class 150/2 and will also be used on services to Severn Tunnel Junction (North of Severn as AI) and Swansea for other destinations. Class 175 The Class 175 trains will take the same services like the Class 197 between Swansea and Cardiff and up to Severn Tunnel Junction (North of Severn as AI) AI Trains Layers There are many AI Trains that could be used for this route. Such trains could be: Class 153 on the Valley lines Class 387 on London - Cardiff services (would be used from the GWE remaster) There would of course be AI trains at Bristol Temple meads that would go from London to the Southwest, and Swansea AI trains to West Wales lines. As said there would be many Valley line services to. Potential Freight Services So far I have talked about all Passenger services only, but there are many Freight trains that go on this line, and many yards too. Yards Margam Knuckle Yard The Margam Knuckle Yard is a massive Freight Yard. It is located just south of Port Talbot Parkway and operates many freight services out of Wales. It has many different industries and is one of the busiest in Wales. The Yard is operated by DB Cargo. Barry Docks is a Yard south of Cardiff but the distance would be too far and this route is already quite long, so I have decided not to add it on. Wentloog Freight Yard Wentloog Freight Yard, or Freightliner Cardiff is a freight yard East of Cardiff on the long straight between Cardiff and Newport. It is another crucial yard for services in Wales. The Yard is operated by Freightliner. Maesglas Road Yard Maesglas Freight Yard is located in the centre of Newport, right next to the mainline and just south of Newport heading to Cardiff. It serves the industrial yards in Newport. The Yard is operated by DB Cargo. Avonmouth Docks Avonmouth Docks is located North West of Bristol Temple Meads. It has access from the mainline via the Junction near Bristol Parkway. The Line to here is double track and has many freight services coming here. Freight Trains A new freight train would be nice for this route, but a class 66 would be very fitting, and as there are plenty services I think the class 66 would need to be included in the route. There would be both DB Cargo / EWS, and Freightliner operators. Guard Mode The Guard Mode will be utilised on mainly all passenger services, like the long runs from Swansea to Bristol and busy stoppers with lots of passengers and tickets to check. Scenarios There could be endless Scenarios but for this i have suggested 1 Freight Scenario, 2 Passenger Scenarios and a Scenario for both Freight & Passenger. Freight & Passenger Scenario Time: 1H 20 Minutes Difficulty: 3/4 Featured Trains: 66 & 800 Description: A GWR Service has broken down near Bridgend Station. Head to the station and couple to the train and drag it along to the Hitachi Yard near Bristol whilst being held up by traffic passing. Passenger Scenario 1 Time: 1H 30 Minutes Difficulty: 2 Featured Trains: 800 Description: Broken Electrification after Newport has resulted in services being cancelled. Drive this train to Newport from Swansea whilst being on Diesel all the way before terminating at Newport and going empty to Cardiff Canton TMD Passenger Scenario 2 Time: 50 - 60 Minutes Difficulty: 3 Featured Trains: 197 Description: High winds have caused foliage near Bridgend to fall onto the track and make it unuseable. Drive this train from Swansea to Port Talbot Parkway and go back to Swansea whilst trying to counter-act the storm. Freight Scenario 1 Time: 1H Difficulty: 2 Featured Trains: 66 Description: A broken Freight train has just occured outside of Cardiff Central. Drive this empty local from Maesglas Road to Cardiff Central where you will couple to the broken down train and continue the route to Margam Knuckle Yard. Okay but why have I suggested this route then? The South Wales Mainline is a massive route and is a very challenging route to make, with long distances and many stations, yards and scenery. I would love to see this whole route for plenty of reasons: - Huge amount of services, both Passenger & Freight. There would be a massive timetable and places like Cardiff Central & Bristol will be packed loads of times. - Route Hopping. This will be a good use of the route hopping feature in TSW to Cardiff City Network and this will utilise it very well. Allowing us to do long runs then switching to the Valley lines. - Good opportunities for future routes. What I mean by this is using the trains like 197s for future TfW route, or route hopping like a Bristol to Exeter route. - Scenarios are a good variety and interesting (personally), there is a good mix of scenarios and Scenarios featured from other routes. - There is something for everyone, whether it is Freight Services, Long Distance runs, Stopper services, Riding trains, Trainspotting, this route has it all. - Good utilisation of Guard Mode. The mode will be used very well and have a wide range of opportunities. The Gameplay on this route is massive as said above and would provide with plenty of hours if this route is done right. Trainspotting & Videos Showcasing: Just a few videos to finalise the suggestion. - Credits to Michaels Transportation on Youtube! - Credits to StarlifeStudios for both videos on Youtube! Bit of an older route from the FGW/Arriva Wales era, but showcasing Cardiff to Swansea: - Credits to Railmart on Youtube! Overall: This is a big route and I won't be surprised if it isn't all included, but it would absolutely great if it was made. The gameplay is tremendous and loads of stuff is here to do. I've had my say now, but what is yours? Would you like to see this and do you have any ways I can add to my suggestion or change? Thank you for reading this chunky suggestion and hope you have a great day!
You weren't kidding. Chunky indeed, but a good read. Love the idea, would tie in with the Cardiff route well. To add my thoughts, a 175 over the 197 would be preferable as the main. The 197 could be a DLC. That way, we could have it set in a sort of transition era between the two.
Honestly I did not think of the idea of a DLC add-on! As said earlier the 175 could be used instead of a 197. That would be great to have both of them.
Newport or Cardiff to Swansea might be a possibility but Swindon to Swansea probably too long for a DLC.
Yeah but I said not to Swindon but to Bristol instead, it's still long but that's why I did say I don't expect it all.
After some reconsideration and reviewing my suggestion, I think that a Newport to Swansea would be a more liveable length, at 60 miles compared to 90 miles originally. Services would mainly stay the same and instead terminate at Newport, this wouldn't affect much TfW services but would mean GWR would stop earlier. Freight trains would have to terminate elsewhere and not go to Avonmouth Yard. Overall this would still provide alot of gameplay and make the route a bit easier to make. Long GWR services would take around 1 hour, with Stoppers taking about 1 hour 20 on a full run from Newport to Swansea. This will still provide a good length for services. The stations that would be removed would be Bristol Temple Meads, Lawrence Hill, Stapleton Road, Ashley Down, Bristol Parkway, Patchway, Pilning & Severn Tunnel Junction. Making the route 60 miles and 13 stations. And after reading some reviews above I think Newport to Swansea is a good run and nice variety. Thanks for the comments above and hope more to come! Thanks for reading! I look forward to hearing more suggestions and feedback!
Bristol to Swansea might be best. Then we only require a Reading to Bristol section and a Bristol to Devon section. Lastly it should be linked from somewhere in Devon to St Austell. This almost concludes the GWML.
I really like this suggestion however I believe that this route would have to start in Bristol and possibly terminate at Cardiff or Swansea! I believe it's really important to have two major terminus' together rather than it the map finishing in Newport This would be great fun for small local runs too down from Bristol parkway too & perhaps some local runs to Newport! It would be fun to see this in the game!
