If I want to be perfectly honest, Train Simulator can get boring. No, it is not the trains and not even the core software, which, despite all of its bugs that date back to the first release, is still an enjoyable platform. I'd love to see improvements here and there but it is what it is, let's hope for the best. However, when it comes to content - and I am talking about official, Dovetail Games content only, as Dovetail Games is the father of the platform - there is a lack of variety. After all these years, we are still limited to US, German and UK products and a couple of, 40 km "long" Austrian routes. Again, not taking into consideration other - 3rd party - developers that brought us further Austrian, Canadian, Chinese, Japanese, Slovenian and Swiss routes. Seemingly not much effort was made to feature other countries as well. On the other hand, possibilities, when it comes to continental European (mainline) diesel operations are also lacking We already do have a number of nice European diesel locomotives available, including the powerful Siemens ER20 "Hercules" that is a familiar sight in many continental European railroads, hauling both freight and passenger trains. But where to run them? The problem with diesel operations in Train Simulator is that we have no dedicated, non-electrified railroads available where we could deploy these machines in a realistic setting. While it is quite common in the UK to run diesel trains under the wire, it isn't that widespread in continental Europe. Sure it happens once in a while but it is not the norm. Where there is overhead wire, electric trains are being used most of the time. We need a route where our diesel locomotives can be realistically played. Taking Dovetail Games' ever-shrinking route add-on length policy into account, I would like to suggest a fantastic piece of non-electrified mainline that will solve many of the above "issues" eventually by: - bringing a proper, long enough Austrian route (80 km) that does not start or end in the middle of nowhere but at a big city and proper crew changing points, both end stations featuring a decent, busy freight yard as well as passenger stations (even country borders for the extra fun) - introducing another country (Hungary) to the world of Train Simulator, through its border station at the eastern end of the line (the town of Szentgotthárd). The Hungarian section of the route is only 1.5 km or so yet it opens so many scenario possibilities. - offering a decent, busy non-electrified route for mainline diesel operations, both passenger and freight, locomotive-hauled as well as DMU, also suitable for yard duties and everything in-between - stunning scenery at the rolling foothills of the eastern Alps, along the Raab river valley - unlike the Austrian routes that we currently have this isn't all about sky-high mountains, but more like rolling hills as we travel east - due to the many important stops at the line, short and longer scenarios are also realistically possible - a number of points of interest, including Laßnitzhöhe just east of Graz. Yes, Graz... This route is the Steirische Ostbahn in Austria. Graz-Feldbach-Fehring-Jennersdorf (state border, ÖBB, Austria)-Szentgotthárd (state border, MÁV, Hungary) railway, approximately 80 km long from Graz, Austria all the way to Szentgotthárd in Hungary, just across the border. The route itself is absolutely spectacular, set in the foothills of the eastern Alps. End-to-end it takes about 2 hours of travelling. Starting from the city of Graz (the second largest in Austria with a population over 300,000 at an elevation of 353 m above sea level) leaving the main railway station, the line diverges off to the left (the electrified line runs south towards the Austrian-Slovenian border) and travels in a valley that continuously widens as the train gets closer to the Austrian-Hungarian border at Jennersdor/Szentgotthárd. The first large station is Gleisdorf, with a population of about 10,000 and elevation of 365 m above sea level, featuring a wonderful church, called Marienkirche as well as a relatively large railway station, with many platforms. Both freight and passenger trains do feel home here. An excellent starting or ending point for short scenarios, to or Graz, be it freight or passenger duty, even yard work. At Gleisdorf, the train enters the Raab (Rába in Hungarian) valley and will follow the river all the way down to Szentgotthárd. The next important station is Feldbach, more or less marking the midpoint of the route. Feldbach is also a relatively large town with a population of over 13,000. The town lies at an elevation of 282 m above sea level. Feldbach-Raab train station is busy with both freight and passenger operations, most international trains do stop here. As the train marches on, the next key station is Fehring, at an elevation of only 272 meters and a population of just over 7000. Fehring train station again is of great importance, as most trains do call here and freight trains are also regular visitors. And then eventually the train arrives in Jennersdorf, the border station on the Austrian (ÖBB) side. 242 m above sea level. Although the word "border" somewhat lost its importance compared to what it used to mean before 1990 when the iron curtain separated the two countries, it still is the customs station although trains do not spend much time there unlike before. Although Jennersdorf is the dedicated border station, there is one last train station before the line leaves Austria. Mogersdorf, a small passenger stop (220 m above sea level). The Raab valley is quite wide already, rolling hills on both sides, finally, the train reaches Szentgotthárd, which is the Hungarian (MÁV) side of the border, with a population of around 9000 and a reasonably sized railway station with many platforms. From Szentgotthárd, the international passenger train continues all the way to Budapest. Between Graz and Szentgotthárd, there are international and domestic passenger services, as well as regular freight movements, creating loads of scenario opportunities. Yard work, local freight, end-to-end mainline freight including international freight runs as well as slow and fast passenger trains, everything is possible without making it fictional. All this in a picturesque landscape, from large mountains through rolling hills all the way to the relatively flat surroundings of Szentgotthárd, there is so much to see and experience here. Winters are generally cold and snowy, so all four seasons can be utilized here, bringing further visual variety. This particular route could be an ideal territory for exciting mainline diesel operations, realistically, unlike on existing routes where diesel traction can mostly run under the wire only, which isn't usual. Given the fact that the route isn't at all long (80 km), is stunningly beautiful, allows for a vast array of scenarios with different kinds of operations, I would like to request this as a future DLC for Train Simulator 2020. Further, the route would introduce another country to the world of Train Simulator, Hungary, through its border station at Szentgotthárd. Border-crossing is for some reason always an exciting thing and this further raises the selling point of this route.
Incredible pictures! Did you take them yourself? Your username suggests you're from Hungary, like me. I agree completeley about this route's amazing potential, it would make many fun hours worth of gameplay. Still, I'd prefer it if the devs would first concentrate on hammering out all the annoying bugs this game still sports. I'd also like some routes from places like Africa or South-America, or India or the Middle-East (not much chance of that though); maybe there are such, but I'm quite new to this game, haven't seen any featured ones yet.
