A DMU passenger service heads south out of Dyce. Note the distinctive signal box, one of many unique buildings along the route. TODAY we talk to Iain Mackay, driving force behind noted developers Suburban Glasgow Limited, and get the inside track on their upcoming new UK route for TS Classic. Welcome, Iain! SGL is a familiar name to many of us, but some people may not realise that you have been developing TSC content, solo and in collaboration with other developers, for a long time now. What sort of add-ons have you worked on up to now? The main item I’ve worked on has been the Suburban Glasgow Northwest route, along with the Airdrie Extension, which were created in conjunction with Rivet Games. These grew out of a freeware route that I had been developing prior to that for 7 years! Besides this, I’ve also created several scenario packs, both for the Swiss Lines created by Rivet and some of Dovetail’s London routes out of Victoria. You have obviously been busy for the last few years. And now you have something brand new nearing completion. Tell us more about the Buchan Line. The Buchan Line, or to give it its full title, The Formartine and Buchan Railway, was a railway line that opened in 1862 between Aberdeen and Peterhead, with an extension to Fraserburgh opening in 1865. This railway operated for 100 years before being closed to Passengers in 1965, and freight in 1979. The railway saw a very wide variety of traffic like fish and cattle, along with the pick-up freight that was common at the time, and of course, plenty of passenger services. Many people look back at that era as an idyllic period in British Railways. What motive power will they be getting to grips with on Buchan? Maud at dusk. The route is home to a vast array of purpose-built buildings in the local stone colour, many of which are unique. One of the benefits of this route is that it is being set on the confluence of the switchover from steam to diesel, allowing both types of trains to be run on the route. Therefore, we will be including the following, rolling stock, all of which saw use on the Buchan Line: BR Standard Class 2MT Steam Locomotive Sulzer Type 2 (Class 25) Diesel Locomotive Cravens DMU (Class 105) Class 08 Shunter BR Mk 1 coaches and a wide variety of freight wagons. The route uses advanced logic for allowing these freight wagons to be utilised effectively. There must be some real challenges involved in recreating a route that closed so long ago. How did you find the necessary reference material? And how did you manage to recreate the look and feel of the Buchan Line? Yes, it has been very challenging indeed! There are a number of older maps freely available online that can be used as general reference material, which when cross referenced with other railway specific documents like signalling diagrams and gradient profiles, make it possible to piece together the route slowly. The breadth of operational possibilities on the line is illustrated by this image of the trackwork and facilities at Kittybrewster. In addition, I have had some invaluable assistance from two main sources. The first one is Friends of Maud, who run the Maud Railway Museum. They have not just given a lot of source material, but have also told of many stories and memories of the line, some of which have worked their way in to the scenarios provided in the DLC! This hopefully gives a bit of local realism to the route. The second source is the GNSRA, or Great North of Scotland Railway Association, who have a very wide selection of invaluable source material, and have been very willing to answer questions as they have come up. Stopping just short of the North Sea coast at Peterhead, the line is home to numerous different passenger and freight workings along its way to Aberdeen. It sounds like this long-abandoned route will soon thrive once again in TS Classic! For players who enjoy the route, what can they look forward to next? The locical progression once the Aberdeen to Peterhead Line goes out is to create the stretch from Maud to Fraserburgh, so that will be next! This will also include the Fraserburgh and St Combs Light Railway, which was a short branch from Fraserburgh to the coastal town of St Combs. Thank you for talking to us, Iain. Keep watching our social channels for more news on the Buchan Line! A diesel-hauled good train pauses in the twightlight at Ellon.
At last a British route that interests me. A few years ago I had a go at tracklaying in TSC from just South of Maud Junction to Peterhead and also the Fraserburgh branch but the sheer quantity of scenery beat me (I've learned a lot since then). The abscence of the North British type 2 (class 21) and the BRCW type 2 (Class 26) were also factors in my drifting away from it. Great for semi fast Fish trains and local passenger workings plus the usual 1950 -early 1960s mixed goods inc. coal for houses and oil for the boats. Some trains were even mixed - passenger stock plus a few goods wagons tagged on. There was a small depot (a sub shed) at Maud Junction. An excellent choice for a Scottish branch line maybe someone will produce a couple of ex LNER, ex North British or ex GNoSR 4-4-0/0-6-0/0-6-0T for the jobs Power to the elbow!
Aberdeen to Peterhead via Maud is just under 40 miles, Maud to Fraserburgh is about 11/12 miles. Mostly single track with passing places,double at the Aberdeen end from Kittybrewster South. Kittybrewster (61A) was the main shed and in 1966 the dumping ground (oops sorry storage area) for North British type 2s (class 21).
Looking forward to this one. Went to school in Aberdeen. Would be nice to connect this to ECML Scotland line (and Glasgow?)
If this is the same author who helped Rivet, would be curious how difficult it would be to port assets used for Cathcart Circle to TSC content.
Looks very interesting. I like the era it is set in. The fact that it has both Steam and Diesel traction is quite appealing. Would be good if there was a stream for the this to show it off. I'll be watching out for reviews first as I've only bought 1 of their Swiss scenario packs in the past and refunded that as the trains were running on the wrong side (Which apparently was corrected, but I've never repurchased as the screenshots on Steam are still wrong).
