Hi dovetail, I absolutely love your train sim world games. I'm sure there's a lot of demand for adding new routes, but please consider looking into the amazing South Shore Railroad. Sitting on the southern end of lake Michigan. This 90+ mile stretch of track runs from South Bend Indiana to downtown Chicago Illinois. This railroad is one of the last interurban commuter railroads in the United States which also has a freight service, connecting bustling steel mill industries. The railroad is owned by two separate companies. The South Shore Line (electric commuter rail) and the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad (class III freight). Both have been operating over 100 years and share 75 miles of track. The route features challenging grades, multiple bridges, long single track mainline, underground stations, interesting freight operations, and much more. (There used to be a section of single street runner track but that has since been removed and upgraded with double tracked main line) It would be amazing to see this in the game. I'm sure this is a lot to ask for and I don't really know what to expect, but just to put the idea in the developer's heads is enough for me. Looking forward to hearing a response! Rail enthusiast, Nick
I don't want to upset you, friend, but this is immediately past - 90 miles of the route will definitely never be done by DTG, but some route from Chicago is quite possible)
The South Shore line ran GE Little Joe electrics (same as the Milwaukee Road versions; they called them "800s" though) on commuter services until 1981. The 800s would be cool to see on an electrified version of this route. They had 3 of them, and two of the South Shore Line's 800s have been preserved, with one operational at the Illinois RR Museum. They now use SD38-2s (2 units) and GP38-2s (10 units) for freight services. Perhaps we could see interchange operations with Class 1 RRs in the Chicago area. The primary businesses of the South Shore Line are coal and steel.
