Moin, Rust, rubble and Roman ruins. The latter you will find right next to the station in Xanten's archaeologigcal park where they've dug up and rebuilt a small part of the town's beta version... I mean, ancient predecessor. The rust and rubble would rather be the Duisburg side, where the Ruhr area is at its "ruhriest", and where this route begins. Just look at the central station - it might be much younger than those Roman temples, but its last renovation happened probably about back then. If that makes any sense. It doesn't, but as if Duisburg would care... This route is many things, but famous or legendary are none of them. It could yet be a nice addition to TSW for a variety of reasons: For one, it is short enough to be depicted end to end, without any trickery or cutting corners. No Hastings equivalent to be left out here. All those freight branches will blow it up quite significantly though, but then, not all of them need to be included to make the route worthwhile. The number of passenger stations isn't exceptional either, with the aforementioned Duisburg Hbf being the only really large station. Did I mention the line is electrified only up to Millingen, and also mostly single-track north of that? Services are run by NWB (not DB), who use VT 648 DMUs, also known as the LINT 41. There are hourly Duisburg<->Xanten services, and more between Duisburg and Moers, adding up to a half-hourly connection on the southern part of the line. How many freight trains exactly use the line, I couldn't even say, but considering the number of industry connection, "quite an amount" should be a safe bet. As far as atmosphere, look & feel go, it would end up fairly close to the Tees Valley, minus the seaside: Mostly urban and suburban scenery, a bit of industry here and there, and once you're out of that, mostly open landscapes and fields. Flat as a dinner plate, so flat it could almost be Dutch - the Netherlands aren't very far away anyway. General Location: Germany Era: Modern-ish Length end to end: 45 km / 28 miles (Duisburg Hbf - Xanten) Length overall: 90 km / 56 miles (all branches/spurs included) max speed: 120 km/h / 75 mph # of passenger stations: 11 Service types: Local, Regional, Cargo # of tracks: 1-2 Electrified: OHLE (Duisburg-Rheinhausen) Lines included at least partially: RB31 (Duisburg-Xanten, Duisburg-Moers) RB33 (Duisburg-Rheinhausen) Suitable vehicles (among others): NWB VT 648 or DB VT 643 (RB31, depending on era) DB ET 425 (RB33) any cargo diesel Maps Key Locations Duisburg Hbf Hochfelder Brücke Moers Kamp-Lintfort Xanten Spoiler: Further Impressions Rheinhausen Ost Rheinhausen Rumeln Trompet Rheinkamp Rheinberg Millingen. End of the (overhead) line Alpen
"All those freight branches will blow it up quite significantly though, but then, not all of them need to be included to make the route worthwhile." Sounds like something DTG is totally capable of
