Coming in at a length just short of 85 miles, this line would cover a significant portion of the West Coast Main Line in the Midlands between Birmingham New Street and Crewe as well as the freight yard at Bescot and the much-requested Soho Depot would also be included as it's right next to the line between Wolverhampton and Smethwick. Proposed Rolling Stock Class 350 in London Northwestern Railway livery + Ex London Midland Livery There are 2 variations to the LNWR livery, with the main type being worn by the /1s, /3s & /4s with the other variation being worn exclusively by the /2s. There are minor variations between the subclasses of Class 350, with these being as follows Class 350/1 is fitted with a 3rd rail pickup as they were originally intended to be delivered as Class 450s Class 350/2 has 3+2 seating, the only one of all the subclasses. 21 members of the subclass are still in London Midland Livery with LNWR branding (350233/235-238/241-243/246-251/255-256/260-261/264-266) Class 350/4 has one additional toilet compared to other subclasses as they were originally built for TransPennine Express. Class 390 in Avanti West Coast livery Operate all Avanti services excluding those to Shrewsbury, Wrexham & Holyhead. Come in both 9 & 11 car sets, with 11 cars numbered as Class 390/1. 35 units converted to 11 car status (390103-104/107/112/114-115/117-119/121-132/134-138/141/148/151-157). Class 66 in Freightliner livery This loco would find itself at home on the section of the WCML from Stafford to Weaver Jn on intermodal services Stock layering in from other routes Birmingham Cross City: Class 323 for AI at New St + ECS services to/from Soho Depot South Eastern High Speed: Class 66 + Wagons Great Western Express: Wagons.
I'm not super knowledgeable on the wcml freight but hypothetically are their OTHER freight trains that could be added?
Yes there is, but this would be done mostly by layering stock in from GWE & SEHS. GBRf could also be done as a separate DLC
I'd prefer keeping with the theme of AC power, bring in the class 90 and or the 86 for freightliner instead, the 92 perhaps. Indeed the 66 is overused, it's time for something new now!
Bring it on and what you did here was modernize West Coast Main Line Liverpool to crewe from 1958 to its 2022 version. Also consider the fact that you can layer the 1958 version of Liverpool to crewe here the steam locomotives for Railtours like SEH.
This would be great to see. Especially now that we now have a modern section of the WCML. Plus this would also make the chance for sub-variants easier to make for the 350, considering how they have similar (if not the same) body shells
Day 1 purchase for me. Having said that I buy an new UK route on day 1 even if I am not that excited by the route haha
This is a great suggestion, I would love to see this route in the game. The one issue right now would be licensing for the 350s but to be honest I would still pay for this route regardless of the 350 licensing. I have seen a lot of suggestions for a class 730 in the threads recently and this could be a good opportunity to bring it in as your suggestion relays heavily on layers they could bring it on as a new loco to make the route better value for money, because of the route this is likely to be the WMR variant though.
Suppose licensing is subjective. I would hope after the outcry from the community that DTG would avoid LNWR stuff until they can secure the licence. Plenty of other operators they have the licenses for in the interim.
I suggest renaming it Black Country Express or similar. As it wouldn't require any new traction I'd recommend this has a 730 for variety. Though I understand the 5 car mainline units have not entered service due to similar sighting issues at high speeds from the small, slightly curved cab window. Similar to the issues with 385s it seems.
There's a lot up in the air at the moment with branding, 3 TOCs are being consumed into Great British Railways this summer/autumn and there are murmurings that the several "in-house" TOCs may also transition to GBR branding in the next year. It's a very fluid situation. DTG won't want to waste their time negotiating deals with TOCs who may not be in existence at the end of this year. We may see DTG playing it safe with more Scotrail and TfW DLC this year if they are to remain under local government control.
Branding may change, yes, but given that LNER themselves have been pushing the route on their YouTube (ECML PBO -> DON) I would be surprised if they weren't interested in working with DTG again. Similarly they worked with Avanti recently so they may be open to another section/train.
LNER's social media presence is excellent and puts all the other TOCs to shame. Though I'll admit I'm about two months behind reading Modern Railways and the Railway Observer so I may have missed some developments, but I think the original plans for a single corporate brand with small regional differences will be abandoned or scaled-back. I can see many of the brands remaining, LNER included. It's a whole other conversation about what everyone would want to see in terms of liveries under GBR. Interesting and hopefully better times ahead.
