This route provides a perfect possible addition to the TSW franchise. This route offers a brand new area to train sim world that being a more northern area of the north east. While we already see the likes of Darlington in the tees valley line it does not show much of the ECML especially set in its time period of the 80s. We also havnt seen a route in this area since TSW2 (tees vally) which was 4 years ago so it's about time we see a route up in the north east again. Firstly, I belive this route should be set in 2019-2020 when class 80Xs ran side by side with the class 91, 225 sets in LNER liveries which promotes two different forms of traction for passenger services. The loco hauled 225 sets and the Azumas will offer two different driving experiences for players either a simplistic combined throttle and break or 2 levers for breaks and throttle. The second driving cab of the 91 also makes it the perfect candidate for scenarios where anouther set fails or the DVT end has failed and the locomotive has to loop around the train just like was seen in real life sometimes. This also lines up with the community's wants, we have been after a class 91 for a very long time and now, in TSW6 it would be a perfect time to work on this train in particular. The azuma we should get is an 800/1 to add to the LNER fleet as we already have both versions of the 801. While we don't see 800/2 often at newcastle, shuttle services between newcastle and York have been in place for some time using the 5 car sets but I do belive although this is possible it doesn't fit the time line for this route unless there was a durham coast diversion down through Sunderland and Middlesbrough rejoining the ECML at either northallerton and Thirsk. I belive this route is perfect for the franchise from its location, we start in the old industrial city of newcastle which was one of the stepping stones of the railways being close to the birthplace of the stevensons. Then crossing the river tyne on the king edward bridge and seeing the other bridges including the tyne bridge, swing bridge and stevenson's high level bridge we continue heading south we go past tyne yard a depot for cross country voyagers and a gateway to freight to the North, south and west via the tyne valley line. Picking up speed up to 125mph at this point we find ourselves at chester le street after 10 minutes driving after 20 minutes we slow into the historic town of Durham before going over durham viaduct overlooking the city and highlighting the cathedral and castle upon the hill off to the right which looks heavenly in the right light. Speeding back to 125mph we find ourselves at Darlington a part of the birthplace of the modern railways forming a section of the famous Stockton and Darlington railway. From here we continue on down towards northallerton where some TPE trains join us. The staggard platforms making northallerton look different making it an interesting stop for players or even for those flying through. Now we enter a 4 track mainline section all the way to york with the Yorkshire moors to the east and the dales to the west we are now on the racetrack flying through Thirsk in an instant before we know it we will be slowing down for york and the trans pennine depot while also passing the national railway museum and the massive yards in York. We can then enter through the famous massive curved roof of york a historic place in itself. This route will be around 100 miles probably just under so while not the longest route it still offers a large section of the ECML. This allows for the current trend to be broken with alot of development going into sections and branches of the WCML regardless of era. This section of the ECML includes the half way mark between Edinburgh and London and the 250 miles to Edinburgh mark. This section is also very historic with york being a very historical city and newcaslte and surrounding areas being pioneers of engineering and railways that we know of so its only right that this section is made for TSW6 in the 200 year anniversary of railways this year in 2025 even if it isn't Stockton too Darlington. Additional trains that could be added: -LNER class 43 (depending on time period) - cross country class 43 with sliding door mk3 (depending on time period) -class 56 -class 802/2 TPE (depending on time period) -GBRf class 60 -class 185 TPE -class 220 and 221 XC -class 180 grand central
