This suggestion is for the southern part of the Fen line between Ely and Cambridge, The "Cambridge Line" between Hitchin and Cambridge and a small section of the Great Eastern Mainline to Stevenage. The route would be set in the same period as BML, so class 43s are just reaching their end... Stations included: Ely Waterbeach Cambridge North Cambridge Foxton Shepreth Meldreth Royston Ashwell & Morden Baldock Letchworth Garden City Hitchin Stevenage Routes Operated Ely - Cambridge Kings Cross to Kings Lynn or Ely - Great Northern Cambridge or Stanstead Airport to Birmingham New Street - Cross Country Stanstead Airport to Norwich - Greater Anglia Cambridge - Hitchin Kings Cross to Kings Lynn or Ely - Great Northern Cambridge to Brighton - Thameslink Hitchin - Stevenage Kings Cross to Kings Lynn or Ely - Great Northern Cambridge to Brighton - Thameslink Peterborough to Horsham - Thameslink Freight Whitemoor yard is approx 25 miles North East of Ely - Several aggregate trains per day OUTBOUND to Hoo Foxton Exchange sidings approx 1 mile from Foxton - Ex cement mine landfill. Rubble and infill material INBOUND - From Collyhurst, Willesden, Peterborough (ECS), Wembley and March Ely Station is 70 miles or so from London and lies just to the south of the main East - West route across northern Anglia (formed of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk). Although the station sees many trains from the Midlands, Norwich and Peterborough I am suggesting that the majority of services included be the Great Northern and Thameslink services from Brighton & Kings Cross Cambridge is most well known for it's university and the city is well served from all over the East of England with frequent services to London and beyond to the south, Birmingham and Peterborough to the North and several other cities and towns across East Anglia Foxton is a small station, but I have included here as just off to the West is Foxton Exchange sidings which could form a freight hub for the route. The sidings feed a massive cement factory infill works, receiving multiple loads of backfill material a day Royston is the terminus of many of the Great Northern services out of King Cross, forming the southern commuter hub of this route. Services either terminate here or run onto Ely and Kings Lynn Letchworth is not outstanding as a train station or a place, but it does have well used carriage sidings, with ECS routings to and from Stevenage, Royston and Cambridge Hitchin is just south of where we will join the ECML coming South. A four line station with two outer platforms and two central running lines where trains travel through at up to 125mph Stevenage is often the first stop of the GNER services out of Kings Cross, but a good many IC style services run straight through the station at high speed. IC services will be operated as AI only on this DLC, with all playable services being regional trains from East Anglia ending here. Rolling Stock: Principle rolling stock on the route will be the Class 700 in Thameslink livery and a class 717 in Great Northern Livery The class 700 is the mainstay of Thameslink services operating on AC overhead lines or DC 3rd rail this unit is supplied in Thameslink grey / white The class 717 is much like the class 700, but will require a completely different front and rear end as well as cab due to the requirement for a gangway escape route at each end for when terminating in underground stations such as Moorgate in London I would also suggest a possible reskin for the class 43 into "LNER silk" which did transfer to the MML but would have been running on the line (in full LNER) at the time the route would be set Service Patterns: The ECML is a busy mainline with destinations all over the East of England. Non stopping services pass through the station about once every ten minutes. Stopping IC services twice an hour. All thameslink services from Cambridge stop at Stevenage, but about half of the Great Northern services pass through with these services being AI only from Letchworth Thameslink services towards Peterborough also come up from the south, but we bear off just north of Hitchin so will not be drivable in game In total 151 Thameslink services and 75 Great Northern services will be available through Royston on a weekday, with 12 freight pathings on an average day
Interesting suggestion, however I don't think the Class 717 runs north of Stevenage in regular operation. The LNER HST could also be used in a diversion timetable where they would run via Cambridge in case of line closure between Peterborough and Hitchin. The Class 387/1 in Great Northern livery would be an easy addition also.
Interesting suggestion! Mixed rolling stock, new and older one(s)! We need more class 43's in the game agreed
