The Frankenwald railway from Lichtenfels to Saalfeld between Bavaria and Thuringia is approximately 89 km long and was used by long distance trains from Munich to Berlin until the Ebensfeld-Erfurt high speed railway was opened in December 2017. It is also part of the freight corridor from Italy to the Baltic Sea, which means there's a lot of freight trains as well. Frankenwaldbahn Pechristener File:Germany location map.svg: NordNordWest, Palosirkka, SokoWiki, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons The topography of the Frankenwald is fairly challenging, which is why the railway is up to 29‰ steep and has turns as tight as 300m (limited to 70 km/h). This is why there is also GNT (ZUB262) installed to allow tilting trains to travel faster. The maximum speed on a section south of Kronach is 160 km/h. https://openrailwaymap.org/?style=maxspeed&lat=50.408298727360396&lon=11.443290710449219&zoom=11 Db-411xxx-01 K. Jähne, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons Due to the steep gradients there are banking locomotives (151, 155, nowadays mostly 185) in Probstzella and Pressig-Rothenkirchen to help heavy freight trains up the steep ramps. The banking locomotives have to be operated by a separate train driver. Db-155181-01 Störfix, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons The line has 20 stations in total: Lichtenfels - 263 m Michelau (Oberfr) Hochstadt-Marktzeuln - railway to Hof turns off Redwitz (Rodach) Küps Neuses (b Kronach) Kronach Gundelsdorf Stockheim (Oberfr) Pressig-Rothenkirchen - 376 m Förtschendorf Steinbach am Wald - highest point at 593 m Ludwigsstadt Probstzella - 365 m Marktgölitz Unterloquitz Hockeroda - branch line to Unterlemnitz Kaulsdorf (Saale) Breternitz Saalfeld (Saale) - 211 m There are also some industrial sidings on the railway. Vehicles and services For long distance traffic there's ICE trains mostly run by ICE-T (411) as well as some ICE 1 (401) services. There are also some IC services run by BR 101 or BR 120. These run roughly every hour, but not all trains stop at Lichtenfels and Saalfeld. These could either be AI only or (preferably) be able to run by the player but without passenger stops at either station On regional trains starting in late 2012 Talent 2 (442) trains were introduced on the line, taking over completely in December 2012. Before that time, regional services were run by 111 and 143 with DR-Dostos or n-Wagen as RB, as well as the 612 as regional express. For the branch line to Unterlemnitz the 642 can be layered in for short services between Saalfeld and Hockeroda. Regional services are RB (Bamberg -) Lichtenfels - Kronach every 2 hours RB (Bamberg -) Lichtenfels - Kronach - Saalfeld every 2 hours RE (Nürnberg -) Lichtenfels - Kronach - Saalfeld (- Jena) every 2 hours Ludwigstadt Trogenbachbrücke -20180823-RM-112605 Reinhold Möller Ermell, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons Kronacheisenbahn Stefan Wicklein, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons Br 111 Kronach VT 612 in der Wikipedia auf Deutsch, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons DBAG 612 566 bei Steinbach am Wald Tors, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Freight trains are run by BR (140), 151, 152, 155, 185, 189. Local freight trains serving industrial sidings are run mostly at night by BR 294 (365 could be used here) Here's a website (in German) with a lot of information and many pictures: https://frankenwaldbahn.de.tl/ Turning this into DLC As a new vehicle I would suggest the BR 151, which can be used as banking locomotive and for regular freight services and also potentially be used for future content with heavy ore trains. 151 022-1 Gremberg 2015-10-23 Rolf Heinrich, Köln, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons The main question is if this DLC should take place in the pre- or post Talent 2 era or maybe right at the time in 2012 when the Talent 2 was introduced (there would be an inconsistency because the line was partially closed at that time due to construction work). Of course the post Talent 2-era would be easier to pick the vehicles to include: 442 for regional 411 for long distance 151 for freight ...and you can basically run all the services. The earlier era could include 143 and Dostos (preferably DR Dostos) or n-Wagen for regional 411 for long distance 151 for freight Of course the "other era" could be used as substitution if the timetable is consistent (haven't been able to research that, unfortunately). Layers could include 401 for some ICE services 101 for IC services 365 or 363 for local freight 642 for Saalfeld - Hockeroda RB Substitutions could include 111 with n-Wagen for regional services 612 for earlier RE services basically any appropriate freight loco for freight services
