Hello everyone! Today I will be suggesting a route that is very near to my heart, the GO Transit Lakeshore Lines. A note of order This route is my home route; however that, in my opinion, does not reduce its viability as a route for TSW, and it is a really good option for a North American Passenger route outside of the NEC/East Coast USA area. A brief overview, and some history Officially, there is no such thing as the "GO Transit Lakeshore Lines", that is a term I have created for this route. This route would be made up of GO's Lakeshore East Line and Lakeshore West Line. The separation of these two lines can be confusing, as many trains do actually run straight through from one line to the other, and the two lines form a pretty straight line alongside the shore of Lake Ontario (guess where the name comes from). The line from Oshawa to Oakville formed the beginning of the GO Transit network when it was opened for commuter service in 1967, and is an important part of Toronto's transit infrastructure. GO is not the sole operator here, being joined by VIA Rail Canada, the Canadian equivalent to Amtrak, Canadian National freight trains, and Toronto's Airport Shuttle, the UP (Union-Pearson) Express. What is the line like (in terms of length and services)? The Lakeshore East line runs from Oshawa Station in the east to Toronto Union Station in the west. All trains travel the length of this line, which is 50.5 kilometres long. The stations are: Oshawa Whitby Ajax Pickering Rouge Hill Guildwood Eglinton Scarborough Danforth Union (Stations written in blue have VIA trains stopping at them as well) Historically, GO has operated express trains along this line at rush hour, but with construction underway on a new large station between Union and Danforth, electrification, and expansion of the corridor to include a new subway line, these trains have been cancelled for the next few years. If the route is set before 2021, however, these services can be included, running fast to Pickering Station. For most of the day, trains run every 15 minutes, with service dying down at night. The Lakeshore West Line operates from Toronto Union Station in the east to a variety of destinations in the west. All trains on this line travel as far as Oakville, with some going on towards Aldershot, two separate termini in Hamilton, or Niagara Falls, Ontario. The section from Toronto to Oakville is 34 kilometres long. The stations that would be included with this route are: Union Exhibition Mimico <-Willowbrook Yard is located here, it is the main yard for all GO, UP, and VIA trains in Toronto. Long Branch Port Credit Clarkson Oakville (Stations written in blue have VIA trains stopping at them as well) Express trains run on this route as well, and continue to do so. They run fast to Clarkson Station on weekdays, and on weekends stop at Exhibition, Port Credit, and Oakville. Trains travel to Oakville every 15 minutes, towards Aldershot every 30 minutes, and towards Hamilton hourly. In game, all these trains would have the same service pattern, with the only difference being that you could drive an Oakville train straight back towards Toronto without it leaving the route. These two lines, when combined, would provide around 84 kilometres of track, and 16 stations. I would be content with this route as it is described so far, but there is one extra addition that would be the cherry on top, and that is the UP Express line to Toronto's Pearson International Airport. Like the Lakeshore Lines, this provides 15 minute services. The line is rather short, with a total of 3 stations outside of Union, and around 21 kilometres of new track. This would bring the route length up to 105 kilometres, but I think it would still be relatively doable thanks to the low station count (19). The line to Pearson's two intermediate stations are served by GO Kitchener services as well, which could possibly be included. Rolling Stock MPI MP54: to the best of my knowledge, these are the main power on the Lakeshore Lines now. They have 5400 horsepower, and can take trains up to 180 km/h. These do not make up the bulk of the GO Fleet, with MPI MP40s, 4000 horsepower versions of the locomotives, pulling trains on the less-busy lines, so these locos may have to play the role of MP40s as well in order to have a full fleet of AI trains. Bombardier Bilevel Cab Car: These cab cars are rather unique. Their cab is very different from the Bomardier Bilevel "norm", which can be seen on the Baby Bullet cab cars. Not much to say besides that though, these are the cab cars on all GO trains, having replaced the older, more typical, generations. VIA P42 "Genesis": These locos would pull the VIA trains on this route. F40PHs also pull some VIA trains in the area, but I feel this would be better than a third variant of those. These would pull the unique-to-Canada LRC coaches. I made sure to include this specific photo as it shows the most recent livery both the engines and coaches have been wearing, that is not easy to find on the internet. Nippon-Sharyo DMU: These are the DMUs that run on the UP Express line. Interestingly, they have high doors in contrast to the low doors on GO trains, so they need special platforms at all of their stations. DLC Opportunities VIA F40PH: This would be a pretty simple DLC, just adding the F40PH as well as some VIA Budd coaches for variety on the intercity services, it would not be my number one choice. VIA Siemens Charger: These locomotives are set to enter service this year, so by the time the route releases they could be appropriate. These locomotives will have matching coaches and cab cars as well. They will most likely substitute onto VIA services, or add some new ones if not all services are initially included in the route. GO F59PH: These locos formed GO's classic horsepower, and while most are retired today a select few remain in service. These would add some rather unique variety to the rolling stock for this route, although IRL they seem to be more frequent on the GO Transit Barrie Line, heading north out of Toronto. These would keep pulling the normal Bombardier Bilevel coaches. Other Notes Toronto Streetcar: the Toronto streetcar is an iconic piece of Toronto's transit infrastructure, and these are very common across the city. They interface with this route directly and visibly at Long Branch, Exhibition, and Danforth Stations, and they can be seen from the GO lines in many other places on this route. Their absence would be very conspicuous, and I think it would be great if DTG could make a solution for this similar to the Wuppertal Schwebebahn, where they appear via a modified version of the car AI system. Layers: Amtrak's Maple Leaf travels between Toronto and Oakville on this route. If an Amtrak Genesis could be added to the game, it pulling Amfleets along the route would be very nice. Some CN freight services are on this route, and I have seen some shunting take place between Pickering and Oshawa. This could provide some nice OSD loco action. This route could also provide GO and VIA layers to Oakville Subdivision, which I will dive into with my next point. Possible Merger: Previously, Matt has stated that the most important thing about route mergers is timetable compatibility. Therefore, I propose that this route is made with as much of a compatible timetable as possible. That means identical layered trains in Oakville Yard, with OSD's CN shunting services being present there as well, and with GO and VIA layers on OSD being identical in timetabling to their counterparts on this route. That could help enable a truly massive route in future, with GO services able to travel to the additional termini at Aldershot and West Harbour for the select trains that travel there. AI Trains: It goes without saying that I think Union Station should be treated exactly like Boston South. Full AI, true Rush Hour. While these lines have stable service all day, some lines only have service at Rush Hour, and Union gets really busy then. I highly suggest watching some railfanning videos of the rail corridor to see the potential! Conclusion I think this would be a great route for TSW. It would be really busy, with a tonne of trains passing by you as you run your service. The service variety would be really interesting IMO, with a mix of Intercity and Commuter, Express and Local, Loco-Hauled and DMU. The benefits for this route in conjunction with OSD make it even more of a good choice in my eyes. I feel that this route is one of the few North American ones out side of the NEC/East Coast USA that can provide a level of service similar to what we expect in European routes, and for that reason it's a solid route for me. But those are just my thoughts, feel free to leave your thoughts below! Thank you so much for reading this really rather long post, too. Gallery The interior of Union Station's train shed. Some of the tracks leading into Union Station, note the special platform for the UP Express. An iconic section of the Lakeshore West Line where trains run alongside Toronto's Gardiner Expressway. An overhead shot of Willowbrook Yard, the VIA yard at the bottom and the GO yard on top. Pearson Station on the UP Express. Oshawa Station on the Lakeshore East Line. A VIA train at Guildwood Station.
Excellent idea the double Decker coaches along with MP54 are going to be based from the Caltrain Baby Bullet F40PH Via Rail base model San Francisco Caltrain F40PH the same locomotive was the base for Boston Providence MBTA F40PH-3C. Remember that US Canada routes are mostly reskinned locomotives as seen on GP-38. Except for LIRR Main Line Penn Station to Hicksville Long Island Rail Road Hempstead Branch Penn Station and Atlantic Terminal to Hempstead M7/M3 unless a Metro-North Route was made. CN Oakville subdivision give freight layers to the route and your suggestion in return Gives passenger service to Oakville. Just look at how Main Spessart Bahn gives Hamburg Lubeck DB BR185.2 Rallion and DB BR146.2 to Hamburg-Lübeck and in return Hamburg Lubeck gives DB BR112 for Main Spessart Bahn.
They don't actually go up to Port Credit, the 501 and 508 go up to Long Branch but YESSSSS I REALLY WANT GO TRANSIT IN THE SIM!!
A little correction: The MP40 is still a majority of the power used on LSE (from what I've seen). However, the mp54 can still show up time to time too. I could be wrong though.
