Hope Valley & Glossop Lines Manchester - Sheffield and Hadfield Route Map, doesn't include the Glossop Line. The Hope Valley Line (for my own sake, i'll refer to it as the HVL) is a 40 mile+ route between Manchester Piccadilly and Sheffield, linking the two northern cities. There are a couple of routes, with multiple routes around Manchester, the main route goes via Stockport, and there are other routes, such as the guide bridge line. Key Numbers A TLDR before I begin; Manc - Sheffield (Via Reddish N.) 42mi, 5ch 20 Stations Ashbury - Romiley (Guide Bridge) 8mi, 30ch 6 Stations (Excl. Ashbury and Romiley) Romiley - Rose Hill 2mi, 2ch 1 Station (excl. Romiley) Ardwick Jcn - New Mills Jcn (via Stockport) 13mi, 47ch 6 Stations Guide Bridge - Hatfield & Gosslop ~7mi 8 Stations (Excl Guide Bridge) Stockport - Stalybridge ~8mi 3 Stations (Excl Stockport and Guide Bridge) Total ~79mi 44 Stations So, quite a hell of a route. But, fortunately, the three routes near Manchester are all very close, meaning they more or less share the same scenery areas, making this a bit more practical. Let's move on to the thing we're all here for: Trains This route is primarily operated by Northern, but East Midlands Trains and Transpennine Express also feature here. Ignoring the rolling stock found at Stockport, Manchester and Sheffield, that is. For this suggestion, I bring attention to the following: Class 195 'Civity' DMU (Northern) 195102 at Edale on the Hope Valley Line. The Class 195 Civity is Northern's new flagship DMU. Brought in to phase out the hardly popular Pacer classes, the 195 shares many similarities with the 331, although the difference lies with the latter being an EMU. The 195 has two variant; The 195/0 is a 2-Car unit, and The 195/1 is a 3-Car unit. The Class 195 operates services from Manchester to Rose Hill Marple (via Guide Bridge), New Mills Ctrl, and Sheffield (both via Reddish North) Class 150 'Sprinter' DMU (Northern) 150269 at Sheffield, the Eastern Terminus of this route. The Class 150 'Sprinter' is a bit on the older side compared to the 195. Built in the British Rail era, the 150 continues to serve the north well. With a Class 150 model already existing in TSW3, a rework of sounds and physics (as well modifications to fit this region) could enable it to be used here. This runs the same routes as the 195 does. Class 158 'Express Sprinter' DMU (EMT) The third and final DMU I am suggesting is one that will (hopefully) not need any changes made to it, and that is the Class 158 in East Midlands Trains livery. Revealed to be coming soon thanks to Skyhook Games, it could give a bit of extra life to this route, operating services between Sheffield and Manchester via Stockport. Class 331 'Civity' EMU 331014 stands at Manchester Piccadilly, the western terminus of these routes. Moving onto the electrics, and the 195's counterpart is first up. Brought in to replace the Class 321 and 322, the Class 331 is a slick, modern train, and enables the Gosslop (and Hatfield) Line to come into play. Class 323 EMU A Class 323 rounds a corner, near Dinting on the Glossop Line. I think the 323 needs no introduction really. With the necessary changes, this could join the 331 on the Gosslop Line. Stations Too many to go into detail. Manchester Piccadilly -------- | Ardwick --------- | Ashburys ----------------| Belle Vue | Gorton Levenshulme | Ryder Brow | Fairfield Heaton Chapel | Reddish N | ------ Stockport | --------- | ------- ---------------------------------- (Stockport - Guide Bridge) Reddish South Denton ---------------------------------- Stockport | Brinnington | Guide Bridge ---------------------------------- (Branch from Guide Bridge) Stalybridge ---------------------------------- Davenport | ------------ | Hyde North Woodsmoor | Bredbury | Hyde Central Hazel Grove | ----------- | Woodley ------------- | Romiley ---------------------------------- Rose Hill Marple ---------------------------------- --------- | Marple --------- | Strines ----------------- | New Mills Central Chinley (Yes, the one from Peak Forest) Edale Hope Bamford Hathersage Grindleford Dore & Totley Sheffield (My best shot at doing the HVL) (Sheffield) Gosslop Line Manchester Piccadilly Ardwick Ashburys Gorton Fairfield Guide Bridge Flowery Field Newton for Hyde Godley Hattersley Broadbottom Dintley Glossop | Hadfield See Above Now, with that done, let's look at the Service Patterns. Player Services Northern Manchester - Hadfield 2 Trains per Hour (30mins) Class 323, 331 Manchester - Rose Hill Maple Via Guide Bridge 4 Trains per 3 Hours (45 Mins) Class 150, 195 Manchester - New Mills Central Via Reddish North 1 Train per Hour Class 150, 195 Manchester - Sheffield Via Reddish North 1 Train per Hour Class 150, 195 Manchester - Crewe (Manchester - Stockport in-game) 1 Train per Hour Class 323/331 Manchester - Alderley Edge (Manchester - Stockport) 1 Train per Hour Class 323/331 Manchester - Chester (Manchester - Stockport, non-stop) 1 Train per Hour Class 150 Manchester - Stoke-on-Trent (Manchester - Stockport, non-stop) 1 Train per Hour Class 323/331 Manchester - Buxton (Manchester - Hazel Grove) 1 Train per Hour Class 150 Manchester - Hazel Grove 1 Train per Hour Class 150 Stockport - Stalybridge 1 Train per week (each way) For TSW purposes would be 1tpd. Class 150 East Midlands Trains Liverpool Lime St - Norwich (Manchester - Sheffield, calling at Stockport) 1 Train per Hour Class 158 AI Services At: Manchester Piccadilly From: Manchester Airport To: Barrow-in-Furness Tph: 1 Class 195 From: Manchester Airport To: Blackpool North Tph: 2 Class 331 From: Liverpool Lime Street To: Manchester Airport Tph: 1 Class 195 From: Terminates To: Crewe (Via Man. Airport) Tph: 1 Class 323/321 Stalybridge (If Included) From: Terminates To: Southport / Manchester Victoria Tph: 1 Class 150 Sheffield From: London St Pancras To: Leeds Tph: 1 Class 43 (EMT - Layer) Now that that's over, I feel like the only thing to talk about is the DLC Potential. The main contender is Transpennine Express' BR Class 185 DMU. This operates the "South Route" between Liverpool Lime Street and Cleethorpes, with one train an hour, and in this route would find itself at: Manchester Piccadilly Stockport Dore and Totley (Occasionally) Sheffield Other than that, the BR Class 156, for Northern and East Midlands Trains, would be a possibility. Final Words This is a bit of a rough and rushed suggestion, but think of it less as "I want all of this", but more of a pick 'n' mix. Pick what bit suits the best, cut the rest. EMT and Northern Trains (the nationalised one) didn't overlap in real life, I don't realise. However, we have EMT stock, and realistically the slight change of the Northern Logo isn't going to be that much of an immersion breaker, is it? I do think that the Hope Valley + Glossop Lines are a great opportunity to bring the north into the game (in a modern setting this time), and the ability for the 150, 158 and 323 to find a bit more life is an exciting prospect. That's all I have to say. Thanks for reading. Sources and Further Info Wikipedia Articles on; Northern Trains - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Trains East Midlands Trains - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Midlands_Trains Class 185 - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_185 Class 150 - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_150 Class 156 - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_156 Class 158 - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_158 Class 195 - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_195 Class 323 - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_323 Class 331 - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_331 Hope Valley Lines - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_Valley_line Glossop Line - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossop_line Real Time Trains - https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/ Railmiles Mileage Engine - https://my.railmiles.me/mileage-engine/
I would love this to be included to TSW3! It's about time we get a modern Northern route. But I'm pretty sure that 150/1s are used on the hope valley line.
Bring It On and for Class 158 it can be layered here if one has MML Derby to Leicester owned. Other Northern rail diesel multiple units that can layer here another route that has Northern rail can layer them here if needed examples are Blackpool Preston Hebden Bridge or Manchester Victoria to Leeds City via Halifax Northern Rail Class 158 153 155 & 156 Sprinters.
Great suggestion just wondering could northern's class 769 be included on the route as northern operates which route i don't know.
Would love to see this route available in TSW, it is an interesting route, very scenic and still has some semaphore signals in places as far as I know. This would make a perfect route really, a nice network of lines and a long run out to Sheffield. Something I would like to see more of. Even better if the Hadfield line was included in its entireity.
I like this suggestion and the details. I hope this comes to TSW 3 with all the locomotives that you suggested I think this would be my favorite route when it comes out with all these locomotives
Excellent idea and let me see the whole Hadfield line was the TSC Woodhead line route. If you need help on that route provided it's made in train sim World consult train simulator classic forum on how to operate some of the trains there
Would be a great route but you are asking for a lot here and to get all of this would be Highly unlikely but I do Like 'Hatfield' and 'Glossop' but it only uses 323s no 331s on there I reckon we should get Hope valley line the Romiley line including Rose Hill and thats it I just don't see all of that happenng from any Dev
I did comment at the end of the suggestion that it was more of a 'pick 'n' mix' suggestion than a "this should all be in one DLC". I think the only loose end that should really be cut is Stalybridge, it's got 1tph; but the station is just a case of changing the NTP one to it's modern self. Mosy of the lines are compact until the Sheffield end or the Branch Lines; meaning scenery tiles are shared, easing the workload a bit.
Would be an interesting and scenic route. Problem I can see from DTG's POV is that it's not that far away from the existing NTP and upcoming Peak Forest routes so you would end up with three disjointed routes (different eras too) in the same vicinity.
On the flip side, it would open up the opportunity for Sheffield - Derby & Nottingham, or Manchester - Derby, to link up with the Skyhook MML route. NTP and Peak Forest are too far apart in time to link with a new route anyway, so I don't see this making a difference.
