Introduction Hi, welcome to another post in my series "Improving Lineside Industry". I'm going to be looking at various routes in Train Sim World and highlighting what we have, and what we could have, in regard to railways that serve the various industries along them. I find these to be very interesting, and I think maximizing opportunities for players to use them in TSW would greatly enhance our game. I've tried to limit any suggestions to what is just about already within the scope of the route, and might just need some extra modelling of scenery, and perhaps a few new wagons. It must be said that I haven't been a fan of railways for very long, and I'm from Australia, so I'd love for you to add your knowledge about these far-flung routes and correct anything I get wrong. I have speculated at times, as information can be hard to come by. (Some of the screenshots here of the in-game map are rather poor-looking as I couldn't do any better with their resolution when zoomed out. Some areas do not have 3D buildings on Google Maps so only some locations will have those images included.) Route In this post, I'll be looking at Schnellfahrstrecke Köln- Aachen. I believe the route is set in 2020. Here is a map of the route as represented in game, numbered with each location that I will be highlighting. Industries Location 1 Starting in the west of the route in Stolberg, there are a few sidings used to load lumber from trucks onto trains. Players could service the site with Roos-t wagons. Location 2 East of Stolberg Hbf, Vereinigte Schotterwerke is in the business of the recycling, processing, storage and handling of aggregates. They deal with gravel used for road and rail applications. Players could arrive and depart with trains of Eas or Fas wagons or containerised spoil bins on Sggmrss wagons. (The company's other site was featured as Location 4 in Improving Lineside Industry: Hauptstrecke Rhein - Ruhr.) Location 3 Just outside what is represented in game and branching off the mainline at Düren, KANZAN Spezialpapiere's factory produces papers to be used in inkjet and thermal printers. The large paper rolls are dispatched on trains. Players could shunt Habbiins and container-laden Sggmrss wagons around the complex and to the mainline.
Location 4 In Bergheim, just outside what is represented in game and branching off the mainline at Horrem, global company Huber Advanced Materials has a manufacturing plant. With 580 employees, they produce "specialty additives for polymers, paper and coatings" which ensure fire retardancy. Trains deliver raw materials in the form of dry chemicals, and these are emptied with their unloading pit and conveyor system. Players could bring Falns wagons here. Location 5 AWB is Köln's biggest waste management company, with 1,925 employees, 9,389 kilometres of streets to sweep, and 277,000 household bins to empty each week. They also deal with snow-clearing, charity clothing collection bins, and bulkier waste, such as that from the demolition and construction industries. To get the high volume of waste out of the city, AWB has employed containerised tubular waste carriers which are moved by train. Players could deliver empty consists using Sggmrss wagons and take away loaded ones. Conclusion There is a coal-powered power station in Weisweiler that accepts lime (which is used for purifying the exhaust gasses) by train, however, it is some way from the mainline and would require a lot of modeling of the large facility. I also noticed quite a few more industries that have only become disused in the last five to ten years prior to 2020, which I found curious. I hope this was interesting. Please feel free to add to this and let me know what I've got wrong. Thanks for reading!
Excellent idea overall and this will require some new form of locomotive like a 280.5 261/265 249 Vectron Dual mode. For the lumber site you are going to need DCZ for the Roos-t with working brake selector
