Route Kent Coast & South Eastern Main Line: Ramsgate - London Charing Cross

Route Length: ~160 km (99 miles)

Rolling Stock:
Class 375 (Main)
Class 395 (Dover to Ashford)
Class 66 (HS1)
Class 37 (ROG drags)

Gameplay: Passenger services

Scenery: Kent countryside, towns, cliffs of Dover, Shakespeare Tunnel, Samphire Hoe, Dollands Moor freight yard, urban scenery of London

Licenses:
Southeastern
Rail Operations Group
EWS

Time Period: Modern (allows for freight services on HS1, ROG drags, can re-use existing trains)

Similar Add-ons:
Southeastern High Speed
Brighton Main Line

Why this route:
This route would be a fairly long Southern region scenic route with a wide variety of things to see and do, such as depot services and ROG 37 drags starting/ending at Ramsgate, coastal scenery including white cliffs of Dover, freight runs along HS1, and 3 London stations. different services. At about 99 miles it isn't the longest UK route, although the London part could be difficult. In this case the route could stop at London Bridge instead, avoiding the other two.

Overview: The route would be set during the time Electrostars were being taken to Derby for refurbishment, allowing for ROG 37 drags.

It would start at Ramsgate, with its Classical and Neo-Georgian style station, train shed and maintenance depot, allowing for depot moves and ROG 37 services.


It would then proceed along the Kent Coast line, where you would get scenic views of the English channel and white cliffs of Dover, and landmarks such as Shakespeare Tunnel and Samphire Hoe.


After Folkestone the route would pass Dollands Moor freight yard and then run parallel to HS1 until you reach Ashford International. This would allow for some freight services from Ashford to Folkestone bound for the Eurotunnel.


It then proceeds towards Paddock Wood and Tonbridge (which will feature in the upcoming Medway Valley line) and eventually arrives at London, where you would see impressive stations of London Bridge, Waterloo East and Charing Cross.




The hardest part would be the number of stations. Only three can be reused (Ashford International, Tonbridge, Paddock Wood) while the rest would need to be made from scratch. The London stations are also fairly complex and would include a lot of urban scenery.

If the route needed to be cut down I think it would (unfortunately) make more sense to cut the London side of the route, because the Ramsgate side is easier to develop and allows for more variety like depot moves.

 

It'd be an enormous route, and as such I'd be happy to pay a bit higher price if its the only way a route of this size would be made. I'd hate to drive all that way to Sevenoaks only for the most exciting part of the route to be cut off.

In terms of rolling stock you'd also need the class 465 and 466 for the Orpington and Sevenoaks stoppers, as well as the Charing Cross to Tunbridge Wells run (which I think ran all day at the time). The variety in 375 variants/liveries would also be very nice.

Great suggestion, there needs to be another route for the 465 ASAP