I would like to suggest a good old industrial railroad for Train Simulator 2020 (and/or Train Sim World), the Lake Superior & Ishpeming - LS&I - iron ore line which I first met back in Microsoft Train Simulator around 2008. That particular route add-on was developed by Maple Leaf Tracks and was my all-time favourite. I would love to see this railroad in Train Simulator 2020, but if it was made for Train Sim World, I would even convince myself and purchase TSW, although I never planned to do so. I already recommended this route years ago, unfortunately, it was not delivered yet. But fingers crossed, better later than never. The LS&I that I would love to see in-game isn't a particularly long line, roughly 25-30 miles. But it's an incredibly tough one. You take your 100 iron ore empties up the brutal hill all the way to the mines at a speed of no more than 20 mph. The distance from end to end is around 20 miles and your trip uphill is roughly an hour from the downhill Marquette West Yard to Eagle Mills which is the gate to the mines. From Eagle Mills to the mines it takes less time, as it's less of an incline, more flat (you already climbed the big hill). Such a compact yet complete route is perfect for scenarios by the way. Not too short, not too long. You cross amazing trestles and viaducts and whatnot, in some truly breathtaking scenery, especially in the autumn. There are two mines served by the LS&I, at least, that is what Maple Leaf Tracks modelled. As far as I remember, one is called Tilden mine, the other Empire mine. You are going to haul pre-WW II iron ore hopper cars, driving old U30C and C30-7 locomotives. The LS&I is among the last railroads to utilize these machines. The LS&I network is the yellow one in this map, this yellow line is what I would love to see modelled (and the bit of the CN railroad because of the CN-LS&I interchange. https://www.youtube.com/redirect?v=...n?id=1GeSrFy52MXs042KZKSmcPRMInTY&usp=sharing An interesting part of the LS&I engineer's job is the "dock job" as it was referred to. Basically there is a main yard downhill, West Yard it was called I think, near the port on Lake Superior. Presque Isle iron ore dock was the name of the dock. So the loaded hoppers are initially taken down to West Yard from mines uphill. The dock job then grabs these loaded iron ore hoppers that wait on the sidings of West Yard, take them onto the dock where crew load them onto barges waiting in the port. This was such an exciting part of the MSTS route, I enjoyed every second. Maple Leaf Tracks nicely modelled the iron ore docks, and this kind of operation brought new challenges. There was a snail-like crawl speed limit on the docks, I remember. Basically the LS&I was about three distinct operations. First, going uphill empty, taking a 100-car consist from West Yard to Eagle Mills yard up on the hill and coming back fully loaded, this was called the hill job. Then there was the dock job, taking the loaded iron ore cars to the docks from West Yard or the empties from the docks back to the yard for the next "hill job". And then, of course, the task of loading the hoppers up in the mines. The whole thing was so much fun with three distinct areas of operation. Again, the three were: DOCK JOB @West Yard Taking loaded hoppers from the sidings at Marquette West Yard onto the iron ore docks. Each consist from the West Yard to the dock is about 50 cars as far as I can remember. On the dock, four tracks are laid, two on each side of it, allowing for up to 200 cars to sit on the dock at any given time. The dock can serve two lake going ships at a time, one on each side. The below video explains the dock job process in detail from 1:40:00 into the video with every information and awesome footage, not only on the trains but also on the smart way of emptying the ore into the ships from the ore hoppers. HILL JOB from West Yard up to Eagle Mills Taking the 100-car or so consist starting from West Yard, up the hill to Eagle Mills yard and then back down to West Yard when the cars are loaded. Eagle Mills is a relatively big yard too and is the heart and soul of the line, even maintenance is taking place there. The below video features some amazing footage on it. From Eagle Mills, the "mine job" takes over, taking the empty cars to the actual mines (well, the only operating mine as of today is Tilden Mine) for loading. The hill job nowadays is pulled by leased GE AC4400CW beats, only in rare cases by U30C or C30-7 engines due to their less effective dynamic brakes. When the cars come back to the Eagle Mills yard and are assembled into a long train, they go back down to Marquette West Yard as a 10,000-ton iron ore train pulled by a pair of AC4400 locomotives. Shortly after leaving the Eagle Mills yard heading downhill to Marquette West Yard, the trains have to slowly crawl across the scales at Pine Hill. The scale weighs the train while in motion but the speed has to be less than 2.5 miles per hour! Signs are posted every 240 feet -1 minute of travel - to help the driver. The AC4400CW has a so-called pace setter mode available to it, which helps the crew. One of the reasons why this leased power is preferred for the hill job over the old motive power. The Pine Hill scale is explained in the video with awesome footage at 1:19:15 into the video. Once the last car clears the scales, the train can now continue at normal line speed down the steep grade. MINE JOB from Eagle Mills to Tilden Mine and Empire Mine (closed since 2016) Starts at Eagle Mills and consist of taking the 121-car empties to the mines for loading and then back to Eagle Mills yard loaded (each train pulls only 60 loaded cars due to difficult terrain), for the downhill part of the hill job. There exists an interchange point with Canadian National as well, where the LS&I picks up the arriving raw material for the pellet making process. This brings further variety to the simulated route as not only iron ore can be transported. 4-5 car long freight trains are normally operated for the above-mentioned service which arrives via the CN interchange. Found an amazing documentary on YT, I strongly recommend watching it, very inspirational and gives you all the information on the entire LS&I as well as awesome footage on scenery, rolling stock, infrastructure and pretty much everything. Here is the description from the video: "MARQUETTE, MICH - 2019 Since 1896, the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad has served the vital role of shuttling iron ore from the Marquette Iron Range down to the dock for further transport via the Great Lakes. Created and still owned and operated by iron mining giant Cleveland-Cliffs, the railroad was created primarily to streamline shipment around the existing railroads, whose rates were too high and service too unreliable in the opinion of mining managers. Now working their 123rd season, the railroad whose original mainline was built in just 8 months continues to use both the original route and new territory to serve the Tilden Mine, Michigan’s last operating iron ore exploit. Long revered for its beautiful scenery and battle-worn General Electric horsepower, the LS&I of today still resembles that of days gone by, as they continue to operate some of the last U30C and C30-7 locomotives in the country, shuttling ore cars which date back to before World War II. In this special presentation of the Thornapple River Rail Series, we’ll take a look at the modern LS&I, with its heavy-haul attitude in a small homegrown package, which ships over 8 million long tons of iron ore annually." And the link to the amazing video:
