Bring Some Freight to the PenninesWith the North Trans-Pennine route having 3 different locomotives to drive, there's some OK variety. But one thing that is missing for release is freight. DTG's going to add some freight, but who knows what stock they want to add... But there are actually some good contenders for freight stock, so let's see what DTG might use for freight in 1983. (Other than the 47 of course.) BR Class 56 "Grid"Built from 1976 to 1984, the Class 56 is one of the very few locomotives that could be considered "new" in 1983. As the first "second generation" diesel, it moved away from much of the old practices of the 60s, offering a different style of a locomotive to the 47 and 45. A BR blue class 56 with some HAA's at Manchester Victoria, one terminus of the new route. 135 of the beasts were built by BREL (105 technically, with the first 30 coming from Romania), using the newest equipment of the time, such as an AC alternator, air-only braking, and a massive 3,300 horsepower Paxman engine. They were as brutal as it got for freight, and in a way were largely the freight equivalent of the HST. The 56's were the first to get the "large logo" paint job as an experiment in 1976. This would be another appropriate paint job to consider featuring, as these two 56s at Manchester Victoria are demonstrating. BR Class 40 "Whistler"For a first generation option, English Electric's Class 40 would be surprisingly appropriate. While the 90 remaining engines from 1958 were on their last years of service in 1983, they were quite at home doing some of the odd jobs in the Pennines. Multiple 40s called Manchester home, including at Reddish Depot here, which is not far from the Transpennine route. Only having 2000 horsepower, they were not the most powerful of engines, and that combined with their 8-axle heavyweight configuration made them quite bad for heavy freight. On the other hand, with no modern ETH, they weren't up to everyday passenger hauling either, so only a few smaller jobs remained suitable for 40s. While the 56 may be the new beast in town, the 40's age and relative weakness give a more interesting challenge than the 56 would. Again in Manchester Victoria, we can see 40s on both passenger and freight, so they have a little versatility. "Merry-go-Round" Coal HoppersThe HAAs and other similar MGR coal wagons are pretty obvious choices for classic freight. As we saw in the Class 56 pictures, they were no stranger to Manchester and should fit in nicely to give some heavy stuff to haul over the route. A typical old HAA. Another variant of this type of wagon may be more appropriate, but the HAA is the one I know best. Covered VansFor a more "generic freight" approach, a Railfreight covered van such as a VAA would fit in nicely. While not common these days, the VAA and variants were actually somewhat modern for the 1980s (heck, they actually have air brakes) and would be an interesting bit of stock to have in the game. With only two axles, these covered wagons are quite odd by today's standards. Bogie Tank WagonsAs oil traffic was fairly normal in the 80s, a large tanker such as a TEA would be fitting traffic. While one of the more modern tankers, they were already aging quite a bit by the 80s, and are quite known for being really darn dirty. And I know how much you all want dirt covering everything. A set of TEA from '85. Dirty, and sometimes with the branding of the oil company. Freightliner Container Flat WagonsWhile intermodal was barely a thing back in 1983, it's still a really obvious choice that would give an option for lighter freight. One specific model I've found is the FGA, which is, of course, featuring those typical red and grey Freightliner containers. A typical example of what you'd probably see back in the 80s with container freight. So, those are my most likely candidates for some interesting 1983 freight. Recent news has revealed that it looks like DTG went for the Class 40, which will fit in nicely among the 45s we already have running around, plus a Class 08, which I didn't really consider as an option. Is there anywhere to do shunting?
The new Northern Trans-Pennine definitely needs some freight adding to it. My personal preference would be for the Class 56 along with the coal hoppers and covered vans. It would also be good for the Class 47 to be able to be swapped in on freight services.
What I would like to see in this case would either be a 30 USD loco bundle with the vans, containers, and coal cars called the Pennies Freight Pack Or something. Or have it where they are both separate loco DLC's with their own assortment of wagons perhap per pack. Either way having some more freight in TSW would be epic!
While I would also be willing to pay more for a freight "expansion pack" as opposed to a traditional loco DLC, I suspect that DTG would go for one loco and a couple of freight cars like the GP40-2. But I also think we could see everything here at some point, as Leeds Manchester is the kind of thing that will be a constant outlet for the people who want to make some BR blue stuff. (Unless, of course, a different BR blue route comes out!)
Take a look at live article discussion comments. Its been stated that freight and loco dlc is in the works.
The Class 40 is passing Reddish Depot on the Gorton/Faifield to Trafford Park line. Not on the Woodhead line and more than one junction away from the Manchester Victoria to Stalybridge line. Peter
I blame the description of the picture-I searched “Class 40 Woodhead” and that’s one of the first things to come up! I’m not from the 80s so should I be expected to correct someone who was from the 80s? (Fixed it anyway but still, gotta be nit picky?)
I apologise for pointing out an Error. I did not accuse You of Making the Error Should people take things on face value even when they know it's Wrong?
There were quite a lot of oil traffic over the pennines during the 80s/90s originating from Stanlow, so maybe oil tankers?
There are hundreds of ideas for a Freight DLC pack for this time period of 1983. Off the top of my head Railfreight had just been born in 1982, they used VAA/VBA/VCA/VDA/VEA Air-Braked Vans to start with, so, there are lots of possibilities that DTG could construct to reflect that, just as much as all the Speedlink services from 1977 onwards, all of those wagons were seen in their nice bauxite and red/grey liveries. We still had a bit of unbraked traffic about, so, a Brake Van would be very welcome. There were all the open goods wagons around such as the tube carriers and spoil wagons OAA/OBA/OCA/ODA etc. From 1981-83 came the brand new VGA/VKA vans with the Continental doors that curved upwards into a central roof panel constructed for various freight traffic conveyed by Speedlink. In the late 1970s/early 80s we had household coal that used to be shipped to Belfast from Liverpool that used to be worked across from the Nottinghamshire coalfields in HEA and HBA Hoppers, as well as the ubiquitous HAA merry go round Hoppers in trains from Yorkshire and Lancashire Coalfields to various Power Stations, plus the vacuum braked coal hoppers like the 21 ton HTO and HTV's. And finally, you had all the Engineering wagons, dozens of ballast wagons and hoppers and Bogie Bolsters for carrying sleepers and rails, far too many to name, but loads to choose from. And I did mention it on the other thread, but, with the Newspaper traffic out of Manchester Red Bank Sidings on a daily basis in this era, DTG must surely develop some GUV/NKV BR Blue newspaper MK1s for us to play with.
Based on clear statements by DTG, I'm willing to wait for the freight, but where is the manual?????? For gosh sakes, one of the tutorials recommends reading it, but where is it?
You can download it off the Steam page if you cannot find it with the other TSW manuals https://store.steampowered.com/manual/577353 Peter
Did some quick and lazy research, can't find a lot of class 56's in 1983 in this area, so IMHO a class 40 is most likely. I also found a few class 31's. It's actually a bit tricky to figure out what was in the area in exactly 1983 because the class 40's were just being retired then so pictures from 1982 or 1984 will have more or less class 40's and different amounts of each class of locomotive. If we do get a class 40, this could easily become a scenario, though- something similar to the GP40-2 "Power Line" scenario but transporting Class 40's to storage.
Ohhhh, yes, us old duffers from the 1960s, 70s and 80s know what we are talking about, especially, those of us who worked in the area on British Rail in the olden days, and know it intimately, we'll guide you along with route knowledge, train consist details and the rolling stock of the day data, we have all the information at our fingertips.
As far as I can tell, the 56's got quite common around '85-'86, which doesn't really rule them out unless you want to get really solid on that year (which DTG is not known for sticking to). At least the 40s were definitely around in '83 and everyone was taking pictures of them before they all went away. Might mean they are more represented than they should be but you gotta respect the famous engines.
From my notebooks, and other relevant sources, many of the Class 40s were withdrawn in 1983 from March to November, it all depends on what time of year you want to run this layout in, you can use your imagination and create scenarios for late 1982/early 1983, nobody can tell you off for doing that, it's your route you can do what you like with it. As from December 1983 there were about 44 Class 40s left in operation split allocated to Healey Mills, Carlisle Kingmoor, Manchester Longsight and Crewe, and one up at Gateshead. There were quite a few Class 56 workings in the 1982/83 timetable, by the end of 1983 we had got up to number 56123, they had all been constructed and released to traffic by 1984. Unfortunately, for us end-users, there was a huge marshalling yard at Healey Mills (Wakefield), which DTG haven't modelled on this layout, however, a vast array of freight trains ran along this route to and from this huge marshalling yard, there were approx. 24 Class 56 locos allocated to HM in 1983, which primarily worked Merry Go Round coal trains to Fiddlers Ferry Power Station (Warrington) from the various Yorkshire collieries plus other coal and aggregate and cement traffic, there was also the Procor wagon works at Wakefield who used to build various items of rolling stock for British Rail and they had lots of workings in and out of their premises. There were still a few Class 40s around and 20s also employed on coal trains across the area, and Class 25s and 31s worked a variety of different freights along the whole route, many Class 45 'Peaks' were based at Holbeck Depot in Leeds for nearly 30 years, so, they were always to be found in the region, as well as Class 47s. I think people concentrate too much on the Manchester Victoria area end, but, for me personally, the best station on this route for any trainspotting in 1983 was Mirfield, which was the epicentre for 4 different lines, Leeds to the North, Wakefield, Doncaster and Humberside to the East, Huddersfield, Stalybridge, Guide Bridge and Manchester to the South, and Blackburn, Preston and the WCML up to Scotland in the West, it was always so busy for such a small passenger station. From Leeds Station you can take the avoiding lines west to Bradford and then up to the Settle and Carlisle line, and east to York and Hull, lots of different ideas for scenarios and workings, you had both Holbeck and Neville Hill Maintenance Depots for all sorts of movements, Don't forget that in this era many small stations had sidings and small goods yards for all sorts of traffic, much of it was household coal which came from the vast array of coal mines in West Yorkshire and was stockpiled at these small sidings to be collected by the Coalmen who arrived in their lorries and took it away in coal sacks to be delivered to residential addresses all over the region. I think you need to either have the personal knowledge of this period, or, obtain a lot of books and DVDs for this era to see what actually went on 24/7 to be able to create scenarios that reflected what happened daily. If you want an interesting read, have a look at this about Holbeck Motive Power Depot Leeds. https://www.derbysulzers.com/holbecktwo.html
I have an audio recording of a class 40 at Leeds on a Manchester bound service in 1983 so if they produced on they could put it on a couple of passenger runs too. I would quite like a class 31, they would have been a common site and were not unknown on passenger trains. I agree some parcels stock would be useful as they were a common site in this era. There is certainly scope for several items of DLC.
