A 30-42 mile route connecting Millaig and Fort William.With famous landmarks along the way like the famous Glenfinnan Viaduct.This modern single track railway in Scotland will consist of trains like: The class 158 in ScotRail blue (For stopping services) Capable of 90 mph The class 37 in ScotRail or BritishRail blue (For express and freight services) Capable of 80 mph The Black 5 or K1 in British Railways black (Railtours) A scenario for this route would be the Jacobite pulled by the steam train non-stop
It is the class 153/156 that runs all passenger services on this route(outwith rail tours). The newly(ish) refurbished Highland Explorer. I’d love this route though.
Present times indicate a Class 153/Class 156 for ScotRail services and the Black 5 for the Jacobite service Quick correction: The Jacobite stops at Glenfinnan and Arisaig (token change) on the Mallaig-bound service and Morar, Arisaig and Loch Eil Outward Bound (both token changes) (stops at Loch Eil if on-time, skips if the service is running late) on the Fort William-bound service (Based off the afternoon service before anyone asks )
How about this: Create the route as it is today (call it West Highland Line) with the 156 and Black 5 with a 153 as DLC and then get either a seperate DLC to get the older stock on it like Diesel Legends of the Great Western or do it as a seperate route altogether and call it West Highland Line 1980s or something like that so you get both eras for the one route so you get all the included stock within the suggestion
Fort William to Mallaig would be at its best in the mid to late 70's, or possibly the early 80's when the Class 27's were being replaced by Class 37's at that point. There was still a fair bit of freight activity in the Fort William area at that time. The big problem for this route, regardless of era, is how do you create an interesting timetable and scenarios when the basic service is/was around 4 trains in each direction a day. The selling point would have to be the scenery and the challenging route, which again is why it would be more interesting with loco hauled trains that have a decent cab view than Sprinters with narrow windows and more than enough power in reserve.
YES!!!!! A few of my friends went on there and it sounds absolutely incredible!! Honestly I'd day 1 this like I do with most routes.