Route Proposal: Canadian National Dubuque-rockford

The proposed route is the Canadian National (formerly Illinois Central) route from Dubuque to Rockford, and through towns like East Dubuque, Galena, and Freeport. (Click link for more detailed map) https://cnebusiness.geomapguide.ca/

1. Main stops along the route:
Dubuque: This stop would include the railroad interchange with Canadian Pacific and Canadian National's only river port terminal in Iowa. This is a great start for the route as there are not many starting locations west of Dubuque in Iowa, plus there is the Illinois Central/CN rotating bridge for trains crossing the Mississippi River. This provides for great scenarios such as needing to wait for a barge to come through.

Galena: The nearby historic downtown area creates a great backdrop for the route that runs along the Galena River, including Grant Park and the historic Galena Train Depot.

Freeport: This was not in my original plan as I am not as familiar with landmarks here, but it falls along the Canadian National route and I felt another stop was needed so it was included. (I would welcome suggestions from others who may have more knowledge of this area).

Rockford: Located northwest of Chicago, this would be the end of the route (the final section of the Canadian National route from Iowa to Rockford). This would also be a connector to the current Amtrak Black Hawk route from Chicago to Rockford. There are real world proposals of a future Amtrak route from Rockford to Dubuque which would follow this route. This would provide the possibility of future DLC extensions, for example new Amtrak stations that might be created as well as incorporating Amtrak's new ALC-42 (which there have been many requests for).

2. Operations along the entire route.
Canadian National carries many loads along the Iowa/Illinois border, so this route could include many different types of rolling stock. The most common are chemicals, food/kindred products, and farm products. Tank cars and hoppers should definitely be included with this route. The common locomotives are Canadian National GE ES44DCs so that should be included as a new locomotive for the game, and most routes have a second locomotive at least, so that could be a Canadian National SD40-2 or GP40-2.

3. Reasons this would make a great route.
We only currently have two Midwest routes, Racetrack Aurora-Chicago which only stays within the Chicago metro area, and Granger Heartland which shows the great plains of the southern Midwest. The Dubuque, Mississippi, and Galena areas are very scenic for great visuals, and the proposed route would add an area of the Midwest that is not currently represented. It would add the Canadian National GE ES44DC which would be a great addition to add to the game and could be put in custom consists with things like the BNSF GE ES44DC.

4. Why people would buy this route.
Canadian National GE ES44DC.
Wide variety of rolling stock.
They have seen or live nearby this route.
Mississippi River bridge and other scenery related things.
Opportunities for lots of different and great scenarios.
It would complete the Midwest of the U.S.A.
And just because some have the goal of having a complete route collection.


If you like this proposal please enter one on the following:

I would spend $999,999,999,999 for this route.
This would be the best route ever!
How have I lived this long without this route?!?!?
My life would be complete with this route.

If you think there are ways to improve this route, please comment those below as well as feedback. I am 11 years old and have been an avid train fan for 10 years. This is my first route proposal.

If you have any questions please ask them below. And thank you for viewing this proposal!

By: Midwest Railfan

 

Well done and good idea.

 

Thank you for your support it is greatly appreciated.

 

This Proposal was not getting as much feedback as other proposals I have seen recently, if you read this message, please respond with some feedback (thanks haywardjohn.48). Thank You for your feedback! Below is my attempt to recreate the bridge in Dubuque, I am not good with route builder and I also had trouble finding water so I used snow.

 

Water is in the scenery section in the trees list right at the bottom. You get a decal that needs stretching using the tags at the corners and middle.

 

Thanks for the info!