As a huge fan of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad (ATSF), I would love to see a new Santa Fe route in TSW5. The most likely route (in my opinion) would be the ATSF's Raton Pass that runs between Trinidad, CO to Raton, NM. The route is 45 miles of mountain railroading with steep grades (max. of 3.7%!) and lots of Santa Fe RR freight action. I would prefer to get the route set in the early to mid 1990s. This would give players a great selection of locomotives from both the ATSF RR and Amtrak. My loco suggestions: 1.) ATSF SD75M: ATSF rostered 51 of these big EMDs. The SD75M is a variant of EMD's popular SD70M with a bit more horsepower (4300HP). The ATSF SD75s were painted in the flashy Superfleet Warbonnet livery. 2.) ATSF GP60 Series: GP60, GP60M, GP60B: ATSF's roster of GP60-series locomotives wasn't the largest order (SP/SSW had the most), but ATSF had the most variety. They rostered 40 Spartan Cab GP60s painted in the Blue/Yellow freight livery. They also rostered 23 Warbonnet-liveried GP60B units and 63 GP60M Warbonnet-liveried Wide-Cab units. The Santa Fe's GP60s/Ms/Bs were used in fast intermodal and manifest freight services in the 1990s. 3.) ATSF C40-8W/C41-8W: Santa Fe's 4000HP Superfleet Dash-8s handled heavy freight services. The ATSF rostered 152 of these big GE diesels. The last 24 units were uprated to 4135HP and were designated C41-8W. 4.) ATSF C44-9W: Santa Fe rostered 100 of the popular GE C44-9W locomotives. The units became part of BNSF in 1996. 5.) ATSF B40-8/B40-8W: Santa Fe rostered 40 B40-8 Narrow-Cab units that were painted in the Blue/Yellow livery. They also had 83 B40-8W Wide-Cab units that were painted in the Superfleet Warbonnet livery. These 4000HP, 4-axle GE units were used for fast freights in the 1990s. 6.) Amtrak P32-8BWH: Amtrak's replacement for the EMD F40PH in the early 1990s was the P32-8BWH. Amtrak rostered 20 of these locomotives. They are still in use today. The unique Amtrak livery on these locos made railfans nickname these "Pepsi Cans." Other possible locomotive ideas: -SD40-2 -SD45 -SD45-2 -U30C -U36C/SF30C rebuild -C30-7 -GP38u -GP30u -GP35u -GP39-2 -GP50 -Amtrak F40PH -Amtrak P40DC -Rolling stock ideas for this route: -Amtrak Superliners for the SW Chief -ATSF Coal Hoppers -ATSF Grain Hoppers -ATSF TOFC and Intermodal Well Cars -ATSF Cement Hoppers -ATSF Boxcars -Tank Cars
Sounds good, out of curiosity would any high hoods had ran on this line during the given time period? Tsw does need some more older (1970s - 1990s) US freight in game and having it based in mountain regions makes things more interesting.
With regards to high-hood locomotives, jackmiller1234567890, the ATSF RR only had GP7s and GP9s with high hoods. By the 1990s, many the GP7s/GP9s on the Santa Fe had been rebuilt with chopped noses and most were off the roster. The Southern RR and N&W were the biggest users of high-hood diesels, along with NS in the early years of the N&W/Southern RR merger.
