I've got a suggestion for a UK route. It's the snow hill line from Birmingham Moore street to Worcester forgate street/shrub hill. I believe it's about a 30-40 mile route, so a nice length for a DLC, its teaming with class 172's and 170's. Chiltern railways also operate there DMU's (class 172, 168 and a few more) and there class 68's between Kidderminster and Birmingham. There is a chiltern depot at stourbridge that is about half way along this stretch and west Midlands railway have a depot at Worcester. I think it would be a really nice addition because there would be a mix of higher speed (chiltern services) and the local trains (west Midlands railway services). There are also a couple of class 153's that operate on this route sometimes that are owned by west Midlands railway and are a very nice iconic train. There is also a freight yard just outside of stourbridge junction that class 66's/60's run out of with steel trains towards Worcester, which would be a nice addition for the freight lovers out there. The scenery is fairly typical Britain but there are places along the way that make it interesting; multiple junctions where routes disperse and join, smethwick galton bridge station that features 2 levels, Birmingham in general with the well-known bullring shopping centre and skyscrapers, it features the least used station in Worcestershire that is Hartlebury, There are a lot of stations along here that still feature the original signal boxes, stations buildings and British railways feel and Worcester has semephore signals which is very rare to see now, and would be a nice addition. and lastly at Kidderminster you pass the start of the seven valley railway. I think this would be a really nice route with alot of different things to do and see. Would love to see it come one day
This would potentially share some content with the Cross City line I suggested. If they could sort out at WM Trains license, they'd be able to double up on a fair bit of content across the two routes. Would be nice to pull in to Kidderminster and see a couple of steam trains on the Severn Valley Railway lines - even if they were only scenery at this point, like RRO's Wuppertal Schwebebahn.
As a Stourbridge resident I would second this. The freight trains run over the old Walsall line as far as Brierley Hill, over the Stambermill viaduct which is a local landmark. I haven't seen a 60 round there for a very long time, the regular train is a class 66 (which I think are awful things)! The sidings are mainly used to store PW trains and Chiltern have their stabling point there. It would be good to include the town branch of course, the 153's operated it before the 139's. Personally I would have it set in 1980 with a class 116, 120 and a 25 and 45 for freight, but I know that wouldn't appeal to everyone. It would be a good route and would fit in length wise with TSW routes, as you say going from the modernity of Birmingham to the semaphores in the Droitwich and Worcester area is a good contrast.
Stourbridge resident who moved away in 1981 here. I remember the line very fondly including the DMUs which seemed to be cattle class only but I didn't know better. Trains ran into New Street and the Dodger (the train to the town station) was a Class 121 or 122 in my day. I recall it overrunning the buffers at the town one day and finishing up with the front twenty feet or so hanging over the road past the bus station. The same unit is now running on the Weardale Railway a few minutes away from me. I'd very much like to see this in TSW or TS. Someone was having a go at building Stourbridge and the Town line for TS some time ago but it seemed to peter out.
Yes that was in 1977 it dropped in bogie onto Foster Street there are some photos of it, one is here (not mine) https://www.flickr.com/photos/walsall1955/4554993353 Something similar happened in 1989 and 1990 after the station had been moved slightly further up the line and the bus station built on the site of the old station. Both times the class 121 demolished the wall at the end of the buffers, the one in 1989 was the celebrity Midline liveried one and the next year it was 55032 which became the Arriva Trains Wales one. I think a 50's or early 60's creation of the route would be interesting if very short, you had the separate goods line down to the station which involved a very steep incline and I think only Pannier tanks were allowed to the basin. I modern day recreation would be pretty boring although attached to the Snow Hill lines would add a bit of variety I guess.
When I got there there was a Class 08 with four coaches that had been hitched up to the other end presumably to stop it going all the way over because it certainly wasn't towing anywhere. The word was going around that there were no casualties and Dad said, "wait until they lift that bogie and find a car under it".
I'm a local to the route as well and know it really well. Maybe I'm bias but I do think its perfect for TSW
That would be a great idea, set in modern day but I would love to see older era stock to ie first gen DMU’s and locomotives to. The trouble with train sims is that you can’t always cater for every bodies tastes, some like the old and some only the new.
Some compromises could be made to cater for both. The WCML over Shap route for TS1 came with a good selection or BR Blue stock but the route was more set in the modern period but with generic black and white signs but with speed limit signs for the Pendolino's so you can run multiple periods on the same route, shame in a way they didn't sell it with the Pendolino and maybe a class 66 to make the point. Obviously you couldn't do steam period routes in the same way as the infrastructure had changed a lot but many routes haven't changed a great deal since from the 70's and 80's to now. Personally I would rather see older period routes but can enjoy modern routes too.
First generation DMUs didn't use Snow Hill, well, not after 1972 at any rate, when Snow Hill was a very different station indeed. Worcester trains stopped using Snow Hill in 1967. Between 1967 and 1995 they went to New Street via Galton Junction and Soho.
I remember back in the 80's as a child taking trains into New Street from Stourbridge. I loved the smell of diesel and the gloominess of the station. The last bit of the journey from Smethwick Rolfe Street to the tunnel was one point where the train got a decent speed up with was quite exciting when you were younger, those first generation DMU's alwasy seem to feel faster than they were actually going, I found Sprinters much less interesting. The modern Snow Hill is an awful souless place, it is criminal they demolished the old beautiful station to erect that carbuncle only 16 years or so later.
I agree but we only have 2 modern UK routes so we need some more. There are already 2 older routes that people were pretty angry about when they realised.
If you say we have two "older" routes and two modern routes then aren't we due another older route? TSW has to try to cater for everyone, no point people getting angry about it.
Well, each of the northern older routes comes with three trains (45, 47, 101 / 08, 37, 101) , plus there's the Heavy Freight pack (40, 08) and the 31 add ons, and potentially more old stuff in WSR (09, 47, 33, 52) if you don't mind driving slowly. The modern selection is HST, 166 and 377 plus the shared 66, so not exactly an even split between new and old.
Ok but the west Somerset railway is all old locomotives, and there is the heavy freight add-on. There is only 2 modern UK trains in the hole of the game which are the 377 and the 166. Against the 9 old locomotives. We need more modern stuff
How many were pretty angry, there were plenty who were very happy too? TS1 has been dominated by modern routes with a handful of steam, BR period routes have been very much in the minority and of what was released there is little of substance, so I for one am happy to see that balance redressed a little.
As i was from Kidderminster and with the Class 150s being my favourite it would be a route i'd drive on non stop!
Well, the majority of TSW players Are console players, [caps removed by Protagonist - stop shouting please]