I think a Western Pacific steam route set on 3rd subdivision which ran from Oroville to Quincy Junction, CA and the reason the route would be set in 1938 because steam had reached it's zenith on the Western Pacific and they had mixture of new and used locomotives including locomotives purchased from the Florida East Coast railroad and plus the following year would mark the beginning of the end of steam on the railroad which steam ended on railroad in 1953. The route route should include the Inside Gateway which the Western Pacific and Great Northern Railway would interchange in Bieber, CA which was completed in 1931. Here's a few steam locomotives I would like to see in this route. Class M-80 2-6-6-2 Mallet Moguls with and without snowplows Class M-137 2-8-8-2s MK-60-301 to MK-60-71 Class 2-8-2 Mikados built between 1918-1929 Western Pacific 4-8-2 Mountain type locomotives purchased 10 from the Florida East Coast railroad in 1936 used to pull the Scenic Limited and later the Exposition Flyer which ran from 1939-1949 when the California Zephyr was inaugurated.
This would be a fantastic route with steam, but a 1960s-era version with a U30B, a GP20, GP35, or GP40 (or GP40-2), and FP7/2 F7B set w/ California Zephyr consist would be my preference, similar to the TS Classic version. Also, a WP GS6 4-8-4 could be amazing to see pulling passenger trains on the steam-era route.
I agree with you if they do a route set in the 60s with more diesels and plus none of this locomotives except one class of locomotive were all scrapped and plus the WP GS-64s didn't come to the railroad until 1943 and I looked up a list of surviving WP steam locomotives and they included WP GS-64 no. 484 which was the tender only then I thought to myself no that doesn't count because the locomotive should be with the tender. The WP survivors are 2-8-2 no. 334 and 4-6-0 no. 94 which are both at the Western Railway Museum in Rio Vista Junction, CA and 2-8-0 no. 26 at Los Angeles, CA and 0-6-0 no. 164 in Oroville, CA and finally 0-6-0 no. 165 at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola, CA which they recently restored to operating condition.
