Whilst I'm at it this morning, another route also in my local area that would be a fantastic addition would be the Eastleigh-Romsey 'figure 6' line. This is a relatively short route, but covers potentially a lot of different options in terms of services. The route The route runs from Salisbury in the West, and finishes at Romsey. The route is somewhat unusual in that trains visit Romsey twice on the route. The route would cover the following stations: Salisbury Dean Mottisfont & Dunbridge Romsey Redbridge Millbrook (Hampshire) Southampton Central St Deny's Swaythling Southampton Airport (Parkway) Eastleigh Chandler's Ford Romsey (again) The line from Redbridge to Eastleigh is electrified via DC Third Rail, but the sections from Eastleigh to Romsey, and then Redbridge to Salisbury, is not electrified. Services and Rolling Stock Services are primarily operated by South Western Railway using two car class 158 DMUs. The main service is the 'figure 6' route, which runs from Salisbury to Romsey via Romsey, Southampton Central and Eastleigh. The service runs hourly in each direction, and is timed tightly. The service is also often a battle against signals, as signalling priority is given to services operating on the South Western Mainline (Waterloo-Weymouth), so services have to duck and dive around these trains. The total route takes a little over an hour to cover. At Romsey, trains terminate and then head back around the figure 6 back to Salisbury, visiting Romsey on their way through. Great Western Railway also operate across sections of this route on their service from Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour using 3 coach hybrid class 158s and more recently class 166s cascaded from the Great Western Mainline routes. There would also be the opportunity to operate a short section (Redbridge to Eastleigh) using Class 450/444 Desiros that operate on the South Western Mainline. The same section of track also plays host to the CrossCountry Voyagers (both Class 220 and 221). Lastly, there would be huge opportunity for freight operations. Eastleigh yard would be present in all its glory, where Class 08 and 09 shunters are regularly found. Southampton docks would also be featured, so the opportunity to shunt and manage freight services of various types would be plentiful. Potential extension If DTG were feeling adventurous, this could be extended slightly further from St Deny's down to Portsmouth Harbour. This would allow operation of GWR services from Salisbury all the way to Portsmouth Harbour. It would also open up operation of services from Southampton Central to Portsmouth & Southsea using class 450 and sometimes 158 units. Summary This route would be a really great addition to TSW. The opportunity to bring in a classic DMU in the Class 158, and a serious bit of UK freight operations at Eastleigh and Southampton docks. The route is very picturesque, and features plenty of scope for additional content such as passing railtours and other special events. If licencing from South Western Railway was a problem, the previous South West Trains era could easily be used.
