The Introduction: My home state of Connecticut is a beautiful part of New England, filled with an interesting variety of rolling hills, industrial towns, suburbs, farms, cities, and river valleys that snake from the north border with Massachusetts and down into the Long Island Sound. These river valleys have been used for trade by the Native Americans well before the state was even founded as a colony, and even after the state was industrialized the same valleys were used by railroads for their smooth terrain and access to cities, industries, and trade ports. Today, three of these railroads are even named after the rivers the run along; the Housatonic Railroad, (Connecticut River) Valley Railroad, and Naugatuck Railroad. While not named after either of the two rivers it parallels (the Connecticut and the Quinnipiac), the Hartford Line has been an important railway artery in the state for over a century. The Hartford Line bisects the state nearly completely on the north-south axis and features a variety of scenery, industries, and running times that would keep operations from getting boring. The line I'm proposing has been created before in the New Haven Railroad-era by Virtual New Haven Railroad, in the excellent Train Simulator Classic DLC, Springfield Line: Springfield – New Haven Route Add-On. For Train Sim World 3 I would like to see the line as it is represented in modern day, operated by Amtrak, CT Rail, and Connecticut Southern Railroad. Amtrak runs their short-consist Springfield Shuttle trains (as well as the less frequent Vermonter and Valley Flyer trains), using P42DC locomotives, an Amfleet, and an ex-Metroliner cab car. CT Rail, relatively new to the commuting scene on this line, runs trains using refurbished P40DC and GP40-3H locomotives along with leased and repainted MBTA MBB cars, and Mafersa cars previously owned by Virginia Railway Express. Freight is still prevalent on this route, connecting the once impressive Cedar Hill Yard in New Haven along the Northeast Corridor to the major freight artery of the Boston Sub at Springfield, MA. Freight is operated jointly by CSX and Connecticut Southern Railroad (CSO), with CSO being under contract by CSX to move the majority of the freight over the route. The Route: The Hartford Line, as it is known to both Amtrak and CT Rail, runs roughly 60 miles from the major passenger station in New Haven, CT north to Springfield, MA where the line joins the former Boston & Albany route that adjoins its two namesake cities. Starting in the south, the line runs east briefly over the busy Northeast Corridor, sharing traffic with Amtrak Regionals and Acelas, Metro-North trains terminating in New Haven, and Shore Line East commuter trains that run as far east as New London. In addition, CT Rail has a maintenance base at the passenger yard in New Haven. The Harford Line banks north at Cedar Hill, past what was once one of the busiest freight yards in the US, and runs parallel to the Quinnipiac River as far as Meriden. Between New Haven and Meriden, passenger stops are present at New Haven State Street and Wallingford, as well as sidings for several industries and businesses. Between Meriden and Hartford urban and suburban sprawl begins to surround the line. At Berlin station (pronounced Berrlin, with more emphasis on the first half of the name) the Pan Am railways line to New Britain, Plainville, Bristol, Plymouth, and Waterbury branches off to the west. At Newington the CT Fastrack Busway joins alongside the railroad right of way all the way into Hartford. The train station at the state capital is on elevated track and provides views of the gold-domed capital building, the XL Center, and the Hartford Insurance building. Traveling north the line dips under Interstate 84 and after a short time reaches CSO's Hartford Yard. From here interchange is made with Providence & Worcester's line from Cedar Hill and North Haven, as well as with short line Central New England Railroad (CNZR). As we continue north we follow the Connecticut River and enter into more rural farm country before station stops at Windsor and Windsor Locks. Those of you that fly will know Windsor Locks as the home of Bradley Airport, the second busiest airport in New England behind Boston's Bradley. Of note here is that CSO freight trains serve both the airport and nearby National Guard facility on the short Suffield Secondary branch, which should be included with this DLC. There's no more stops on the way to Springfield, as trains cross both the Farmington and Connecticut rivers on their way into Massachusetts. The latter bridge over the Connecticut River, the Warehouse Point Bridge, has been the subject of many rail photographers over the decades. Trains run closely alongside the Connecticut River as they enter the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, where they turn sharply east into Springfield Union Station. Passengers here can either get off and enjoy the city, home of the famous Eastern States Exposition "The Big E" (although most of us US railfans know it as the location of the annual Amherst Train Show), connect with the Boston - Chicago Lake Shore Limited, or continue their Amtrak journey north on either the Valley Flyer or Vermonter. West of the station and back across the Connecticut River lies the CSX West Springfield Yard where cars are interchanged for Boston and Selkirk-bound trains, which should be included with this DLC as well. The Rolling Stock: The following trains should be included with the route, and conveniently most of these are already in-game. Amtrak Service Amtrak P42DC (new model), ex-Metroliner Cab Car (existing model), and Amfleet coaches (existing model) CT Rail Service CT Rail GP40-3H (modified model) and MBB commuter cars (existing model) CSO Freight Trains While I would love to see CSO freights accurately represented here, it would be hard due to owner Genesee & Wyoming running a hodge-podge of equipment from the other two area railroads it owns, Providence & Worcester and New England Central (not to be confused with the Central New England Railroad mentioned earlier). The easiest and most effective execution of this would be to include CSO's four ex-Union Pacific SD40-2 units. The model is already present and most seasoned players are already experienced with the unit. The Potential DLC: CT Rail Mafersa Trainset Refurbished P40DC in CT Rail "Xbox" livery with Mafersa commuter cars The AI Layering Potential: With the Boston Sprinter, Northeast Corridor New York - Trenton, Acela Express, and Sand Patch Grade DLC this route has exceptional potential for lively AI services. New Haven Union Station and the short section of NEC could be bustling with Amtrak trains and CSX power could be spotted in the three major yards (Cedar Hill, Hartford, and West Springfield). The Services: Amtrak - 33 (Total, Weekday & Weekend) CT Rail - 57 (Total, Weekday & Weekend) CSO - Roughly 12 (Hard to tell without more research, timetables are not public) While it may not seem like there a tremendous amount of player services, the route is fast-paced and full of amazing scenery. With AI layers added into the end points of the route you have a fun and beautiful route with two bustling termini. Passenger runs give the potential to see the route in a little over an hour, and freight services give you the option to slowly trundle along and perform duties at the various sidings along the way. Including the Suffield Secondary branch gives players the rare opportunity to directly serve freight to a major airport along some very secluded railroad. The Conclusion: With three different locomotives, various passenger cars, and almost 80 miles of operating track this DLC would have the potential to be some great US content; the existing Train Sim Classic DLC has 88% positive reviews. Making use of modern hardware and the tools available in TSW3, this route could be truly a fun masterpiece that could check the boxes for a lot of players. In addition, the only real new locomotive model here would be the P42, which honestly should have been in game years ago. Most of the route has plenty of photo and video references available freely online, and having a partner like Virtual New Haven Railroad or G-Trax should make this content even better. The Photo Credits: Most photos are courtesy Wikimedia Commons. RRPictureArchives photos are from the collections of Adam Twonbly and Tim Darnell.
Wow, talk about effort! It would certainly be cool to see a representation of shorter passenger railroads in the US.
Bring it on and for some TSW 3 owners that have TSC your suggestion is the Springfield-New Haven line set in the Present Day while TSC version is the New Haven RR era. Owners of the backdated era if made for TSW 3 get to run them here as museum trains
It'd be cool but with the pure failure of new York Treeton I think it'd be better to simply avoid the NEC or amtrak considering how badly they did it.
You are correct the easiest option might be the 1950s New Haven railroad era which is what the train simulator classic version of the route is.
