The Welsh Marches line known historically as the North and West Route, is the railway line running from Newport in south-east Wales to Shrewsbury in the West Midlands region of England by way of Abergavenny, Hereford and Craven Arms and thence (by some definitions) to Crewe via Whitchurch. The line thus links the south of Wales to north-west England via the Welsh Marches region, bypassing Birmingham. Through services from south-west Wales, Swansea and Cardiff to Manchester (hourly in each direction) and from Cardiff to Wrexham, Chester, the north coast of Wales and Anglesey (every two hours in each direction) constitute the bulk of passenger operations on the route. STATIONS: Hereford Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately 16 miles east of the border with Wales, 24 miles south-west of Worcester and 23 miles north-west of Gloucester Leominster Leominster railway station lies on the Welsh Marches Line serving the Herefordshire town of Leominster in England. It is situated 11+1⁄4 miles north of Hereford. Ludlow Ludlow railway station in Ludlow, Shropshire, England, lies on the Welsh Marches Line between Shrewsbury 27 miles 42 chains to the north and Hereford. The station is on Station Drive, 1⁄2 mile to the northeast of Ludlow town centre Craven Arms Craven Arms railway station serves the town of Craven Arms in Shropshire, England. Until 1974 it was known as "Craven Arms and Stokesay", named after the nearby coaching inn and the historic settlement of Stokesay to the south Church Stretton Church Stretton is a market town in Shropshire, England, 13 miles south of Shrewsbury and 15 miles north of Ludlow. The population in 2011 was 4,671. The town was nicknamed Little Switzerland in the late Victorian and Edwardian period for its landscape, and became a health resort. Shrewsbury Shrewsbury railway station is in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. Built in 1848, it was designated a grade II listed building in 1969. The station is 43 miles north west of Birmingham New Street. THE LOCOS: BR CLASS 175 IN ARRIVA TRAINS WALES LIVERY: The British Rail Class 175 Coradia 1000 is a type of diesel multiple-unit passenger train operated by Transport for Wales Rail in the United Kingdom. The fleet of 27 sets was built between 1999 and 2001 by Alstom at Washwood Heath. BR CLASS 70 IN FREIGHT LINER LIVERY: The British Rail Class 70 is a Co-Co mainline freight GE PowerHaul locomotive series manufactured by General Electric in Erie, Pennsylvania. They are operated in the United Kingdom by Freightliner and Colas Rail. MAP: (note its only up from Hereford to Shrewsbury)
This is a great route in TSC, either Newport to Hereford or Hereford to Shrewsbury, assuming the whole is too big, would be marvellous in TSW. Though my preferred era would be mid 90’s or earlier.
Arriva lost the franchise a few years back, and when they did they removed all IP rights, so in TSC DTG had to remove the DLC from sale, debrand it and then put it back on sale debranded. Would be better to have debranded Arriva and/or TfW white and red liveries for the route
Regional railways with class 158s on the Cardiff / Swansea to Manchester runs and whatever did the locals would work. WOuld have to change the 70 for a 60 though
Set back in BR days, licensing issues averted. Set in the mid 70's and you could have a mixture of Class 123 Inter City and Class 120 Cross Country DMU's on the passenger services. Step forward a few years to when 25's were on daytime services along with the odd 47. Or the Class 33 era in the early to mid 80's pre Sprinter era. Even the first few years of Sprinter operation - first the awful 155's then the rather excellent 158's prior to the privatisation moves in 1994, were under BR auspices as British Rail. Freight could and did produce all sorts of motive power though you really need a Class 56 for the metals traffic.
Loads of the TfW stock is running around in Arriva debranded at the moment, so it wouldn't be "unlicensed", just not have the arriva logos on it
