This is my suggestion for West Coast Mainline route from Birmingham New Street to Liverpool Lime Street. The WCML is one of the most requested routes for Train Sim World. I see no reason for why this route shouldn't make it into TSW. First of all, both Birmingham New Street , Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street already exist in the game (though two is set in the 50s). Secondly, DTG shouldn't have too big of an issue with licensing as they already have the license for Avanti West Coast and West Midlands Railway. Route Info The route from Birmingham to Liverpool is 78 miles (126 km) long. The route starts in Birmingham New Street, the largest station in Birmingham, before going up to Wolverhampton, joining the main part of the WCML at Stafford, then finally branching off from Crewe to Liverpool Lime Street, a terminus station near the centre of Liverpool. Stations on this route are: Birmingham New St. - Smethwick Rolfe Street - Smethwick Galton Street - Sandwell & Dudley - Dudley Port - Tipton - Coseley - Wolverhampton - Penkridge - Stafford - Crewe - Hartford - Acton Bridge - Runcorn - Liverpool South Parkway - West Allerton - Mossley Hill - Edge Hill - Liverpool Lime St. (Please note that some of the stations are unused. I may also have accidentally left out some stations due to the maps being confusing). The route is served by Avanti West Coast, West Midlands Trains and many more operators. Rolling Stock Avanti West Coast Class 390 Pendolino The Class 390 Pendolino is a high speed EMU built by Alstom. It uses a special tilting technology that allows it to travel at higher speeds along the curves of the West Coast Mainline. The Pendolinos exist in both 9 and 11 car formations. On this route the Pendolino would run from Birmingham to Crewe and Stafford to Liverpool on seperate services (shame). Both services would take between 40-60 minutes to complete. London North Western Railway Class 350 Desiro The British Rail class 350 is an EMU which is part of the Siemens Desiro family. It runs under the London Northwestern Railway name, which is owned by West Midlands Trains. On this route, the class 350s would run services all the way from Birmingham New Street to Liverpool Lime Street. This journey would take almost 2 hours to complete. It would also run a shorter service between Stafford and Crewe. It is also possible to add the line from Birmingham to Crewe which takes a different path from this route. Possible DLC and Updates It is possible to extend the route down from Birmingham New St. to Birmingham Intl. or even Coventry, though I doubt the devs would want to do that as this route would require plenty of work already. It's also possible to add the 8 mile branchline from Birmingham New St. to Walsall (This could potentially become it's own DLC route). There are also some trains that can be added. I think the best choices would be: West Midlands Railway Class 170 The class 170 DMU would be a great addition to Train Sim World as it could potentially be used on many current and future routes. This train would run between Birmingham New St. and Wolverhampton. Transport for Wales Class 158 The class 158 could be used on this route as it was just recently added to TSW on the Midland Mainline. This train could run from Birmingham New St. (or Birmingham Intl. if it was to be extended) to Wolverhampton aswell. Sadly licensing may be an issue with this one. How does this route follow the LAMP system? L - Licensing: Licenses shouldn't be too much of an issue for this route. DTG already has the license for Avanti West Coast and WMR. WMR and LNWR are both owned by West Midlands Trains, so getting a LNWR license shouldn't be too hard. Transport for Wales would be harder to license, but it is not necessary. A - Anticipation: The West Coast Mainline has been one of the most demanded routes since the beginning of this game. I don't think I need to say more about that. M - Mix: There is a decent amount of things to do in this route. You can run Pendolino services from Birmingham to Crewe or Stafford to Liverpool or run stopping LNWR services from Birmingham to Liverpool or Stafford to Crewe. With a WMR class 170 or TFW class 158 you would also get services from Birmingham to Wolverton which would give the route a lot of variety. There is also potential for freight, route extensions and branchlines. P - Prominence: This route includes many significant stations with Liverpool Lime Street being the oldest still operating grand terminus station in the world, Crewe being a very important junction for the WCML and Birmingham New St. being a major hub in the British railway system. The class 390 Pendolino is also a train that is very well known around the world. I believe this route would be a fantastic addition to Train Sim World 3 (or future games). It's versatile with lots of different types of services, different operators and lots of potential for extensions or completely new routes. The WCML is a highly demanded route and I really hope that my suggestion can help it make it into the game. Here is the map I used as well as Google Maps: Please note that I'm not from England and do not know much about this route. All my information comes from research that I have done on the operators websites, Wikipedia and train ticket sites, so please correct me if I'm wrong about anything. Edit: Since the addition of the Glossop line, and Manchester Piccadilly along with it, I'd like to add that the route can be extended from Stafford to Manchester Piccadilly. This extension would bring even more Avanti Pendolino services and Crosscountry trains. The extension would go as follows: Stafford - Crewe - Sandbach - Holmes Chapel - Goostrey - Chelford - Alderley Edge - Wilmslow - Handforth - Cheadle Hulme - Stockport - Levenshulme - Ardwick - Manchester Piccadilly This extension is pretty long with a distance of 47 miles (75 km), so I doubt it will ever be made (if the base route even gets made), but it's still nice to add to this suggestion.
Love the idea a larger route is much needed i use some of theese routes regularly and would love to see them
Personally agree. I'm one of the ones that is dying to drive a Class 390 in TSW. It's my favorite train over in the UK.
Excellent idea overall also you can do this 1958 basically making Spirit of steam WCML Liverpool Lime Street to Crewe longer by running it to Birmingham New Street 105 miles. Your Northern section is a modernized WCML Liverpool Lime Street to Crewe Modernized and Electrified since 1962.
I love the suggestion Birmingham New Street to Liverpool lime Street and Manchester Piccadilly with Advanti With Coast (Future DLC) class 810 Aurora
You are correct furthermore if you break down in electric mode on Class 810 the hint screen will say to continue to the Journey please turn on diesel power
Edit of Edit: Stafford - Stone (Staffs) - Stoke on Trent - Longport - Kidsgrove - Congleton - Macclesfield - Prestbury - Adlington - Poynton - Bramhall - Cheadle Hulme - Stockport - Levenshulme - Ardwick - Manchester Piccadilly Crosscountry use this route instead of the one I added in my first edit.
Birmingham - Liverpool and Manchester would be far too much to make. It's loads of track milage, a lot of stations, and a fair number of trains. It would be amazing, but i don't see it happening.
To be honest, I just added that part because why not. I doubt that they would ever make such an extension.
