The West Midlands Railway franchise has a far-reaching network, with Hereford and Shrewsbury on the western edge of their operations with the eastern edge of their network being at Leamington Spa, where this route will be based. The route: Leamington Spa is a junction station, with one route continuing up to Birmingham Moor Street via Dorridge whilst another line branches off towards Coventry and Nuneaton. The line towards Nuneaton is served by an hourly West Midlands Railway service which calls at all stations along the route: Kenilworth, Coventry, Coventry Arena, Bedworth, Bermuda Park and Nuneaton, a journey of 20 miles which takes 38 minutes to complete. These services depart from the Up Bay at Leamington (P4). The service on the Stratford-upon-Avon is 2 hourly from Leamington to Stratford, with their being a half hourly WMR service from Stratford, one which runs via Henley and another that goes via Hatton North Junction and runs fast, only stopping at Bearley or Claverdon during peak times. The lines through Leamington also have an intensive freight service, with around 50 freight services passing through each day. The stock: Class 165/0 in Chiltern Railways livery (2 and 3car variants) Similar to the Class 166, the Class 165 is only capable of a top speed of 75mph and operates all the Chiltern local services between Leamington, Stratford and Birmingham Moor St as well as the 0625 and 2100 departures from Leamington to Birmingham and the 2244 departure from Hatton to Banbury, calling at all stations. In total, the Class 165 would contribute around 45 services to the timetable for the route, including shunt moves at Leamington Spa. Class 172/2 and 172/3 in West Midlands Railway livery Introduced to service in 2011, the Class 172/2 and 172/3 are the most prevalent of the subclasses in the WMR fleet, with 12 172/2s (2car units) and 15 172/3 units (3car units). These work all of the WMR local services, usually coupled to another unit except on the Nuneaton route, where 1 of the units will suffice. The half hourly service from Stratford will be drivable from Stratford upon Avon to either Wilmcote (all xx43 departures from Stratford as well as 1406, 1506, 1606, 2001, 2101, 2201 & 2330 departures, with all xx27 departures from Wilmcote as well as 0639, 2113, 2223 and 2313 departures), Stratford Parkway (all xx08 departures from Stratford not previously listed, with all xx39 departures to Stratford as well as 0642 and 0840 departures) or Claverdon (0608, 1105 & 1806 departures from Stratford and 1632 & 1732 departures from Claverdon). There is also a 0555 departure from Leamington Spa to Stratford which is a Class 172, departing from P4 at Leamington and only calling at Stratford Parkway. There is also occasional WMR services from Birmingham, with these being the 0545 (P1, drivable to Hatton) and 0754 (P4, AI driven), with arrivals at 0743 (drivable from Warwick Parkway) and 1943 (drivable from Hatton). Class 66/5 in Freightliner Racing Green livery The Class 66/5 is the most common subclass within the Freightliner fleet, and would find use on all of the freight services on this route (roughly around 50) Layers WCML South - Class 350 and 390. The obvious layering choice for the route, these units would layer in for AI traffic at Coventry and Nuneaton on the busy West Coast Mainline. The Class 350 would also provide some player services at Coventry for taking the units to and from the yard at the end or beginning of the day's service. RHTT DLC - Weathered Class 66 + RHTT wagons. There is around 5 RHTT services that would layer into this route, with the one service being split in half at Coventry due to sitting in the yard there for 25 minutes. ROG 37. Used for route learning runs between Leamington Spa and Hatton (4 services in total, 2 services to Hatton and 2 services from Hatton)
I like it. I think the WCML layers on this are a must have, if the Nuneaton line is included. Crossing over a busy Coventry station, and then reemerging at Nuneaton with all the non-stop action.. would juxtapose the more gentle DMU services nicely. Leamington Spa is a lovely place and would be a nice base station for the route too. Would you not be tempted to suggest Moor Street also, for the possible loco-hauled stuff (or the more express services)? Huge rail tour potential as well!
