Well here we are again and time to cover another route that featured in that thread talking about potential 'Rush Hour' routes currently not in TSW2, which this time is going to be another German route. Now last time, I mentioned that when it came to the poll that I did, the highest voted on German route was a tie between two routes. I when on to cover one of them, which was Hauptstrecke Hamburg – Hanover. Today, we will tackle the route that was tied alongside it. One that, while not quite on the same level as that route, would still make an interesting TSW2 route and one that is quite iconic on TS Classic and that route is West Rhine Bahn between Köln and Koblenz. But as always, before we begin... What he said in that post All other routes that featured and the poll I did can be found by clicking on the link here. The Route Itself Now over the years, there have been many routes set out of Köln Hbf, whether that would be on TS Classic, the one route we have on TSW2, or even that new Train Life game has that station represented as part of the network that game provides. Now on TSW2, you probably are all familiar with Schnellfahrstrecke Köln-Aachen, which is one of three routes that comes with the base game. Now if you just had that and nothing else, all you get is a measly 49 services. But the route is actually far busier in real life and that number is massively boosted thanks to both additional layers from other routes and even with the BR 187 that adds some extra freights services and there will soon be more S-Bahn when this routes gets the BR 423 from the upcoming expansion pack. However, while that route will soon have an amount of traffic that is respectable to real life, I would argue that Köln-Aachen is not the most iconic route set out of Köln Hbf that has been made for a Train Simulator. That honour would go to the route that heads out of Köln and down the Rhine river as far as Koblenz, which was made for TS Classic back in 2014, and was one of the three routes that made up TS 2016 when that was released nearly a year later. I actually do remember playing with this route back then. admittedly it maybe more playing around with the Railfan feature that was new to TS Classic at the time, but even then, I do remember quite enjoying it and it's seems the route has still quite well received even today, offering quite a bit of content and a variety of locos alongside, including the addition of a BR 155 when TS 2016 came out. It's this route that will form the basis of this suggestion and while in TSW2, this route maybe isn't quite as interesting as other suggestions that I have already done, there already plenty of perks that would still make this stand out on it's own merit. Both with what the route offers and what could be added via additional layers and future loco add-ons. More on that in a bit, but first, the route map. Map of the Whole Route Section out of Köln Hbf towards Brühl Section between Bonn Hbf & Oberwinter Section between Urmitz into Koblenz Hbf Going over the stats here, the route length in total is 59.2 Miles (95.3 km) which includes the main route between Köln and Koblenz (57.5 Miles or 92.6 km) and an additional 1.7 Mile (2.7 km) that makes up some additional yards/depots that spur off the route including Köln depot and the spur of track that heads to the yard at Koblenz-Moselle. The route also has 25 stations, only 1 passenger depot (Cologne Depot) and 5 freight yards (Köln Eifeltor Freight Station which is spilt into two parts, Brühl Freight Station, Bonn Freight Station, Koblenz-Lützel Nord and Koblenz-Moselle). As always with German routes, there is a chance that there are more depot/yards that what is listed here, but finding information about them can be quite difficult. So starting off by describing the direction in which this route takes, you depart Köln Hbf in the same direction as the current Köln route we have now, but instead of heading east towards Aachen at the depot, you turn back on yourself heading south towards Koblenz. From there, the route seems like another typical A-B German route with not much surprises along the way, something along the lines of Ruhr-Sieg Nord, Main Spessart Bahn and Hauptstrecke Hamburg – Lübeck, but this route does have a lot of interesting perks to offer to help it stand out from those routes. Firstly, this route is longer than all of those routes I have just mentioned, roughly about 18 miles longer than the longest of those three German routes. The route also has more stations dotted along the route. Plus, on that subject, this route I think would have three landmarks stations, One at either end of the route and one around the middle at Bonn. There's also a couple of freight yards dotted along this route, including a really large one at Köln Eifeltor, which covers an area of 2.6 Miles (4.2 km) end to end, which also includes a container terminal at it's southern end. Now admittedly, the passenger side of this timetable wouldn't be all that busy apart from the major stations having AI traffic to boost the levels around there, but that's only if you have the base route. I envision that this route would get even more passenger services thanks to additional layers from other routes and loco add-ons, which would give this route a greater diversity of passenger trains running on it compared to most German routes, as you will see later. But I generally think that this would be more of a freight route, from looking at the various yards and at what runs on this route in real life and there would be plenty of interesting opportunities with freight on this route. I would envision that freight would join the route at either Köln West coming in from the northern end of the route or at either Koblenz Hbf or Moselle Yard at the southern end of the route. In the case of the later, the whole reason why Moselle Yard is represented here is to give more options for freight services to start/stop at, kinda like how freight goes to either Riesa or the yard at Röderau on Riesa-Dresden. I'll talk more about the types of freight services when we get the what locos would come with this route. But perhaps the biggest perk that this would bring is the fact that this is a very scenic route. It runs alongside the Rhine River for the entire length and from Bonn onwards, not only does it run right up against the river, but you also have the surrounding hills as a backdrop. Probably the best looking part is probably a section known as the Krahnenberg, where, if you were driving in the direction of Koblenz, the route briefly runs alongside a road on the left, goes under a bridge that carries a highway, which the route then runs alongside briefly in the right and all of this will up against a hill also located on the right of you. This would provide a great action point and an awesome place to take screenshots of either trains passing here or of your own train as you traverse this section. One more thing before moving on is that this route also has a railway museum, known as the DB Museum, located near the southern end of the route at Koblenz. Open since 2001, it is located in a former repair shop for goods wagons and is home to more than 20 locos and wagons. Now in the case of this route, the whole place would be laid out, but nothing would be place here apart from maybe a couple of the locos that we already have, but I do have something planned for this area, but more when we get to the loco add-on section of this suggestion. Now with that out of the way, let's move on to seeing what this route looks like in real life. Pictures of the route in real life Keep in that for this section, I would not be showing any images of Köln Hbf as we already have station in TSW2. This will focus mainly on the new stations that this route would bring, so let's get into it. Köln West Köln Süd Köln Eifeltor Freight Station Hürth-Kalscheuren Brühl Bonn Hbf Bonn-Mehlem Remagen Krahnenberg Bridge Section Andernach Koblenz-Lützel Nord (DB Museum) Koblenz Hbf Available Locos In all honesty, out of all the route suggestions I have made so far, this route has been probably the hardest one to come up with what locos could come with this route. This is for two reasons; firstly, a lot of the locos that run on this route are general stuff that we already have in TSW2 and secondly, some of the stuff that would be new to this route come from licenses that I am not entirely sure on whether DTG (or whoever's making this route) would actually be able to get them. So I'm going to start this section by revealing the time frame in which this route would be set, which is around the early 2010s (2010-2014/15 time). This is so we can include the locos that I am about to show you and also opens the door to add the stuff that does run on this route today via future loco add-ons. I have chosen 3 locos to feature with this route, 2 of which are new. But as you are about to find out, these two new locos are very similar to each other (with a few minor differences) it's just that they would serve different roles on this route. But remember, even if you don't look the loco selection I am about to present here, this can always be expanded upon using what we have now and what loco add-ons could bring to this route in the future. DB BR 146.0 So what's loco that I chosen in question you may ask? An older gen TRAXX is the answer. First up is the passenger variant. This loco isn't actually part of the TRAXX family, but is rather part of an predecessor class that is derived from the BR 128 prototype, with 31 of these being used by DB Regio on passenger services across Germany. On this route, they would operate passenger services using the 4th Gen Doppelstock coaches that we have come so familiar with. But it is the high doors versions that are used on this route (whether they would actually be made for this route is something for you to decided). But regardless, they would operate two service types. RE5, which runs the whole length of the route between Köln and Koblenz and RB48 (yes, I did find evidence that this loco did do these services at one point) which would run as far as Bonn-Mehlem and since this route would be set before December 2015, one of these services a day would go a little further before terminating at Remagen. This set would also add a ton of AI traffic around Köln Hbf, representing many of the other services they operate including RE1, RE6, RE9 and much more. DB BR 185.1 Onto the freight version, this loco is actually part of the TRAXX family, but is a much older variant of the various versions of the 185.2/5/6 that we already have now, which would make this quite different from the 146.0 that I just talked about. Some of these locos even have an advantage over the 185.2 by being able to work in other countries such as Switzerland, Austria & France. These locos would be want take charge of the freight operations on this route, running either full lines between Köln West and either Koblenz Hbf or Moselle Yard, or they would make a stop at the various and sidings located along the route including the freight stations at Köln, Brühl and Bonn. Some of the things these two locos I have just talked about would have in common is that they would both be in DB red livery and both are among some of the most widespread and recognisable German locos that have not made it into TSW2 yet (and I'm rather surprised that neither loco haven't be made yet and they seem like the kinda loco that should have been in this game by now). DB BR 363 I've added this since the last time I talk about this route and it's solely here for shunting operations along this route. Including a 363 with this route was actually inspired by the fact that the museum has a 363 on display there, numbered as a 360. The loco would be the same model as the one from both Riesa-Dresden and Tharandter Rampe in terms of the detailing, but in DB red livery with no logos to be seen anywhere. This loco would carry out shunting operations mainly in the freight depots that I mentioned earlier in Köln, Brühl and Bonn. But I also plan for one to be station around the freight yard located around the DB Museum and to actually have one placed in the museum, just for some scenery in that area. For available wagons, I envision this would bring two new wagons. These wagons include: Sdggmrss Container Wagon (New container wagon type) Res Flat Wagon (Used for general purposes and a wagon that for some reason, I envisioned coming with the now infamous BR 187) The rest of the wagons would be reused from other routes. To list them down, they would be: Sggmrss Container Wagon Habbiins 344 Wagon Shimmns-U 708 Coil Wagon Shimmns-TTU Coil Wagon Zacns Tank Wagon Laaers 560 Car Transport Wagon Falns 183 Coal Wagon These would make up a variety of freight consists from intermodals to mixed freight to tankers and a lot more. Plus, give the fact that this route would have two types of container wagon (including a new one) it would give the intermodal services more diversity as it wouldn't just be the same type over and over again as you will see those services with either one type or the other, or even a consist that has a mix of the two. Additional services from other routes I did say that this routes timetable can be expanded upon using stuff we already have in TSW2. Now the first thing that comes to mind here is whether the current Köln route, Schnellfahrstrecke Köln-Aachen, would any anything to this route. The answer would be, only AI services around Köln Hbf as neither of the loco that feature there run on this route and while ICE services do run on this route in real life, it is not done by an ICE 3, but rather by a combination of nearly every other ICE type out there (ICE 1, ICE 2, ICE 4 & ICE T). I do feel like that the previous suggestion that I did, Haupstrecke Hamburg – Hanover would serve this roll nicely as I did suggest it to come with an ICE 1 which would be the loco to run the ICE services on this route. But probably the most noteworthy service that would come from something we already have would be IC services using the DB BR 101 and IC coaches. These would be full line runs that come in one end and out the other side that would either stop at the primary stations along this route (Köln, Bonn & Koblenz) or make additional stops at both Remagen and Andernach. This would really help boost the passenger services on this route and make for some interesting patterns knowing that some services make additional stops compared to others. One very interesting layer that another route would bring would be Hauptstrecke Rhein-Ruhr with the DB BR 425. This did operate RB48 services at one point, so it could always either sub into the existing RB48 services, or it would be a situation where the route has half the services already and this unit would bring the other half. But two particular services it would bring would be RE8 & RB27. These services travel between Köln and Koblenz, but take a completely different route compared to this one. So it would be a situation like with RB31 on Riesa-Dresden, where they show up as AI around Köln Hbf and then reappear again near Koblenz with at least, RE8 being drivable from Koblenz-Lützel onwards as RB27 enters Koblenz Hbf from the south, whereas RE8 enters the station from the north along with making a few stops along the main route near the end before doing so. Although there are no S-Bahn services working on the main route itself, you would see S-Bahn show up as AI around Köln Hbf. These would be operated using the DB BR 423 from the yet to be released expansion pack, along with the DB BR 422 from Hauptstrecke Rhein-Ruhr which does operate S-Bahn services around here in real life (S6 being the one). This is just something that makes the whole area a bit more alive and more the busy hub that Köln Hbf is. I also found out that the DB BR 612 that came with the recent Tharandter Rampe could also add a few DMU services to this route, but they are exactly I will save for the loco add-on section of this suggestion as it would also work these services with a certain loco that I have I mind for this route. Future Loco Add-Ons and Conclusion on next post...
Future Loco Add-Ons Onto the final part and for this section, I am going to focus on 5 add-ons which actually consists of 7 locos, which would all add new services and experiences to this route. The reason I say 7 locos even though it's 5 add-ons is that two of them are expansion packs that would bring more than one loco to this route, including a rather special one, but what that is we will see when we get there. Now I mentioned earlier that the timeframe in which this route is set in would open the door to add the stuff that does on this route today via a future loco add-on, but I have yet to talk about what that add-on would actually consist off. well let's find out shall we? Köln–Koblenz Modern Pack (RRX BR 462 & National Express BR 9442.1) I bring you the modern expansion pack, consisting of a pairs of EMU's the bring a modern flavour to this route. One is a BR 462 in RRX livery (short for Rhein-Ruhr Express). First brought into service in 2018, this unit is part of the Siemens Desiro HC family (HC short for High Capacity). This unit has a pair of single-deck powered cars, sandwiching a pair of double-deck intermediate cars for greater capacity and accessibility. But to make this add-on more worthwhile, I have also thrown in a BR 9442.1 (The 3 car variant) in National Express livery to go along the 462. Together, they would both add a additional timetable to this route that replaces the BR 146.0+Dostos on the RE5/RB48 services with these two locos, giving this route a more modern experience and something different for those who don't want to drive the same old locos, over and over again. Trans Regio BR 460 Now the RE5 service that the 146.0 would operate would only half of the full line runs on this route. The other half would come from this unit, which is part of the Siemens Desiro family and is operated by Trans Regio, which is actually based at the southern end of the route in Koblenz and seemingly only operate services on this route. They would operate RB26 services on this route which tends ton be more a stopping service that stops at pretty much every station on this route compared to RE5, which only stops at select stations along the route. DB BR 620/648 This is why I didn't talk about what the BR 612 would do on this route earlier, because it would be doing the same thing as this unit would be doing. This unit is part of the Alstom Coradia LINT family and I envision this loco coming with two variants; a two car BR 648 variant (known as a LINT 41) and a three car BR 620 variant (known as a LINT 81), which the later is primarily used around the area this route is set. Now your probably wondering what services this unit would add to this route, along with out of which service would you also be able to use the BR 612 with. Well, it isn't necessarily one service that runs the length of the route, but rather a trio of services that travel various sections along the route before turning off towards somewhere else. These services include: RE12/22 & RB24 (Which start at Köln Hbf and travels as far as either Köln Süd for RE12/22 or Hürth-Kalscheuren for RB24, before turning off down the non-electrified line to Ehrang and Trier). S23 (This would be represented as AI, terminating at Bonn Hbf, coming from Euskirchen). RB30 (Which starts at Bonn Hbf and travels as far as Remagen before turning off toward Ahrweiler. The RB39 services that also travel that route, but terminate at Remagen without ever travelling the route, would also appear as AI at Remagen at the same time). RB23 (This is an interesting one, as it would depart Koblenz and travel as far as Andernach, before reversing back out of the station and out of the route towards Mayen Ost. The same route is also served by RB38 services, which do the same thing, but only go as far as Andernach without ever going to Koblenz. Like with the RB39 services I just brought up, this would appear on this route as AI). As for which services the BR 612 would sub into, those would be the RE12/22, RB24 and RB23 services, or maybe because it's a 2 car unit and the 620 is a 3 car, it will add on half of those services and this unit will add the other half. But either way, this would a nice thing to bring something interesting to this route that, not only boost the passenger services on this route, increasing traffic levels in much needed areas, but would also add different from the electric locos that would normally dominate this route. Speaking of something different... DB BR 103 Now we come to two add-ons that are related to the DB Museum located in Koblenz, starting with a loco that was once DB's flagship loco. The first prototypes being built in 1965 and with 145 being built between 1970 and 1973, these locos were primarily used for IC traffic across Germany and were capable of speeds of up to 120mph (even if they didn't reach it for their first few years). They were fully withdrawn by 2003, but up to 17 have survived in perseveration with a handful being used for a short while in regular IC services from 2013, all the way up to 2018. In this route, they would come in the old DB maroon and cream livery and would operate railtour services using IC coaches in matching livery. Plus, for those would have the BR 101 running on this route, they would also be able to sub into those IC services and this was one of the routes they operate IC services on. Koblenz Steam Pack Now ever since I saw this route had a railway museum, I wanted to do something regarding steam with this route, and I was able to find that the museum actually holds some kind of loco parade in which it gathers a bunch of locos from across Germany to take part, including some steam engines. Which would ultimately inspire this pack. I envision this would come with either one, or both of these two steam engines; A DR BR 01 4-6-2 Pacific you see in the image above you and/or in the image below, a DR BR 78 4-6-4T tank engine. Regardless of which loco is made or how this turns out, this would serve a similar purpose. These locos would add rail tour services to this route and would be primarily based out of the DB Museum near Koblenz. Also, if a BR 01 is made for this route, one could be permanently displayed within the museum, as one just so happens to be based there in real life. Conclusion I see this as one of the more iconic German routes made in TS Classic that hasn't yet made it into TSW2 and from what we've gone through, this is kind of route that, looks uninteresting at first, but has a lot of potential to be a fun route that could match or even better many of the German routes currently in TSW2 now. It has a decent length that wouldn't be too far away from what is typically among the longest in TSW2 routes, is quite a scenic route as you roll alongside the Rhine river with the hills in the background and while it may not have the most interesting loco selection out there, would still bring two mainstay German locos to TSW2 that are long overdue to come over and is a selection that can be expanded upon via layering for other routes and loco add-ons and from what loco add-ons could come to this route after it has been release. All to create a timetable that, while not that busy, would still be rather interesting and be incredibly diverse full of lots of different locos to chose from. This might be a case of not judging a book by it's cover as it seems like a route that would at first, is no different from the most cookie cutter of German routes out there like Ruhr-Sieg Nord, Main Spessart Bahn and especially Hauptstrecke Hamburg – Lübeck. But when you take a closer look, you will find that it's a route that has some unique perks to help it stand out from some of those routes by offer a timetable that is packed with gameplay and a route that could actually be a rather pleasurable experience to drive or even to just sit on a train and watch the view from the window. Maybe this route proves that, despite these suggestions have a them of 'Rush Hour' you don't need a massive timetable with hundreds of thousands of drivable services to make it great. What you need is a pair of terminal stations with lots of AI traffic and route in the middle that may not offer as many services as some route that have many times more drivable services, but still offers a great experience that could be up there among the best of German routes in TSW2. I seem to be rambling here so let's bring this to an end. As always, if you have any ideas for this route, or you feel like there's something that can be done differently here, then feel free to let me know in the replies down below. That's all from me, and I'll see you all for the next route. Image Sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Köln_West_station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Köln_Süd_station https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahnhof_Köln_Eifeltor https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Hürth-Kalscheuren_station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brühl_station https://www.ice-treff.de/index.php?mode=thread&id=205740 https://help.g2rail.com/stations/bonn-mehlem https://help.g2rail.com/stations/remagen https://www.rhein-zeitung.de/region...-weiter-das-sind-die-ideen-_arid,1895618.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andernach_station https://www.deutschebahnstiftung.de...-museum-koblenz-endet-mit-besucherrekord.html https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Koblenz_Hbf_07_Bahnsteige.JPG https://www.flickr.com/photos/vitali1993/15263142847 https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppelstockwagen https://www.flickr.com/photos/151311439@N08/31966363693/ https://www.conrad.com/p/piko-h0-52820-h0-diesel-locomotive-br-363-of-db-ag-1681310 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sdggmrss_31_80_4992_076-8_D-DB_Ostrava-Kuncice.jpg https://www.rail-pictures.com/bild/...ons/24016/db-riv-europ-flat-wagon-res-in.html https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens_Desiro_HC https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/733453489288507110/ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Köln_West_Trans_Regio_EuRailCo_460_016-9_en_460_504-4_MRB25425_Mainz_Hbf_(13102644433).jpg https://www.rail-pictures.com/bild/...nt-81/41103/db-620-026-stands-at-remagen.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DBAG_Class_648 https://www.railwaymagazine.co.uk/6...-of-the-line-for-an-icon-db-class-103-finale/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRG_Class_01 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussian_T_18
Excellent idea and there is the Deutsche Bahn museum at Koblenz Lutzel where it has a DB BR 335 336 118 119 218 and DR BR132. You can probably sell those locomotives as a pack called Köln Koblenz Museum pack. Then give them the ability to run railtours on German routes. Only the United Kingdom routes have this ability era 7 routes East Coastway and Cathcart Circle from 1980s routes Northern Trans-Pennine Huddersfield Line and Tees Valley Line
This route will be perfect, and would also give a part to the S23 at Bonn to Euskirchen and also the Hürth Kalscheuren- Kall/Trier Route by Rb24 and RE12/22
Nearly every loco from every period could be a DLC for this. That's for me the ONE route, that needss to be in TSW as it is a classic in TS.
Good point and the Taurus locomotive DB BR101 does run here around the late night hours. Even the DB BR103 & 118 fits here as museum trains from Koblenz Lutzel museum
The route would certainly be scenic and interesting, but I personally will no longer buy routes that come with only trains already in game. So for example, the BR460 should be part of the base pack, whereas the 146 or 363 could layer in from any of the other routes that already run them
The railway museum itself is a very interesting point - it's a perfect place for the "home" of a loco DLC. Some Einheitslokomotiven can be found here. And if would make a perfect layer for steam locos. It's one of the must-have's of german routes in TS, an early german DTG-route. As DRA and DCZ prove - DTG wants to bring in new features with new routes. And the very new thing for Köln-Koblenz is the fact that it goes alongside the river Rhein with Fachwerkhäuser and castles alongside the route. They do have the assets done for TS, so I hope these can be reused for TSW, so it saves development time.
Are there any rail tours along this route? Would be cool to have a steam engine start at the museum, make it's way up and and back again
That is correct, and I will probably get a lot of hate for what I am about to say, but for this context I would consider them "the same". I know that they are not, they are actually different things in reality, but I would like to see something like a 152, 189, Vectron, Stadler Eurodual - you know, something different Another TRAXX with low-entry Dostos when they should be high-entry (yes, I'm still mad about that) would not do the trick for me and I'd personally much rather have a non-TRAXX loco/EMU with a route
True. I was there last year and their collection is simply amazing. The accessible E 18 cab is the cherry on top. Well worth a visit!
Yeah I can understand, but than I would really love to see the Desiro HC and we really need Highentry Dostos becuase on the RE 9 there a drive like 50% talent 2 and 50% highentry dostos.
Nah, too modern, too much plastic. German-TSW has much modern stuff already; i'd prefer some more historic locos finally as it is with the UK content.
Made a couple of changes to the suggestion, mainly focusing on future loco add-ons as I have added two new add-ons to this part. One is related to the museum and the other is the modern pack that I mentioned originally. What these add-ons actually are is something for you all to find out yourselves.
