Expansion Would Be Nice To Have The Tyne Valley And Northumberland Lines

Near where I live there are 2 routes which are highly regarded. There is the current Tyne - Valley Line and the recently revived Northumberland Line. I think it would be an interesting addition to the game as there are some uncommon aspects to these lines. You could combine this into a "North England cross regional Pack" since there is a lot of train line, and the value add of an new mechanic, where the rail line splices in to the tyne and wear metro line and visa versa. You could also possibly add tyne and wear metro-lines as well, if you so desire as additional DLC.

There are other northern routes as well, and could also potentially also offer a re-skin of the similar train used in west coast mainline but with northern liveries and layout. (the train I think is similar, just some slight differences. The one prominently used on the Sunderland - Blaydon rail line is the class 156 & 158 trains which are visually similar to the class 150 used in the TrC (Transport for Wales) lines. There are 3 main trims, though it's likely more are offered elswhere on the line. I lovingly refer to them as "Cyclists to the rear" and "cyclists to the middle" and "My bicycle can't fit so now I have to stand with it in the middle of the isle"

The "Cyclists to the rear" are the most modern ones with a toilet in the disabled access and a couple of tire size holes and large luggage/pram space.

"cyclists to the middle" are the middle age ones. They have dedicated cycle space but are a tight squeese as a toilet and first-aid unit share the space. There is no large luggage space but a coach style bag cubby in the general seating area.

And the "My bicycle can't fit so now I have to stand with it in the middle of the isle" are the oldest train. The cycle spaces were originally designed to host dining equipment back when the rail service offered on-board dining options. It's otherwise similar to the "cyclists to the middle" trains.

This is a direct link to the rail guides, the long green one at the top is the Main Line I would like; https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/sites/default/files/2025-11/Northern Network Dec 2025 WEB.pdf

The class types officially used by northern
https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/before-you-travel/our-train-types

PS if there is duplication, I apologise, I have done my best to search the relevant thread before posting, however if this was not the case, please merge (I noticed some tags that were conducive to my request prefilled even though no results showed)

 

For reference I find this mechanic cool, as the trains and metro both travel at differing speeds, plus with the frequency of metros, getting the timing right is key, as the metro will stop for no one, which means if you're not keeping to timetable, you're at a lower priority and if a metro is due you'll be forced to wait.

In the older version of the line, there's also bottle necks both on shared lines and on northern only, and some of the route is even shared by LNER making timetabling more complex as they only cover parts of select routes (LNER uses part of the route from Newcastle through blaydon, Nexus Metro uses part of the route from somewhere in between newcastle to sunderland. With some common stations including sunderland, pelaw and heworth.

Licensing would be from Nexus (Metro, timetables, shared station signage) Arriva (Northern, locations & Timetables), LNER (LNER trains, newcastle central station signage), Network rail (signage, rail line)

Sunderland central station;
https://www.networkrailmediacentre....as-city-council-leads-central-station-upgrade

Newcastle central;
https://www.google.com/search?num=1...tation&dpr=1#vhid=ZqzqG_3-Lk1eBM&vssid=mosaic

Typical older style northern station;
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbi...t=gm.10161279836190090&idorvanity=94768770089 (No it's not me, got this from a google search but the result google gave was too small)


(Source: Wikipedia)

Typical modern station (They all look different, but this is a station I can remember);

(Source: Chronicle live)

Hope this helps support the post I sent earlier.