FANTASY: You're in charge of your own Open Access operator.

[318266]

Scrap Countrylink, let's start with NorthernLink

Heysham Port to Glasgow Central: Calling at Morecambe (reverse), Bare Lane, Lancaster (for services to London, reverse), Carlisle, Lockerbie, Motherwell and Glasgow Central. Stock would be 4x Class 150, which will have 1 carriage per 2 trains made into a sleeper car, with 2 trains running each train. Departing Heysham 0100, Glasgow Central 2215. The service will be delayed by up to 2 hours if the ferry is delayed, and if the ferry is cancelled the service will start in Morecambe. A siding will be made near Bare Lane to hold the service from Glasgow the previous night, and another near Cardonald for the service from Heysham the pervious night.

 

[318266]

NorthernLink

Leeds to Glasgow Central via Hebden Bridge and Preston: Calling at Mirfield (for services to Huddersfield), Brighouse, Hebden Bridge, Burnley Manchester Road, Rose Grove, Blackburn, Preston, Lancaster, Oxenholme Lake District, Penrith North Lakes, Carlisle, Lockerbie, and Glasgow Central. Stock would be Class 158s, 1 per service. Leaves Glasgow xx50, Leeds xx10

 

[LOL The Irony]

Introducing West Coast Cities Express

Service pattern: London Euston, Coventry, Birmingham New Street, Wolverhampton, Stockport, Manchester Piccadilly, Preston, Lancaster, Carlisle & Glasgow Central.
2 services a day in each direction Mon-Sat. Morning services leave at 07:30 and evening services leave at 18:00. 1 train a day in each direction on a Sunday leaving at 11:00.

Rolling stock will be 3 sets formed of 2 Siemens Vectron's top & tailing 10 Siemens Viaggio coaches. Layout: (North) Loco, First Open, First Composite, First Composite, First Kitchen, First Dining, First Open, First Family, First Open, First Open, Trailer Guard First, Loco (South End).

 

[Doomotron]

SOUTHCENTRAL BY DOOMOTRON

The railways in the South of England are in a state. Services are slow, unreliable, dirty, overcrowded and generally unpleasant. SouthCentral aims to fix. The flagship service for SC will be the revived Brighton Belle which is a luxurious non-stop service from London Victoria to Brighton, which was killed off by BR and (sort of) revived as Connex Express. Other services will be the slightly less luxurious but quicker services to places on the South Coast. All services will avoid Gatwick Airport. Full details of SC services are below.

Services (Edited 1/7/18):

6tpd Brighton Belle: London Victoria to Brighton - Calling at Brighton only.
1tph London Blackfriars to Brighton - Calling at Redhill, Three Bridges, Haywards Heath and Brighton.
1tph London Blackfriars to Bognor Regis - Calling at Redhill, Three Bridges, Haywards Heath, Hove, Worthing, Barnham and Bognor Regis.
1tph London Blackfriars to Hastings - Calling at Bromley South, Orpington, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells, West St Leonards, St Leonards Warrior Square and Hastings.
1tph Ashford International to Brighton - Calling at Rye, Hastings, St Leonards Warrior Square, Bexhill, Pevensey and Westham (for interchange with trains to Eastbourne), Polegate, Lewes, Brighton.
1tph Brighton to Weymouth - Calling at Hove, Worthing, Barnham, Chichester, Havant, Cosham, Fareham, Southampton Central, Brockenhurst, Bournemouth, Pool and Weymouth.

Depending on the route, different trains will be used:
The Brighton Belle will use Class 92s with a rake of 7 Mk4s and a DVT. A restaurant service will be provided.
London to Bognor/Brighton/Hastings, Ashford to Brighton and Brighton to Weymouth services will use Class 442s modified with new traction motors and front panels (the ones covering the jumper cables) refitted. The doors inside the train would be modified to use the new easy-to-open buttons and some buttons would no longer need you to hold them down to open the door. In usual service only a single Class 442 would be used but in peak hours or on certain days two would be connected together. The buffet counter would be reinstated and because of this the trains would be reclassified as 442/9.

SouthCentral would self-fund the electrification of the Marshlink Line and rebuild of the Eastbourne bypass chord.
The logo would be a circle with the letters S and C in the top left and bottom right corners of the circle, respectively
The livery would be SR green with a GNER-style grey stripe with grey doors. On the 442s, the SC logo would be shown on the stripe a each end of the unit. On the 92s, an SC logo would be on the centre of the locomotive side. On both, the name SOUTHCENTRAL would be written only next to the logo on the stripe at each end of the 442s. On a 92, the SouthCentral bale would be written in the centre. The logo would be dark green. The seats would be grey with dark green squares where a passengers back would be. The handrails would be dark green. The floors would be dark green with grey SouthCentral logos dotted around. On the headrests, there would be a dark green SouthCentral logo.


EDIT: I got rid of the Class 379s and decided to go for a uniform fleet of Class 442s for non-loco-hauled services. Also some stops have been removed to speed up services.

 

[Doomotron]

NETWORK SOUTHEAST BY DOOMOTRON

Reviving the old name, I'd create a semi-fast connection service between Guildford, Redhill, Gatwick Airport and Kent.


Red Line: 1tph London Victoria to Ramsgate calling at all stations shown. On Summer Sundays, trains also stop at Rye. Chords at Eastbourne and Ashford would be built to bypass those stations. Trains would be formed of 5 coaches or, if demand is high, ten coaches.
Blue Line: 2tph London Victoria to Guildford calling at all stations shown except Battersea Park on Sundays. Trains would be formed of 6 coaches.
Grey Line: These are limited service routes:
London Victoria to Margate services would only run on Weekdays in the peaks (1tph) to take pressure off of the South Eastern franchise.
Eastbourne services would similarly run only in the peak hours (1tph) in Summer.
Both these limited services would stop at all stations shown. These services would be formed of 5 to 10 coaches.

Similar to SouthCentral, NSE would electrify the Marshlink Line and the extra chords.

NSE would use Class 707s on fully electric routes. These would have tables fitted and the seats replaced with the Kiel seats to be featured in the Class 755s. At one end of the train, between the front passenger door and the cab, a 'guard's area' would be created. A wall and electronically locked door would seperate it from the rest of the train. There would be seats for the guard and other staff members and a place where a trolley would be kept. Alternatively, the door can be locked open and passengers could use the area as a buffet car.

For Guildford services, NSE would use some of the 170/5s (well, the ones that TfW aren't taking - I think that they're the /5s) and convert them to 171s. In the event the Marshlink Line is not electrified, Class 185s would replace 707s on that route. In the event 707s cannot be obtained in the first place, the Class 458s would be used. The 6 460 conversions would be reclassified as Class 459 and all would be extended to 6 coaches by fitting the 460 coach from the other 458s. The remaining 24 460 coaches not used to extend the 459s would become spare donors. This will make the 458/5s 4 coaches. The 459s would operate ten-coach services and the 458s would operate 5-coach services (but with 8 coaches).

NSE would use trains of the same class as thunderbird trains, like in the video on YouTube of the 23-coach Class 375.

 

[londonteacher]

I would suggest the following:

Brighton - Liverpool Lime Street (via Reading and Stafford 1tp2h/Crewe 1tp2h) (Class 800)
Brighton, Gatwick Airport, Guildford, Reading, Oxford, Birmingham New Street, Stafford (1tp2h), Crewe (1tp2h), Runcorn, Liverpool Lime Street.

Brighton - Manchester Piccadilly (via Reading and Stafford 1tp2h/Crewe 1tp2h) (Class 800)
Brighton, Gatwick Airport, Guildford, Reading, Oxford, Birmingham New Street, Stafford (1tp2h), Crewe (1tp2h), Manchester Piccadilly.

Brighton - Liverpool Lime Street (via Watford Junction and Manchester Piccadilly) (Class 350/2 upgraded to 2-2 seating in standard, 1-2 seating in first and 3rd Rail)
Brighton, Gatwick Airport, Clapham Junction, Watford Junction, Stafford, Stoke on Trent, Stafford Wilmslow, Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Oxford Road, Liverpool Lime Street.

Ashford International - Cardiff Central (via Abbey Wood, Reading and Bristol) (Class 800 modified with third rail)
Ashford International, Gravesend, Dartford, Abbey Wood, Woolwich, Custom House, Canary Wharf, Whitechapel, Liverpool Street, Farringdon, Tottenham Court Road, Bond Street, Paddington, Reading, Bristol Parkway, Newport, Cardiff Central.

Some of these may require new infrastructure but could be useful.

 

[Harbornite]

Introducing West Coast Cities Express

Service pattern: London Euston, Coventry, Birmingham New Street, Wolverhampton, Stockport, Manchester Piccadilly, Preston, Lancaster, Carlisle & Glasgow Central.
2 services a day in each direction Mon-Sat. Morning services leave at 07:30 and evening services leave at 18:00. 1 train a day in each direction on a Sunday leaving at 11:00.

Rolling stock will be 3 sets formed of 2 Siemens Vectron's top & tailing 10 Siemens Viaggio coaches. Layout: (North) Loco, First Open, First Composite, First Composite, First Kitchen, First Dining, First Open, First Family, First Open, First Open, Trailer Guard First, Loco (South End).

Gets my vote.

 

[Doomotron]

Ashford International, Gravesend

That's a long way round...

 

[londonteacher]

That's a long way round...

But, if a link from HS1 at Ebbsfleet to the North Kent Line was made from the opposite direction would be possible!

 

[Esker-pades]

But, if a link from HS1 at Ebbsfleet to the North Kent Line was made from the opposite direction would be possible!

Or, go direct into St Pancras, get the tube to Paddington, and then get any existing GWR service to Cardiff. That would be faster.

 

[londonteacher]

Or, go direct into St Pancras, get the tube to Paddington, and then get any existing GWR service to Cardiff. That would be faster.

True!

 

[Esker-pades]

The silly suggestion (although not the silliest on this thread):
Kildonan to Combe Junction Halt non-stop. Operated by a 139 People Parry Mover. Once every 2 days.

 

[LOL The Irony]

Gets my vote.

Thank you

 

[DanTrain]

The silly suggestion (although not the silliest on this thread):
Kildonan to Combe Junction Halt non-stop. Operated by a 139 People Parry Mover. Once every 2 days.

At least take us via Pilning

 

[Esker-pades]

At least take us via Pilning

Absolutley not. There is a different service from Pilning to Buckenham.

 

[DanTrain]

Absolutley not. There is a different service from Pilning to Buckenham.

As well as Shippea Hill to Reddish South

 

[adrock1976]

Not forgetting Teesside Airport and Doleham as well.

 

[4-SUB 4732]

Easy one for me...

A fleet of Class 50s and massively upgraded Mark 2 Aircon coaches with wi-fi, luxurious seats, full restaurant service, 3-class service and the like...

Two-hourly service Weymouth - Dorchester South - Wareham - Poole - Bournemouth - Brockenhurst - Southampton Central - Southampton Airport Parkway - Winchester - Basingstoke - Didcot Parkway - Oxford - Bicester Village - Bletchley - Bedford - Kettering - Leicester - Loughborough - Nottingham

Two-hourly service Portsmouth Harbour - Portsmouth & Southsea - Fratton - Fareham - Eastleigh - Winchester - Basingstoke - Didcot Parkway - Oxford - Bicester Village - Bletchley - Bedford - Kettering - Leicester - Loughborough - Nottingham - Newark Castle - Lincoln Central - Market Rasen - Barnetby - Grimsby Town - Cleethorpes

A separate hourly service from Kent to the North West using new-build High Speed rolling stock to operate...

Two-hourly service Dover Priory - Folkestone Central - Folkestone West - Ashford Intl - Ebbsfleet Intl - Stratford Intl - Queens Park - Watford Junction - Bletchley - Milton Keynes - Rugby - Tamworth - Crewe - Stockport - Manchester Piccadilly

Two-hourly service Margate - Broadstairs - Ramsgate - Canterbury West - Ashford Intl - Ebbsfleet Intl - Stratford Intl - Queens Park - Watford Junction - Bletchley - Milton Keynes - Rugby - Tamworth - Crewe - Stockport - Manchester Piccadilly

 

[The Ham]

Two-hourly service Weymouth - Dorchester South - Wareham - Poole - Bournemouth - Brockenhurst - Southampton Central - Southampton Airport Parkway - Winchester - Basingstoke - Didcot Parkway - Oxford - Bicester Village - Bletchley - Bedford - Kettering - Leicester - Loughborough - Nottingham

Two-hourly service Portsmouth Harbour - Portsmouth & Southsea - Fratton - Fareham - Eastleigh - Winchester - Basingstoke - Didcot Parkway - Oxford - Bicester Village - Bletchley - Bedford - Kettering - Leicester - Loughborough - Nottingham - Newark Castle - Lincoln Central - Market Rasen - Barnetby - Grimsby Town - Cleethorpes

Did you consider calling at Reading West?

As such a stop would likely generate a fair few passengers as it's close enough to Reading that people would either walk or would be willing to change trains to get there (there could even be a few who would be able to get a train there rather than going into Reading and back or again).

 

[cambsy]

My Open Access would be called Grand Vista, and operate from the south West to Scotland, as an express service using either Mk 3’s and various classic loco’s or some form of modern unit, my locos or units and stopping pattern would be:

Cornish Scot: Penzance-Camborne-Truro-St Austell-Plymouth-Bristol-Birmingham-Carlisle-Motherwell-Glasgow Central,
Locos or units, 2x37 Penzance-Plymouth, 2x50 Plymouth-Birmingham, 87 or 90 Birmingham-Glasgow, or IET 802.

The Cornubian: Penzance-Truro-St Austell-Plymouth-Bristol-Birmingham-Newcastle-Dunbar-Edinburgh,
Locos or units, 2x50 Penzance-Birmingham, 55 Birmingham-Edinburgh or IET 802,

The Cornish Pixie, sleeper and seated, Penzance-Truro-St Austell-Plymouth-Carlisle-Motherwell-Glasgow Central
Loco or units, 2x37 Penzance-Plymouth, 2x50 Plymouth-Bescot, 87 or 90 Bescot-Glasgow Central, or IET 802

The Cornish Pasty Man, Penzance-Truro-St Austell-Plymouth-Newcastle-Edinburgh,
Locos or units 2x33 Penzance-Plymouth, 2x37 Plymouth-Saltley, 55 Saltley-Edinburgh or IET 802

The train would be Premier-First Class-Standard, Premier at seat meals, silver service with Breakfast, light lunch and dinner, First Class Same seats as Premier but no meals included, free beverages, Standard Class,

The Premier-First Class seats would be fully reclining, bit like Business Class on airliners, 2+1 seating, Standard mostly 2+2 and some single seats, all Air Con, Curtains or blinds,individual reading lights, USB and Plug Points, The sleeper berths would be Mk 3’s refurbed like the GWR ones but with en suite etc, sensible pricing for berths and Seating would be between Standard and Premier, so wider more comfortable seats, at seat service but pay for food and free beverages.

 

[4-SUB 4732]

Did you consider calling at Reading West?

As such a stop would likely generate a fair few passengers as it's close enough to Reading that people would either walk or would be willing to change trains to get there (there could even be a few who would be able to get a train there rather than going into Reading and back or again).

Or Reading Green Park or whatever it will be called...

 

[bussnapperwm]

Purely as an ORTCAS raid...The Great Line...

Reading West to Stourbridge calling at Didcot Parkway, Oxford, all stations to Leamington Spa, Solihull, Small Heath (renamed to Birmingham Coventry Road), Rowley Regis, Lye and Stourbridge Junction.

6 journeys a day using refurbished class 185s in a standard class only ticketing option but based on the first class layout

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

This is interesting...

I’d purchase a fleet of old double-decker Blackpool trams, and modify them so they could all be capable of running on the national rail network. I’d install Fainsa ‘ironing board’ seats but keep everything else original because they are nice trams and they deserve to keep their heritage.

I’d run one route only, and that’d be from Kinbrace to Lake (IOW). The calling points would be as follows:

Kinbrace | Altnabreac (double back) | Kinbrace | [ into Inverness and back out immediately without stopping ] | Dalwhinnie | [ 5 hour 43 minute halt on the Forth Bridge to admire the view ] | [ into Edinburgh and back out again without stopping ] | Breich | Uddingston [ 2 hour 16 minute stop to allow passengers to visit the Tunnock’s factory ] | [ into Glasgow Central and back out again without stopping ] | Kilmarnock | Auchinleck (double back) | Kilmarnock | New Cumnock (double back) | Kilmarnock | Kirkconnel (double back) | Kilmarnock | [ via the Settle and Carlisle line ] | Crossflatts | [ Leeds to York via Church Fenton without stopping ] | [ around the Harrogate loop ] | Hornbeam Park (where the train will divide) - [ the tram will split in half and only the front half will continue onto Lake whilst the other half reverses back and terminates at Harrogate ] | [ into Leeds and back out again without stopping ] | [ full speed down the ECML ] | [ through the Thameslink Core ] | Guildford | [ full speed down the PDL ] | [ not stopping at Portsmouth Harbour - straight onto a specialised ferry with train tracks onboard - and onto the IOW ] | Smallbrook Junction | Lake (train terminates)!

This route would run once every 7.5 days and it’s estimated to take between 2-3 days.

Below is a hand-drawn route map. I would do it on some sort of sophisticated software, but unfortunately I do not have access to which.

 

[AlistairCowell]

This is interesting...

I’d purchase a fleet of old double-decker Blackpool trams, and modify them so they could all be capable of running on the national rail network. I’d install Fainsa ‘ironing board’ seats but keep everything else original because they are nice trams and they deserve to keep their heritage.

I’d run one route only, and that’d be from Kinbrace to Lake (IOW). The calling points would be as follows:

Kinbrace | Altnabreac (double back) | Kinbrace | [ into Inverness and back out immediately without stopping ] | Dalwhinnie | [ 5 hour 43 minute halt on the Forth Bridge to admire the view ] | [ into Edinburgh and back out again without stopping ] | Breich | Uddingston [ 2 hour 16 minute stop to allow passengers to visit the Tunnock’s factory ] | [ into Glasgow Central and back out again without stopping ] | Kilmarnock | Auchinleck (double back) | Kilmarnock | New Cumnock (double back) | Kilmarnock | Kirkconnel (double back) | Kilmarnock | [ via the Settle and Carlisle line ] | Crossflatts | [ Leeds to York via Church Fenton without stopping ] | [ around the Harrogate loop ] | Hornbeam Park (where the train will divide) - [ the tram will split in half and only the front half will continue onto Lake whilst the other half reverses back and terminates at Harrogate ] | [ into Leeds and back out again without stopping ] | [ full speed down the ECML ] | [ through the Thameslink Core ] | Guildford | [ full speed down the PDL ] | [ not stopping at Portsmouth Harbour - straight onto a specialised ferry with train tracks onboard - and onto the IOW ] | Smallbrook Junction | Lake (train terminates)!

This route would run once every 7.5 days and it’s estimated to take between 2-3 days.

Below is a hand-drawn route map. I would do it on some sort of sophisticated software, but unfortunately I do not have access to which.

View attachment 51177

Well, that has to be the most unrealistic route anyone has made. I don’t think that service would be popular and building that route would certainly be ruled out.

 

[yoyothehobo]

The Tyndrum Turbo.

Using one of the HST GTi sets running an hourly service from Upper Tyndrum -> Crianlarich -> Tyndrum Lower and return

 

[rf_ioliver]

Interesting thread ... does anyone here remember "RossRail" ? 1998-1999ish ... Ross was a guard who became a train driver (eastern England?!) during that period?

t.

Ian

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

Well, that has to be the most unrealistic route anyone has made. I don’t think that service would be popular and building that route would certainly be ruled out.

Well, it did say fantasy, haha.

 

[yoyothehobo]

Well, it did say fantasy, haha.

I like the through the Harbour without stopping, like the train will fling itself off the end of the pier...

 

[Aictos]

I know it's proposed by Alliance Rail to operate Blackpool North to Euston calling at Milton Keynes, Nuneaton, Preston, Kirkham & Wesham and Poulton-le-Fylde BUT I would change the routing slightly to call at Watford Junction, Milton Keynes, Rugby, Birmingham New Street, Preston, Kirkham & Wesham and Poulton-le-Fylde.

This would be operated using a UK version of the popular railjets that Austrian Federal Railways already operate with 5 Standard Class coaches and 3 First Class coaches.

 

[Harshil]

Airport Express 2tph and

Heathrow Airport
Hayes and Harlington
West Ealing
Greenford
West Ruislip
Gerrard's Cross
High Wycombe
Banbury
Leamington Spa
Coventry
Birmingham Airport
Birmingham New Street
Wolverhampton
Stafford/Crewe
Wilmslow
Manchester Airport
Manchester Piccadilly