Train Simulator: West Highland Line Extension Route Key Steam GLOBAL

Arguably ‘the greatest railway journey in the World’ comes to Train Simulator, featuring stunning scenery and an all new Class 37/4 diesel locomotive, developed by Thomson Interactive. The original West Highland Line between Glasgow and Fort William was opened in 1894 by the North British Railway, with the extension from Fort William to Mallaig opening six years later, connecting the largest city in Scotland with the Atlantic coast. The route, built by Robert McAlpine, boasts 11 tunnels and eight major bridge structures, including the iconic 21 arch span Glenfinnan Viaduct and Borrodale Viaduct, at the time of construction the world’s longest single span concrete arch at 124ft. The line opened up new opportunities for tourism and a way of transporting fish catches from the coast to new markets inland. Today, the 41 mile line thrives as a tourism attraction, with steam hauled trains operating daily trips during the summer. A key feature of the route is its Radio Electronic Token Block (RETB) signalling, which replaced semaphore signalling in 1987. The system spreads across the West Highland Line and is operated from a purpose-built signalling centre at Banavie. Included with the route is a new Class 37/4 diesel locomotive, featuring new exterior modelling and unique simulated power and braking performance. The mode contains a wealth of detailing, including automatically fitted snowploughs according to the season, dynamically cleared snow, animated cooling fans, operating exterior fuel tank gauges, functional cab radio and RETB CDU, instrument lighting and dimming, and even a hotplate for warming your soup! Accompanying rolling stock includes Mk1 coaches in BR blue/grey livery and Scotrail West Highland green/cream livery, Mk3 BR blue/grey livery sleeper coaches, OTA timber carriers, OAA open wagons, TTA oil tank wagons, PCA alumina wagons and YGH ‘Sealion’ ballast wagons. With its World beating scenery and global exposure through a number of blockbuster movies, the West Highland Line Extension is a must for everyone.