Background:

The Train:
At the start of December 2015, Virgin unveiled two trains at King’s Cross which was part of a festive competition launched by Virgin Trains and the Book Trust. Back in September 2015, schoolchildren aged between 5 and 11 were asked to design a Christmas train wrap for use on a passenger service. More than 200 entries were submitted, and considered by author Jill Murphy and a panel of judges. They were so impressed by the quality of the entries that two winners were chosen: Amber Maxfield from Carlisle, designed the ‘Penguilino’ which would be seen running up and down the WCML; and Madeleine Deakin from Copdock (Suffolk), who was the artist behind the ‘Claus 91’ which you will be driving today.

Scenario:
With heavy snow having fallen over Glasgow the previous night, the ground was frozen as train crews arrived at Polmadie depot to begin their shifts. Upon arrival, points leading from the depot onto the mainline into Glasgow Central had frozen causing delays to Virgin’s East Coast and West Coast services as well as Transpennine Express’ services to Manchester. Eventually after some amount of de-icing as well as some unorthodox
shunting movements trains were eventually able to leave the depot albeit quite a few minutes late! Your train, the 06:50 service from Glasgow Central to London Kings Cross has been one of the services to fall foul to the weather with the service arriving into Glasgow Central from the depot some 85 minutes behind the scheduled departure time, unfortunately for the passengers, Virgin Trains East Coast have decided to cancel the service beyond Edinburgh Waverley as pathing on the East Coast Mainline was at a premium and to avoid other delays passengers of this service will be put onboard another service bound for London. Upon departure at Glasgow Central you will be calling at Motherwell, Haymarket and Edinburgh Waverley, there are no timings to meet for the journey as you are already very late so do your best to make up time, however as you are an unscheduled service the regular timetabled services will gain priority over you.

This scenario is based in December 2015, using the timetables found at DPSimulation
(https://www.dpsimulation.org.uk/timetables.html), this includes the use of the 2015 Winter timetables from Virgin Trains East Coast, Virgin Trains West Coast, Scotrail, Transpennine Express and Crosscountry.

Scenario Length: 70 Minutes

Requirements:

Route:
West Coast Mainline (WCML) Northwest and Scotland – Preston to Glasgow & Edinburgh (Alan Thomson Sim)

Rolling Stock:
Class 91 Christmas Reskin (BHReskins)
VTEC/LNER Intercity 225 Pack (Alan Thomson Sim)
Class 156 Pack (Armstrong Powerhouse)
Class 158 Cummins EP (Armstrong Powerhouse)
Class 170 EP (Armstrong Powerhouse)
Abellio Scotrail Class 170 Pack (Vulcan Productions)
Class 220/221 Voyager (JustTrains)
Class 314/315 EP (Armstrong Powerhouse)
Class 318 Saltire Reskin (UKTrainSim) (Requires DTG Class 455/8) (https://www.uktrainsim.com/filelib-info.php?form_fileid=38523)
Class 318 Carmine and Cream Reskin (UKTrainSim) (Requires DTG Class 455/8) (https://www.uktrainsim.com/filelib-info.php?form_fileid=38522)
Class 320/321 Pack (Armstrong Powerhouse)
Class 334 Saltire Reskin (UKTrainSim) (Requires DTG Class 360) (https://www.uktrainsim.com/filelib-info.php?form_fileid=38730)
Class 350 EP (Armstrong Powerhouse)
Abellio Scotrail Class 380 Reskin (Vulcan Productions)
BH Class 390 Reskin Pack (Alan Thomson Sim)
Class 90/Mk3 DVT Pack (Armstrong Powerhouse)
FSA/FTA Wagon Pack (Armstrong Powerhouse)
Caledonian Sleeper Mk3A Sleeper Pack (Alan Thomson Sim)

Additional Requirements:
Armstrong Powerhouse Weather Enhancement (Armstrong Powerhouse)
Armstrong Powerhouse Track Pack (Armstrong Powerhouse)
Class 156 TrainFX Update (Alan Thomson Sim)
Class 158 & 170 Scotrail Destination Pack (Alan Thomson Sim)
Class 320/321/322 Scotrail Destinations (Alan Thomson Sim)
Class 320 LED Light Patch (Major Wales Design)
Class 380 Scotrail Destinations (Alan Thomson Sim)

Hope you enjoy the scenario, it has certainly been a challenging one to research and build, but it is all worth it when it works out well!

As this is my Christmas scenario, it leaves me with nothing else to say but have a Merry Christmas and hopefully a much better 2021!