Railway changes
When I first created the map of this mod back in early 2014
I did not really pay a lot of attention to the actual layout of the railway lines: in most cases I just connected the cities with railways, wherever it seemed rational. But in reality, planners are not always rational. So for every new release of the mod I made corrections by using WW2-era railway maps as reference, and over time it has become more and more precise.
But, for example, who would have thought that there was (is?) no direct railway connection between Odessa and Nikolayev? Even though these cities are quite close to each other with both having a significant sea port on the northern coast of the Black Sea? But it looks like that was exactly the case: if somebody wanted to travel by railway between these two cities, he had to deviate far to the north, almost all the way to Kremenchuk (purple lines show existing railways in 1941):
- railway1.jpg (164.92 KiB) Viewed 137 times
So yes, this release again comes with some more revision of the railway system, mainly in the east, including the above, but for the first time it also adds railway lines to North Africa and the Middle East.
In fact, there were a lot more railway lines in reality than what is depicted in the mod, but I think the more important ones are now there, with many of the "missing" and half-finished connections also corrected, as in the above mentioned example.
What's more important is for the first time
this release comes with several railway lines which are being completed during the scenario. These are of course being completed automatically, no player interaction is needed.
In some cases it was hard to find out the exact date of completion since some of the maps show them being there, while on other, post-war maps some of these are still missing or being shown as under construction. So it required some more research, but that's where fun is.
Notable new railway lines worth mentioning (not in particular order):
- Brenner railway connecting München with Verona through the Alps
- Extended railways in Finland, with connection in the north with the Soviet White Sea line. Note that Finnish units are still unable to embark rail transports to prevent them from being used in distant theaters. However, other Axis and Soviet forces can make use of these. (Historically Finland was not fully Axis, just co-belligerent nation.)
- Saratov - Astrakhan direct line behind the Volga. With a new small embarking - disembarking station at Vladimirovka, just east of Stalingrad. Vladimirovka would be connected directly with Stalingrad as well in late 1941, just as historically. It is mainly important in multiplayer, allowing the Allied player to transfer units to Stalingrad, even if the Axis has reached that city from the west.
- Astrakhan - Grozny line: under construction in turn 1, would be finished in August 1942, just as historically. This was built at great difficulties crossing the dry and hot Kalmyk steppe, just in time to play an important part in the supply of the battles for the Caucasus. According to a source, a German recon unit managed to reach it and destroyed a train before retreating, but for some reason no further effort was made to cut this vital railway line. Which was most likely a huge missed opportunity, given that there was no real frontline in this area at that time, only small recon units chasing each other.
- Baku - Poti - Batumi line, with a connection to Tabriz down south.
- Berlin - Istanbul - Baghdad - Basra line: started in 1903 and completed in 1940, just in time for the war, it is not really useful since a good part of it goes through neutral Turkey. But if the Axis reaches Iraq, the Mosul - Basra line might be useful.
- Abadan - Tehran - Zanjan (Iran): again, not really useful, it could have been more useful if it was connected with the Soviet railway lines, but the relatively short Zanjan - Tabriz line was only completed in 1959.
- Railways in Syria - Palestine, ending at the Suez Canal
- Suez Canal railway bridge: it would be finished in mid 1942, as historically, until then units can still cross the canal, just have to stop for a turn, waiting for a ferry:
"The first El Ferdan Railway Bridge over the Suez Canal was completed in April 1918 for the Sinai Military Railway. It was considered a hindrance to shipping so after the First World War it was removed. A steel swing bridge was built in 1942 (during the Second World War), but this was damaged by a steamship and removed in 1947."
wikipedia
- Western Desert Railway Extension: it was built mostly by the British between Mersa Matruh and Tobruk in 1941-1942. However, following the German capture of Tobruk after the battle of Gazala, the last 15 miles of the line at Tobruk were finished by the Germans themselves in a rare example of "cooperation" between German and British forces in WW2. Thereafter the Axis were more than happy to use this new railway line to support their army standing at Alamein. They even captured and used a British locomotive for that and shipped some more to Tobruk by sea. The retreating British damaged the railways, likewise the retreating Germans after the El-Alamein defeat, but in both cases the damage was repaired fairly quickly.
So that's why I thought that it would be interesting to add this as all these fits very nicely in the context of the mod: it does not matter who is finishing the construction of an unfinished railway line (whoever has control of the area - same as historically), so it can be built automatically by a script in the background. In addition, it looks like the damage done to the railway lines could be fixed relatively fast (in 2-4 weeks which is only like 1-2 turns) by whoever is capturing it so basically it can be used immediately in the time scale of the mod.
- railway2.jpg (557.79 KiB) Viewed 137 times
