Passengers / Freight Networks

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  • #11268
    theuros
    Participant

    I hate point to point lines, so I always tend to create a network. For passengers lines is easy, but with freighter lines I don’t know how to do it., because I usually ends with point to point lines or some circular line. Is even possible to create a network for freighter trains ?

    The problem is that the factories and other industries are not logically placed on map.

    The only way I could do it is to create multiple station hubs located in cities and near multiple industries and feed them with road transport. Sound ok .. but in this way I will have ROAD – TRAIN – ROAD transport which is not ok.

    Anyway .. can someone explain me what freight logistic you use or how you organize freight transport and how is related to passenger lines?

    thanx

     

     

     

    #11270
    Maj_Solo
    Participant

    I begin with taking photographs of the map with PrScr and piece together the map ( have not figured out  if the game can dump out the whole map in one go )

    Then I mark all cities and factories. I made up my own symbols. Resources hollow symbols. Factories filled symbols.

     

    City:  Hollow 5 edged star with yellow fill so it shines more.

    Forest: Hollow triangle -> Saw mill: Filled triangle

    Coal mine: Hollow square + Ironmine: Hollow Square with a plus sign in it -> Steel mill: Filled square

    Oil well: hollow circle -> oil refinery: filled circle.

     

    There are more resources and factories on the map then cities. So you begin with drawing lines between resources and factories and cities. No production will start until there is an offset for the goods. You connect as many short distance lines first.

    It is a puzzle. After you been drawing for awhile you get clusters of cargo routes, You then see more easily where there are gaps and your passenger lines can snake their way through the landscape without tunneling under or over cargo rail lines.

    You do it this way there might only be 1 – 3 places on each map where the rail lines have to cross.

    It is better to plan well and be able to solve the entire map then build 50% and then run into tons of problems when you try to add more.

    I love freight trains. Hauling gigantic loads of cargo is my goal. That is where railroads make their money. And then some on passenger trains too.

    ( would be nice if you could set the ticket price on the lines to suck in passengers just so that other lines can be profitable. )

     

     

    #11319
    theuros
    Participant

    Basically you created a plan how to connect resources. Are all your freighter stations connected to one network ?

    I’d like to have one big freight network… I just need to figure out how to do it effectively.

     

    Anyone else has any samples?

    #11323
    Enzojz
    Participant

    To make real freight you need shunting yard and regrouping, which doesn’t exist in the game.

    #11326
    The RedKing
    Participant

    Well, I’m not sure I understand correctly, but this is what I try to do.

    On a small map, it is usually possible to create some kind of ring-track. This (double) track connects all cities together.

    Then, I just connect every industry I need to this ring, and create side-tracks for freight-stations at the cities.

    Now I have only one track which all trains use, passengers and freight.

    The challenge in this, is to place all your signals correct to prevent blockings between trains. But this is totally possible! I love to see lot’s of trains using the same tracks, switching tracks a lot, etc.

    One downside is, you need to choose your trains carefully. Mostly based on their max. speed. Else the freight trains could end up delaying the passengers trains. But I try to solve some of this now by adding side-tracks here and there.

    Also, sometimes a passenger-train suddenly chooses to use a freight-track. Usually, because this route is slightly shorter than the ring-route. Could be solved using way-point so I hope they will be added sometime. Now I usually move the connection-points of this freight track, which normally resolves this.

    Hope this gives you ideas

    #12105
    NeighborKid
    Participant

    Whats the best way to set up a passenger network?  I’ve tried 2 different ways. 1) is to make single lines to each individual town.

    2) is to have about 3-6 cities linked into a complete circle track with a track going in different directions (2 of them)  I cant figure out what is more profitable.  Any ideas?

    #12115
    The RedKing
    Participant

    The most profitable seems to be the lines which connect 2 cities only. So on a circle track between cities like A-B-C-D-A, add lines for A-B, B-C, C-D and D-A.

    I usually run 2 trains on each line first. It will take a while before they get profit, so if you’re low on cash, do not add all trains at once as it will cost you 😉

    I still didn’t get to a point where I felt I could add a line from A-C and/or B-D because of the lag in the game (also the reason I build this configuration multiple times as I just needed to start a new game). As this problem has mostly been solved, I’m getting there now. I’ll let you know my experience.

    The real cash-cows are tram/bus lines between cities. You can add many, many trams and/or buses and they will make you millions. I use this to make money first for building the tracks and stations. Then I start with the train-lines, replacing the tram/bus connections. I think you eventually need to replace them, as the lines become to crowded and the cities to busy to handle all of this road-traffic. It also seems to make sense, doesn’t it?

    #12117
    theuros
    Participant

    I always make line A-B-C-D….  and not multiple ones A-B, B-C, D-E simply because I like to create a realistic network as much as possible … Is crazy if you have to switch train on each stop .. profit or no profit 🙂

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