Saving Money on Bridges and Tunnels

[snoopy55]

Has any of you tried the act of running mor than one track to a river and using a single-track bridge, splitting them up on the other side? Same with a tunnel? It's done in real life, even so far as multi railroads sharing the same bridge...one bridge was even in three different guages!

[Varlon]

I do this in the early game(actually, I just try to avoid them entirely if possible), but once I'm raking in cash later, I go back and build multiple bridges and tunnels.

[Kroguys]

I play mostly online. I would never do that because of the delay it will cause. But it is probably a good idea if the game is set to Easy and the bridge is really long.

[nybrdge]

I do what the real RR's do. The decinding factor is how many trains use the tunnel or bridge. When you get more then four trains on line you need to add the double track. Another factor is the type of trains using the line.

[karsten]

I do it all the time. Never doubled the bridges, only the connecting rails, in San Martino.

[Lowell]

...yup...
I make sure the light towers are set right.

I have had three tracks meet at the start of a bridge...then a single track over the span...then split them back out at the other end. It works even in Hard mode which is the only way I play the game...and works well. Making sure the light towers are set right is the key for the trains to follow the traffic pattern and wait for each other to cross before the next train enters the bridge/tunnel. Think of it like a station platform...with multiple tracks connecting...same differance.

[Bushdoctor]

Making sure the light towers are set right is the key for the trains to follow the traffic pattern

This kind of implies that it's possible to adjust or influence the way sign posts work,
while I believe you are simply refering to the positions where you hook the track up
to another track. Is that correct?

The fact that the game can only handle a single switch is one of the most
dissapointing
factors to me because it prevents us from laying 'real' tracks.

If you try to construct the three-point switch that you need, you end up with
two sign-posts
directly following eachother.
And THAT's where trains go wrong and stand still budding heads.
Really annoying.
(Other than that, addictive stuff)

[Bushdoctor]

While i'm here....

Another thing that I find most irritating is where the game leaves a functioning
sign-post after removing a switch.

There is no need for that patch of single track to have a switch, still
it stays there being active.
Which obviously means trains will get stuck at that point. Especially if
it's close to another switch.
Or worse, close to another left-behind sign post.

This should be one of the first things Firaxis corrects in a new patch.

[keotaman]

... is where the game leaves a functioning
sign-post after removing a switch.

Left-over sign-posts are a sign of "Ragged Ends" (see the Wiki), but you say "functioning," so I think you mean the signal towers. If you want to remove one, delete Both track pieces leading away from the frog end of it, then put the track piece you want back in place.

Having extra signal towers around is not always a bad idea; it's often a way to "sectionalize" a long piece of track to allow less headway between following trains.

[snoopy55]

Yes, I've done that myself. On Chicago to the Rockies, I've run a very long section of track just out of the station. When I start a second train on the same track, it has to wait til the first one goes almost halfway accross the map. So, I just put a switch in partway down the line, which puts in a siginal, then delete the switch. Another way to do it, if i have trains runnung both ways on the same track, is passing sidings.

[Jancsika]

This should be one of the first things Firaxis corrects in a new patch.

Wishful thinking. Firaxis has abandoned us.
Jancsika