Passenger Trains

[NEON DEON]

After trying to deal with routing problems, I have come to the conclusion that the only way to get my passenger trains to work right is to make the tracks they run on exclusive.

I will eventually set up a loop and have the trains run one way. This usually works if you do not have any connections made to any other track and no hard turns that slow your trains down to a crawl. I then start the trains from every terminal simultaneously when the game is paused. I use the same engines and same number of cars. I use only passenger cars and arrange the number of cars to the max speed of the engine. All trains in the loop run the same route but each start at a differnt station in the loop.

The track I use for the Passenger route is the middle one. Since you are limited to 3 station tracks, you can have the resources coming in from either the outside or inside ring without connecting to the middle one. I make sure the freight lines have no connection to the middle rail. If I do make a connection to the middle rail, all hell breaks lose and the whole system comes crashing down.

[The_Commodore]

Do you have a screenshot?

[Aramus]

I found this to work reasonably well:

since my U-shaped connection of four cities caused severe lockup after too many trains tried to use the 3-rail thick connections I changed tack a bit:

1. completed the U to a circle line. The innermost track is NOT connected to any other lines and is reserved for passenger/mail trains. the signals will take care of keeping a distance between the trains - and two trains were enough.

2. the outer two tracks have the lane-switching tracks and connections to resources etc...

3. Important to know in which city you can buy trains that are placed on the inner ring. That seems to depend on the side the station building is on, so make sure one of your stations is placed on the inner ring side of the tracks.

hope that helps.

[Lagoon]

I then start the trains from every terminal simultaneously when the game is paused.
.

How do you do that?

and...@ Aramus, do you have any more info on how to control which line the train will start on?

[Dr Frag]

Pause the game and THEN build your trains for those routes. When you un-pause they should all start together (from their different starting terminals).

[Lagoon]

OK I see, but it can be difficult because you need to get some income going from the tracks you just laid, so I usually ge the train running as soon as the track is down.

About which track the train starts on... it depends on the side the station is on? With three/four tracks, would it go on the track nearest the station?

[snoopy55]

What I do if I want to run a second train between the same points but on different tracks is wait for the existing one to be at some station or annex, then add the second train, even if it is not at the point I want to start at. In that case I run it thru two points, go back and wait a couple seconds for it to 'develope' and then go in and change the route to what I want it to be. Works for me.

[vancouverexpress]

Yeah, those techniques both work good. Theoretically, the new train will take the shortest distance between the two stations, so a player should try to build the new parallel track on the inside of the old track around the track's curve, if possible. That way, the new train will take the new track. This usually works. otherwise you can try to use a track switch, then delete it once the two trains have their own track. I find this aspect of the game frustrating - if they developed 'hard' routing, they should have included a way of telling the new train what track to go on. Oh well...one more thing they didn't include.

[Lagoon]

Thanks for those tips. I'll try them all.

[Asarhad]

does anyone have pictures of what you talked here about
whould be nice to see that


question:
when connecting 3 towns with pass/mail
what is best solution
A<-->B mail and pass cars
B<-->C mail and pass cars without unloading cars

i think that maybe would be problem in town B if he dont offer much passangers/mail
and would you connect something like circle
so rail is connected from A to B to C to A or no need for that

[Dr Frag]

I usually base my route on what the 'cities' have to offer. If A has the most Passengers then I'll do A-->B-->A-->C. And if A & C are bigger then I might do A-->B-->C-->B to try to get B to grow.

[gforce]

What about this choice for passengers
(left) city A; (middle) city B; (right) city C
there passenegrs will get paid for distances
A->C C->B B->A (where A->C) will give the most money
or with 4 villages it's a little different,
A-B-C-D
A-D, D-B, B-C, C-A
etc...
Time and distance is money so...
That's in theory but it could work, No?

i believe to know that the distance is calculated on the lenght of the rail-route, and not the shortest distance (bird-path) to the villages... this is pretty stupid no? or am i wrong?

[vancouverexpress]

i believe to know that the distance is calculated on the lenght of the rail-route, and not the shortest distance (bird-path) to the villages... this is pretty stupid no? or am i wrong?

That's an interesting question - maybe our wiki people can figure it out! I'd have to think it's the bird-path distance, but you never know.

As to pass-mail routes, you can always split your middle city's pass-mail load between the two cities by loading fewer cars. Don't forget that your starting town is fully upgraded so gets the most money for pass/mail deliveries, so it should ideally be your hub.

[snoopy55]

I just ran a short 9 mile run, 1 pass, 1 mail, and the pass income was from $43K to $37K. The Mail was from $45K to $40K. I created a long circle, I don't know how many miles, but on the Hill Valley Rush the route was Wilding -> Bicknell -> Unterholzner -> Montgomery -> Mooresville with no stops. Of course the 'bird flight' was from Wilding to Mooresville. The pass income was from $24K to $19.5K and the mail was from $10.5K to $9K. The train took 14 monthes on the long run and almost 4 monthes on the short run. The engine was a 4-6-0 P8.

Any thoughts ? Does this answer any questions?

[Asarhad]

what would be template logic in routing Pas/Mail cars
for example you have start city A, then smaller one B, and two biger C and D.

Would you use 1 or 2 train's or 1 train one link or multiple links
for example will you use

1) one train from A to C and D and one from A to B
2) one from A to B to C to A to B to C and something similiar from other side D C A

or just one train with :
1) A B C D A or reverse to start from D to fill A town more
2) A B C D C B A



is there any usual templae logic when you have more town in options which are close enough like in US maps...

cheers