what loco

[johnmoon49]

my first two locos are not up to the task anymore just too slow with logging and pulp wagons what is best for me now

[Rudolf Jan]

Have a look at the discord. I think the next step should be to get a loco in the price range os $10.000, which is afforadbe at this stage and make sure to have good water capacity. It depends a bit of you preference, what you like most. Consider your investment policy carefully and be careful not to borrow to much money.

[thebear05]

See all the locomotives listed in the guide section. This will give you all the information you need. It is suggested that in the start of your game, repair the 10 wheeler and put it on passenger duty. Then use the mogul for everything else. You need to build up your finances to afford the bridge repair to Bryson. Once this is done possibly buy a Mikado for the haul into Bryson and later the coal mine. The mogul is well suited at the beginning. Just my preferences. Try not to go into debt, if you work away slowly it should not be a problem affording a bigger locomotive. The features you should look for are larger water and coal capacity.

[Nikoli Voldkif]

Originally posted by johnmoon49:

my first two locos are not up to the task anymore just too slow with logging and pulp wagons what is best for me now

By the mention of pulp wagons, I'm guessing that you got Sylvia first/early. Sylvia is really a much later upgrade then it seems. You really want P-43 or higher especially for your mainline freight service.

[johnmoon49]

at the start i had know idea what was going on . sylvia upgrade and down to bryson was early on in my game . should i start another game but im now over 60 hours in

[Nikoli Voldkif]

Originally posted by johnmoon49:

at the start i had know idea what was going on . sylvia upgrade and down to bryson was early on in my game . should i start another game but im now over 60 hours in

Well, I think in my play group we have done about 5 restarts to do stuff better. If your making money on your railroad you can just keep running it. Just pause doing any further expansions till your are very comfortable handling your current work load with the engines you have.

[johnmoon49]

thanks to everyone

[[NcK]MasterShake|CM]

You can do Sylva early, just be prepared to double-head the Interchange freight from Whittier for any significant load. Also the Engine Service Facility in Dillsboro should be immediately prioritized... hopefully you have enough money for both. Since the second locomotive will often be in the vicinity of Whittier fetching logs and dealing with sawmill output in the mid-afternoon, it's not as much of a headache as it sounds like it might be.
You get more options and less grade with Sylva... just be sure not to moon-shot all your freight contracts immediately.

[Hwyranger]

I truly believe all in all its about managing your line and customers. I am still on my first play through on Company mode around day 17. Yes, I am paying the bank and my debt is going down steadily. I expanded like most to Sylva and yes! had to deal with the growing pains. Thus, I borrowed, got Dillsburo yard up an running to which I feel is a must once your working out of Sylva IC.

My line currently runs from Sylva to Alarka / Robertson Gap Coal working the Bryson and Dillsburo yards for area freight traffic. I use the Whitter IC for sorting freight traffic also (logging). Now, I should have stated earlier, I am currently at tier 3 in 90% of all industries and provide service to all with a 1 day to 2 day turn around working typically from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm. My only passenger service 3 cars runs the full line morning, noon and an evening run. That's from Sylva to Alarka 3 times a day. (With the passenger service the passenger amount increases on the hour, so if your not full wait, might be wrong, but it seams that way.)

Now my locomotive inventory currently is the following,
2- S-23 Switchers (one at Dillsburo and the other at Whittier IC)
2- P-18 Pacifics ( I use them locally down near Sylva industry and Whitter IC. Also for extra power if needed)
1- C-25 Consolidation (Right now using it up at Bryson yard and for local service)
1- A-26 Atlantic for passenger service (the starting Mogul and 10 wheeler has small tenders and I was always filling them)
1- P-43 Pacific which is my, for the time being in my primary heavy freight hauler (expensive for early beginning, thus the debt. But its paying for its self thus far. Hauled nearly 2000 tons from Whittier to Sylva IC without hitch.

Bottom line, don't expand to fast or get overwhelmed. Turn around time for switching out your services is three days before a reputation decrease. If any of my locos have down time, they are getting coal and water keeping those tender full.

I hope this helps. Keep'em on the rails!

[A Fat, Angry Serval]

My roster currently consists of the starting Mogul and an A-26 Atlantic. I've really been liking how the Atlantic runs as an early-game locomotive. That being said my line is currently only Whittier to Bryson, and I don't really plan on running anything beyond Whittier to Alarka as I'm playing solo.

[JE55BUNN1]

Don't be afraid of the bank. If you're making ok money daily; you can easily pay off a loan and get a larger locomotive. Ideally you want to chip away at the debt daily, and you'll be good to go.

I wouldn't sell the two starting loco's - they can be your switch engines. It's far easier to borrow some money than sell a locomotive / capability.

The Atlantic is a fine beast (good water and coal), but the P43 Pacific is stellar with a huge tender for water and coal.

I use an Atlantic as a passenger loco, 2 x S-23's (Bryson and Whittier), a P43 Pacific as my freight hauler and I kept the Mogul to run logs down to Whittier mill.

I haven't expanded to Slyva, I'm going in the other direction =)

[Nikoli Voldkif]

Originally posted by JE55BUNN1:

Don't be afraid of the bank. If you're making ok money daily; you can easily pay off a loan and get a larger locomotive. Ideally you want to chip away at the debt daily, and you'll be good to go.

I wouldn't sell the two starting loco's - they can be your switch engines. It's far easier to borrow some money than sell a locomotive / capability.

The Atlantic is a fine beast (good water and coal), but the P43 Pacific is stellar with a huge tender for water and coal.

I use an Atlantic as a passenger loco, 2 x S-23's (Bryson and Whittier), a P43 Pacific as my freight hauler and I kept the Mogul to run logs down to Whittier mill.

I haven't expanded to Slyva, I'm going in the other direction =)

Don't be afraid to sell off engines, later on the early engines start having it rough and you start having to run multiple loads just to get the consists moving. For example, at the sawmill I used to use a S-23 to move cars to the outbound track, I ended up selling it, because it was having difficulty getting the cars back out and moving the loaded cars onto the interchange at tier 5.

You are right never sell a locomotive that has a current use. but don't be afraid to sell off older engines for an upgrade, once you start maxing out some of the different industries you start getting 1000+ tons worth of cars you need to switch in different areas.