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Moving from steam engines to diesels also helps because they need a lot less refueling and rewatering, which always takes some time and manual fiddling.
I'd recommend striking a balance between challenging yourself and having fun. If things get to be too much, then lower the tier level for some businesses or cancel contracts with businesses that don't earn you good money. Nothing says you have to do a contract with every business in the game either.
In short, adjust the game to where you're having fun and stick with it.
Currently my road starts at Sylva and runs to Alarka Jct. I am in the process of extending the line to Alarka. Most of my industry ranges from Tier 3 to 5, with the 5 tiers being the largest money makers. Leveling your tiers is a good recommendation and as stated Imp. Strikeforce "I don't think anyone should feel obligated to set everything to tier 5 just because you can."
I run only 1 five coach passenger service making all stops 3x's a day. Sometimes a fourth which I call an express special making only stops only at Bryson, Whittier and Sylva.
My freight service which starts at Sylva IC gets hauled up to Dillsburo yard for sorting. Once my trains are prepared to set out, I use my P-43's, C-55 and a decapod for heavy hauling, 1500 to 2000+ tns give or take.
Once these trains have departed and my passenger service is running west, I start my local service picking up and dropping off. I use my 0-8-0 switcher for these tasks beginning at Sylva industries, then Dillsburo. I do bounce up to Whittier where I service Connelly Creek with my Logging Mikado and use a 0-6-0 switcher for service to the mill, Whittier and Ela.
Then once my passenger has completed its morning westward run to Alarka Jct and set out down the hill east, again making all stops and when cleared Bryson I start working my freight in the Bryson area and the coal mine.
My system works for me and I am able to complete my day by 1900. Sometimes a little early and times a little later. But the main thing is to have Fun doing it. If all is not done, there's tomorrow.
I use the GP9s to first deliver freight to each town's main rail yard, then jump back and forth between the switchers at each location and deliver freight and collect the empties so they are ready for when I drive the GP9s trip back to Sylva later in the game day I can collect everything along the say.
This method saves me a ton of time as I only have to run the main line one time, round trip, each game day.
By delaying returns to interchange as long as possible, you will end up with less single car shuttle work.
For example, at Whittier Mfg company, I will not return cars to the interchange even if the outside most car is ready to return. Will only return cars if there is room needed for a new cars or all 3 slots ready for interchange return.
I used to ones and twos all the time as soon as ready to go back to interchange. Need to stop doing this if you want to succeed solo.
Note, this technique doesn't apply to Sawmill logs or PulpWood deliveries.
I like this idea !
Example: The need to hop of the Main Line; going to Whittier Exchange from Sylva Interchange Cars, etc...
Good 'regional Switching Maps would be very helpful ;)
Add the ability to place and name trackside signs. You'd also need a way to reference specific switches.
Then you could create a list of instructions for the AI:
- Reverse @ 25MPH until end of track
(train ends up at Connelly Creek L1, assuming you've set the switches right)
- Set handbrake on cars ( "L&K 214555" "L&K 3476" )
- Decouple between cars "L&K 233055" and "L&K 214555", close air valves
- Forward to sign "CC L1-L2 reverse"
- Set switch "Connelly Creek L1/P1 turnout" normal (perhaps require that the train must be stopped within a certain distance of a switch to set it)
- Reverse @ 25MPH until end of track
etc.
Then you can do things like automate dropping off/picking up cars all up and down a logging branch, as well as taking on fuel and water.
I'll tell you how I run things, with the important stuff in bold, however the TL;DR is this: Taking a little time earlier in the day, saves a lot of time later when you don't have much of it.
I have a mainline freight, a log train that alternates between Connolly Creek and Walker, and a passenger train. I also have a logging Mikado tender locomotive in Bryson and at East Whittier to run the log train and switch the sawmill, and I have the big S-51 switcher at Bryson.
I also have two locomotives on standby in the Bryson roundhouse, one which I will be using for the later expansion to Alarka proper and the other I use to service the two Bryson Coal and Lumber Supply company tracks.
First thing I do every day is set up my passenger train, known as the Fireball Mail, to run all stops between the two. However, I don't send it on its' way yet, instead I just have it wait at Whittier, loading passengers for all stops while I sort the cars in the interchange yard.
This is because my passenger cars are the big ones, seven of the 84-passenger Osgood-Bradleys, plus one 25-passenger observation car. So they take a good while to load to capacity, a couple of hours on this time setting.
Once I've got the stops for the passenger train set up, I tow the cars that need to go to the Whittier Sawmill up past the points to the loading track and hand them off to my mill switcher.
Then I start sorting the remainder of the cars in the interchange yard, setting them up so that the cars that need to go the furthest end up closer to the head end: Cars that go to Robinson Gap end up right next to the locomotive. Cars that need to go to the Bryson area, up to Standard Oil, or to the Appalachian Hardwoods furniture factory go next. This is followed by cars to Ela and Whittier proper.
However, this is where the log train comes in. It's a 15-car train that alternates every other day between Connolly Creek L2 and Walker Lower, since they have similar numbers of logs available to load each day and to avoid exhausting any one source. If the log train goes to Connolly Creek that day, it goes up that line after my freight departs. However, if the log train goes up to Walker, then it gets added between the cars for Bryson and Ela/Whittier.
Pre-sorted in this way, it's a simple two-click operation to decouple cars quite close to where they need to go, which avoids the need to shuffle the train around at every stop.
While I'm doing all of this, the S-51 up at Bryson is retrieving most of the interchange cars at that end of the railroad, starting at the Appalachian Hardwood furniture factory and Standard Oil, working its' way up to Robinson Gap, then returning to Bryson and storing them in the yard.
By the time this is done, usually around six or eight o'clock (remember I'm running at 1:1 time and the day started at 4 AM) the passenger cars are loaded to capacity and ready to go. Once they're fully loaded I have them set off along the line.
Moving back to the freight train, it makes one stop in Whittier Proper, stopping on the siding that leads to Stenzel and Hollifield. I decouple the cars for both Whittier AND Ela here, then it's off to the races as the freight becomes a non-stop fast freight service all the way into Bryson.
Moving back to those two cars I just cut off at Whittier, if the logging locomotive from the mill is not busy pushing the log train up to Connolly, or once it's finished doing this and has run back to the mill light engine, I use it as a road switcher to move the Whittier cars into place and then take the Ela cars up to Ela, pulling the interchange cars out as I go and adding them in behind the Ela cars.
Moving back to my freight at Bryson, this is the end of the line for it. I cut off the locomotive and service it, then couple it onto the interchange cars (and the log cars, if it's their day to go to Walker) for the shove back to East Whittier.
Now the real work begins. Like with the mill switcher to Bryson, the S-51 is now used as a road switcher to service all industries and tracks between Bryson and the end of the line at Robinson Gap. Starting from the back end, the S-51 pulls off the loads for Bryson, Standard Oil and the Appalachian Hardwood furniture company and run them where they need to go, handing off cars to my Bryson Coal and Lumber Supply company switcher as needed.
If it's Walker day for my log train, then I pull that off first with my logging Mike at Bryson before starting on the rest of the train.
Right about at this time, when I'm knuckled into the cars for the Bryson area, the passenger train rolls in. As its' passengers are getting on and back off, I cut off the locomotive, service it, and then put it back on for the run up the grade to Alarka Junction.
By the time almost all my cars for Bryson Proper are delivered, the passenger train is ready to head back down the grade on its' way back to Whittier. This is usually right around Noon in-game, with the entire up-and-back passenger run finished right around 1 PM.
Now it's time for the return trip. Usually I will already have a consist of interchange cars on the siding at Bryson thanks to the S-51 pulling them earlier that morning. As the day rolls on, more cars get loaded and set for interchange, and my S-51 is on the ball, knuckling into interchange cars and heading back to Bryson to add them into the consist. Order isn't important for the interchange cars, they all go to the same place. However, the log cars always go at the end of the train if it's their day.
Speaking of logging, while the S-51 has been road switching, the Mike back at Ela has all the interchange cars collected there at this time, and if it's Connolly day, the Mike cuts off the interchange cars and heads back to Connolly to collect the log cars. If not, it cuts off and heads back to Whittier East anyway to collect the interchange cars from the sawmill.
As the big freight from Bryson rolls back into Ela, it bangs in to the Ela and Whittier interchange cars and continues on its' way.
Back in Whittier, the big freight picks up any interchange cars from Stenzel that have been generated between the time the morning train did its' switching and the time the big freight arrived back in town. At this point, if the log train is present, I always have it take the time to move the log cars back to the end of the train. After it does these tasks, the big freight continues towards interchange.
If it's Connolly Day for the log train, by now the logging engine has reassembled the loaded sawmill cut on the sawmill lead In East Whittier.
The big freight stops on the line ahead, before entering East Whittier but after the wye to Connolly. Now the mill switcher comes out of the sawmill lead and removes the log cars if it was Walker Day, pushing them into the unloading siding. If it wasn't Walker Day, this step obviously isn't needed so it can be skipped.
Regardless, next the log train hands the loaded interchange cars from the sawmill off to the interchange train and reverses into the maintenance sheds at East Whittier and out of the way. Then the big freight shoves the entire interchange train into the interchange sidings, cuts off, and gets serviced.
I currently have five GP7s for mainline freight duty - usually, I run them in pairs, with the remaining one on standby for banker duties on the Marble Grade. On my current in-game day (day 28), I have already run
* 1 Freight train from Sylva to Robinson & back
* 1 Freight train from Andrews to Robinson & back
* 2 Freight trains from Sylva to Andrews
* 1 Freight train from Andrews to Sylva
* 1 Freight train from Alarka Jct to Alarka (operated by a Decapod stabled at Alarka)
I still need to run one more from Andrews to Sylva (mostly to pick up some stuff at Alarka Jct, Bryson and Whittier, and to get my loco back), and a return train from Alarka to Alarka Jct., and then I'll be done (at some time around 18:00, I reckon), and do some pulpwood stuff - I have 18 cars loading at Connelly and a bunch of cars unloading at Andrews, all of those will move during the night.
The Robinson trains are usually unit trains for me, everything else drops and picks up cars on the way.
Shunting and delivering cars to industries usually happens while my big freight trains are on the road.
Good points! On my railroad, once I get Alarka unlocked I'll use a dedicated locomotive for the mine trains from there and Robinson, probably the Decapod (since its' prototype was Strasburg 90 and it was an ore hauler back in the day.) And it'll head all the way to Bryson, rather than stopping at Alarka.
I'll also have a dedicated passenger train from Alarka to Alarka Junction (that's what I've saved the locomotive at Bryson for).
I don't do that - I only have one passenger train, which usually runs Sylva - Andrews - Sylva - Alarka - Sylva once a day. It's only five cars (=420pax) so running two trains on the Alarka Jct. - Sylva section is pretty useful, and this schedule is easily doable in, I don't know, six hours or so? And once it's on the road, it barely takes any effort from me to run.
I still have quite a shopping list (one GP7 for my passenger train, one SW9 each for Andrews, Bryson and Alarka - that would replace all my current steamers - and ideally at least two more GP7 for freight duties on the Marble Grade) and am currently 145.000$ in debt (which is quite manageable), so suffice it to say, a second passenger train is something I want to avoid like the plague.