Questions about Condition (Context: skeleton flat-cars)

[KorovievLit]

I am playing solo on Day 5 and randomly noticed that one of my skeleton flat-cars for hauling logs from Connelly Creek L2 to the Whittlier Sawmill was at 99% condition. I checked the other seven cars, and sure enough, some were also at 99%. Here is how the condition is spread among them as they are connected...

-100--100--99--99--99--99--100--99-

I have never coupled with these cars at any speed above 2.5 mph, and I have never bumped them into anything. What has caused this damage, and why is it divided in such a way?

My only thought is that at some point I took a curve too quickly coming back down from Connelly Creek. I know that this possibility is mentioned in the tutorial, but I have been very careful.

Any insights?

In addition, the damage was present during Day 4; it did not affect my Railroad ratings.

Also, I noticed that none of these cars is listed among my assets under the Equipment tab in the Company Window. Is this because they are in captive service?

Thanks. Loving the game.

[sbmarauderman03]

Normal wear and tear? The fact that you've been moving these cars around and 3 of them have no damage after 4 days is pretty good. I mean, when you put new tires on your car, even if you don't 'burn rubber' they still become worn from usage with the first mile on the road...

[KorovievLit]

True, yes, and to be expected. But, I am also looking for some answers from the perspective of the game mechanics.

[Twelvefield]

Yes, you can hire the game mechanics to fix the game equipment.

[KorovievLit]

Yes, but I am looking for insights into the origin of the damage.

[UrveloCiraptor]

In my opinion, the most likely cause seems to be too high speed at curve or at switches. Please note that for some switches, the recommended speed is only 15mph. Similar thing happened to my passenger consist where only the locomotive and first coach received 1% of damage when I took a curve too fast. The rest of the consist was fine as apparently I managed to slow down just enough before the rest of the coaches hit the steepest part of the curve. Uneven damage distribution for your consist may have been caused during several runs while exceeding the max speed limit for just couple of seconds.

As for why those cars don't appear in the equipment tab, I'm not sure. Maybe they are actually owned by the sawmill? You can buy more of them, but they are suspiciously cheap. That does not however explain why your fuel service cars don't show up there either. Maybe someone from the dev-team could give us some insight to the logic behind this?🤔

[🚂🚃Taschi🚃🚃]

Originally posted by UrveloCiraptor:

As for why those cars don't appear in the equipment tab, I'm not sure. Maybe they are actually owned by the sawmill?

Freight cars never show up in the equipment tab, to my knowledge. It's a bit of an odd choice.

[sbmarauderman03]

Originally posted by KorovievLit:

True, yes, and to be expected. But, I am also looking for some answers from the perspective of the game mechanics.

Well, just like in my example for tires and cars, the same holds true for wheel sets and rail cars. Despite the wheel sets being made of steel, they still become 'worn' since it's steel wheels riding on steel rails. I would think that nearly all of the 'damage' to a rail car in this game occurs, minus any derailments, on the wheels and couplers, as those experience nearly continuous contact with other objects. Even though it's labeled as 'damage' in the game, it's most likely simply representing normal wear and tear of the equipment.

[avgwarhawk]

Over a period of time the machinery will wear out. It could be from taking curves to fast. Coupling too hard at one point. I like the feature of the game. Put the cars in the shed for repairs. Watch your tender as well.

[KorovievLit]

Well, thanks to all of you for your input. I'm going to chalk it up to speed on a curve at this point.