New Rail Cars

[dalewonsey]

I would really like to see some type of Gondola Car for hauling firewood.

[A Fat, Angry Serval]

Wouldn't we all?

Thing is, firewood is a fuel resource, none of the industries accept and we already have chordwood for the industries that do, including the firewood depot. It's probably not going to be a priority, even if it would be really useful for helper stations and other locations where you'd want fuel access but don't have the space for a firewood depot.

[Paul Simnel]

I think a Gondola Car would be much better as a general carrier - but with less capacity than dedicated cars. For an early Gondola of the same size and age as the current cars - 2 or 3 side planks, it could carry 3 logs, 4 cordwood, 2 beams, 4 lumber, 5 or 6 ore/coal, 3 raw iron (Type 2 flats should perhaps carry 4 - there's space, and this would still be less weight than other cargos), 6 rails, 5 pipes, 16 to 20 barrels.

It could also carry firewood, but that would have 1000s of units of cargo which would take ages to load one unit at a time, which might be fine for taking supplies to a particular loco to get it going. The alternative would be a car that acted like a mobile firewood depot, where you load it with wood and it is converted to firewood, which would need to be a dedicated car, but I would prefer it if that is not the only gondola.

For firewood, I think I'd rather (as in higher priority, not a case of one excluding the other) see a smaller firewood depot (that perhaps held half as much of both input and output wood) with two short platforms on the same track, the total length being only the same as the current one. One platform/area for delivering wood, the other for stacking firewood, this would representing the person cutting the wood and stacking it, moving it longitudinally instead of laterally. That would be better for smaller locations just to keep a Shunting/Switching/Helper loco going, or top up passing locos, without the railroad having to go to the expense of having a switch and space to put tracks to both sides - the physical effort to move the wood between platforms would be similar in either case, and if you don't need a large high capacity firewood depot, it would be a simpler arrangement for a railroad to build, and take less space for the player to put in.

[STRATOCH1EF]

Originally posted by Paul Simnel:

I think a Gondola Car would be much better as a general carrier - but with less capacity than dedicated cars. For an early Gondola of the same size and age as the current cars - 2 or 3 side planks, it could carry 3 logs, 4 cordwood, 2 beams, 4 lumber, 5 or 6 ore/coal, 3 raw iron (Type 2 flats should perhaps carry 4 - there's space, and this would still be less weight than other cargos), 6 rails, 5 pipes, 16 to 20 barrels.

It could also carry firewood, but that would have 1000s of units of cargo which would take ages to load one unit at a time, which might be fine for taking supplies to a particular loco to get it going. The alternative would be a car that acted like a mobile firewood depot, where you load it with wood and it is converted to firewood, which would need to be a dedicated car, but I would prefer it if that is not the only gondola.

For firewood, I think I'd rather (as in higher priority, not a case of one excluding the other) see a smaller firewood depot (that perhaps held half as much of both input and output wood) with two short platforms on the same track, the total length being only the same as the current one. One platform/area for delivering wood, the other for stacking firewood, this would representing the person cutting the wood and stacking it, moving it longitudinally instead of laterally. That would be better for smaller locations just to keep a Shunting/Switching/Helper loco going, or top up passing locos, without the railroad having to go to the expense of having a switch and space to put tracks to both sides - the physical effort to move the wood between platforms would be similar in either case, and if you don't need a large high capacity firewood depot, it would be a simpler arrangement for a railroad to build, and take less space for the player to put in.

Good ideas!

I like your idea about the smaller firewood depot. A smaller capacity general use car is a neat concept aswell