Rail up a mountain

[Deadman]

Help - how do people get rail up a mountain?
I can run a rail road straig up which auto builds a LOOOONG bridge and a tunnel, but its $100M.
There must be a better way.
Pictures please of how to climb a mountain

[BGR]

Zig Zag.

[Kodi]

Piece by piece is the way to go. Lay down a few meters of track a bit higher up the mountain than the bottom. Good chance you won't see the track turn into a bridge (depends on how long you make the track. Keep it short) Once you have a piece that looks good (preferably a rock texture will appear at the mountain side) build from there, possibly a bit higher up without the bridge appearing. Sometimes a short bridge might be needed. Needs a little practise but you'll get the hang of it pretty soon. Remember ' piece by piece & keep it short' is the word.

[Robbedem]

Building railroads in the mountains is one of the most challenging but also most rewarding aspects of the game.
It's something you'll have to learn and get better at. ;)

[SoftwareSimian]

A zig-zag / swichback[en.wikipedia.org] system is one way, and perhaps the most efficient at climbing an extremely steep hill / cliff, but in TF requires a station of some kind at the end of each swtichback for the route to work.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1410152314
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=806578620

If it's not a sheer cliff, then you should be able to find a path that makes its way carefully up the hill at an angle, ideally keeping to a moderate slope. To climb a steep hill you need to travel several times further than the straight-line distance to keep the slope moderate. Generally I eyeball an approximate route, then tentatively draw a track at a fixed moderate slope from the bottom up along my proposed route to see approximately where the track should end up at key points to maintain that moderate slope, but then carefully lay out small sections at a time, trying to match the track to the curves and slopes of the hill. I generally put a tiny stub of track at what I think key places will be, try joining them and see how it looks. Once I find a combination I think works well I delete all the other temporary track stubs and move on. Eventually I'll have a whole connect-the-dots set of points up the mountain that I can draw the finaly track path without having spent any significant money on tracks that won't work. This is actually my favourite part of TF, laying tracks through mountains.

[genemead]

Depends on the mountain. If it's round mountain, you might consider a circular route around it. Or consider trucks- they handle steep grades much better than trains.

[sergetechone]

If I may... I do agree with the OP - Deadman , it is hard and costly, in EU - miss 4, you have to build a mountain rail - or - in the 2 senario from the workshop ( Xmas and somewhere in the Alps / Europe ) , very challenging and hard. or in some montanous maps.

[City Builder]

Depends on the mountain, but in general I try to follow the contour lines if it's possible, usually going around the mountain until I get to the top. You want to keep the grade as low as possible on a train to avoid speed loss and or tonnage loss.

In general you want to try to keep freight tracks between 2 and 3%. The abovce assumes the game is somewhat following real world rules / suggestions for train behavior.

[Mr Felidae]

I myself use prefer S-shaped curves to conquer steep gradients, mostly with restricted speed limits to 80km/h, but I already start the inclination before reaching the foot of the mountain. Sometimes it requires a bridge or high track embankment that can be costly, but only if the mountain has an uneven topography in stead of a smooth slope.

Running a track around a mountain will, in my opinion, take a long time to reach the desired height. But I never tried it, so I might give it a go just to see how it works for me.

[canophone]

Originally posted by sergetechone:

If I may... I do agree with the OP - Deadman , it is hard and costly, in EU - miss 4, you have to build a mountain rail - or - in the 2 senario from the workshop ( Xmas and somewhere in the Alps / Europe ) , very challenging and hard. or in some montanous maps.

Nah! You just need to find a place to put the train at the right elevation! Not that costly at all.

[canophone]

The default up/down elevation changes are quite limited in the game. So mostly, it's necessary to follow contours back and forth.

[Nick B.[US]]

Just like in real life, finding a pass is the best thing to do. Look for a part of a mountain that is the lowest point and build track through there. There are small dips or valleys in the mountains sometimes. Each mountain or mountain range is different of course so each one will have to be approached differently. Some are just shear cliffs so a tunnel is the only thing you can build in those cases. The switchback is used in places that are steep so the train can pull in and reverse instead of going up a 2 or 3% gradient (high). They might still have to as well, but using the switchback allows you to have a train climb steeper drops as well as a point for the train to get some speed (very little) to continue. Small trains are used when negotiating these though so I wouldn't try to put a huge freight train through one. These were mainly used on narrow gauge railroads. Logging and mining mainly.

[kido]

Curving rail around mountains? Reminds me of the Polar Express. TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANEEEE

[CashonWheels]

Be open minded plus Don't be afraid to use 270 degree turns, bridges, short tunnels & 28mph curves. Most of the time You do not need to reach the top of the mountain. Once you get near the top you can borrow under it with a short tunnel to the other side. If your just starting out, never try to make a prefect looking pass. Just one that passes your eye test. If you not using no cost, save your game prior. I will go though a few different layouts before I settle on one. and at the bottom try to run up the grade with a short man made hill using:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/comments/1168068230

Here's those screenshots you demanded:


Not pretty but it gets the job done.
https://www.transportfever.net/galerie/index.php/ImageExtended/24435/#imageAnker_24435

No need to change height on this pass, I just built it straight though!
https://www.transportfever.net/galerie/index.php/ImageExtended/24436/#imageAnker_24436

Kinda sloppy, but again gets the job done.
https://www.transportfever.net/galerie/index.php/ImageExtended/24438/#imageAnker_24438

Above view of the pass above.
https://www.transportfever.net/galerie/index.php/ImageExtended/24437/#imageAnker_24437

[Nick B.[US]]

Okay, those are extreme mountains. The default game doesn't create ones that high.

[sergetechone]

@gburrex

I am impress ... Nice techniques to climb the montains with trains. ... I did not expect perfection, like you said...as long it get the job done.

For me, montains constructions is not so easy. Lots of planning, try to find the best location.

Here a map :

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1147239637&searchtext=rockies

My goals for this map, to have trains to travel from Alberta to BC and BC to Alberta for maximum profits ( running full both way ) , so it better be worth the expences and big pay off. It going to be fun and challenging.