I'm stuck and don't know what to do

[Cor Pornosnor]

Hi, I'm new to the game and I was about to finish my first job but my train is badly damaged because I derailed it somewhere along the way. I somehow managed to get near the station without too many hiccups but now my train doesn't want to move anymore.

I can still start the engine although it will take like 6 tries but when I push the accelerator (or whatever it's called i'm not a huge train guy) forward the engine just makes noise and the train doesn't move and the engine stalls after a few seconds. both moving forward or back doesn't work. because I am close to the station I figured I could get another train and pull the entire train to the delivery spot but I can't connect the two. I tried removing the broken train with the tool but it says I have insufficient funds. Finally I tried uncoupling the broken train from the carts so I can move it out of the way and just use the new train to finish the job but it cannot even move on its own anymore. I did check the brakes and levers on the front and back of the train so I don't think that's the issue. The service Engine light and the light above the fuel gauge are on but there's still fuel in the train. What can I do to get unstuck?

[Knsgf]

Go to Career Manager and pay fees. This will fix all damage to the locomotive.

[Schlappspaten]

As you are a beginner your copay will only be $100. So it is best to go to the station office and pay the fees at the Career Manager. After that go back to your train, couple everything together, start the engine and finish the job. That will earn you more than the $100 paid for repairs.

There's another way to get rid of the job and the according train: You can throw the job booklet into the trash bin near the station office to cancel it. You'll lose the job, the train (it'll be removed), earn no money and only keep the fees accumulated. That's only the 2nd best option for you're not going to earn any money at all. But it is a simple way to avoid a lot of re-railing and coupling. And it is the only way to take on a new job, when the old job won't get finished.

Best way to avoid all that trouble of course is to become a careful driver.

For starters: The job number on the upper right corner of the job sheet shows up at the according cars. So you'll be able to look up the cars in the yard, put an engine to the cars and get ready for depart BEFORE you put the job sheet into the validator. When ready to run validate the job, take the job booklet and set out onto the route. This way you get plenty of time and have no need to rush anything to get the time bonus. 2nd part of time saving: The job states "uncouple" but it will terminate ok without uncoupling, so just make sure your train is completly in the target track and stopped, then put the job booklet into the validator. Don't bother with uncoupling, shut down the engine or making manoeuvers while the bonus time counter is running.

When you bring a freight haul (FH) to a destination you'll most likely get a shunting job for exactly this consist afterwards, so make sure to get the shunting licence early on (no impact on copay). Shunting after a freight haul usually is unloading (hence the job number includes SU for shunting unloading) and parking the cars. If you have the engine still coupled from the FH you then can place the train onto the unloading track BEFORE validating the shunting job sheet and hence get a very easy second head start for the time bonus of the shunting job.

After the SU job you can look for a shunting loading (xx-SL-xx) job. For a head start look up the cars, move them together and place them onto the loading track BEFORE validating the job sheet. So you start with loading and placing the whole consist into an outbound track. With a little planning you end up with a train ready to go and get the according job presented on the table after finishing the SL job. Another head start to continue calm and efficient, no need to hurry no need to worry.

You can of course skip the shunting jobs and just pull freight hauls all around the map. But in my opinion this is a waste of opportunities and easy earned money. Further on in the game knowledge gained in shunting may come handy to plan ahead. Especially when starting on doing multiple jobs at once. And at some point you'll develop an eye for job suites (SL -> FH -> SU) that will earn you a fortune even when only low or medium paying jobs are readily available.

When using the above mentioned head start techniques you can easily stay well below any indicated speed limits without endangering any time bonus. Best practice is to stay at least 5 below the speed limit to have some tolerance. There are a few points on the map that indicate more speed than the track actually allows. They are covered with the "more than 5 below" rule. Running at slower speed also gives you more time to throw switches without stopping.

Generally apply "Slow! I'm in a hurry!" as it is more efficient to be a bit slower than to do things twice or add other tasks like backing up or re-railing to the plan.

[Cor Pornosnor]

Originally posted by Schlappspaten:

As you are a beginner your copay will only be $100. So it is best to go to the station office and pay the fees at the Career Manager. After that go back to your train, couple everything together, start the engine and finish the job. That will earn you more than the $100 paid for repairs.

There's another way to get rid of the job and the according train: You can throw the job booklet into the trash bin near the station office to cancel it. You'll lose the job, the train (it'll be removed), earn no money and only keep the fees accumulated. That's only the 2nd best option for you're not going to earn any money at all. But it is a simple way to avoid a lot of re-railing and coupling. And it is the only way to take on a new job, when the old job won't get finished.

Best way to avoid all that trouble of course is to become a careful driver.

For starters: The job number on the upper right corner of the job sheet shows up at the according cars. So you'll be able to look up the cars in the yard, put an engine to the cars and get ready for depart BEFORE you put the job sheet into the validator. When ready to run validate the job, take the job booklet and set out onto the route. This way you get plenty of time and have no need to rush anything to get the time bonus. 2nd part of time saving: The job states "uncouple" but it will terminate ok without uncoupling, so just make sure your train is completly in the target track and stopped, then put the job booklet into the validator. Don't bother with uncoupling, shut down the engine or making manoeuvers while the bonus time counter is running.

When you bring a freight haul (FH) to a destination you'll most likely get a shunting job for exactly this consist afterwards, so make sure to get the shunting licence early on (no impact on copay). Shunting after a freight haul usually is unloading (hence the job number includes SU for shunting unloading) and parking the cars. If you have the engine still coupled from the FH you then can place the train onto the unloading track BEFORE validating the shunting job sheet and hence get a very easy second head start for the time bonus of the shunting job.

After the SU job you can look for a shunting loading (xx-SL-xx) job. For a head start look up the cars, move them together and place them onto the loading track BEFORE validating the job sheet. So you start with loading and placing the whole consist into an outbound track. With a little planning you end up with a train ready to go and get the according job presented on the table after finishing the SL job. Another head start to continue calm and efficient, no need to hurry no need to worry.

You can of course skip the shunting jobs and just pull freight hauls all around the map. But in my opinion this is a waste of opportunities and easy earned money. Further on in the game knowledge gained in shunting may come handy to plan ahead. Especially when starting on doing multiple jobs at once. And at some point you'll develop an eye for job suites (SL -> FH -> SU) that will earn you a fortune even when only low or medium paying jobs are readily available.

When using the above mentioned head start techniques you can easily stay well below any indicated speed limits without endangering any time bonus. Best practice is to stay at least 5 below the speed limit to have some tolerance. There are a few points on the map that indicate more speed than the track actually allows. They are covered with the "more than 5 below" rule. Running at slower speed also gives you more time to throw switches without stopping.

Generally apply "Slow! I'm in a hurry!" as it is more efficient to be a bit slower than to do things twice or add other tasks like backing up or re-railing to the plan.

This worked thank you so much