'Penny Pincher' Achievement (Hard Mode) - COMPLETE

This guide is a record of the game which unlocked the 'Penny Pincher' Achievement, and several other Hard Mode Achievements that I still had to unlock. It's not intended to be a guide on how to do so, but it does give some indication of what works and what didn't work along the way.

Map Seed = dogecoin
Map Size = LARGE
Difficulty = HARD
MODS = NONE

Too Wells to Fargo! (The Failure of my Stage Coach Strategy)

My first attempt concentrated on the use of stage coaches to provide local bus services in every town on the map.

This had been a good revenue earner in my Truck Fever game on Easy Difficulty. But, it didn't work out so well on Hard difficulty.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1196200301
As you can see in the screenshot my most profitable coach is Vehicle #13 on the Inglewood Work Line. But it has only made an average profit of $7.48k per annum (at least I assume thats an average, as the actual profit shown on the vehicle finance tab varies from $8.24k to (-$252). Nevertheless, that's the most profitable vehicle in the company.

The average profit per vehicle is somewhere around $1k-$2k per annum.

So, looking at my overall company finance report I have just made a loss of $31k on my last years trading. Despite the fact that every one of my current lines is showing a profit. Which means that just to break even I need to increase my vehicle fleet by at least 15 x Stage Coaches.

The problem being that with only $88.6k capital remaining and every coach costing $29k, there is no way I can purchase enough vehicles to break even, and the company is now in a steady decline as vehicle maintenance costs increase.

So, In the end I called a halt and decide to try and find some up to date advice.

Unfortunately, all the video's on this subject are over 2 years old and were made using an earlier version of the game where goods wagons were generic and so they focus on exploiting cargo lines. Which from recent experience don't work as well now.

However, i did watch (and am watching) Monte's video 'Hard Times' which still provides a lot of ideas even though its over 2 years old.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=511897473

2nd Attempt: Just Keep Rolling Along

Having allowed the previous game to run on for a few more years I was eventually forced to accept that my company was running itself into the ground.

As the existing vehicles got older their running costs gradually increased making every line less profitable, and as the 15 year replacement deadline approached I realised that I would never be able to afford to replace my existing coaches let alone expand my business to the point where it was profitable, So, eventually I threw in the towel and declared voluntary bankrupcy.

For my second attempt I opted to try and follow Monte's advice and began by explioting the existing active industries on the same same map, rather than the largest towns.
https://youtu.be/_LY_NkxJqOI
The reason I avoided this strategy in the first play-through was that Monte's video is using an earlier version of the game where wagons were generic and were capable of hauling everything. So, although he shows a cargo line where several wagons pick up Wood from a forest, carry it to a Sawmill and then pick up the resuling Goods and carry it to Town. This isn't actually possible in the latest version of the game, and I figured the extra wagons needed to run two seperate cargo lines would invalidate the benefits.

I was also aware from my Truck Fever Achievement game that cargo lines take a long while to become profitable, and that industry takes a long time to fire up. This mean't in that game that local passenger lines were much more profitable. However, that was on Easy Difficultly and my first attempt shows that local passenger lines are much less profitable in Hard Mode.

Results and Comparisons
The Cargo Line Strategy certainly seems to be more profitable.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1196749793
Annual profit (ignoring construction costs) is around $130k, which is much better than the $30k realised by the bus line strategy.

Annual RTI on a wagon seems to be around $7k-$8k, which is equal to the best return I was getting on my coaches.

Goods Lines seem to be the least profitable and the hardest to manage, particularly when trying to take over an existing delivery route as the goods tend to ignore your wagons for a few years until the line is established.

A comparison between the passenger and cargo results is shown below.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1196771889
The above screenshot clearly shows the comparison between the Profit and Loss results of my passenger and cargo strategies.

The direct comparison of P&L for 1856, confirms that whilst maintenance costs are significantly higher for running cargo lines (All those extra wagons and road depots) this is more than offset by the higher income produced by goods deliveries.

Most importantly the Cargo Strategy is producing an Annual Profit, which means that I have money to invest in more lines.

1892: Total Expliotation

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1198055673
It's early 1892 and every one of the industries which were producing 25 cargo a year on their own, now has one of my cargo lines carrying its output to its destination.

Annual Income is just over $2.8M, Annual Vehicle Maintence is around $2M.

The only exception I've made is that in some cases I've not bothered picking up the Goods from the end of the line and delivering it to a town. I may go back and complete the last few Goods Lines now that everything else is done. But I find Goods Lines require a lot of micro-management and produce a lower profit that raw material deliveries. So, its a low priority.

There is now just over 10 years before the MACK Truck becomes available and it will require a massive captial investment to replace all my wagons (I currently have 266 x Wagons in operation).

So, I need to hunker down and save as much money as I can in anticipation of that expense.

1894: Debt Free by 1903

The 'Penny Pincher' achievement starts you off with $1.20M loan captial which is standard for Hard mode, and requires that you don't take out any more loans.

Whilst I noticed that Monte paid off this debt quite early in his video playthrough I decided not to bother. Mainly because the interest seems to be fixed as $30k p.a., which is not that significant and doesn't seem to be compounded (so it doesn't increase over time), and quite honestly I decided that if I had $1.2M in ready cash I'd rather spend it on more lines and vehicles than give it to the bank.

However, in 1894 with all the existing cargo lines explioted and nothing much to do until 1903 when the new MACK trucks became available I began repaying the loan, but, only in small increments.

The general rule I set myself was that whenever my working capital (money in the bank) exceeded $500k, I would pay another $100k off my loan. The idea being that if some crisis occured I would still have enough cash to pay for any emergency investment in the operation that was needed.

But as it happened nothing much occured apart from the purchase and replacement of a few wagons and by 1903 the loan had been completely cleared.

1900: Toying with passengers.

Whilst I was still sticking to my general policy of squirrelling away as much cash as possible in anticipation of the need to replace my wagons with MACK Trucks in 1903, the release of the MACK Bus in 1900 tempted me to make a token investment in local passenger services.

However, unlike my first strategy this was very much a case of just dipping my toe in the water, just to see if local passenger services were viable with the larger and faster vehicles.

I choose to provide local bus services to the two largest towns on the map. Namely San Bernadino and Washington.

Lines or Circles?
After reading several discussions about the comparitive merits of point-to-point and circular bus routes I eventually opted for point-to-point services in both San Bernadino and Washington. I'm not convinced that point-to-point is necessarily better, but the land usage pattern of both these towns seemed to be more suited to that approach.

San Bernadino Bus Lines
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1200312204
A shopping line provides a point-to point service between the two highest density residential area's and the town centre. Whilst a second point-to-point line provides a link with the high density housing in the south of town and the main industrial area in the north. The two lines cross in the town centre and transfer stops have been provided to allow passengers to switch lines as they see fit.

The other feature visible on the screenshot is the large bus station which i built right in the middle of town. This turned out to be a white elephant and a waste of money in the short term. I had imagined using it as a central transfer stop for passengers wanting to change lines, but as it turned out nobody wanted to get alight or board a bus at that stop and so it just proved to be a waste of time having buses use it. I've actually removed it from the schedule of stops for the time being, but I still think it may come into its own if and when I start running inter-city bus services.

Washington Bus Lines
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1200313248
Currently Washington only has a point-to-point shopping line. I did consider creating a Work line but couldn't really see an obvious need for it as most of the high density industrial buildings are quite close the high density residential areas so i suspect people would walk.

The Huntsville Anomally
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1200329544
Whilst San Bernadino and Washington are my first deliberate venture into passenger transport they aren't my first passenger lines.

Back in 1893 when I was buying Oil Wagons for the Huntsville Oil Line I accidently bought a stage Coach, and after kicking the cat and uttering the mandatory expletives I decide that selling it would just be a net-loss, and so I quickly set-up a little passenger line in Huntsville and sent my spurious stage coach there to provide scenic excursions around the town.

It's been there ever since and whilst not making a huge profit has probably paid for itself several times over in the last seven years.

Originally posted by author:

Strangely enough this mistake has proven to be a happy accident, as I realised much later that if I was going to go for the Museum Achievement I needed to own a Stage Coach, and so the Huntsville Stage has since been assigned to the newly build Huntsville Road Vehicle Museum.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1200341728

1903: Catching Train Fever

The big decision I have to make at the moment is to whether to replace the wagons operating these lines with the new MACK Trucks that just became available, or to take a gamble and put in a rail freight line.

Proposed Major Freight Line Project

The project I'm looking at is a major freight line to service the Clearwater Steel Mill in the south of the map that provides goods to both Clearwater and Chandler.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1199644213
I've been looking at this area for a while and there seems to be a perfect cluster of Iron and Coal Mines in the south eastern corner of the map that are really begging to be linked by a nice freight line.

It will be expensive but once the wagons currently servicing these industries need replacement I'll have to decide whether to spend out on Trucks or Trains to service these industries.

Originally posted by author:

In the end common sense prevailed and this project was put on hold. Estimates suggested that this freight line would eat all my working capital and would not be profitable enough to justify the risk. Clearwater Steel Mill for example only produces 20 x Goods per annum, which means that demand for Coal and Iron would be similarly low.

Nevertheless, Train Fever cannot easily be ignored and I still ended up building a much less ambitious train line in 1903.

A Less Ambituous Train Project

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1200353302
Whilst prudence prevailed and stopped the Major Freight Line Project I still couldn't resist buying a train. This is after all Train Fever.

In the end I opted to replace all the wagons hauling oil to Omaha Oil Refinery with a single locomotive. Though I did manage to resist splashing out on one of the massive Mikado Freight Locomotives which would have been totally overpowered for such a short line pulling only four oil tanks.

This single locomotive replaced the 18 x Wagons which had been laboriously hauling oil to the refinery for the last 53 years. Economically, it also saved $145k a year in road vehicle maintenance at a cost of $85k p.a. in Train Maintenance. So, it was actually $60k p.a. cheaper to run, although it also bought in $45.5k less revenue, mainly because the train route was more direct and thus shorter than the vehicle route.

The creation of the train line has also marked the Omaha Oil Refinery as a major industry that now needs to be nurtured and encouraged to grow. It is already the largest single producer on the map, generating 80 x Goods p.a. for the towns of Omaha and Costa Mesa, but now that a spike has been driven in and a train line provided I need to consider how i can boost that production still further.

1904: Keep on Truckin?

The Mack Truck is now available and the replacement of all my 266 x Horse Wagons is now well underway.

Auto-Replacement has been turned OFF
The first thing I did when the MACK became available was turn off the auto-replacement on all of my wagon lines.

Auto-Replacement is useless for an upgrade such as wagons to trucks as it is only capable of performing a one to one replacement. Which is the last thing you need. The MACK truck can haul twice the cargo 6 mph faster than a wagon, so every line now needs to be carefully reviewed and if the decision is to replace the wagons with trucks then a careful phasing out of the wagons needs to be done and the gradual replacement with trucks.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1200415047
The approach I've tried to adopt is to choose a cargo line and to start sending wagons to a depot as and when they become empty. This avoids wasting revenue by losing cargo en-route to a destination. I then start buying trucks for that line as the amount of cargo waiting justifies it.

It's long winded but it's the most effective approach I can devise.

Performance Review
This is also the sensible time to review each line and decide:

• Whether to stick with road haulage,
  
• Whether to create a new road or route.
  
• Whether to just delete the service

So, far most lines have simply been upgrades to trucks from wagons. But as already mentioned the Omaha Oil Line was switch to rail freight, and one or two other line with large numbers of wagons servcing them might deserve similar treatment.

I've also been deleting some of the Goods Lines.

My frustration with Goods Lines persists, because whilst they have been making money they seem to require constant micro-management to get the best results. I've just got to the point now where as long as the goods will find their own way into town I just can't be bothered coaxing them along.

The main problem arises where one industry is servicing more than one town, because for some reason which town it gives priority to seems to fluctuate over time. So, one minute you have a stack of 18 x Goods waiting for Town A, and the next its Town B. So, if you are not careful you find stacks of goods waiting to be collected and a queue of wagons blocking the depot waiting for goods for the other town.

These log jams are just annoying and I'm fed up with having to unjam them. So, I'm retiring a lot of Goods Wagons and cancelling the lines.

The 18+ Rule
One thing I've noticed, though I don't remember reading this anywhere, is that once a Road Depot has a stack of 18 x Cargo waiting for collection it stops adding to the pile. I'm not sure why this is, or if it only applies to small road depots, but after it hits 18, any further cargo starts making its own way to its destination losing you money.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1200417472
So, I found myself periodically scanning the STOP REPORT looking for any cargo stops with close to 18 cargo waiting and then checking to see if it was yet another log jam scenario.

1907: Local buses and tentative expansion.

Four years have passed since the relase of the MACK truck, and yet I still have significant wagons operatining on some of my cargo lines. The main reason being that in 1903 some of these wagon were quite new and so will not become due for replacement until 1918 if I don't retire them early.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1201074976
One of the obvious reasons I may decide to retire at least some of them early is that they are hindering the performance of my new truck lines by hogging the roads and blocking passage.

Local Buses

I have returned to my previous strategy of providing local bus services in the larger towns.

Whilst this strategy failed in my first play through I'm keen to provide local transport to towns as I've read that improving access to Shops,Work and Leisure from residential buildings encourages town growth.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1201081611
I'm also hoping that with a £2M capital balance I can now afford to own and maintain a decent sized bus fleet.

So far six towns have been provided with a local bus service (Chattanooga; Costa Mesa; Huntsville; Omaha; San Bernadino and Washington.) and more will be added as and when my finances exceed $2M. I'm sort of pacing myself by only investing in one service everytime my bank balance exceeds that figure.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1201089847
At the moment all of these services are making at least a small profit except for Chattanooga, which perhaps by coincidence is the only town where I've opted to use a circle line rather than a point-to-point.

I'll keep my eye on it and see if things improve over time.

The Costa Mesa Oil Refinery Project

One of my more ambitous projects, or at least more expensive, is my plan to increase the production of the Costa Mesa Oil Refinery by extending the Omaha Oil Line to deliver goods to both Lancaster and Mesquite.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1201106544
This should hopefully boost production to around 136/200, which will increase the profitability of my train line.

Originally posted by author:

I'm hoping to get away with one locomotive running back and forth between Lancaster and Mesquite and waiting for a full load at the Oil Refinery before starting another journey. But I've never tried something like that before so I'm not sure how it will work. If it does it will save the running costs for a second locomotive.

1910: Costa Mesa Oil Refinery expansion underway.

The first phase of the project to expand the production of the Costa Mesa Oil Refinery is in operation.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1201254894
The goods line from the refinery to Lancaster has been constructed and the first goods train has arrived.

This should add +35 Production to both the refinery and Omaha Oil Wells, which will increase turnover for our Oil Train.

1913: Two-Way Traffic

The Costa Mesa Oil Refinery Expansion Project is now complete and seems to have worked perfectly. The second goods line linking Costa Mesa Oil Refinery to Mesquite has been constructed and as discussed I have extended the line of the existing Lancaster Goods to deliver to both towns.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1201260915

Originally posted by author:

I wasn't sure if this would work as I've never tried it before, but as far as I can tell it working perfectly. I was expecting to see two seperate stacks of goods produced at the refinery. One for Lancaster and one for Mesquite, but thats not what has happened. Likewise when i saw that there was just one stack of goods on the platform for both towns I was half expecting the Goods Train to pick up the whole lot and deliver it all to the next stop. But that's not what happened either.

Instead it looks as though on its return from Lancaster the Goods Train simply picks up enough goods to satisfy the needs of Mesquite and leaves the excess on the platform for the return trip to Lancaster. It's a bit confusing as at any point in time there seems to be more goods waiting on the platform than is needed to satsify both towns needs. But who cares, its producing good profits and both towns are showing growth already.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1201271234
Production has rocketed to 136/200 p.a.
Railroad income has risen from $482k p.a. to $666k p.a.
Working capital has risen from around $2M to over $4M in three years.

The Finishing Touches

I've already added 2 x Tanks to the Oil Train in anticipation of the the growing volume of oil being produced by Omaha Oil Wells, and I've added 2 x Box Cars to the Goods Train so that it can cope with the amount of goods already sitting on the platform at the refinery.

I also plan to added local bus services to both Lancaster and Mesquite in order to speed up their growth, and establish some sort of goods service to Omaha which is currently collecting its own goods from the refinery.

After that I shall need to consider what my next project should be. My current thinking is to continue to expand my services outwards from the Costa Mesa area to make the most of the benefits already achieved in that area. But we shall see.

1914: Pushing the envelope

After comtemplating my next major investment project for a few minutes I decided that the sensible thing to do was to complete the goods delivery service from Casa Mesa Oil Refinery by renewing to the good delivery service to Omaha.

This service had gradually been wound down as the thirty odd wagons providing it wore out and were sold off, and Omaha has been collecting its own goods for the past few years.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1201333341
However, inspired by the apparent success of my Two-Way Goods Service to Lancaster and Mesquite I have decided to push the concept to the limit and add yet another branch to the line that will use the same train to deliver Omaha's goods too.

This may be a step too far, but it will be interesting to find out what happens.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1201344954
Well the service is up and running and I'm having trouble coping with the output from the refinery now. I need to add more box cars to the Goods Train, but I'm not sure the 'Consolidation' Class loco I purchased at the start of this project is powerful enough to haul many more box cars full of goods. It's already labouring a bit on the incline out of Mesquite, and yet it still has 26 years of service before it needs replacing.

1915: Witt Streetcar Available.

The Peter Witt Streetcar has been unlocked and provides me with a possible first step towards a mass transport system. I might even be able to use these cars for short distance town links where trains cannot be justified.

Designed by Cleveland Railway commissioner Peter Witt, this streetcar was used in many North American cities, most notably in Toronto and Cleveland. Typical is the use of the center door as an exit only.
Cost: $118.000
Running costs: $29.500/year
Lifespan: 35 years
vMax: 35 km/h
Power: 60 kW
Tractive effort: 15 kN
Weight: 12 t
Length: 13 m
Passenger capacity: 11

1916: The Omaha & Costa Railroad

I decided to take a major risk and establish my first railroad passenger service between Omaha and Costa Mesa.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1201416630
This is in keeping with my general strategy of investing in development of the area centred around the Costa Mesa Oil Refinery and its aim is to encourage further growth in the towns of Costa Mesa and Omaha. Which will increase their demand for goods and fuel further industrial production.

The first cars appear on the roads.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1201419315
We are beginning to see the first privately owned automobiles appear on the roads. So there will be increasing competition for all our passenger services from this point onwards.

1917: Can I do no wrong?

At this point I have paused to take a breath, have a cup of tea, get some sleep and generally marvel at how well this game is going.

I have had several attempts at playing Train Fever in Hard Mode and usually never get as far as building a train. Unless of course I tried to start by building a train, in which case the game is usually very short.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1201703752

Originally posted by author:

Incidently, the financial report shown in the above screenshot makes it look as though my company is being run into the ground. But this is a qwerk of the stupid way this game reports your company finances and has to be ignored. Unlike Railroad Tycoon and several other company management games TR doesn't provide proper financial reports (e.g. Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet). Basically all it does it summarise income and expenditure. So captial investments are treated as costs and deducted from income as though they were a loss. This means you can't actually use the in game Finance Reports to monitor your company performance, because you can put yourself in the red simply by investming in a new line, or buying more trains. Its a bit of a pet peeve of mine and I've mentioned on the steam discussion forum.

My actual Profit and Loss for the period 1914-1916 is

Profit/Loss	1914	1915	1916
Income	$4M	$4.36M	$4.47M
Operating Expenses	$2.85M	$2.93M	$3.33M
Gross Profit	$1.15M	$1.43M	$1.08M

The trouble is one needs to extract this information from the in game report and record it in your own spreadsheet or something to keep track of it. Which is annoying as the game knows this data, but juat isn't presenting it as useful information.

But in this game I have managed to mass over $5M of working capital, which seems pretty stable at the moment. I have not just one, but three operational trains and almost every line is in the green.

I even checked to make sure I was really playing on Hard difficulty as it seems too good to be true.

There was a significant drop in profit last year, which I'm assuming is the result of the new passenger line which is adding to our operating expenses and hasn't really begun to pay off yet. It may take two or three years to reach its full potential.

So where do I go from here?

Well I can't just sit on $5M working capital. You don't get any bank interest in this game so it's just wasted potential.

My first goal will be to complete the local bus service project, by providing every resident on the map with easy access to Shops, Jobs and Leisure. This will hopefully boost town growth right across the map and prepare the towns for phase 2, which will either be satisfying their need for goods, or providing passenger links with nearby towns.

But lets gets those local services in place, before the roads get too clogged with cars.

1918: Trams for Chula Vista

I just couldn't resist it.

I've been looking for an excuse to create a tram line ever since I saw the Peter Witt Streetcar unlocked. So, when i saw the layout of the town of Chula Vista, with its long straight main street linking high quality residential, commerical and leisure area's in one line I had to go for it.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1201753027
It's making a loss at the minute, bur I don't care because they look good.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1201758780

1924: No rest for the wicked

I had a bit of a shot across the bows a few years ago. I've been concentrating on designing and implementing local bus services in the remaining towns on the map, including a few tram services and I was so focussed on that task that I failed to notice that my bank balance was dropping quite rapidly.

Even when I did notice I just assumed that I was spending too rapidly on the bus services and that i needed to slow down and let my income catch up.

But the income kept dropping, even though I wasn't spending anything.

Checking the Lines

In the end I called up the line report and began checking to see which lines were losing money. It was then that I noticed that both my Goods Train and my Oil Train were making huge loss.

Signal Failure

It turned out that whilst i was distracted with my local bus routes a poorly design signalling arrangement that had gone unnoticed for decades resulted in my Oil Train and Goods Train getting into a mexican standoff at the passing loop between Omaha and Costa Mesa.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1201985548
The problem was that both trains were being routed along the same section of track from opposite directions.

The problem had gone unnoticed because fate had conspired that both trains had never needed that particular section of track at the same time. But during my lack of attention the inevitable had happened and I'd lost about $3M income as a result.

In fact, both Omaha Oil and Costa Mesa Oil Refinery had completely given up on my train network to deliver their goods and the roads were full of oil and goods delivering themselves.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1202023433
The solution was simple enough, I just need to reverse the signalling arrangement so that both trains travelled in the same direction along that section of track. But there was nothing I could do to recover the lost income.

1925: New Road Vehicles.

It seems only yesterday that I finally retired the last wagon, and now we have two new replacement vehicles.

A bus.

Schneider PB2 | From 1925 until 1965

The Schneider PB2 was originally a French military transporter in World War I. Later exported and used as bus in many American cities, e.g. in New York.
Cost: $90.000
Running costs: $21.300/year
Lifespan: 20 years
Passenger capacity: 10

And a truck

Ford Model 77 | From 1925 until 1965

An ubiquitous truck, built as a standard platform with a lot of different bodies, e.g. pickup, sedan, stake bed truck and panel delivery truck.
Cost: $93.000
Running costs: $21.900/year
Lifespan: 25 years
Cargo capacity: 9

Back to manual replacement

Time to turn off the Auto-Replace feature on all my bus and truck lines again so that I can manually control the introduction of these vehicles.

I could just change the replacement vehicle specified, but given the increased speed and carrying capacity of them I'd rather adjust the numbers manually to compensate.

Profit and Loss

I have produced a small spreadsheet just to compensate for the appalling lack of decent financial reports provided by the game itself. If nothing else it will enable me to see how profitable my lines are.

As you can see my road services are the most profitable with a return of 37%-41% on the cost of operation.

Profitability of my tram lines is increasing but still not as profitable as Roads.

Trains have been the least profitable pver the past three years. In fact, they made a net loss in 1922-23, which I'm hoping was the result of the signalling issue that I've just corrected.

Overall profits have increased over the past three years probably as a result of all the investment I've been making into local bus services.

1929: Cash Flow Problems

The company is going through a cash flow crisis at the moment.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1202828500
Whilst the company is still making profit its profitability has dropped from a high of 40% in 1925, to 23% in 1927-28.

This can be attributed to a number of factors.

• Competition from the Automobile has reduced interest in travel by rail result in a significant reduction in passenger traffic on the Omaha to Costa Railroad. This coupled with aging rolling stock has resulting railroad profits dropping from 26% to -2%.
  
  
• Heavy investment in local bus services has not only drained the company bank account, but increased the overall operating cost of road services. It was identified earlier that, whilst bus services generate higher income than cargo, they also generate increased operating costs, and this is eating into our overall profit margin. Reducing profitability of road services from 40% to 23% over the period 1925-29
  
  
• Finally the introduction of new road vehicles has put additional strain on the company cash flow, and whilst the new vehicles promise a long term increase in operation efficiency which will eventually improve profitability, it will take time for the benefits to be realised.

Sticking to the plan

Despite the short term impact on my cash flow I am determined to stick to the plan and complete the current project to deliver local bus/tram services to every town on the map.

I only have five more to do and the aim was never to improve our profitability anyway, but to promote town growth by increasing accessibility to local jobs; leisure and shops.

Decline of the Omaha to Costa Railroad.

I'm less certain on what to do about the train services and in particular the Omaha to Costa passenger service. I made the mistake of adding a third coach to the service despite my reservations about the ability of the locomotive pulling the weight.

At the time demand for the service exceeded the carrying capacity of the train, but as it turned out I was right and with three carriages the locomative was struggling to manage a speed in excess of 30mph, and I think that led to customers abandoning the service and driving themselves to work.

I'm seriously considering abandoning the service, although I may review it again after I've finished implementing the last local bus services. Perhaps investment in a faster locomotive and an extension of the service to other towns might revitalise the service and restore its profitability.

Costa Mesa Oil Refinery Success

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1202861220
On a more positive note the original plan to promote increased production at the Costa Mesa Oil Refinery has been very successful with production now at 170 p.a. and more than enough goods being distributed to meet the needs of Omaha, Costa Mesa, Lancaster and Mesquite.

I may even expnd this distribution to other towns later in the game.

1933: Local Bus Services Pay-Off

Local bus services have been provided in each of the twenty-seven towns on the map.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1202918643
As you can see the provision of these services coupled with the replace of the MACK trucks and buses with faster Ford Model 77 trucks and Schneider PB2 buses has paid off and the profitability of my Road Services has been restored to 40%

Trains are back in the black

kSlightly more puzzling is the fact that my trains are showing a profit again.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1202923873
I'm not sure I understand why as i haven't touched them for the last five years. But clearly something has caused enough people to return to train travel.

Originally posted by author:

One thing I did notice is that a substantial quantity of oil is making it's own way from the Omaha Oil Wells to the Costa Mesa Refinery. The cheeky AI is using the old wagon road I built early in the game as a short cut. So, in an act of sheer vindictiveness I've had the road ripped up and planted with tree's. So, now they will have to go the long way round.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1202931233

1934: Some Long Term Planning

Building on Costa Mesa

I'm still quite focussed on explioting the initial growth of the area around Costa Mesa Oil Refinery. This has been my biggest achievement so far in the game and with production now at 176, i want to use it as a foundation for further expansion.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1203178807
The Costa Mesa Oil Refinery is the central hub of this initial expansion strategy and is fueling the growth of Costa Mesa; Omaha; Lancaster and Mesquite in the bottom right (South-Eastern) corner of the map.

Long Distance Passenger Train Services

My long term strategy is to invest in one major long distance passenger service that links all the largest towns (hopefully future cities) on the map. These are currently Costa Mesa; Chattanooga; San Bernadino; Midland; Washington and Inglewood.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1203302302
The idea hopefully is to give me an excuse to use some of the big streamlined passenger trains that come along later in the game.

Long Distance Bus Services.

Linking the other towns together and connecting them to the rail services I plan to use long distance bus and tram services. The main idea being the ferry passenger to and from the train hubs along the route and allow the local bus services alreadty established to pick up any passengers wishing to travel to locations within the destination towns.

1935: The Lancaster-Costa Tramway

The first phase of the Costa Mesa Expansion Project has been completed with delivery of a tram link between the centre of Lancaster and Costa Mesa Railroad Station.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1203401680
The project involved the construction of a new electrified road link between the two towns which passes under the intended route for the future railroad line to Chattanooga and terminates in a purpose built tram station in the centre of Lancaster.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1203404274
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1203405424
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1203406407
Total construction cost was $655k.

1936: Gridlock in Omaha

I just noticed this massive traffic jam in Omaha which has gridlocked the town.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1203428462
The caused seemed to be this white car, but despite a closer look i can't see why it's not moving as the path ahead is perfectly clear.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1203433407
Anyway i mentioned it on the discusison forum and @IC125 advised me to build a small road intersection close by so that the cars all dissappeared. Which worked but cost me almost $7k, so hopefully this isn't going to be a regular occurance as money is important in this game.

I've also moved also the bus stop further along the street just in case that was contributing to the problem. Though as far as i can see it was just the car and people on the crossing that were jammed.

1936: Time to replace my oil train.

My faithful old oil train which has been shuttling back and forth between the Omaha Oil Wells and Costa Mesa Oil Refinery for the past 30 years has finally reached the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1203482277
I toyed with the idea of replacing it with a Bi-Polar, but i think I'll stick with steam for the time being and buy a 4-12-2 Class 9000
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1203494162

1936: Mesquite linked with Omaha and Lancaster

Bus line to Omaha established

The planned bus line between Mesquite and Omaha has been established.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1203580297
The construction proved more expensive than anticiptated as there was no existing road and so one had to be laid before the route could be established. The bridge over the goods track was also expensive but at least it looks reasonably neat.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1203584696
I may have purchased too many buses for this route and I'm not sure that the Schieders are really fast enough for the job. But time will tell.

Bus line to Lancaster established

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1203609948
This line was much easier to establish as the road already existed.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1203803597

1937: Financial Impact of Phase 1 Expansion

Phase 1 of the Costa Mesa Expansion Plan is complete.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1203773030
Total income in now just over $9M p.a. and profitability is stable at 31%
The profitability of our Road Services has dropped by 5%, but this is understandable given the high cost of the new long distance bus links which haven't had time to attract many customers.

However, Tram profits have risen by 14% since the completion of the Lancaster-Costa Tramway, and our Railroad is back in the black since the replacement of the oil train.

Next year I will complete the extension of my railroad passenger service to Chattanooga. Although this will not really achieve its full potential until I replace the locomotive as the existing engine of not fast enough to attract all its potential customers.

1938: Railroad extended to Chattanooga

The first phase of the Railroad Expansion Project has been completed and the Omaha to Costa Mesa Railroad has now been extended as far as Chattanooga.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1203760329
Total construction costs were $1.24M.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1203792738
With the expliotation of the Costa Mesa area complete and all the towns in that area linked and supplied with goods. It's time to shift my attention to the area around the towns of Chattanooga and Paterson.

These two towns are now connected by my long distance railroad network, and my underpowered and outdated 2-8-0 Baldwin Class 56 'Consolidation' locomotive is doing it's best to stimulate interest in rail travel amongst their population.

Profitability remains stable and so it is time to move on to Phase 2 of my long term expansion strategy.

1941: Chattanooga Area Expansion Plan

There are five towns in the Chattanooga Area. (Chattanooga itself, Lancaster; Independence; Paterson and Rancho Cucamonga.) Chattanooga and Paterson are already connected by the extension of the Omaha-Costa Railroad and so the initial plan will be to provide passenger links between the others.

Long Distance Passenger Links

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1204312322
The plan is to establish five long distance tram lines.

• Lancaster to Independence.
  
• Lancaster to Paterson.
  
• Paterson to Independence.
  
• Independence to Chattanooga.
  
• Chattanooga to Rancho Cucamonga.

I am planning to use Trams rather than Buses simply because trams seem to be more profitable on the longer routes. This is possibly because at the moment the Peter Witt Tram (22 mph) is faster than the Schiender Bus (19 mph), but also because the new PCC 1643 'Pittsburg' streetcar which was released last year is even faster still with a maximum speed of 28 mph.

If and when larger and faster buses become available I may review these plans, but for the moment trams make more sense even though the initial construction costs are higher due to the need to electrify the lines.

Meeting the needs of Rancho Cucamonger

All of the five towns in the area are fully supplied with goods except Rancho Cucamonger which is receiving none of the 36 x Goods it needs.

There are industries in the area around Paterson; Independence and Chattanooga that produce goods and supply those towns, however, the distance and the nature of the terrain between those industries and Ranch Cucamonger would make supplying goods from these locations difficult and expensive.

I even considered extending the Omaha Goods Line north and adding Rancho Cucamonger to the Costa Mesa Oil Refinery network. But again there is a large mountain range between Omaha and Rancho Cucamonger that would make a rail line extremely expensive.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1204392020
At the moment the best solution seems to be to create new goods service from the Plano Oil Refinery further down the river valley from Ranch Cucamonger and to supply both those towns with goods in the same way as Omaha and Costa Mesa are supplied from the Costa Mesa Refinery.

1942: Independence connected to Lancaster

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1204463335
The Lancaster to Independence Tramway is operational. Construction cost $386k.

1943: The First Tram arrives at Paterson

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1204507479
The first tram picks up passengers from Paterson Tram Station bound for Lancaster.

Profitability plumets.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1204534852
I'm a little bit concerned that having rolled out the first two long distance tramways from Lancaster to Independence and Lancaster to Paterson my profits have plummeted. In particular tram profits have fallen from 29% in 1940 to a 16% loss in 1942. Thats a 35% drop in profitability over two years.

I am going to suspend the construction of the remaining three tram lines I had planned until I'm sure that profits will recover once the lines attract more passengers.

1944: The Profitability Issue

I've been monitoring my three new tram lines over the past year to try and understand the reason for the massive fall in their profitability. The situation has improved in the last year and Tram profits are at least back in the black, if only by 4%. Nevertheless the coupled with the drop in Railroad profits the situation is not healthy.

I'm hoping that much of this problem is simply that the lines are new and still need time to stimulate the interest of the public.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1204795802
I shall continue to monitor passenger numbers and if they don't pick up I shall have to reduce the service on some of these new lines.

1945: Downgrading and Cutting Back

Despite my best efforts over the previous year I have been unable to restore the companies profitability simply by adjusting schedules and line frequency.

Whilst Road profits remained stable (albiet at 34%, which is the lowest they have been since 1928), Railroad losses increased by a further 1% to -26%, and Tram services returned a -2% loss despite making a small profit in 1943.

I have therefore been forced to try and cut Running Costs in order to restore profitability.

Downgrading Rail Passenger Services

Despite the recent line extension to Chattanooga passenger numbers have continued to drop and with Running Costs of over $0.5M I simply cannot afford to carry on running a three car passenger service which is more than half empty.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1204880183
I have therefore retired the 'Constellation' Class loco and pullman carriages and replaced them with an 18 seat railcar which is more suited to the number of people wishing to travel by rail and cheaper to run.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1204898117

Downgrading the Goods Service.

I have also reduced the number of box cars on the Costa Mesa Goods Train in order to reduce the Running Cost, as it never runs fully loaded.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1204901594

Trimming the Fat from Trams

I am also reviewing all of my tram services and retiring trams from unprofitable lines. Some of these are local lines typically carrying passengers to and from the shops and i suspect that the growing number of people with automobiles is reducing passenger numbers.

Whenever possible these local trams will be transferred to longer inter-town services where passenger numbers justify it. Thus one of the trams from the Costa Mesa Shops line has been transferred to supplement the service between Costa Mesa and Lancaster which is becoming more popular.

1946: Tram line links Chattanooga and Rancho

Despite my concerns about profitability the work on Phase 2 has continued and a tram line has been established linking Ranch Cucamonger with Chattanooga.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1205927270
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1205930375
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1205936107

1947: First oil leaves the Rancho Oil Wells

The first truck load of oil has left the Rancho Cucamonger Oil Refinery bound for the Plano Oil Refinery on one of the new Studebaker US6 Trucks.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1205981036
I would normally have used trains to link these oil wells with the refinery, but my faith in the profitability of trains in Hard Mode has been severely shaken by their poor performance at Costa Mesa.

1949: Expansion Phase 3: The San Bernadino Link

Having activated the oil Refinery at Plano to provide the goods demanded by Plano and Rancho Cucamonger Phase 2 of the expansion plan is complete and its time to begin Phase 3.

This will involve extended the railroad passenger service around the lake to San Bernadino, linking all nearby towns with long distance bus or tram services, and making sure they all receive the goods they demand.

Railroad Links

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1207199830
The railroad will link the towns of Chattanooga; Chula Vista; Fairfield and San Benardino. All of which are fully supplied with goods already except Chula Vista, which will need further goods.

Long Distance Bus/Tram Lines

in addition there are a number of towns in the area that will need to be provided with long distance passenger services.

Eugene 4/32
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1207214225
Eugene will need three direct connections and a four between Aurora and Independence to provide an indirect link with that town.

• Eugene to Chattanooga
  
• Eugene to Chula Vista
  
• Eugene to Aurora
  
• Eugene to Elk Grove
  
• Aurora to Independence

Huntsville 42/42
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1207221724
Huntsville in the very top left (North-West) of the map and famous as the home of the Road Transport Museum (For the Museum Achievement) will need a couple of connections.

• Huntsville to Aurora
  
• Huntsville to Elk Grove

Roseville 40/40
Roseville will require four connections including an indirect connection between Kansas City and san Bernadino.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1207231392

• Roseville to Elk Grove
  
• Roseville to Fairfield
  
• Roseville to Kansas City
  
• Kansas City to San Bernadino

Cape Coral 44/44
Cape Coral area in the centre of the map needs five connections.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1207247312

• Cape Coral to San Bernadino
  
• Cape Coral to Rancho Cucamonger
  
• Cape Coral to Plano
  
• Rancho Cucamonger to Fairfield
  
• Plano to Rancho Cucamonger

Goods Services Required
There are four town in the area that need to be provided with access to goods.

• Kansas City 0/25
  
• Chula Vista 4/39
  
• Elk Grove 6/43
  
• Eugene 4/42

So, an additional 135 x Goods need to be produced and delivered. I'm tempted to try @DeeSee's suggestion in his guide on how to make money in modern times..
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=312117903
My only concern being that so far I've not seen much profit at all from railroads and a suck it and see approach could be really expensive.

1950: A century down the line.

1950 has arrived and the good news is that I'm still making a profit.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1207429526
Unfortunately, the bad news is that it's no where near the profit I expected to be making by this stage of the game, and at this rate it will be centuries before I unlock the Transport Shark (Hard) achievement, never mind Transport Tycoon (Hard).

I'm making about $1M-$1.5M profit per year at the moment, much of which is being reinvested in lines and vehicles. But my dream of running a few of those massive freight trains and passenger liners that epitomise the image of the US railroad seem no closer to reality at present.

1951: Railroad Extended to San Bernadino

I've completed the extension of the railroad to San Bernadino.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1207452166
However, things di not go quite according to plan.

The decision was taken to start laying the faster 'High Speed Track' from Chattanooga onwards in the hope that at some point i would be able to purchase some of the faster trains. So, I began alying track carefully to try and keep the speed potential as close to maximum (186mph) as possible.

This led to an immediate problem in reaching Chula Vista as there were a couple of mountains in the way. Taking the most direct route along the southern pass mean't that I could not bridge the river and make a decent high speed curve to arrive at Chula Vista. Even after demolitioning a large area of the town I still found it impossible to find a spot for a station.

In the end I decided to take a more sedate route along the northern pass to Eugene. Place an unplanned station there and then swing south to approach Chula Vista from the north rather than the east.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1207466919
This seemed to work much beeter but means that Eugene is now directly linked to the rail network and so will be treated as a rail hub. This means it will not longer need its planned long distance bus routes to Chula Vista and Chattanooga.

1952: A Sad Day for Omaha Oil

After over a century of trying to make a decent profit using trains to operate the Omaha Oil Line I have finally decided to give up and replace the train line with trucks.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1207534640
The locomotive has been flagged for replacement and every alternative I have available has a higher annual maintenance cost than the lines income.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1207540015
So, basically I've given up trying to make trains profitable and I'm phasing out my existing train services with the possible exception of the single passenger line which I am still hoping I can make into a money spinner.

GM 'Fishbowl' Bus unlocked.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1207553480
The first of the new GM 'Fishbowl' buses emerges from the depot to begin work in Plano.

The key thing about these 'Fishbowls' is that they are fast. 34mph in fact, which is almost twice as fast as the Schieders that they are replacing. So, as long as i can ensure they are usnig that speed I can deliver the same service with fewer vehicles.

What it means though is that I need to upgrade the roads they use to large because even medium roads only allow speeds up to 31mph, and I need to provide bus lanes in areas where there is high traffic as cars will slow them down.

1953: Hard Times, Tough Decisions

I've had to make some tough decisions over the past two in-game years.

The Costa Mesa Oil Refinery which was originally expected to be the main revenue earner and foundation of my Frieght Train network has now been switch to road service only and all the trains have been sold as they have been making a loss for decades.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1208113462
I'm planning to give the passenger line one more chance to make a profit and if that fails it will also be sold off to reduce my losses.

The good news is that relieved of the burden of having to subsidise the rail network my profits rose to 30% in 1953. So, it seems to be working, its just a shame about the trains.

1956: Railroads still losing money.

It's been four years now since I terminated the loss making rail freight service at Costa Mesa Oil Refinery and upgraded the passenger rail service in a last ditch attempt to make some money from trains.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1209237384
But despite investing in High Speed Track and the fastest locomotive I can afford rails services continue to lose money. A 79% loss in this year alone.

By comparison Road and Tram Services continue to go from strength to strength with the unlocking of the Studebaker Trucks and the GM Fishbowl bus enabling me to increase the efficiency of both my road freight and long distance bus lines.

Overall profitability has hit an all time high of 43% this year with Road services contributing 56% profitability and Trams 40%.

1959: Service improvements are paying off.

The planned Phase 3 Expansion Project has been suspended for the last eight years, as the money needed to implement it was scare after the railroad extension to San Bernadino had been completed.

Instead the time has been spent in upgrading my existing lines, replacing and rationalising my road and tram fleet and improving line efficiency, The good news is that this effort appears to have delivered a massive increase in profitability.

Road Service Improvements

The unlocking of the Studebaker range of trucks with their much faster speed and higher carrying capacity has enabled me to replace the existing Ford Model 77 fleet on at least a 2 for 3 basis.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1210001332
Lines which were being serviced by 3 or 4 Ford Model 77's are now being operated by 2 x Studebakers. Significantly reducing the lines running costs whilst still retaining its income.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1210003884
In addition some lines have been further improved by investing in Medium Roads and new by-passes to avoid bottlenecks along the route particulalry where trucks were being forced to drive through towns.

Profitability of Road Services has risen from 42% in 1953 to 64% last year.

Tram Service Improvements

The release of the new Toronto Model trams has enabled some of the old Peter Witt tramcars to be retired from service and replace with a tram that is 9mph faster and carries 3 more people.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1209997345
However, the unlocking of the GM Fishbowl bus has really rendered tram services in general obsolete. The GM bus can carry 12 x passengers at 34 mph, whereas even the new Toronto PCC A4 tramcar can only manage 31 mph and only carries 14 x people, plus it costs $10k p.a. more to maintain.

The profitability of tram services has also dropped over the last 6 years from 44% in 1953 to a mere 16% last year. Therefore, all further investment in tram services has been suspended and existing lines will eventually be switched over to bus operation.

Railroad Service Improvements

The old Skunk Railcar which was operating the passenger line from Omaha to Chattanooga has been replaced with a Pioneer Zephyr multicar unit. This has increased to potential train speed to 110mph and the passenger capacity of the line from 18 to 52 mph.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1209994208
The length of the line has also been shortened and now only services the line between Chattanooga and San Bernadino in order to reduce the service frequency to 13 minutes.

These changes have attracted a few more passengers and reduced the loss that rail services are making to from -41% to -22%. Nevertheless, rail services continue to be a money sink as far as this game is concerned.

Originally posted by author:

One odd thing I've noticed recently is that for some reason the line frequency on this Fastrack Rail Service has dropped significantly. i originally shortened the route as stated above to boost the line frequency to 13 minutes, but I checked a few years later and the schedule was showing a line frequency of 21 mimnutes. Seems a bit odd as I haven't touched the line since./-

1960: Back on track with Phase 3

The service improvement drive which has delivered significantly increased profits (at least from Road Services) is coming to a conclusion as the last Ford Trucks and Scheider buses are sold off.

I am now returning to my long outstanding Expansion Plan Phase 3 and beginning to invest in the new long distance bus line identified as necessary.

Two lines have been completed this year.

Chula Vista to Elk Grove Bus Line

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1210231396

Independence to Aurora Bus Line

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1210228274

1961: The Phase 3 Rollout Continues

Two more long distance bus connections have been established this year.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1210327641
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1210330195
I have also begun to phase out my tram lines as the Peter Witt streetcars come up for replacement. This year both Savannah and Roseville have had their central tram lines replaced by a bus service.

Profitability remains high at 45% for this year.

1962: Huntsville is connected to Elks Grove.

A new bus line has been established between Huntsville and Elks Grove.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1210453575
This route required construction of a new medium road from Huntsville Iron Ore Mines into town including a new bridge over the river. However, it effectively completes the long distance bus routes planned for Huntsville. Though Elks Grove still needs a connection to Roseville which is just off the screenshot to the right.

The $2M Rule

I thought I'd just mention my $2M Rule, which is a sort of loose policy I've adopted throughout this play-through.

It's basically a rule that I use to regulate my spending and investment and is quite simply:-

• I don't try to establish a new line or service until I have $2M in the bank.
  
• If I have $2M in the bank, I have an impetive to invest in a new line or service.

So, it's both a self-imposed restriction on my companies rate of growth, and a driver that forces me to re-invest any excess capital.

And it's loosely fixed at $2M because generally I find that's about the amount of money needed to establish a new line. So, a new long distance bus route including new road construction, bridges, stations and vehicles will probably cost between $1M-$2M.

It's also why, as you've probably noticed, when there is a severe drain on my company finances (e.g. due to the need to replace all my exisitng trucks) projects such as the Phase 3 Expansion Project just get put on hold. Simply because the $2M Rule is never tiggerred.

So, if you look at the bank balance on the screenshot above, you will notice that after the Huntsville to Elk Grove Bus Line was established the company bank balance was down to $208k. Which is one reason why that was the only line completed in 1962, as it was expensive and I am still waiting for the company to recover from the money spent on it.

1963: Retiring Trams

Two more tram lines were retired this year:

• The Lancaster to Costa Tramway
  
• Costa Mesa Central Tram Line

The aging Peter Witt Tramcars were sold and replaced with GM Fishbowl Buses.

In making this decision the formula i used to determine whether to switch to buses rather than the new Toronto Tramcars was as follows:

(Vehicle Speed x Vehicle Capacity) / Running Cost
Toronto Tram car: (31 x 14)/42.3 = 10.26
GM Fishbowl     : (34 x 12)/32.3 = 12.63
The product being a rough indication of performance (e.g. passenger miles per dollar)

1964: The Daily Grind

I thought I'd take a few minutes just to explain the routine I follow on a semi-regular basis when playing this game.

I've already mentioned my $2M Rule, which prettymuch dictates my rate of expansion. But in addition there is a little procedure I try and complete at least once every in-game year that checks on the need to replace vehicles and optimise existing lines.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1212641847
Vehicle Replacement
Every year I try to check the Vehicle Report, sorting it by Age, and then clicking on any vehicles that are obsolete and need replacing. This centres the map on the vehicle and as i have the Line Schedule open and set to 'Visible Lines Only' it automatically brings up the line that the vehicle is operating for me to review. I can then decide what to replace the vehicles on this line with and quickly send the existing vehicles for sale at the depot and buy their replacements.

Line Optimisation
At the same time I also pull up the Station Report and just scan down it looking for any stations that seem to be accumulating a lot of passengers or goods. Once again if i spot one I click on the Station to centre the map on that station and that in turn selects the visible lines using that station so that I can check the number of vehicles operating it.

i then usually click on each of the vehicles that appear on the schedule just to make sure they are running and not stuck in traffic or having some other problem, and just make sure that there is an empty vehicle heading towards the station with the excess goods. If there is then i just leave it, but if not I'll either buy another vehicle for that line to oick up the extra business available, or in some cases I'll review the route and add a by-pass or perhaps a bus lane to speed the service.

Line Income
The final routine check is simple to look at the Line Schedule and investigate any line that looks like its making a particularly high loss. If i find one its then a case of trying to decide why it's losing money and making whatever adjustments I think necessary to put it back in profit.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1212672428
I try and do this every ingame year just to keep on top of any changes in the demand and keep my lines as profitable as possible,

1964: Elk Grove is connected to Roseville

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1212734795
Another long distance bus route has been established. This one between Elk Grove and Roseville.

1965: New Town Links Established.

A very productive year with no less than four new town links established.

Roseville connected to Fairfield

Roseville now has a long distance bus line linking it to the railroad station at Fairfield.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1212764060

Kansas City linked to Roseville

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1213001254

Kansas City Linked to San Bernadino

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1213003784

San Bernadino linked to Cape Coral

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1213006625

Metroliner and the Westrail Westfleet are released.

Two new railroad vehicles have just been released. i'm pretty sure the Westrail Westfleet is just a carriage, but the metroliner offers a new option to try and revitalise my rail passenger service. Though it's very expensive to run, but not as much as some of the locomotives it replaces.

Metroliner | From 1965 until 1998
The Metroliners, as extra-fare express trains between Washington, D.C., and New York City, were using self-powered electric multiple unit (EMU) cars.
Cost: $2.365.000
Running costs: $930.200/year
Lifespan: 40 years
vMax: 201 km/h
Power: 3.560 kW
Tractive effort: 340 kN
Weight: 300 t
Length: 103 m
Passenger capacity: 81

Turnover Tops $11M

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1212834898
The companies turnover for 1964 was $11.7M
Profitability reached an all time high of 59%

Clearly the policy of providing long distance bus connections and road frieght is paying off.

1966: Rancho linked to Cape Coral

Rancho Cucamonger has been linked to Cape Coral.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1213105175

Last of the Schnieder Buses replaced

I have gone down the line schedule and replaced all of the remaining Schnieder bused with GM Fishbowls effectively ended the current round of replacement vehicles as all the Ford Trucks were replaced with Studebakers a few years ago. The next new truck becomes available in 1970, so I have a few years before I have to start the replacement process again.

Turnover tops $12M

Turnover for 1966 exceeeded $12M with a profitability of 57%.

1967: Cape Coral linked to Plano

The Phase 3 Expansion Project continues to link towns in the San Bernadino area. This year Cape Coral was linked to Plano.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1213172751
Only two planned links remain.

• Rancho Cucamonger to Fairfield
  
• Plano to Rancho Cucamonger

After which i shall need to ensure that all the towns in the area are fully supplied with goods.

1968: Paterson Trams Replaced.

The trams operating in the town of Paterson have reached the end of their useful lives and as decided earlier they have been replaced with the more efficient GM buses.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1213207617
The original Paterson to Independence Tramway has been terminated and a new line established which delivers passengers directly to Paterson Railroad Station rather than the town centre tram station. The new line also skirts the edge of Paterson through a road network specifically constructed to encourage town growth closer to the railroad station.

The Last Long Distance Bus Lines Established for Phase 3.

The last of the long distance bus lines planned as part of the Phase 3 Expansion Project have been completed.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1213268806
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1213270993
This completes all the bus routes planned as part of Phase 3. i now have to resolve the goods shortages affected a few of the towns in the area.

Goods Services Required

There are four town in the area that need to be provided with access to goods.

• Kansas City 0/42
  
• Chula Vista 2/45
  
• Elk Grove 4/59
  
• Eugene 2/52

Interestingly these towns have been growing even without their needs being met and so their demand for goods has increased since the original plan was made in 1949.

I'm just wondering if I can try a long distance freight train to meets the needs of these towns, but it would need a big investment to construct one and I'm not convinced it will be profitable despite the assurances in @Deesee's guide.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=312117903
In fact, I've just noticed that @Lemerte has replied to my comment on this guide and advised me to stick with road vehicles.

1969: Delivering the Goods for Phase 3

With all the long distance bus lines now in place its time to consider how best to delivery the extra goods required to the towns in the area.

Eugene 2/52

Eugene requires an additional 50 x Goods to meet its needs and there are at least three local solutions available as shown on the screenshot below.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1213853378
The simplest and cheapest would probably be to activate the Chula Vista Oil Refinery by delivering oil to it from the Huntsville Oil Wells. This would just require the construction of a few new roads but would satisfy Euegene's needs with the minimum of expense.

However, Eugene is a hub town on the railroad line and I'm really tempted to use it as an experiment to see if @Deesee's claims for the profitability of Long-Distance Rail Freight are correct. It should be possible to link the currently idle rail frieght yard at the Costa Mesa Oil Refinery to the main rail line to Eugene and to run a long distance goods train all the way from Costa Mesa to Eugene.

Doing so will probably cost $3M-$4M to complete, but if @DeeSee is right and it delivers $4M p.a. in income per trip it would be worth the investment. What I might do is save the game and run a test to see if it works. If it turns out to be an expensive white elephant then I'll just reload and use the local Oil Refinery. But at least the theory will have been tested and either proven or discredited.

Originally posted by author:

Well as you can see from the screenshot below it didn't work.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1213938898
I allowed the test to run for four game years (until 1972) and the line just made a 100% loss for the entire period. In fact, not a single grate of goods got delivered to Eugene. So, the line made zero income.

In fairness to @DeeSee I'm not sure it was a real test of his theory as he stated that his line had a 7 minute frequency and the best I could achieve with mine was 11 minutes. So, I suspect that was the real cause of the failure. But as far as the immediately needs of Eugene are concerned it will have to be Chula Oil Refinery that delivers the goods.

Kansas City 0/45

The simplest solution for Kansas City is to expliot the existing production at Roseville Oil refinery and just put in a new goods line using the same road connections used for the Kansas City to Roseville Bus Service.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1214051044

Chula Vista 1/40

The sensible solution here is to utilise the Chula Vista Oil Refinery which has already been activated to supply Eugene. I just need to upgrade the existing road connections to cope with the faster trucks that will be using them.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1214069574

Elk Grove 4/58

Elk Grove is pretty much surrounded by all the trappings of a steel industry, so all I'm going to do is build the road connections to link them efficiently and delivery the goods produced to the town.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1214102661

1970: Expansion Project Phase 4

Having provided goods for the last towns included in Phase 3, its time to move on to Phase 4.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1214146393
This is a much smaller expansion project than phase 3 and only includes two new towns.

• Midland 45/46
  
• Washington 3/42

Railroad Expansion

The existing railroad is to be extended from San Bernadino through Midland to Washington. So, both the towns in Phase 4 will become railroad hubs.

Long Distance Bus Routes

Most of the long distance bus routes in this area were completed in Phase 3. So, the only new one will be to link Washington with Cape Coral.

Midland is very close to the edge of the map and almost surrounded by mountains such that there are no towns nearby that it can be connected to it other than Washington and San Bernadino which will already be connected to it by rail.

Railroad Service Improvement

The real challenge I set myself for Phase 4 is to finally try and sort out my railroad passenger service. I plan to completely review the existing track and replace the slow sections with new high speed track optimised to as close to 186 mph as possible. I then want to try and improve line frequency to somewhere under 10 minutes, ideally closer to 5 minutes using the newer and faster trains like the Metroliner.

I'm hoping this will boost passenger revenues and if not make railroads profitable then at least make them close to being self-funding.

Peterbilt 359 Truck Unlocked

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1214131184

Originally posted by author:

Truck Comparison: e.g. (Speed x Capacity) divided by Cost.
Studebaker: (45mph x 13 capacity) / $41.5k = 12.8
Peterbilt : (56mph x 18 capacity) / $62.4k = 16.1
The Peterbilt is more efficient, but to achieve 56mph it needs to run on Large Country Roads, and avoid travelling through towns. So, it can't be considered as a universal improvement on every route.

Financial Growth Continues to Improve.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1214840375
1970 saw a continuation of the financial growth that the company has enjoyed over the past decade with turnover reaching $14.8M and profitability hitting an all time high of 63%.

1971: Massive investment in the Midland link line.

The rail extension from San Bernadino to Midland has been completed.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1214860246
The track and station cost just over $2.2M to complete, but this was more than matched by the huge investment in infrastructure and environmental engineering needed to clear the route and preserve and expand the local road network.

The Midland Tunnel which was necessary to allow the track to pass under the town and the restructuring of the local road network cost $2.4M more than the track laying and station buildings combined.

Originally posted by author:

NOTE: Whenever possible I am trying to encourage the AI to adopt a grid system for town growth by building a network of roads as a framework for its building. However, its only been partially successful and the AI continues to build long sweeping streets that go nowhere.

Even more annoying is it's habit of building Medium Streets for long distances out of town that follow the routes of my Long Distance Bus Lines. I've only noticed this AI habit recently but its really irritating as Medium Streets have a maximum speed of 31 mph, whereas Medium Country Roads have a speed limit of 50 mph. So, by building long lines of Medium Streets the AI is screwing with my bus lines and unless I catch it early enough it dumps a load of crappy buildings along them so I can't even widen them to put in bus lanes.

Washington Link Completed

For an additional investment of $1.1M the railroad has been extended to Washington D.C.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1214962591
The only noteable feature of this construction was a rather impressive and somewhat pointless viaduct. The track simply wouldn't accept a slope steep enough to descend to the valley floor without it.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1214968234

The Final Stage

The final stage of the Phase 4 railroad expansion will be to replace all the slow track between Chattanooga and Omaha. This track was built over a century ago and was never designed to take high speed trains. So, it will need to be replaced and probably re-routed to maintain a 186mph speed capability. I'm also planning to double track the entire passenger line in anticipation of running multiple Metroliners along it to try and boost passenger numbers.

1973: Replacing old rail track

Work has been ongoing to replace the old rail track between Chattanooga with new high speed track and to re-route the line to smooth out the curves and gradients to maximise the line speed for the future passenger services. This has proven to be both expensive and fiddly.

Escape from Chattanooga

At Chattanooga it was discovered that the track north towards Petersfield needed to be re-routed to smooth out the single track curve into Chattanooga Tunnel.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1215703344
Making a path for the new track required to demolition of a large number of buildings (one of which cost $600k to buy), the relocation of the existing Chattanooga Goods Depot and the complete remodelling of the local road system and the provision of a new underpass. It also required a completely new tunnel under the ridgeline to the north of the town to provide a better line of approach for the next station at Peterfield.
Cost: $2M in Track improvements and £1.74M in environmental and road improvements.

The sweep into Petersfield

Omce out of chattanooga and under the ridge to the north the route became a bit easier and the line was able to sweep into Petersfield and on to Costa Mesa without any major obsticales.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1215711473
The main issue being the need to provide road bridges for several main connections that were hosting long range bus routes or cargo lines. The complexity being to provide temporary by-passes to allow the roads to be demolished and rebuilt over the tracks.
Cost: $1.75M Track improvement $1.2M Road Improvement.

On To Omaha

The final stage will be the replaying of the track between Costa Mesa and Omaha, which includes the route of the now disused Goods Line to Omaha from Costa Mesa Oil refinery.

Experimenting with Roads

As explained earlier the new Peterbilt Trucks need to run on Large Country Roads to make the most of their 56mph speed capabilities. So, when the existing Studebaker Trucks on the Rancho Oil route needed replacing I decided it was an opportunity to experiment with the creation of a by-pass.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1215805953
The existing Rancho Oil Line passed through both the towns of Plano and Rancho on its way between the Rancho Oil Wells and Plano Oil Refinery. This meant the Studebaker trucks working the route had to contend with both Large Streets and town traffic on their journey. Fortunately as Large Streets have a speed limit of 50mph and Studebakers can only manage 45mph I was able to use bus lanes and minimise the impact on their efficiency.

However, replacing them with Peterbilts would result in the towns becoming bottlenecks on the new trucks performance and so I thought it worth by-passing the towns completely and putting a direct Large Country Road between the Rancho Oil Wells and Plano Oil Refinery.

If this works it may be the first of a new network of Large Country Roads which by-pass towns and other major bottlenecks in order to act as a fast route for future cargo lines. The beginning perhaps of a future motorway network.

1974: Peterbilts on the by-pass

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1215835596
It looks like the by-pass is working and I've managed to replace the 5 x Studebakers that were operating the Rancho Oil Line with just 3 x Peterbilts as a result of the increased speed and capacity.

The only slight improvement I could make is to eliminate the various junctions with other local roads that occur along the route as I notice that the trucks have to slow down to cross them. A bridge or underpass would avoid the slight loss of speed.

Chevrolet C60 Bus Released

A new bus has been made available this year. The Chevrolet C60 has a maximum speed of 50mph and a seating capacity of 13 x Passengers for a running cost of $44.7k.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1216664988
However, the Chevrolet has the issue mentioned when I was talking about the Peterbilt truck, in that , even when using a large street with a bus lane in an inner city area it's speed will be restricted to 43mph. This means that, based on my calculation, the GM Fishbowl bus remains more cost effective for local bus services.

Originally posted by author:

GM Fishbowl: (34mph x 12 capacity) / $32.3k cost = 12.6 efficiency.
Chevrolet C60: (50mph x 13 capacity) / $44.7 cost = 14.5 efficiency.
However, if restricted to the speed limit of a Large Street the result changes.
Chevrolet C60: (43mph x 13 capacity) / $44.7 cost = 12.5 efficiency.
So, for suburban bus services the Chevrolet is slightly less efficient than the GM bus.

However, the Chevrolet will improve the profitability of my Long Distance Bus Services and I won't even need to upgrade the roads as a Medium Road has a speed limit of 50mph.

1975: Phase 4 Railroad Improvement Completed

I have completed all the railroad improvements planned for Phase 4.

The entire FastTrak Line from Omaha to Washington is now high speed, electified and double-tracked. Time to replace the Poineer Zephyr with a Metroliner and reduce the line frequency to something that will attract more passengers.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1216635688
I'm planning to add enough trains to reduce the line frequency to under 10 minutes to begin with and see if that attracts the passengers. If not I might buy additional Metroliners to lower it still further. It would be nice to actually have at least one profitable rail service before the end of the game.

The Scars of History

Some area's of the map are clearly showing the scars that remain from their history in this game.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1216675061
The simple fact is that tidying up is expensive. Demolishing things often costs more than building them so I've tended to leave things where they are unless they are in the way. Omaha is a good example having had a busy rail frieght and oil yard in the past that is no longer in use but still shows exists as a skeleton of what once was a key feature of the town.

Washington to Cape Coral Bus Line established.

The only long distant bus line planned for Phase 4 has been completed to link Washington with Cape Coral. This is the first long distance bus line to use the new Chevrolet C60 buses.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1216780185

1976: The First Metroliner

The first of the new Metroliners leavng Midland Station bound for Washington DC.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1216794283
Line frequency is currently showing as 25 minutes, so I'm going to need to add more trains to the line to attract passengers.

High Speed Achievement Unlocked

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1216816561
One of my new Metroliners exceeded 180kmh on the new Fastrak Line.

Railroad Profitability Nosedives.

Not surprisingly the operating costs of the Fastrak Rail Line have skyrocketed with the purchase of the two metroliners and profitability has nose-dived from -48% to -98%. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that eventually the line will attract enough passengers to make all this investment worth while.

1977: Lancaster to Independence Tramway Replaced

As discussed earlier the old tram services are going to be replaced by the much faster new bus services as soon as their existing trams reach the end of their useful lives.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1216866545
The first of these is the Lancaster to Independence Tramway whose Pittsburgh Tramcars became due for replacement this year. The three tramcars will be replaced initially with two of the new Chevrolet buses.

Third Metroliner added to the FastTrak Service

In what I can really only describe as a leap of faith I have added a third Metrliner to the FastTrak Service in the hope that reducing the line frequency will actually attract more passengers.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1216890559
Line frequency is now down to 11 minutes, which is still higher than I would like and I may have to add a fourth train just to prove or disprove a point. Fortunately, my road services are making enough profit to cover the rail services losses.

1978: Profitability suffers as Fastrak struggles to attract passengers.

Profitability has dropped from 62% to 39% over the previous two years as my Fastrak Passenger Rail Service continues to attract enough passengers.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1216917416
I now have four Metroliner operating the route giving a line frequency of 10 minutes, but although passenger numbers have increased the trains are still running over half empty. No trouble getting a seat on these trains, but its costing me over $2M dollars a year just to keep the trains running.

Originally posted by author:

I've been doing some experimentation and letting the game run ahead to see if business on this line actually picks up, I tried leap-frogging stations to allow the Metroliners more time to maximise their speed in the hope that would improve profitability. But instead it seemed to result in a loss of passengers, probably because of the 20 minute rule kicking in and discouraging people from making the longer journey. I also succeeded in screwing up the line frequency trying to put everything back and that really ruined things. But having sorted that problem out it looks as though 5 or 6 years down the line I might start getting some full trains on the FasTrak Service. I was still making a loss of $1M-$2M a year but at least I had some trains.

1983: Struggling to make FasTrak pay.

I've spent the last 5 in-game years monitoring and fiddling with my FasTrak Railroad Passenger Service in the hope of making it more profitable, or at least less of a loss.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1217878671
The financial figures say it all really. Since my decision in 1976 to start investing in FasTrak the profitability of the company has plummetted from 62% to 22% and even its turnover has dropped from $16M p.a. in 1976 to $15M in 1982.

So, its not been a sound financial decision by any means. I would certainly have been wiser had I just ripped up the track and set-up a few more long distance bus services. But the game is called Train Fever, and I really would like to have at least one train service operating, preferably in profit.

However, all I can say at the moment is that I'm confident that eventually FasTrak will not be making quite as much of a loss.

First GM 'Fishbowls' scheduled for replacement.

Meanwhile the first of my GM 'Fishbowl' buses are becoming due for replacement. Where these are operating long range bus services they are simply being replaced with Chevrolet C60's. Although in most cases this requires a few road upgrades in towns to try to minimise the speed restrictions.

I am also trying to phase out or rework some of the loss making local bus services. Either by utilising the long distance routes to pick up passengers on their way in or out of town, or changing the routes to area's of higher population density as the towns expand.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1217897311
I'm currently looking at replacement/upgrade of:

• The Mesquite to Lancaster Bus Service.
  
• Mesquite Local Bus Services
  
• Lancaster Local Bus Services.
  
• Salt Lake City Local Bus Services.

Of these only the long range bus service is actually making a profit.

1984: FasTrak Turnover Quadruples to $1.8M

There has been a sudden increase in turnover from our rail service from $441k in 1983 to $1.8M in 1984. My Fingers are crossed that this is the beginning of a sustain increase in the benefits of rail travel and not just a flash n the pan.

At one point I actually spotted Metroliner#4 with a full load of 81 x Passengers. The interesting thing about this was that they didn't all get off at the next station but that over 50 of them rode the train for several stops before alighting and paying over $400k for that one journey. That's almost as much money as the entire service earned in the previous year.

If that sort of RTI could be sustained and repeated by all four trains on the FasTrak Service we might even manage to make a profit.

Damned Motorists screwing with my tram services.

Spotted this just now, mainly because I noticed that the Eugene to Aurora Long Distance Tram Line had stopped making a profit and was in the red.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1218885999
Turns out that despite investing in wide roads and bus lanes the motorists of Eugene have conspired to block the road junction ocmpletely and grid lock the entire road system.

Originally posted by author:

It's difficult to know how to deal with this sort of problem. There was a similar grid lock in Omaha several years ago and it seems to be the result of a fundemental pathing bug within the AI itself. For a start you can see that local cars are not respecting the Bus Lanes and are blantantly using them despite the fact that they are supposed to be for buses and trams only. Plus when this results in a conflict between two cars, or a car and a pedestrian on a crossing the AI seems to have no escape clause for unblocking the log jam. Annoying, especially one is not on the ball to catch it quickly enough.

1989: FasTrak showing promise.

The number of passengers using the FasTrak Passenger Service is slowly increasing with some towns like Eugene make much more use of the services than others.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1219301513
I've not really been paying any attention to the line over the last five years as I've been busy upgrading my road services.

New Flyer Ind. D40 Bus Unlocked.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1219314447
The New Flyer Industries D40 has been unlocked which is 6mph faster than the Chevrolet and carries +2 x Passengers. It's slightly more efficient than the Chevolet and so I'll use it to replace existing buses on the long distance routes. Though it does rely on Large Country Roads to reach its full speed.

New Flyer:  (56mph x 15 capacity) / $53.7 cost = 15.64 cost efficiency
Chevrolet: (50mph x 13 capacity) / $44.7 cost = 14.54 cost efficiency

1991: Road Service Improvements

Another two in-game years have passed and whilst there has been nothing major to report I have been kept really busy reviewing and improving my existing road services to make the most of the potential from the new Peterbilt Trucks and New Flyer Industry Buses.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1221402800
Because these vehicles need optimised routes to deliver their full speed benefits I haven't been able to simply use the Auto-Replace function to swap them for existing vehicles on a one to one basis.

Instead as the vehicles on a line become due for replacement I've been reviewing the entire operation of that line and making such improvements to it's operation as are necessary before retiring the existing vehicles and buying the replacements necessary to work it.

Local Bus Services.

My Local Bus Services are almost all loss making lines. But their function is not really to make money but to encourage growth by providing faster access to amenties within the towns for local residents (e.g. Access to shops, leisure, work and home.)

Local bus lines tend to encourage new building so as the towns have grown its necessary to review their internal bus routes and change them to encompass and encourage town expansion.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1221268084
Also as the buses have become faster and traffic has increased it's even more important now that local bus lines run along 'Large Streets' with 'Bus Lanes'. In fact, as I'm reviewing local bus lines I am routinely trying to upgrade as many town streets to 'Large + Bus Lane' as possible and routing the lines along these to avoid any narrower streets that I can't widen due to buildings.

It's quite important to stay on top of this as I've noticed that left to its own devices the AI will grow large expensive buildings along the narrowest streets possible and effectively cripple its own internal traffic flows.

The screenshot of Chula Vista is probably one of the better examples of this arrangement in action. You can see the local bus services following the inner ring road of wider roads with bus lanes, and the outer ring road already in place ready to accept further buildings.

It's also worth noting that I haven't used Chevrolet or New Flyer Industry buses on these internal routes as even with 'Large Streets + Bus Lanes' I figured I wouldn't get the real benefit from their faster speeds. So, it would simply increase the loss made on the service.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1221277159
You can also see in the screenshot how I'm trying to engouage the AI to build in a grid pattern as far as possible by creating small nubs of road opposite every road junction. I find if you don't do this the AI has a habit of building a large expensive building directly opposite every road junction effectively blocking any further expansion of the road network.

Long Distance Bus Services

These are the real profit earners in my game and so it's important that I keep them as efficient as possible. They are also the perfect services to benefit from the new faster and higher capacity buses which I'm using to replace the existing GM Fishbowls and trams.

The key thing is to review and upgrade the roads along the entire route with 'Large Country Roads + Bus Lane', and 'Large Street +Bus Lane' once they enter the town suburbs.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1221288795
Most Long Distance Bus Services begin and terminate in a town centre, so its important to make sure that they use the most effective route through the town to the central bus station.

That can sometimes mean a detour if I haven't managed to stop the AI creating a bottleneck with its internal building behaviour. Although, occassionally I have no choice but to route a bus line down a narrow street. But its not ideal and I try to avoid it.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1221292736
The above screenshot of Mesquite Town Centre and Long Distance Bus Routes is a perfect example of the problem and you can see that the AI has created a potential bottleneck along Franklin, 9th and Jackson which could create a grid lock for my buses.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1221412970
I do my best to avoid these situations and have routed my buses along alternate wider roads if they are available. Sometimes, the AI will actually free up these routes by demolishing its own buildings and so I try and come back and check every now and then to see if I can improve the roads later.

I am also building new freeway style link roads between the more popular destinations to speed up the service frequency and allow me to use fewer buses on the same route.

Improving Freight Lines

Freight lines provice a similar challenge, particularly now that the Studebaker Trucks have been withdrawn and I am forced to use the faster but more expensive Peterbilts for everything.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1221422061
I have to check every line and make sure that it is running on the fastest roads possible and when necessary to build new freeway style fast routes for my freight lines to expliot. The screenshot above shows the new freeways built to service the freight traffic into and out of the Costa Mesa Oil Refinery.

There are two main complications when creating these more efficient freight lines.

1. 'No More Space' Errors, particularly around road junctions on the route often require expensive remodelling of road junctions especially when the road involved is a 'Main Connection' and therefore cannot simply be demolished and relaid.
   
2. Routes through Towns are also a nuisance as speed limits and congestion slow down the freight traffic. Whenever possible I am building by-passes around any towns on the freight routes and re-directing my trucks along them rather than throught the Town itself. This occassionally needs the use of a dummy 'bus stop' just to force the trucks to follow the new route.
   
3. Likewise, some of the early Town Goods Depots have gradually been swallowed by urban sprawl and where necessary I am replacing them with new depots on the towns outer ring road or by-pass.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1221436082
All of this takes time and with so many road vehicles and lines I am having trouble actually keeping pace with the need to replace vehicles.

1992: Financial Review

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1221527047
Turnover is now in excess of $19M with profits in the region of 50%. Train and Tram services continue to make a loss, but Road Services made a profit of 79% during the previous year and are therefore able to cover the shortfall..

1996: Light at the end of the tunnel.

Following another busy evening of town planning and road improvement I am down to 5 x Road Vehicles and 1 x Tram that are still awaiting replacement.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1224016050
Of course there will be more vehicles added to the replacement schedule next year, but at least I've cleared the backlog and will hopefully be able to keep pace with the demand from now on. Also, as most of my routes are now operating on the fastest roads available the amount of road improvement effort needed to cater for new vehicles should be much less.

Financial Review

Financial performance continues to improve.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1224025981
Turnover in 1996 was just over $23M with a profit of just under $7.5M. Passengers travelling on FasTrak must be increasing as the annual turnover of my Roadroad service is rising year on year and topped $4.18M this year. That's still an operational loss but is improved no end over the last decade.

Phase 5 of the Expansion Project

Believe it or not, but over a century and a half since this project was initiated there are still townjs on the map that have not been connected to each other by my companies services.

The FasTrak Passenger Service still terminates in Washington DC, and there are six towns (Chandler; Inglewood; Salt Lake city; Fayetteville; Clearwater and Savannah) that still have no intercity public transport.

I'm hoping to at least make a start on providing these towns with my services tonight. If only because I'm losing potential revenue by not doing so.

The Omaha Question.
One unresolved question is what to do about Omaha. Omaha to Costa Mesa was the very first rail connection I built and at that time Omaha Station was built as a terminus. However, as the FasTrak Passenger Service has evolved and connected more and more town around the map I've realised that eventually it will come full circle and will probably end up in Savannah which is just a stones throw from Omaha.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1224048009
The question is should I complete the circle and connect Savannah to Omaha effectively switching from a point-to-point passenger operation to a circle line with trains running in both directions.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1224050766
The issue being that the Omaha Rail Terminal has been throughly subsumed into the urban sprawl of the city. So, reaching it with a track from the opposite direction would be expensive. However, there is the old Rail Freight Yard which could be used as the site of a new passenger station.

1997: There is no future for trams.

The last tram owned by my company heads for the depot where it will be scrapped.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1224085884
I had wondered if in late game the tram might make a comeback as a viable mass-transit solution for inner-cities.

Buses
Chevrolet  C60: (43mph (Restricted) x 13 capacity) / $44.7 Cost = 12.5 
New Flyer Ind D40: (43mph (Restricted) x 15 capacity) / $53.7 Cost = 12.0
Tram
Toronto CRLV: (37mph x 16 capacity) / $51.8 = 11.4 

However, my little formula for judging a vehicles cost efficiency suggests that I'm better off sticking to buses for local transport as trams are just too expensive to maintain. So, the last tram is heading for the scrapyard and I shall begin to rip up the tram tracks and demolish the depots to save maintenance costs.

Phase 5 Expansion Work Begins

Construction has begun on Phase 5 of the Expansion Project with the FasTrak Rail Passenger Service extended to Inglewood.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1224304985
The original plan to extend to Chandler was abandoned when no suitable routes could be found. However, the line to Inglewood was a massive undertaking involving one of the longer tunnels to date and a viaduct. The total construciton cost amounting to a little under $7.5M.

Long Distance Bus Lines
In addition to the FasTrak extension a number of new long distance bus connections were established.

• Inglewood to Chandler
  
• Inglewood to Plano
  
• Washington to Chandler

1998: Clearwater Connections

Work continues on the Long Distance Bus Connections for Phase 5.

• Cleawater to Chandler
  
• Clearwater to Inglewood
  
• Inglewood to Fayetteville

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1224364215
The new connections are already spurring a mass of new building construction close to the railroad station in Inglewood.

1999: Phase 5 Expansion Continues.

Phase 5 of the Expansion Project continues with the linking of Salt Lake City to the FasTrak Passenger Service.

Salt Lake linked to FasTrak

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1226242640
The rail line is now just a stones throw from its point of origin at Omaha and I've decided to push on and complete the final link producing a continous line that circles the entire map.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1226261287
The connection to Omaha is going to be expensive and I haven't quite decided how best to do it yet. I will almost certainly have to move and replace Omaha Railroad Station, and will probably use the site of the towns old rail freight yard as a location for the new passenger station.

Fayetteville linked to services

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1226271597
In addition Fayetteville which has been largely ignored for over a century has finally been linked to essential services by a Long Distance Bus Line to Salt Lake Railroad Station, and a Goods Delivery Service from Inglewood Sawmill.

2000: Mission Accomplished

Well I did it!
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1226300085
I was also pleased to note that the game also awards the lesser achievements automatically. So I won;t have to repeat this challenge again on Normal or Easy Mode. The game correctly assumes that if you have comleted a challenge on Hard difficulty you will be able to do it at the easier difficulties and doesn't make you actually go through the whole process again.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1226525666

So what now?

Essentially the purpose of this game and this walkthrough has been achieved and so I could just stop now. But I am going to carry on. There are still a number of other achievements I want to unlock and it seems sensible to try and unlock them with this game rather than start again from scratch.

The main ones I want to aim for are those that specifically require Hard Difficultly to unlock.

Namely:

• Transport Shark (Hard)
  
• Transport TYcoon (Hard)

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1226320960
Also, there is another 20 years to go before I can unlock the Museum Line Achievement, and having invested (wasted) a lot of cash buying and preserving all the passenger vehicles at the Huntsville Road Transport Museum I'm hoping it will work and I'll get the achievement for doing so.

2001: FasTrak Final Linkup

The FasTrak Passenger Services has finally been linkup at Omaha to complete a full circle or the map.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1228113650
The original plan was to connect through Salt Lake and Savannah to Omaha. But having tried it I realised that I could not connect to Savannah and get a decent high speed approach into Omaha, and so the Savannah connection was abandoned and the track now takes a wider sweep to approach Omaha at a more useful angle.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1228114838
I still need to tidy up in Omaha and demolish the old passenger terminal, but the connection has been completed and FasTrak now circumvents the entire map which will allow train services to run clockwise and counter-clockwise.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1228169905
The end result was two train lines with a line frequency of 11-14 minutes. Not ideal but then train services have never made a profit in this game.

2004: Savannah's Bus Connections Created

Savannah has now been linked by long distance bus services to the FasTrak stations of both Salt Lake City and Omaha.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1228665883
Neither of the new bus lines have begun making a profit as yet, but I'm reasonably confident that they will as passenger interest increases as other Long Distance Bus Lines are regularly making profits of between $150k and $750k per annum.

Every Town is being Serviced.

A quick check confirms that every one of the 27 x Towns on the map is now connected and receiving goods.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1228677560
There are three towns at the moment which are receiving 1 or 2 x Goods less than their full demand, but that may just be a quirk of the delivery schedule and will eventually sort itself out anyway as production rises.

No point servicing more industries

There are still 72 x Industries on the map that are not producting anything.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1228685041
However, as I understand the way this game works demand is dictated by town growth. So, servicing these idle industries would merely create competition for those that are already being serviced.

In effect I would be robbing Peter to pay Paul and my existing cargo lines would simply find demand for their services dropping to compensate for the cargo being transported by the new lines. So, for the time being at least I shall ignore all these idle industries and concentrate instead on promoting Town growth.

Promoting Town Growth

The idea being to encourage towns to grow by providing local services and building new urban road networks. As towns grow they will demand more goods and create more profit for my existing cargo lines, as well as generating more passenger business.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1228692400
If at some point my existing cargo lines can't cope with the growing demand, then only then might I consider activating one of the idle industries, or perhaps running a long distance freight line from an other location that has maxed its production.

2005: Promoting Town Growth

Work is ongoing to promote town growth with roads being widened whenever possible and new urban road networks crafted in anticipation of new building by the AI.

New Bus and Truck

The Wright Streetcar and Freightliner Cascadia have been released.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1229562940
Urban Bus Routes
My calculations suggest that the Chevrolet is still the most cost effective vehicle for the speed restricted urban bus lines where the benefit of the faster buses is restricted by the maximum road speed and the extra seats come at too high a price.

Chevrolet  C60: (43mph (Restricted) x 13 capacity) / $44.7 Cost = 12.5 cost efficiency
New Flyer Ind D40: (43mph (Restricted) x 15 capacity) / $53.7 Cost = 12.0 cost efficiency
Wright Streetcar: (43mph (Restricted) x 23 capacity) / $86.3 Cost = 11.5 cost efficiency

Long Distance Bus Routes
For the Long Distance Bus Services the new Wright Streetcar is a slight better choice of vehicle than the New Flyer Industries D40 currently in use and i shall switch over to them as soon as existing vehicles are due for replacement.

Chevrolet: (50mph x 13 capacity) / $44.7 cost = 14.54 cost efficiency 
New Flyer:  (56mph x 15 capacity) / $53.7 cost = 15.64 cost efficiency
Wright Streetcar: (62mph x 23 capacity) / $86.3k Cost = 16.5 cost efficiency

Freight Haulage
The new Freighliner Cascadia Truck hardly needs to be analysed as its the same price as a Peterbilt and yet is faster and carries more, so clearly a replacement vehicle for all road cargo lines.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1229560078

Peterbilt: (56mph x 18 capacity) / $62.4k = 16.1 cost efficiency
Freightliner Cascadia: (62mph x 21 capacity) / $62.4 = 16.5 cost efficiency

2006: The Wheels on the Bus

I've noticed that town growth is much greater amongst the towns connected by long distance bus lines rather than those on the FasTrak Rail Passenger Line. The volume of passengers is much higher too, probably due to the much lower line frequency.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1230272791
Some long distance bus lines have line frequencies of well under 1 minute, and I'm still being forced to add buses in order to meet the demand.

I monitor all the bus stations and zoom into any that have 30 or more passengers waiting.

If the passengers are waiting for a bus on a specifc line, then I check to see if the buses on that line are running at high capacity and if they are then I add another.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1230286227
Some lines like Huntsville to Elk Grove seem to have an insatiable demand for more buses.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1230289235

Keep on Truckin

The first of the new Freightliner Cascadia trucks have begun appearing on my cargo routes now.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1230276641
I am monitoring the build up of cargo at the various freight depots around the map and whenever the stock reaches 18 (which I think is the maximum a freight depot will hold) I zoom into the depot and check the trucks on the line to see if an empty one is close on hand. If it is then i leave it alone to pick up the cargo, if not then i add another truck to the line.

2007: A New Ringroad for Roseville

The town of Roseville is one of the fastest growing of the 27 x Towns on the map but has been without a local bus services for a few years now.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1230337130
So, 'hopefully' to encourage its growth and improve its line usage I decided to build a new ring road around the outskirts of the town.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1230332655
These local services are not intended to make a profit, but do seem to encourage the AI to construct more buildings along their routes. Notice that I'm still using the older Chevrolet buses for the local routes to keep the operating costs to a minimum.

2008: City Achievement Unlocked

Rancho Cucamonger has grown into a city of 750 people providing me with my first City.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1230436528
Surprising really considering that I've racked up 398 hours playing this game, but in truth I've rarely bothered with achievements in the past and merely dabbled in the game up to now.

FasTrak Turnover Falls Again

For some reason the turnover of the FasTrak Passenger Service has dropped off again.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1232124821
Income peaked at $3.6M in 1999, but since then it has declined steadily despite the growth of the towns along its route. I expected costs to rise annually as the Metroliner fleet began to show its age, but I'm not sure at this point why passenger numbers are dropping. There has been abolsultely no change in the service since the line was linked back to Omaha and became a circle service, so I'm a bit puzzled as to why it should fluctuate this much.

Line Frequency Change
Ok! I've just noticed that for some reason the line frequency on the FasTrak Lines has dropped significantly to 14 minutes. That's a bit puzzling as the lines haven't changed at all and yet presumably the train on them are now travelling slower.

Is that a thing?

Do trains travel slower as they get older?

Not something I'm aware of from past plat throughs, and I've never heard it mentioned as a feature before. But it would explain the drop in passengers.

Originally posted by author:

Nope! forget it. I'm imagining things. One advantage of keeping this log of the game is that I can look back and check its history and apparently the FasTrak lines have always had a frequnecy of 11-14 minutes so I'm imagining things. Still doesn't explain the drop in passengers though that is a real thing.

[Monte Plays Games]

You might be onto something. I do not think the USA DLC was out when I made this and the pricing is for sure different. I guess what you are doing is Very Hard Mode

[Didz]

I'm beginning to suspect that Hard mode may actually be harder using the USA dlc simply because of the lack of small relatively cheap locomotives. I find at the moment that I often have very little to choose from as far as vehicles and train are concerned in the USA Dlc. I don't remember that being a problem playing on the European map.

[Krupo]

This is a great write-up. Looking forward to year 2000 as well

[Monte Plays Games]

Check your inbox. Sent you a little something for all your hard work. :)

[Monte Plays Games]

Also not going to lie I forgot about that 20 minute rule for Train Fever.

[Monte Plays Games]

You are correct. Maybe in a few years when that fuel demand increases with town growth one of the newer trains will make a profit. What I found with hard mode is you have to really take advantage of the good profit making years to balance out the periods where profit is near impossible.

[Didz]

Well unless I'm completely mistake the demand for frieght is determined by the demand for goods for nearby towns.

So, given that the network was already meeting the demands of all the nearby towns I don't think delivering stuff faster would have increased the demand. I'm assuming only town growth can do that.

It line frequency was already well under the 20 minute, so I wasn't losing any business due to AI self-delivery.

[Monte Plays Games]

I see. Maybe the increased speed and power would have lifted the profits a bit higher. Not sure how strong the demand was though.

[Didz]

The oil train was making a profit up to around 1950 when the locomotive needed replacing. But the operating costs of the available replacement engines were actually higher than the lines income so I had to abandon the rail frieght service. The goods train had never made a profit anyway.

[Monte Plays Games]

Was surprised oil was not working out more. Usually my crude train does really well and truck out all the fuel. I would need to go back as you know it plays a bit different.