Who's in better shape?

[Baldy's Boss]

Experimenting.

Trains 135,136,137 are an experiment (Group 32).They haul iron ore one direction,from a station that serves an ore mine AND a factory,and steel the other direction,from the steel mill to which the first leg takes the ore.
However,I need to monkey with the consists,it seems.

The Gren-Gren Express is producing the B&P's most profitable trains.I've just added another train that has about twice the capacity of that group's steam trains and more than twice the capacity of its other electrics,but runs slower.

A signal problem is gumming up the Great Loop at times,the trains from Minnton that take the left-hand track at the next station (which seems to be favored) tend to take forever to get the go-ahead to proceed to Puwood.

I have uncharacteristically refreshed my aviation operations,switched to faster aircraft and now experimenting with substituting larger (but cheap-to-run) aircraft.

As ever...how does the condition of the B&P at this date compare with that of Wardwood Western at this date?

[Baldy's Boss]

Here we are a bit later.On the one hand,the B&P is running far more trains than the Wardwood and paying a trifle less on infrastructure.
On the other hand the Wardwood is pulling in more revenue per train and has better margins.
(The B&P has a fair number of under-served passenger stations,I've continued to add more trains to Great Loop and Gren-Gren...the save is focused on Quarfingley Central,a bus station with dead-end trains when the AI that built it was acquired,and newly connected to a new station to which trains will be sent).

Who's in better shape?

[Kevo00]

There are plenty of simple chances to to economise in this B&P game that will make this company much better off. The map is also littered with broken down steam locos that should have been replaced years ago.

[Baldy's Boss]

The station in New Drontown had to be like that to have a good catchment area.It used to be the only two-tracked station on the Loop.But I have now made a work-around.

The problem with combining those lines is that the AI-built coal line would be obstructed by the loading wood trains...I have replaced the old steamers on the wood line and a couple of others.
But I'm still behind Wardwood at this stage on some yardsticks.

[Kevo00]

The station in New Drontown had to be like that to have a good catchment area.It used to be the only two-tracked station on the Loop.But I have now made a work-around.

The problem with combining those lines is that the AI-built coal line would be obstructed by the loading wood trains...I have replaced the old steamers on the wood line and a couple of others.
But I'm still behind Wardwood at this stage on some yardsticks.

New Drontown - good - even if it means sending the line round the other side of New Drontown!

On the two lines - not sure I follow - why don't you build the wood loading station off the main line on a branch? No obstruction.

[Baldy's Boss]

The station in New Drontown had to be like that to have a good catchment area.It used to be the only two-tracked station on the Loop.But I have now made a work-around.

The problem with combining those lines is that the AI-built coal line would be obstructed by the loading wood trains...I have replaced the old steamers on the wood line and a couple of others.
But I'm still behind Wardwood at this stage on some yardsticks.

New Drontown - good - even if it means sending the line round the other side of New Drontown!

On the two lines - not sure I follow - why don't you build the wood loading station off the main line on a branch? No obstruction.

See the save...no need to go around the whole town,I just redirected the main loop into the "U-turn" area,which I streamlined into a fork into both platforms in the same direction.Also deleted double New Drontown directions from trains that now don't have to stop on each platform.Will have to look harder on pooling those lines (now that the wood line is electric,the shared stretch would have to be too).

NEW SAVES:
I have now double-platformed Minnton,which was the last single-platform station on the Great Loop.
Didn't get to pooling the wood and coal lines yet.
I note that companywide,my most profitable trains are passenger trains,and bilevel passenger trains do particularly well...and to my surprise,my aircraft operations are actually profitable overall.
Infrastructure costs have crept ahead of Wardwood's,though for a much larger fleet,and cash pile and company value are below Wardwood's.

[Baldy's Boss]

Great Loop profitability has stayed depressed despite the improvements,and some others are down from peaks.
I'm having to phase out Streaks regardless of their age,it seems.

Is the B&P falling behind Wardwood?

[Baldy's Boss]

Snapshots at the start of 1989.Electrics rising and steam falling.
The whole bus fleet is being replaced.
Can B&P secure a better future than Wardwood had?

[Baldy's Boss]

THIS set of snapshots catches the companies at a date right after Wardwood made a significant acquisition,which rolled back its electrification ratio,boosting the train fleet size by about 25% but infrastructure costs by over 40%.

Could this be a step that set Wardwood behind that B&P can avoid?
(Wardwood did survive another 45 game years).

[Alberth]

You need 40% increase in performance for every train in your company to get back at the previous level.

[FLHerne]

THIS set of snapshots catches the companies at a date right after Wardwood made a significant acquisition,which rolled back its electrification ratio,boosting the train fleet size by about 25% but infrastructure costs by over 40%.

Could this be a step that set Wardwood behind that B&P can avoid?.

Yes, it's trivial to avoid, you can just stop clicking that 'buy failing company' button.

In OTTD, time is often a lot more important than capital costs when expanding. Having an integrated, efficient well-utilised network at the end of it is more important than either of those things. AIs are, IME, universally awful at that last one.

Every time you buy a route, you have to spend a whole lot of time sorting the infrastructure out and finding services to run on it before it'll be profitable (especially if you have an already-large company, because of the way costs scale).
However much time and money you spend, it'll never be as efficient as something you built yourself, because the AI didn't take the structure of your network into consideration when laying it out.

Build your own network, decide which routes you need to build to spread traffic evenly and avoid congestion, and you'll do a lot better than trying to patch in badly-designed, unprofitable routes with no overall plan.

[Eddi]

boosting the train fleet size by about 25% but infrastructure costs by over 40%.

that is exactly what i meant with "junk food"... if you get 25% taller, but 40% heavier, of course your BMI will spiral out of control...

[Kevo00]

If you buy a company that's got problems and its failing, then you just buy those problems. Not worth doing unless you've got the ability to put them right.

[Baldy's Boss]

When I started OpenTTDing,after a long break from Transport-Tycooning,I found that I inevitably drifted into last place until I enabled buying AIs,after which I was invincible.(I attach an example of an early game).
Historically I've bought companies because they were getting uncomfortably close to me on the league charts more than the bankruptcy cases,though I've learned to do due diligence and compile lists of stranded stations etc. before I pull the trigger.
I note that a 40+% hike in INFRASTRUCTURE costs is not a 40+% hike in TOTAL costs.
Lately the league-table rivals tend to be OTVIs with huge road-vehicle fleets.

In any case,here's the latest B&P snapshot with the same-date Wardwood snapshot...who's in better shape?

[Alberth]

Ah, that makes sense.

What you are no doubt aware of, your early games do not have junctions or signals. That means you always have a single train between two stations, with relatively much track.
If you compare that with an AI track, the AI wins. They have a few tricks in their book on signals and junctions, which means they can run several trains at the same tracks. That is much more efficient than your old approach.

When you added buying of AIs, you could use the AI junctions and signaling, and together with your understanding of profits, and extensions, and upgrading of eg the big loop, you came out first (which is deserved imho, if you look at your closest competitor, you are a factor 10+ bigger.
In the real world, you would be accused of monopolizing the market, and be forced to split yourself up again

In all your games however, so far you have only touched the tip of the ice-berg, your profits can become a factor 10+ bigger. What it takes is an understanding of how to build your own network. You could do that in your old game, for example.

As for better shape going purely by the numbers (ie not taking your vehicle fleet and infra structure state into account), WW is bigger in size, but BP has 13.1 million profit (48.5-35.4 in 1990) while WW has around 11.5 million. Overall BP is in slightly better shape financially, I think.
The difference is very small though, at your level of costs, 2 million is nearly nothing.

[Baldy's Boss]

The B&P had a good 1991.

However,the obsolescent rolling stock on the Buborough to Penbourne service is depressing earnings there and it's time to replace it (running a flagship passenger service on steam engines in the 1990s isn't very realistic anyway).
But with fast engines (as done on the Great Loop) or with similar-speed engines hauling bi-level cars (as with the top earners on the Gren-Gren Express)?
Wardwood wound up with parallel high-speed and high-capacity services out of Wardwood station,but here the high-capacity trains would slow down the high-capacity ones.

One of the large OTVIs recently generated an "in trouble" news story.

[Baldy's Boss]

That OTVI went bust in 1992.

The Buborough-to-Penbourne tracks have been electrified,and the order given to replace the old Britannias with Eurostars (thanks to other old rolling stock only two new trains yet have higher speed limits but slow old wagons will get replaced).
I note that the city of Buborough is significantly larger than the city of Wardwood was at this time in the Wardwood game,not sure to what extent my actions have influenced that.
However,tragedy struck when laying new one-way tracks to ease goods service from the Guntbridge sawmill resulted unexpectedly in the crash of train 59 with the new Train 166.
My main competitor at Guntbridge on routes both to and from the sawmill,the blue OTVI (also the owner of large unused stations at Buborough) is however in weak financial shape and I hope will fail before long.

A more pleasant surprise was that replacing the old steam engine on Train 17 restored it to the top position on the profit charts that it had perennially held many years ago...I'm still not sure just what makes that route special.

Edit:
B&P had a GREAT 1994,while the blue OTVI folded.Can't upload a new pair here but the financial numbers are starting to clearly look better than Wardwood's.
A crash on the passenger service to New Puntown set things back in 1995,but several runs are looking much better after upgrades.

[Baldy's Boss]

I didn't buy the NiceCAB with the airline (see "Airline Merger Quandary") and two weeks later the pink OTVI did.I think the added infrastructure cost will break them(while I could have afforded that buy,especially since I would have closed 2 airports,but they can't).Serves them right,setting up their headquarters just a block away from mine in Buborough.Right next to their HQ is the prime airport site that opened up when the blue OTVI died.
The signals at Penbourne still need straightening out,and I'd like to know how to change orders for an entire Group.Can anyone advise?
I do think that at this stage the B&P is getting to be in better shape than Wardwood.

[Baldy's Boss]

The pink OTVI has not gone under,but after maybe a year of having my international airport adjacent to their headquarters,they moved from Buborough to Fehill and had their old HQ site redeveloped as a shopping center.
A third platform at Buborough and second platforms at some other busy stations have improved throughput,though Gren-Gren Express revenue has decreased markedly...not sure why.Last steam engine now gone there.
I'm ahead of Wardwood at this stage on most yardsticks,but NOT revenue per train...not sure what needs to be done to have more big earners.

[Eddi]

but NOT revenue per train...not sure what needs to be done to have more big earners.

nothing. lots of small earners are better than few big earners. if you have lots of small earners, every now and then a big earner is bound to pop out.