Vicarious Ratings/Short-Haul Crowds

[Baldy's Boss]

The Malberg Mauve R.R. Co. is named for Malberg,which was the most populous town in its world when selected for the company's headquarters at inception in 1925.
120 years later,however,that distinction is held by New Preedstow,where the company has a Very Good rating...except that not only does it not serve New Preedstow at all,
its tracks are separated from New Preedstow by towns where it has a decidedly lower reputation.
So why does it have this rating?

As the day of ranking approaches and I need to eliminate all money-losing vehicles (profits peaked in 2040 as I am in an expensive program to replace aging Leviathans) I need to decide what to do about Great Lewisdon,where obsolete equipment needs to be retired regardless.Should I maglev-ize and try to serve the demand better for the short trip to Boby Cross,or just scrap service and let BC get passengers only from the more profitable route from Postable?

The new goods service from Prudean Factory is probably my last great engineering project,following through on the ever-enhanced service from New Wreeditch iron ore and Guby steel.Too early to tell its potential.

Input on these issues is appreciated!

[Dave]

When you first "arrive" in a town's local authority area, I believe the default is you get a Very Good rating (this was certainly the case with the original game).

Usually the town's attitude goes up or down depending on how you serve them vs how much you destroy their landscape. If you've only got one or two tiles of railway in their local authority area, but don't serve them, you've probably not upset them. So it'll always be sitting at V Good.