Development of the Newcastle Scenario

[Kevo00]

Newcastle looks amazing. I like the Royal Circle, Hyde Park, and Parliament Hill - neat features that give it a realistic feel.

[Wheelbarrow]

@Kevo, thank you! You wait till I release more screenshots, and eventually the map, it will be a lot better. As you can see that I draw a lot of inspirations from many of British and Australian cities including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, London, Melbourne and Hobart.

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Out of curiosity... is it actually possible to have multiple different companies to use the same railway tracks? I am pretty sure it is theoretically plausible to code the privately owned company railway tracks as if it is actually owned by the local authority? For example, in-game roads are owned by local authorities and any companies (me and AI) can use it - so can we use the specific code lines to apply it onto railway tracks to allow any companies to use the same tracks? Here in the United Kingdom (where I currently live), our railway tracks are publicly owned by National Rail however any companies can use it. For example, London to Manchester railway branch is being used by several different train companies - Virgin, London Midlands, East Midlands, Arriva, Transpennine Express... etc etc.

-Wheel

[Densha]

I believe it is possible to have multiple companies using the same track, but you need a game patch for it.

[Wheelbarrow]

@Irmotrainfan, this means train stations are also publicly shared? In this scenario, we won't have AI competitors but we can toggle in cheat to change the companies and vice versa. So with this cheat feature, we could have like 3 or 4 different train companies all sharing the railway tracks AND train stations! This would be brilliantly realistic.

And which game patch are you speaking of? I am interested to have a look at this one.

[mart3p]

And which game patch are you speaking of? I am interested to have a look at this one.

Infrastructure sharing.

[Densha]

Yep, it's that one. I haven't used it myself though, so I can't help you further. You need to compile your own version of OTTD for it, but it didn't look into that.

[Wheelbarrow]

@Mart, now that has to be one of my favourite mod/patch! Thank you so much, I will have a couple of tests on this patch before implementing it into this scenario.

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You all might think I have abandoned this project because it has been a while since I last released a progress update, but I can safely tell you that I definitely have not abandoned it. I have been so busy lately - preparing my big move back to sunny Brisbane, Australia this weekend!

I am sorry this might be a little & awkward update, but better than nothing hey? Basically I have done a lot of tests on railway alignment, junctions and placement of waypoints & lights along the North Coast rail corridor between Penrith Bridge Station (PBR) to Fort William Station (FWL) via Torquay Liverpool Street Station (TQL) and Swansea Finsbury Station (SFB). I keep having problems with trains going onto wrong tracks because they are looking for nearest depot and then end up being lost. I wish the trains would have a permanent 100% reliability so there wouldn't be any hassles with depots.

Anyway, my favourite part of this scenario definitely is Swansea because the town is nested upon a very rough & mountainous coastline which makes it a nice challenge to build dual rail infrastructure between Swansea and Penrith via Torquay. Swansea Finsbury Station is an unique station because it has three platforms with different lengths to accommodate different train routes. The main platform is 7 tiles long purely for the use of busy Penrith to Swansea suburban commuter route. Left platform is 4 tiles long for rural passenger trains between Swansea and Fort William. Right platform has a standard length of 5 tiles long. 5-tile long platforms is a standard length for the Newcastle-Penrith network with an exception for the biggest and busiest train stations with 7 tile long platforms to accommodate the inter-region express trains.

By the way, Penrith has over 130,000 inhabitants! Maitland (the major satellite city of Penrith) has 45,000. Swansea 20,000. Torquay 20,000. Fort William 10,000. Newport 5,000. I am planning to build at least one or two more local authorities (which will fall under Greater Penrith) in the southern areas. There will be a main town right in between of Newcastle and Penrith, and it could have up to 40,000 inhabitants with two or three main train stations along with several suburban stations.

-Wheel

[Kevo00]

Sounds like great progress. It is possible to turn off breakdowns which resolves the need to go to the depot except for renewals. Or, build the depot where you want and you can use the 'go to' arrow to schedule the train to call at the depot - so it doesn't go 'off route'.