UK Renewal Train Set [1.4 release 4/12]

Post by **PikkaBird** » 28 Dec 2005 14:59

Born Acorn wrote:Heehee, what about some old ballon style double decker trams and coronation trams?

I'm planning to include trams in HOVS, but I was thinking of the London E/1 (which can be introduced right from 1920).

Post by **Dave** » 31 Dec 2005 22:45

Right.. depending on whether you have any IDs left, take a look.

http://www.parrypeoplemovers.com/PPM50-spec.htm

Here lies a link. It leads to the website of a company called Parry People Movers (can you guess from the URL?).

Anyway, Mr John Parry MBE (awarded by the Queen for those of you not familiar with British Empire awards) is renowned in England for creating light rail services.

To the point. Near my hometown, is a larger town called Stourbridge. A station serves Stourbridge, called Stourbridge Junction. However this is quite far out of town, so a branch line from Stourbridge Junction to the town's Bus Station was set up.

Just for some background information, this happens to be the shortest passenger branch line in Britain. It is served by a single Diesel Railcar (operated by Central Trains) and is actually quite well used. The journey (I believe the railcar hit's a 50mph max) takes just four minutes.

Anyway... What's the link between the PPM 50 and this rail line you ask?

Central Trains is planning to eventually discontinue the link - apparently it is not good for profits.

This is where Stourbridge Link Users Group (SLUG) stepped in. They discussed the possible idea of using one of John Parry's light rail vehicles. So a trial run was instigated at first - a Sunday couple of Sunday's ago (there is no Sunday service of the Central Trains link) and it proved to be very popular.

Now the Central trains service is to be discontinued, it'll take over full time. The line has an advantage since it doesn't actually serve the main line platforms at Stourbridge Junction (in fact, it seves platform one).

So why is it deserving of a spot in your set possibly?

- It's powered by Gas - running costs are minimal.
- It's new and innovative. It looks more like a bus!
- It costs about the same as a luxury car. Since prices in TTD are proportionately lowered (it'd definitely cost more to buy a train than what it does in the game) it'd probably be about the same as a bus.
- It serves the shortest passenger link in England - that's like.. historical.
- It carries 50 passengers, and would be good as a short service since it is slower than the DMUs on the game. So would leave enough time across a short line for passengers to build up at both stations.

-** I WILL HAVE A GO AT DRAWING IT!!! lol.

Disadvantages
- It's a single railcar - and isn't even as long as your standard railcar - would look more like the MJS 250 in the old Tropic Set.. not good.
- It's slow - 40mph.
- It's not as effective as the DMUs already on the game anyway.

There's a pic on the link i posted to you. Jesus this is a really long post - sorry guys! Went OT couple of times too! I apologise profusely.

Anyway would be interested to see what you think. I could, of course, get some more information and more pictures if anyone required.

Thanks everyone,
Happy New Year.
Dave

SkeedR · Post by **SkeedR** » 31 Dec 2005 23:14

can someone send me their cfg's so i can see where i'm going wrong?
I still can't get the damn thing to work!
[EDIT] i've tried a different cfg and it still doesn't work.
Please can i have an older version of the set!
PLEASE! :'(

Post by **PikkaBird** » 01 Jan 2006 14:11

Dave Worley wrote:Right.. depending on whether you have any IDs left, take a look.

Hi Dave,

Well, I think if this vehicle were to be put into TTD, it would be better off as a tram rather than a train. I had a look at the website and their larger vehicles look a lot like most of the second generation trams now being used in a lot of British and European cities (the flywheel drive notwithstanding).

Post by **Dave** » 01 Jan 2006 21:37

yeah i see what you mean.

fair play for looking at it tho.. thought you were just gonna dismiss and blow me out of the water. lol

dave

HaroldV · Post by **HaroldV** » 04 Jan 2006 11:03

Something odd I've just noticed:

With the four standard 'MUs (Metro-Cammell,Super Sprinter, AM10, C321) added mail wagons and passenger carriages are indistinguishable in the / and \ views -- they both look like mail wagons(?). You can only tell them apart in the _ view. Is this deliberate or a bug or just something funny with my game? (Using the set version downloaded from first post a few days ago with a69, BTW.)

The Irish · Post by **The Irish** » 04 Jan 2006 12:41

I think it is intended this way, in order to have nicer looking consists in those views.

Post by **PikkaBird** » 04 Jan 2006 17:34

They're not entirely indestinguishable. Nevertheless, I'm reworking the windows on all the MUs to be a bit more realistic (at the moment, they're all based on the original "Manley Morel").

HaroldV · Post by **HaroldV** » 04 Jan 2006 17:52

Sir, your eyesight is better than mine.

Anyway, while I'm in a nitpicking mood, could you check the laden weight of the 1960 goods van in the purchase window? Mine are displayed 15t lighter than they actually become in use. (That is: "20(35)" instead of "20(50)".)

Post by **PikkaBird** » 04 Jan 2006 19:04

HaroldV wrote:Sir, your eyesight is better than mine.

Hmm.. perhaps. Try redownloading the set, I think they're a little more distinct now (but like I said, I may redo them some time anyway).

Mine are displayed 15t lighter than they actually become in use. (That is: "20(35)" instead of "20(50)".)

The weight quoted is for Goods (which only weigh half a ton per crate, or 15t for 30 crates). If you're refitting them to something which weighs 1t/unit, their payload will be 15t greater.

HaroldV · Post by **HaroldV** » 05 Jan 2006 07:53

Cool.

I'll redownload, and look forward to further 'MU livery tweaks.

As for that Goods Wagon, there's definately something funny going on with mine. I started a fresh game to test this, and 30 crates of goods actually add a whopping 75 tons to the weight,not 30 as I assumed, or 15 as you said it should. Any ideas? (freighttrains switch is most definately OFF, BTW.)

Post by **PikkaBird** » 05 Jan 2006 09:12

HaroldV wrote:Any ideas? (freighttrains switch is most definately OFF, BTW.)

I tried turning freighttrains off and it does the same thing here (15 crates of goods weigh 75t), so I guess it's a patch bug.

Setting freighttrains to 1 gives the correct cargo weights.

HaroldV · Post by **HaroldV** » 05 Jan 2006 12:56

I shoulda thougta trying that.

Thanks PikkaBird.

*** checks alpha progress thread to see if the problem has been mentioned before ... sees PB has already reported it ... goes back to playing ***

Sanchimaru · Post by **Sanchimaru** » 12 Jan 2006 08:11

PikkaBird: I have been playing a game with the trains set. Congratulations! it looks really great! The original sprites flavour is excellent

A few observations after playing with it:

> Grain and Livestock big cars enter quite late in the game (around '80) I think it would be nicer if the "mineral hopper" had a grain livery, and the "tanker wagon" could be refitted to livestock (as the smaller version)
That way we would have a low - middle - big cappacity cars for farms. (I, personally, use farms a lot)

> Goods cars have 33 capacity at most. Being made to other sets, that feels too low, and usually my stations are crowded by goods, and with a lot of freight trains coming in and out.

> Are you going to add more 2nd company colors to the next version? now that CC are fully customizable, it would be a nice feature.

Overall, I enjoyed a lot playing this set, highly reccommended!

Post by **PikkaBird** » 12 Jan 2006 09:47

Sanchimaru wrote:Grain and Livestock big cars enter quite late in the game (around '80) I think it would be nicer if the "mineral hopper" had a grain livery, and the "tanker wagon" could be refitted to livestock (as the smaller version) That way we would have a low - middle - big cappacity cars for farms. (I, personally, use farms a lot)

It's fairly realistic - smaller wagons were used for grain long after more modern wagons for coal came along, and they have only started using larger modern hoppers recently. As for livestock, all cattle (and milk) transport in the UK has been by road since the 1960s, so even the large livestock wagon as it is now is stretching the truth a little.

A lot of what was done in the UK rail freight in the 60s and 70s was archaic by overseas standards.

Goods cars have 33 capacity at most. Being made to other sets, that feels too low, and usually my stations are crowded by goods, and with a lot of freight trains coming in and out.

The container flats are fast though - with 100mph running, I think the capacities are reasonable.

Are you going to add more 2nd company colors to the next version?

Yep.

I'm working at the moment on adding more futuristic trains, adding more 2CC livery variations, and getting running sounds happening on every locomotive.

Sanchimaru · Post by **Sanchimaru** » 12 Jan 2006 15:10

Ah, I see, so you wanted to keep the set as close to the real brithish railways history as possible. But in that case, a fleet of better trucks is needed. The orinigal TT road vehicles aren't really helpful.

I still think that besides keeping close to the real thing, it is a good idea to keep in mind how the game works. I had one farm producing 720 items of grain and livestock, with 5 trains 6 tiles long servicing it. In TTD terms, a train is your best solution; no matter how convenient trucks might be.
The same with goods producing industries: as soon as a factory is serviced by 3 or more primary industries, you will get the goods piling until the roof if you don't have a vehicle that can carry a lot of items. That's also why I said about improving the capacity of good transporting wagons.

However you can always balance things in other ways, maybe if you improve the road vehicles set (your buses set are also a master piece, by the way!) that will make the game more interesting!
I'd be quite excited to see new trucks and trams by you actually

What is the next project you are running, by the way?

DanMacK · Post by **DanMacK** » 12 Jan 2006 15:19

Sanchimaru, there are more trucks in the works for HOVS (I should know, I'm drawing them

)

Sanchimaru · Post by **Sanchimaru** » 12 Jan 2006 23:22

Excellent...

Villem · Post by **Villem** » 13 Jan 2006 15:54

I've had factories & other industries produce over 1000 tons/items of stuff, and i could handle them fine with the small rolling stock, 1 locomotive + 7 wagons.

You just need a good network, and good planning to make it work.

Mattc · Post by **Mattc** » 19 Jan 2006 08:50

I downloaded this trainset yesterday, but i cant get any more wagons than passenger and mail, even if i set the start date to 2030. Any ideas? Is it incompatable with other grf's?

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