Grenthwaite-Dardingway

[Baldy's Boss]

Optimisation: The tracks.

Simple heuristic for hill climbing: Make sure your 'up' tiles are spaced out more than one train length apart. Smooth ups and downs as much as you can. Cuttings, embankments, tunnels, and especially bridges with their ends at different heights can help a lot.
Two or three ups at once is a killer for a marginally-performing train. Until you enter the 21st century you have to be gentler.

I am a veteran of gradually making routes ever more straight and ever more level as finances permit,along with expanding from occasional passing zones to full dual-tracking...but sometimes the challenges get too difficult.

[Simons Mith]

Flattening routes...
Yes, I was considerably more ruthless, used some quite long tunnels, doubled the entire track, and to help in smoothing I routed some tracks further away from the towns. Did a bit more terraforming too. Mainly nibbling the odd single tile here; I don't believe in levelling hills either. I also set the trains to full load and shared their orders. It took a while to settle down but even these trains can do okay on it. You might even be able to run 8 on the route now. Utilization is 70%+

Vehicle parameters - tractive effort is most important for heavy freight. Lighter passenger vehicles need far less. Power - ideally the train should have enough power to get up to full speed. Speed - higher is better for rapid-decay cargos like PAX mail and food. Reliability - of little consequence as long as it's not terrible. Running cost is the equalizer of course - if you pay for a super-train it has to run full or nearly full at all times. Might be interesting to make the long-haul line into a true flagship route and timetable it. Then you can ensure good station ratings - ideally the next train should coast in a day or two after the last one has left - and a nicely spread group of shiny locomotives.

East Malwich - well that's supposedly a RO-RO, but the two depots in front of the station force trains from both exits to cross over in front of one another which totally defeats the RO-RO benefits. And again there were signs placed in ways that let trains stop over junctions. That's definitely an OpenTTD sin. I made it into a single loop with one compulsory servicing depot on the way out, and ensured trains couldn't sneak out against the one way system. Once that was done it stabilised nicely.

Tuhaven and Badburg RR Co., 12th Mar 1932.sav

Hello

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[Baldy's Boss]

Flattening routes...
Yes, I was considerably more ruthless, used some quite long tunnels, doubled the entire track, and to help in smoothing I routed some tracks further away from the towns. Did a bit more terraforming too. Mainly nibbling the odd single tile here; I don't believe in levelling hills either. I also set the trains to full load and shared their orders. It took a while to settle down but even these trains can do okay on it. You might even be able to run 8 on the route now. Utilization is 70%+

Vehicle parameters - tractive effort is most important for heavy freight. Lighter passenger vehicles need far less. Power - ideally the train should have enough power to get up to full speed. Speed - higher is better for rapid-decay cargos like PAX mail and food. Reliability - of little consequence as long as it's not terrible. Running cost is the equalizer of course - if you pay for a super-train it has to run full or nearly full at all times. Might be interesting to make the long-haul line into a true flagship route and timetable it. Then you can ensure good station ratings - ideally the next train should coast in a day or two after the last one has left - and a nicely spread group of shiny locomotives.

East Malwich - well that's supposedly a RO-RO, but the two depots in front of the station force trains from both exits to cross over in front of one another which totally defeats the RO-RO benefits. And again there were signs placed in ways that let trains stop over junctions. That's definitely an OpenTTD sin. I made it into a single loop with one compulsory servicing depot on the way out, and ensured trains couldn't sneak out against the one way system. Once that was done it stabilised nicely.

Tuhaven and Badburg RR Co., 12th Mar 1932.sav

Will take a look at your version,am attaching what I've done in the meantime on that game,the Klondykes had 76% reliability and I replaced them with 96% King Arthurs with the last Klondyke managing a hundred breakdowns,I believe,between its final service and replacement,and backing up four of the other five trains on the route just behind it.

[Simons Mith]

Attached however is a save where mountainous terrain appears to be strangling a company in its cradle despite the world's largest city being tailor made.

OMG is that a 14 tile slope? A locomotive on its own only just gets up that!
I tried a couple of tunnels, changing the up slope into a mere six tiles, and the down slope to nine, and reduced the trains to three coaches each, and they could just about handle it. And yes, in the short term they did continue to make a profit. But three passenger coaches plus one mail was too much.

Otherwise I'd try refitting some horse-powered trams with mountain goats? Or maybe redo the whole game in Roller Coaster Tycoon...

[Baldy's Boss]

Attached however is a save where mountainous terrain appears to be strangling a company in its cradle despite the world's largest city being tailor made.

OMG is that a 14 tile slope? A locomotive on its own only just gets up that!
I tried a couple of tunnels, changing the up slope into a mere six tiles, and the down slope to nine, and reduced the trains to three coaches each, and they could just about handle it. And yes, in the short term they did continue to make a profit. But three passenger coaches plus one mail was too much.

Otherwise I'd try refitting some horse-powered trams with mountain goats? Or maybe redo the whole game in Roller Coaster Tycoon...

It's frustrating to be unable to serve that huge passenger demand!...how much do those tunnels cost,did you sell trains to pay for it?

Meanwhile I noticed something on the Coastal Long Haul...Tanston,neither far inland from the coast nor significantly uphill,has grown into a pretty sizable town,and I plugged in a spur line with two trains to each end of the long coastal run...if their favorite competitor of mine,a bus company that's nearly maxed out on its credit line and with little money left and losing money every year,goes under,I will extend my platform a couple of tiles further toward the center and increase the catchment area,but Tanston South already attracts a lot of business.I'm not sure if it will lead to net profits with the trains for the Tantston routes competing for passengers from the coastal cities with the end-to-end trains.