Financial effect of start year

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Alberth
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Alberth »

Gruhaven Park looked familiar, and sure enough, one post above yours, I write
EDIT: I played a bit with the Park station by building bridges for entry (thus separating entry and exit, so entering and leaving trains don't get in each-others way), but it wasn't enough to clear the queues in front of it. Trains are quite unreliable. You need more platforms there I think.
In case you doubt, have a look at the incoming queues at both lines leading to the station. Sharing platforms only has an effect if a busy time at one side can actually divert trains to platforms of the other side, and vice versa. Here, both lines are fully oversatured all the time, both sides simply need more platforms all the time.
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

I've added a platform at Gruhaven Park and it has seen use,though breakdowns block traffic at times.It just seems counter-intuitive because the station there is so well served that trains often don't fill (take a look at train 71 on a near-deadhead run as it nears autoreplacement) while the two stations that send passengers there are packed.
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GreenVictoryRailroad,1stJul2004.sav
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Alberth
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Alberth »

I found a few things you may want to fix/improve.

First of all, at Wrongingville, you have 2 double tracks going north, that meet again a little further north. Obviously, there is room for reducing the amount of track there.
too_many_tracks.png
too_many_tracks.png (2.39 KiB) Viewed 4944 times
Secondly, at Witleigh woods, you don't need 2 depots. There are only 2 trains on the entire track there. For 140 ton/month from the mine, the trains are too long. OpenTTD likes lots of arrivals of trains, so shorten them by 2 wagons or so.

Thirdly, all over the place, you have way too many signals. Lets start with a few simple rules.
a) On simple straight track (no junctions nearby), signal spacing must be a bit larger than the train length.
b) Don't have signals on adjacent tiles, always at least 1 empty tile between them.

I removed about 50 signals this way

Fourthly, at Boundingbury Heights, you don't need 3 unloading platforms, 2 is enough. Also, the depot behind the station is costing you money. Trains arrive at the platform, want to be serviced before unloading, and go straight to the depot. After service, they can't go back to the station, so they make another full round, with making any money. Move the depot to before the station.
You also don't need 2 tracks leading to that station, you can remove one of them.

Fifthly, at the other side, at Nantditch Mines, you don't need 4 platforms, so I suggest to remove the northern one, so you can remove the tunnel as well.

Sixtly, the tracks to the depot on the incoming line there are just silly, don't have incoming and outgoing traffic cross each other. Remove the tracks, and have incoming traffic and outgoing traffic each have its own depot(s). Likely, this gives you so much better performance, you can remove the 3rd platform at Nantditch Mines as well.

Seventhly, Old Grintforth woods produces 35 tonnes wood / month. You can't afford to have 1 train for that, let alone 2. Remove both trains and the station + tracks.

Eightly, the same holds for Dunham Valley, both trains run losses, just remove it all.

Finally, the main dish, Gruhaven park station. The "before" picture shows the current situation.
The main idea of the change is that on the high ground, trains get into the station, while at the bottom ground, trains leave. Just that change was enough to clear the queue from the north-west (to Malwell-on-sea). I connected 4 platforms to the north-east branch (to Nantford), but that wasn't enough.
For this reason, I extended the high ground so I could add a signal after the bridges, but before the junctions. this minimizes the time that a platform is unused. I also connected the north-east branch to all platforms. That did the trick, both queues are gone now. Some special care is needed to make sure leaving trains can always clear the platform and the junction (this is why there are no signals there).

PS While checking the "after" picture, there is some unused track on the north-west branch, you should remove that (or rather, not build it).
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before.png
before-situation
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after.png
after-situation
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

By Wronningville,the sometimes single,sometimes with passing sidings lines from two different stations meet on their way to/from the factory.

The production figures I have in current saves seem different from yours,though even at twice the figure you cite(recently) the Old Grinford Woods trains are losing money.

I eliminated crossing traffic to get to depots on the Nantditch Mines-Bondingbury Heights line.

I gather your after pic has a lot of invisible bridges,they will take time to figure out!
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Alberth »

after2.png
visible bridges
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I had a screenshot prepared, but hit the 3 attachments limit, and forgot about it. Sorry for that.
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

Alberth wrote:after2.pngI had a screenshot prepared, but hit the 3 attachments limit, and forgot about it. Sorry for that.
So how did you get the Gruhaven Park local authority to approve all of that?
I've made a more modest realignment (one bridge) and they're not letting me take the southwest track all the way in to take out the dog-leg.
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Alberth
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Alberth »

Make changes until they protest, fix the station as far as you can, wait for reputation being restored, repeat

Why do you think public works take forever? :D
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Pyoro »

Plant more trees ;)
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

Pyoro wrote:Plant more trees ;)
I planted more trees.
But I'm still getting demolition permits only one at a time before they issue a stop work order.
I want to bring the southwestern track from Malwell-on-Sea straight into the southwestern platform at Gruhaven Park,enabling separate depots for the two inbound tracks so that service traffic doesn't hold up incoming trains before the station.

Editing to add a later save where they have once again permitted a little work and then called a stop.
Meanwhile,what's needed to make the Whitstoke Common-St. Tustock line profitable?
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GreenVictoryRailroad,1stJul2007.sav
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

Green Victory Railroad marks its 150th anniversary at year-end,but the accountants are suggesting bargain-basement bubbly to get through the remaining 20 years of inflation.
A particular concern remains the Whitstoke-St. Tustock line,where trains routinely run full and lose money.
Saving up for maglev conversion seems impossible as current rolling stock are hitting a wall of obsolescence.

Any ideas?

Editing to add new save
Just months go by and just some of the long-contracted new engines arrive on that line,causing record losses...they are not at the end of their lives like the old ones,but they cost more to run.
Is there a way out?
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GreenVictoryRailroad,1stMay2014.sav
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GreenVictoryRailroad,1stOct2014.sav
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

The fourth quarter didn't bring any new calamities before the sesquicentennial birthday party,but celebrations were nonetheless subdued,as cash reserves have fallen to barely two years of maintenance.
Can swapping the Acela trains for Eurostars save the Whitstoke-St. Tustock run?
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GreenVictoryRailroad,1stJan2015.sav
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

2015 was another painful year.
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

2018 could be the year Green Victory folds.
Worn-out trains block the generation of revenue to pay for replacement of worn-out trains.
Just a few months of maintenance left in the bank.
153 years of inflation survived,it's those last 17 (10%)!
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GreenVictoryRailroad,1stJan2018.sav
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Sylf »

I think it's too soon to give up.
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3 1/2 years later.
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

Will examine that save carefully.
On my own I've gone eight months (including ripping out 3 trains and 3 associated tracks & stations...turns out a forest had closed a few years ago,once the "loading" train had been given the order to vacate it got auto-replaced,but the new train was scrapped as soon as it delivered).
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Sylf »

I received a question: how did I turn around the company's profitability?
What I noticed was the correlation between these two lists:
Screenshot from 2017-11-20 22-58-52.png
Screenshot from 2017-11-20 22-58-52.png (25.86 KiB) Viewed 4280 times
Screenshot from 2017-11-20 22-59-51.png
Screenshot from 2017-11-20 22-59-51.png (24.2 KiB) Viewed 4280 times
It was especially bad to have low-reliability trains (some of them having 0%) on what is supposed to be a profitable routes, like Malwell-on-sea. These trains block the bath far too frequently - it was more profitable to sell them off, and let fewer but more reliable trains do the work.

Also notable is the infrastructure maintenance cost. By focusing more on the train's reliability, I was able to eliminate some of the double lines. Not much, but enough to save £45million per year.
Before improvement (left) vs after improvement, despite the 14.8% total inflation in 3.5 years
Before improvement (left) vs after improvement, despite the 14.8% total inflation in 3.5 years
Screenshot from 2017-11-20 23-16-37.png (54.34 KiB) Viewed 4280 times
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

Hmm...I just went 2 months concentrating on getting unreliable old ASEAs off the Malwell-Gruhaven tracks,but too early to be sure of improvement.Trains 4 and 65 have to unload and get their engines sold next,while I'm trying to get the faster at least of the passenger & mail cars now in depots attached to shorter trains that are reliable and come in for service.
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

Malwell-Gruhaven is rolling in the money,but Whitstoke-St. Tustock is still full of money-losers.
Maglevs have just become available but I can't buy any and some of my competitors are charging up the performance and value charts.
Still surviving though...
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

Just 9 years of inflation left.
Still under a year of maintenance in the bank...
In a typical game I'd be charging full-blast into maglev conversion now but I can't pay for it in this game.
One of my Ai competitors,though,suffered a massive reversal in the past year,not sure what happened to them.
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

I realized what caused my AI competitor's distress...they made an ill-considered attempt to enter the aviation business.Their company value,which until recently outstripped mine,has been wiped out.
Minimal investment (got rid of pre-1940 heavy passenger cars,where possible replacing them with mothballed newer ones rather than buying brand-new) has kept me afloat but maglev conversion remains beyond my means.
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