Profit loss everywhere and it feels like a general mess

[SIX10]

I honestly have no idea what I am doing. I followed a tutorial on youtube, started a save and had a go. Once I got diesel trains I started having a profit loss 4000-6000 dollars. I have no idea how to fix this and I have no idea how to add more stations to industries cause it all feels cluttered. Everything is going so fast, and I am making money, but these profit losses are making me worried. Please help and give suggestions, attached is my save file.

[SIX10]

Oh, forgot to mention 2 other problems.
1: Vehicles are getting old, specifically busses. What is the easiest way to replace them?
2: Sometimes, block lights turn red randomly and the train is forever stuck. How to fix this?

[dol422]

I honestly have no idea what I am doing. I followed a tutorial on youtube, started a save and had a go. Once I got diesel trains I started having a profit loss 4000-6000 dollars. I have no idea how to fix this and I have no idea how to add more stations to industries cause it all feels cluttered. Everything is going so fast, and I am making money, but these profit losses are making me worried. Please help and give suggestions, attached is my save file.

Haven't looked at the save game, but it sounds like you are have too many vehicles on certain routes meaning they are not picking up a lot of cargo at stations. When starting, it is wise to have one or two routes with one train and three or four wagons each. This way you can make a decent profit going a moderate distance. With regards to adding more stations, maybe make the station length shorter, i.e. three tiles, and maybe start with fewer industries or try a larger map. You could also enable variety distribution to even out the terrain, and better spread out the industries.

Oh, forgot to mention 2 other problems.
1: Vehicles are getting old, specifically busses. What is the easiest way to replace them?
2: Sometimes, block lights turn red randomly and the train is forever stuck. How to fix this?

Regarding the first question, there is an autoreplace feature which enables you to set when the buses are to be replaced, i.e. you can set them to autoreplace a year before they reach their maximum age, or a year after they reach their maximum age.
For the second question, I would recommend using path signals (they allow trains both ways). With block signals, if that space between one signal and the next is occupied, the train will not move forward, and will consequently be stuck.

[jfs]

The simple question first:
There's two ways to do automatic replacing of vehicles: By upgrading, or by same-model auto-renew.
Here's wiki links describing how to set them up:
- Upgrading with Replace vehicles
- Auto-renew


The other thing I see loading up your save is that you're both using too many signals, and too few. Most of those you use are of the wrong type. This gives you stuck and misdirected trains, that waste time going other places than their destination.
For example this stuck train:

When I follow the tracks, the one it came from and the one it's trying to go into, I find this junction:

The arrows show the direction the train entered and wants to leave. There are no other signals on these tracks. Because you used block signals, the "dispatcher" sees that the two tracks merge into a single junction, and the same train (doesn't matter that it's the same) already occupies that block. So the signal shows red. Solution in this case: Add more signals to the two lines.

Going to another station nearby, you have this:

There are five two-way block signals on the way in to a dead end track, which is already occupied. But you can see that signal (1) is showing green, despite that entering this track would be pointless, since you'd just end up blocked by the train already in the station. If a train enters at green signal (1), it will also pass signals (2), (3), (4) as green, but then stop at signal (5) which is red. The entering train can't proceed, but eventually the train in station will try to leave, when it reaches signal (5) the entering train sees someone else wants to pass in the opposite direction, and reverses. All this would be avoided if you remove signals 2 to 5, leaving just signal 1. Then signal 1 will show red when a train is in station, and the track is occupied. Signal 1 is the correct one to keep, because it's closest to the switch but still on the dead end track.

Here is another problematic station:

The entire track area I've marked with red lines is one single signal block. This means that the one train loading in the station is preventing any other trains from running on any of those tracks. Other trains can't use the other track in the station because it's logically blocked, and they can't enter/leave the station to the left either because the switch is blocked. If you place signals at both (1) and (2) then you separate the switch from the two station tracks, and it becomes able to work properly.


Things you should do:
1. Decide that you want some of your tracks to be single-direction tracks. When your tracks are single-direction you don't get trains entering from both directions at once, meet in the middle, and then one has to turn around. That wastes time, and trains wasting time also waste money.
2. Use one-way signals instead of two-way signals. You build one-way signals by clicking multiple times on the same signal, with the signal build tool. One way block signals prevent trains from going the wrong way down a track.
3. Try to use path signals instead of block signals. Path signals are different from block signals, some people think they are harder to understand (I think they're easier), and they are generally closer to how railway signals work in the real world.

Path signals are easy to place. You just need to answer one question, "If I place a signal here, and a train stops at that signal, would the train block a different track?"
There are two kinds of path signals, normal and one-way. Both only give signal in a single direction, but the normal one allows trains to pass from the other direction.
Here's an example where I changed an area to use path signals instead of block signals:

I decided a direction for each track. Then I removed all the existing signals, and instead built a few one-way path signals along each track, making sure they point in the direction I want the track to have. Pay attention to how I leave the entire junction area free of signals. Path signals are smart and allow many trains to pass through the same junction at once, as long as their paths that don't cross. If a train wants to cross a path another train is already going through the junction, that train gets a red signal until the other train has passed.
The two tracks leading to the station on the upper right get normal path signals instead of one-way. That's because trains need to be able to enter the dead end tracks, but also leave them. The path signals protect the exit from the dead end tracks, but the entry into the dead end tracks is actually protected by the signals before the junction.


I hope this helps and is not too confusing, it's a lot of words at once

[SIX10]

The simple question first:
There's two ways to do automatic replacing of vehicles: By upgrading, or by same-model auto-renew.
Here's wiki links describing how to set them up:
- Upgrading with Replace vehicles
- Auto-renew


The other thing I see loading up your save is that you're both using too many signals, and too few. Most of those you use are of the wrong type. This gives you stuck and misdirected trains, that waste time going other places than their destination.
For example this stuck train:

When I follow the tracks, the one it came from and the one it's trying to go into, I find this junction:

The arrows show the direction the train entered and wants to leave. There are no other signals on these tracks. Because you used block signals, the "dispatcher" sees that the two tracks merge into a single junction, and the same train (doesn't matter that it's the same) already occupies that block. So the signal shows red. Solution in this case: Add more signals to the two lines.

Going to another station nearby, you have this:

There are five two-way block signals on the way in to a dead end track, which is already occupied. But you can see that signal (1) is showing green, despite that entering this track would be pointless, since you'd just end up blocked by the train already in the station. If a train enters at green signal (1), it will also pass signals (2), (3), (4) as green, but then stop at signal (5) which is red. The entering train can't proceed, but eventually the train in station will try to leave, when it reaches signal (5) the entering train sees someone else wants to pass in the opposite direction, and reverses. All this would be avoided if you remove signals 2 to 5, leaving just signal 1. Then signal 1 will show red when a train is in station, and the track is occupied. Signal 1 is the correct one to keep, because it's closest to the switch but still on the dead end track.

Here is another problematic station:

The entire track area I've marked with red lines is one single signal block. This means that the one train loading in the station is preventing any other trains from running on any of those tracks. Other trains can't use the other track in the station because it's logically blocked, and they can't enter/leave the station to the left either because the switch is blocked. If you place signals at both (1) and (2) then you separate the switch from the two station tracks, and it becomes able to work properly.


Things you should do:
1. Decide that you want some of your tracks to be single-direction tracks. When your tracks are single-direction you don't get trains entering from both directions at once, meet in the middle, and then one has to turn around. That wastes time, and trains wasting time also waste money.
2. Use one-way signals instead of two-way signals. You build one-way signals by clicking multiple times on the same signal, with the signal build tool. One way block signals prevent trains from going the wrong way down a track.
3. Try to use path signals instead of block signals. Path signals are different from block signals, some people think they are harder to understand (I think they're easier), and they are generally closer to how railway signals work in the real world.

Path signals are easy to place. You just need to answer one question, "If I place a signal here, and a train stops at that signal, would the train block a different track?"
There are two kinds of path signals, normal and one-way. Both only give signal in a single direction, but the normal one allows trains to pass from the other direction.
Here's an example where I changed an area to use path signals instead of block signals:

I decided a direction for each track. Then I removed all the existing signals, and instead built a few one-way path signals along each track, making sure they point in the direction I want the track to have. Pay attention to how I leave the entire junction area free of signals. Path signals are smart and allow many trains to pass through the same junction at once, as long as their paths that don't cross. If a train wants to cross a path another train is already going through the junction, that train gets a red signal until the other train has passed.
The two tracks leading to the station on the upper right get normal path signals instead of one-way. That's because trains need to be able to enter the dead end tracks, but also leave them. The path signals protect the exit from the dead end tracks, but the entry into the dead end tracks is actually protected by the signals before the junction.


I hope this helps and is not too confusing, it's a lot of words at once

Wow, really thanks. Trying your suggestions, attached it the save with (not all) some of those signals on routes. How is it looking?

[jfs]

Definitely better, but you need to pay more attention to signal directions and what lines are connected where.

For example Wennville Airport to Flunwell North, you have a train stuck on the return trip there because the track it's on now has one-way signals, and there is no way for it to cross over to the other track.
When you have double-track where each track is a single direction, you usually always need to have cross-overs at your terminus stations.
For example something like this:



All of this can be cleaned up a lot if you think about what train movements are necessary for your routes, and build just the minimum needed to make those possible.
Working from some standard "templates" for what a well-working station or a junction looks like is also a good help.
For example this is a bog standard terminus station with path signals:

The main things to pay attention to are: Cross-over before station. Depot is together with the cross-over. Entry is a one-way path signal going into the switch. Exit signal is at least half a train length away from the switch. The signals between the platforms and the crossover are not strictly necessary, but I like having them there especially when the distance from crossover to platform is more than 2 tiles.