[TTDP/OTTD] Raichase's Official Screenshot Thread

[Toni Babelony]

Me too! It's addictive!!

[Raichase]

Firstly, that Brewery that was two squares away from the farm? Gave up waiting for me to implement such a non-profitable route, and closed it's doors. Shown here on the last day of trading before it was immediatly knocked to the ground.

Easy come, easy go...

Now, on a more serious note... With the completion of the city-city line linking Cloppenmund and Freihaven (and onto Schweinhaven), a new breed of non-stop express train was needed to service the patrons who were not willing to wait whilst their train made every stop along the way. Hence why a pair of BR05's*, and a brand new fleet of express coaching stock was purchased (at great expense to the company). Here they can both be seen on their maiden runs at Cloppenmund Station.

Shown again is the class leader emerging from the new express tunnels under Hanhaven. These new bypass lines allow the much faster, non-stopping BR05's to pass the existing BR18's on the mainline, all-stops trains, as well as the newly bought BR45's on the slower coal trains (which are routed through the platforms for this very reason).

* This is the first time that I have used BR05's in a game since the recent DB Set put the prices up. Just goes to show that if you want the quality locomotives, you really gotta save up for them, and put them to proper use, rather than throwing them around willy-nilly.

[Raichase]

*Whistles*

Right, lets see whats happened, roughly 20 years on from the last batch. I've taken a good 100-odd screenies for this game, and half of them have never gone anywhere beyond "SCRxyz.pcx". Of those that make it through the first stage, they are all cropped down to a decent size, and re-saved as PNG. Then, when I go to post more screenies, I grab those that either give a good point of interest, or those that show a decent overview of how everything is going so far.

So, here we go, in the late 70's and early 80's for this batch. I seem to remember Michael once complained that I posted all my screenies of steam, but never anything beyond that.

Well, be prepared .

Firstly, in 1978, the miners at Heidelstadts only reason for existance, the coal mine, finally gave up, citing that the coal seam was all but gone. They announced this at the start of January, 1978, saying that the mine would be closed before Febuary. This, shortly after the mine's train was upgraded from a grubby old BR85 (a good performer for the past 30 years, but sadly, not part of the companys "future vision") to a shiny "new" V100 (okay, borrowed from another branch line).

At about the same time as this news rocked the eastern side of the world (okay, when I say rocked, I simply shrugged my shoulders and decided to send the rolling stock elsewhere. The mine had been underperforming for months, even years prior, so it was not an unexpected moment), plans were underway for a massive upgrade of the north western corridor. Here you can see the first stage completed, as a shiny new BR103 races past an empty mixed-goods train, hauled by a Krokodil (actually one of the most numerous electric locomotives currently in mainline service, although they are slowly being replaced by the BR150, and the BR225 which is slowly being introduced in the next few years). In the past, these trains would have had to share the single-track, resulting in many delays.

By 1982, the current fleet of "shuttle trains" were entering their third stage of development. Pioneered by a pair of 3-car VT-137 sets, this "shuttle" service was developed almost 50 years ago to provide a means for passengers transferring from the down-mountain trains onto a faster, non-electrified train for the short run to the nations capital (Freihaven). Replaced by a pair of 5-car VT-08 sets soon after, as passenger numbers grew, by 1982, they were beginning to look rather dated, and generally "scruffy".

Thus, the decision to upgrade was made. BR420 EMU's were looked upon first, as recent electrification made this possible. However, it is inevitable that the rolling stock would go through to a fourth generation, so rather than purchasing six 3-car sets, to run in two 9-car sets, two 3-car sets were purchased, and supplemented by a pair of BR111's with coaches to match the BR420's. The livery being based off the DB's own S-Bahn colour scheme. Logic here being that, in later years, when a higher-capacity service was needed again, the BR111's could be transferred to replace the regions aging mainline-regional trains, currently a roster shared by BR140's, BR144's, and the occasional BR110.

[Raichase]

(Running with one piccie per post for a bit, as it's getting long )

Now, 1982 proves to be an interesting year for the company, as if the major commuter upgrades in the southern region wasn't enough, there was also major changes planned to the commuter lines running out of Cloppenmund, another one of the major cities on the map.

Here you can see the gem of the project, the new Pfungbruck Interchange. Becuase, as well as having the whole commuter line double-tracked, a new 2-platform station was constructed to the west of the current mainline station, thus diverting all S-Bahn traffic off the mainline, and onto their own dedicated line, for good. As you can see, the old and the new stations are connected by a very large underpass. Very large, an old high-way tunnel to be exact. Commuters mostly agreed that the new station concourse, combined with longer, more frequent trains, and topped off with an entirely new fleet of 420's and 111's to run on the line with all new coaches, to be worth the previous decades of run-arounds and heartaches when it came to the original two-platform station (where the solution to traffic congestion was to have more trains skip the town altogether).

The company is very proud of the new glass roofing design used on the new concourse, and looks forward to upgrading other old, run down stations in the same way. Likewise, new HST train stations are to be built in the major cities, using this design.

[Raichase]

Also, towards the end of 1982, the completion of the Hanhaven Upgrade (as shown in the picture from 1978) was on the cards. This project was created to try and easy congestion in the rapid growth area of Hanhaven. Not only do all of the mainline passenger trains pass through the station, it is also frequented by all-stopping trains on two different mainlines, as well as all of the goods trains, and raw material trains going to the nearby factory at Innsheim. Clearly, the 3-platform station wasn't coping.

Thus, the decision to widen the platform to 4-platforms was made, as well as expanding the express tunnel under the station from one to two tracks, thus allowing the empty frieght trains (now hauled by a mix of BR140's, 150's and 250's) to pass under the station as well.

Going from top to bottom of the first shot, we can see how it all eventuated. The uppermost line (Platform 4) was orignally the freight-bypass, which took 90% of freight trains out of the main station. However, this left only one platform for all the passenger trains, as well as the express trains (which do not stop here, currently) to cram into, creating major roadblocks. Now, this line is mixed, and at the junction to the west of the station, the goods, steel and wood trains are split from the passenger and coal trains, for the final trek into Cloppenmund.

Trains coming back FROM Cloppenmund, have it slightly different again. Now, all empty freight and non-stopping passenger trains share the two electrified tunnels under the city, bypassing the station altogether. Fully loaded freighttrains (very slow, usually hauled by a BR150 or a Krokodil) run through the main station (allowing faster trains to pass them in the tunnels underneth), whilst the all-stopping passenger trains now have two dedicated platforms to use, without having to share them with all the through, empty freights.

As an aside, the non-electrified tracks shown in the picture are the result of the failed Central Line. More on that later...

[Raichase]

The second shot of Hanhaven, as shown below, shows how large the city has gotten since it's orignal beginnings, when the mainline used to terminate here. The same two platforms are still in use, unmodified, as platforms 1 and 2, and you can clearly see the age starting to take it's toll.

Regardless, the Central Line trains were diverted to a new station to the east of the town, and there is a shuttle bus every 10 minutes or so between the two stations, to help ease the burden of the split lines.

Trains heading north out of the main station head up to Pfungbruck, then curve back around to the south east, to Freihaven. Trains heading east are mostly freight trains, using the main freight bypass (which cuts directly east, and shaves a hell'uva lot of traffic off the main line through Pfungbruck).

As you can see, there is still a working steam locomotive, in revenue service, stopped at the Central Line station. It is one of a pair of BR18's, brought into service in 1950, and approaching their 35th birthday. More on them, and the Central Line in the next post...

[Raichase]

This next shot, shows the small, oft-neglected town of Michelover. This poor town has had quite an unfortunate history, due to it's unfortunate location. A history lesson, perhaps...

When the mainline was extended from Hanhaven to its current terminus at Cloppenmund, it was deemed uneconomical to do the sheer volume of landscaping and station building to construct a mainline station at Michelover. Thus, a "temporary" solution was to divert the mainline between the town and the mountain to the north, with plans to come back later, and make a small loop to include the town on all-stoppers timetables.

By the late 40's, when expansion meant that the now permanent mainline would not be able to divert, a new solution was needed. This came in the form of a new line, built between Cloppenmund and Hanhaven, but, rather than following the (then, only used for passenger traffic) current line through Pfungbruck in the north, it was to wind through the central table-lands.

1950 saw completion of the station at Michelover, and marked the completion of the line as a whole, and a pair of BR18's were commissioned (the last steam locomotives to be built, interestingly enough) to run the all-stopping trains between Freihaven and Cloppenmund. Diesel was investigated, but there were no suitable long-haul diesels avaliable to make the long trip at a reasonable speed. The line, built as a single-track line with passing loops at all the stations, was imagined to the THE mainline between Cloppenmund and Freihaven, especially with the development of powerfull freight locomotives.

How often do plans fall to shreds... With major industry development to the north of Pfungbruck, and to the east to Schweinford, electrification on the line between Schweinford and Pfungbruck was a natural progression. With iron trains already using the, now double-tracked electric line between Pfungbruck and Schweinford, it was inevitable that the steel trains, moving towards Cloppenmund, would use the existing caternary and double-track, rather than spending great sums of money electrifying the Central Line, as well as the much needed double-tracking.

Thus, the Central Line, it's small, industry-less towns, and it's two BR18's faded from the minds of all those who did not travel on it. An ever increasing amount of passenger and freight traffic on the mainline through Pfungbruck demanded a solution, and that solution came to fruition in the early 70's, with a completely new, double-tracked electric line between Hanhaven and Freihaven being built, to cater to the freight traffic. This had an added bonus of taking the freights off the mainline, as well as drastically reducing their turnaround time (increasing profits), and, most importantly, it took all (save for a couple of food trains) straight out of Freihavens Central Station. This meant that the station would not need yet-another upgrade.

The Central Line continued in it's meagre existance, until the recession of 1975, where passengers were too nervous to spend their hardearned money moving around the country. This was most noticed on the last link of the Central Line, the link between Michelover (which was, at the time, an unco-operative town, with very few passengers) and Cloppenmund (not yet having had it's major growth stage of 1978-82). Thus, the line was shut down, and all Central Line (all two of them) trains terminating at Michelover. The tracks were ripped up, and replaced by a light-rail system.

With the town having grown substantially, experts are questioning the removal of the tracks, especially with Michelover having expanded over where the tracks used to be, making it hard to rebuild the connection again. However, one thing is for certain, Michelover is still the place to go to see regular steam, still in regular use, here in 1983.

[Geo Ghost]

Very nice shots!

I love some of those station designs in particular. They look fantastic!

[Raichase]

Thanks Geo - knowing that people out there are enjoying my pictures as much as I enjoy sharing them is a good thing .

EDIT: I hope you are all using browsers with tabbed views, you might want to open the next 3 shots in tabs, so you can stay uptodate

Below is another shot of the upgrade, this one just past Michelover. Now, the passenger expresses and the slow freights (including the container train shown below, hauled by a BR150) are kept seperate as much as possible. To the north, one can see a glimpse of the container yard that the train came from.

Also included here is a nice, large shot of Freihaven in all it's current glory. Looking back now from 1995, it seems kinda... small. Some trains in this shot are very close to replacement. When 1987-88 rolls around, the all-stops passenger train down the bottom (A BR144) is to be replaced by a far more modern model, as well as the BR110 going through the mainline on an Inter-city service.

The two BR110's on Inter-City runs were replaced at the end of the 80's by a pair of BR181's, with a completely new fleet of coaches. The BR110's themselves were retained in their former livery (after a quick touch up, as it was becoming rather grubby), and half of their coaches were either sold, or scrapped. They were then split, one of them taking the south-east all stops train to Cloppenmund, and the other (older) of the pair, the one shown here, was put into mainline service on the all-stoppers between Cloppenmund and Schweinford.

Finally, a shot of the new northern bypass, complete with flyover crossing in the north. This means that the only freight trains to pass through Freihaven Station are the food trains heading for the sidings just to the north. All other freights are either sent west to Hanhaven, and those running N-S are sent north. This has allowed for minimum disruption at the main station, despite seeing about 90% of all passenger traffic.

[Raichase]

Now, follows a couple of shots of the companies birthplace. The first major upgrade to the freight stations at Schweinford was the addition of a new container unloading platform to the north. Yes folks, thats still all one station . First station built in the game, I might add.

This is followed by a shot of the south, where the first, and probably one of the busiest, junctions still stands. Rebuilt about 3 different times, each one more annoying and hair-pulling than the last. Right now, it works just fine, delays are minimal. Could probably be optimised more, but I'm not going to tinker anymore, for fear of breaking the whole system!

Finally, a shot of Muhlford, the busiest terminus city in the alps. It actually has the most crowded station in the region, simply due to the sheer logistics of getting trains there regularily. Not to worry, plans are being drawn up for a new class of EMU, an Inter-city Express Train, aka ICE. This will be one of it's terminii.

[Raichase]

Last batch for now, expect the next lot to be coming from the 90's!

Firstly, here's a shot of Cloppenmund, the NW Terminus of the line. Probably sees LESS traffic than Schweinford's Main Terminus, however this one benefited more from the joys of planning. Schweinford was intended to be a terminus only for local shuttles going up the mountain, as well as those going to Freihaven, and instead turned into a southern terminus that takes 1/3 of all passenger traffic .

The town itself is growing through a major growth cycle, expanding constantly. Experts attriubte this to the new light rail to Michelover, the service allowing more passengers to commute into the city for work, thus increasing the economy. Or something similar.

This shot is followed by one of the major industrial areas, in the eastern corner of the map. Most of the industry for this map is concentrated in the east, and the north west of the map. Coal mines are all through the alps, and iron to the north, but not much else...

The final shot is of the regions easternmost town, which treated this company rather poorly initially, which is why the mainline was NOT extended to this location, and instead, a pair of Diesel Railcars were used to service it, right up until 1993.

[Bad Hair Day]

I like these shots (Especially the last six.) because they seem belivable. I can picture what they could be like in reality, unlike some of my abominably ugly creations.

I say, continue!

[White Rabbit]

These are all excellent screenshots, although I still prefer the ones that aren't too 'urban'. I've also noticed a foundation bug, where Sub-Arctic and Temperate foundations are mixed due to it being a 'steep slope' foundation: http://www.tt-forums.net//files/11_schw ... 83_109.png

[Raichase]

After a major train accident in 2021, and the resultingly enourmous lost train epic that followed, the previous savegame was unceremoniously dumped. I also learnt a hell of a lot when it comes to mountain building .

I just started a random map scenario in the Alpine Climate, and am VERY impressed with the result. Here's a savegame for Jan 1st, 1921 with the DBXL and a couple of other GRF's activated (notably, Michaels New Cargos). Thought I would share it with you, as, all going to plan, this is where my next shots will be coming to you from.

Attached is the save, a newgrf.cfg and a ttdpatch.cfg. All windows versions, etc etc.

[Raichase]

There are for Oskar .

Well, also because they looked good, and I happened to have my trigger finger(s) on CTRL-S.

BTW, by all rights, it should be the mid 40's by now, but I've kept rolling the clock back to properly enjoy some of the early trains and coaches. I just find myself never having the network to use the "pike" coaches if I play normally.

[Raichase]

Just one more couldn't hurt...

Actually, I quite liked this one, as not only does it celebrate the new terminus at... (/me checks...) Wertover, but it also celebrates the first electric line deep into the moutains.

Now, it should be about 1947 by now, but frequent year turnbacks in the scenario editor means that it's only 1924 .

No more though, this is the real thing now.

[Raichase]

Okay, last three for tonight, this time I mean it!

Again, until things get interesting and get some history behind them, short captions with the pictures for now.

[Flamelord]

Rai, I've been working with the Addliv set, and it should soon be ready for you to use in conjunction with the BRXL Set.

[Raichase]

Well, dumped THAT game, along with another 3 that failed to get started.

This one's showing some promise though...

The game itself seems to be focused on the southern corner of the map. At least, it has a decent cluster of towns. No industry on the map yet though.

The first shot shows us the joys of budget cuts. An explaination is required as to why this shot is so amusing. Originally, the company had decided to go with electric lines, as both lines were planned to meet in the mountains, as there are some decent-sized towns in them thar hills.

However, as the lines panned out, one each with a BR152, money started growing tight, and the northern most line started to head along the flat, grabbing the easy-access towns. As both lines were in simultanious development, rolling stock could be shared. At one stage, there were two BR38's running as well, one on each line.

Although when the line got to the area depicted in the picture, money ran out, and so the notion of electrifying the flat area was dumped. The BR38 from the mountain line was moved to the flat, and the BR152 was sent onto the mountain line.

Being a company not willing to admit defeat, the existing wires were left in place, with the power turned off. This spot marks the end of the initial boom period the company had.

The second shot shows the station with the highest passenger count on the route, the second station on the line running along the flat. The town also has a decent smack of room to expand in, too.

The third shot being the current terminus of both lines, with the coastal line running to the north, and the mountain line running to the east. Also in the shot is one of the BR152's .

[Raichase]

Look, I'm finally sticking with a savegame!

The first shot shows a very old BR152 working it's way down the mountain line, passing a wood train headed up the mountain in the one loop. The wood train, previously hauled by a BR175 (which was sold to another company to help afford this loco) is now hauled by a BR195.

The 152's coaching stock are starting to look a bit dated. In total, there are still eight 4-wheeled coaches and two 4-wheeled mail vans running on the line. Plans, and a budget are already in place to replace them...

The second shot shows the same train passing a ET-87 at the foot of the mountain. The ET-87 is on trial for the shorter runs up the mountain. It has a higher capacity than the 152's train, and is slightly faster too.

The final screenie shows the diverging place of the moutain line. From here, the ET-87s follow the line into the tunnel, which continues for another couple of stations before they turn around and come back again. This ensures a good service for most towns on the shorter branch. The mainline continues up the hill to the left of the screenshot, and will be the main line for all the other trains on the moutain.