Transport Tycoon Forums

***** Welcome to the Studios of Wallyweb Productions *****

For your favourite snack and beverage, please visit one of our conveniently located concessions.

Studio tours will assemble here.

You will be regaled with a variety of screen shots from many of our productions, presented to you in living ttdx colour in one of our 2-D wide-screen theaters located in our modern phpBB multiplex that seats thousands.

***** Current Attractions *****

Cinema 1 - Pipelines - A Documentary
Cinema 2 - Nars Valley Project
Cinema 3 - CanSet Project 0.3a - The Sequel

***** OPEN *****

The theater may be closed while we prepare our next attraction.
Please do not post comments until the OPEN sign is on.
Comments posted while we are closed will be removed.

Pipelines - A Documentary

With the onset of the new Pikkabird economy it soon became evident that building rail lines over, under, through and around rough terrain could prove to be extraordinarily expensive. In the search for alternatives, it became apparent that for one type of product a solution was at hand. Oil is a liquid and liquids are readily moved through pipes so why not transport oil via lines of pipe instead of via wagons of tanks?

Developers from the Patchman Consulting Corporation were consulted and responses ranged from "Impossible" to "Not very high on the to-do list". It quickly became apparent that if we were to have lines of pipe, "pipelines" as it were, we would have to be innovative.

Enter JGR and his irregular stations. The solution was so simple that we are still kicking ourselves. With irregular stations one can build a station at the destination with a branch of the same station near the source. Similarly, a "collector" pipeline could be built to move oil from multiple well heads to the "near source" end of the refinery station. Now, the laws of nature, ttdx chapter, require that for a product to be accepted by a destination, that product must be conveyed by a vehicle, be it road vehicle, train, ship or plane, so it was decided to use teams of tanker trucks to make a short one or two tile hop from the "collector pipeline station" to the source end of the refinery station.

As with all good concepts, a proof of concept was required.

First, we set out to find a location ideal to our purposes where the population was more concerned with efficient and timely deliveries than with environmental matters and all things green. The location also had to be well blessed in oil resources. A quick scan through our local newspaper's classified investment opportunities section quickly identified one such candidate ... Petroleum City located on the island of Petrolia concealed from public notice in the British section of the North Sea by an inordinately thick bank of fog.

A map was obtained (see image below) and the situation evaluated. As it so happened, they had loads of oil, both on land and at sea, with wells and rigs, a couple of oil refineries, a plastic utensils factory and some fuel depots already in place (see scenario below). Local Authorities were contacted and arrangements were arranged. Web Petroleum PLC [WPP] was established under the leadership of the famous Lord Wal E. Web, late of the British Admiralty (see image below).

[3 file limit - Story continued in next post]

Moving In

A suitable location for a headquarters location was located and a simple headquarters was built wherein we could interface with the locals. Furthermore, a local chateau was appropriated for residential purposes (see image below). As well, a local bus service was established (see image below) in order to placate the locals and keep our ratings at the highest possible levels. Also, a branch of St. Andrews University was established for the education of the locals' uneducated (see image below).

[3 file limit - Story continued in next post]

Construction Phase

The refinery end of the pipeline station was built (see image below).
A transfer terminal consisting of the refinery pipeline source end, the oil wells collector line delivery end, the oil rigs collector line delivery end and drive through truck stops was built.
An oil well collector line source end was established at oil well #1 (see image below). As the oil rigs already served as stations, oil rig #5, with its central location and proximity to land, was selected as the oil rig collector line source end (see image below).
Assuming that the concept would be proven, subsequent oil wells would be subsequently connected to the oil well collector line with their own branches of the oil well collector line. Oil rig collector service would be expanded by the use of ships to convey oil to be unloaded at oil rig #5.

[3 file limit - Story continued in next post]

Implementation Phase

The next phase of the project consisted of initiating production.
Eight tanker trucks were commissioned to move oil from the oil wells collector pipeline to the refinery pipeline.
Eight tanker trucks were commissioned to move oil from the oil rigs collector pipeline to the refinery pipeline.
one truck for each collector pipeline was sent out to "prime the pumps" (see image below).
Once it was seen that oil was flowing, the rest of the trucks were sent out (see image below).
The refinery was then monitored to ensure that it was properly firing up and producing product. (see image below).
In a pre-production run up, it was observed that the locals had built a new refinery in closer proximity to the oil transfer station than our alloted refinery. At that time, the oil refinery pipeline station construction was initiated at the collector end. Consequently, oil delivery was intercepted by the locals' refinery thus undermining our efforts. The oil refinery pipeline station was then demolished and rebuilt with initial construction at the refinery end. This ensured that our refinery properly received its oil. Thank you's are extended to Pikkabird and Csaboka for their assistance in resolving this issue.

[3 file limit - Story continued in next post]

Monitoring Phase

In an effort to recoup our costs for this project, we will initiate fuel oil delivery by rail to the fuel depots of Petroleum City. Furthermore, we will supply plastic to the Plastic Utensil Factory and provide a goods delivery service to move loads of plastic utensils to the citizens of Petroleum City.
(Note to Sheffield ... there may be an opportunity here for some stainless)
(Note to Sterling ... the locals should be able to afford silver before too long).
Please monitor this thread as progress will be be reported on in subsequent posts.

Should anybody in the audience wish to evaluate the pipeline concept for themselves, please feel free to use the scenario posted above. The cast of characters (grf configuration file) and the technical specifications (patch configuration requirements text file) as well as a recent save game file are posted below.

Please feel free to post your comments and questions. We will reply as necessary and when convenient.

This concludes the first episode of Pipelines.

Good Job Wally

It you miss the UltraTrain of Canadian National Railways

CPCNMAN007 wrote:Good Job Wally

It you miss the UltraTrain of Canadian National Railways

Thank you.
We will have trains to haul plastic but they will be British as the island is located in the North Sea and equipment is being provided by Pikkabird Industries.

***** PIPELINES ***** Episode 2 ***** Plastic Service

We were stunned to find that the citizens of Petrolia (Petrolians) had an affinity to the use of plastic utensils with their meals. They simply had no concept that other materials were preferred by the outside world. Apparently this dated back to the days of their forebears who were students at various schools, colleges and universities around the world and who were expelled in a mass expulsion because of their antisocial behaviours such as a preference for computer program hacking while instant messaging over take-out meals of fried chicken and pizza instead of drinking beer at tea time. In their haste to pack, they made sure that they had a good supply of plastic utensils just in case. Hence their descendants' insistence upon our providing a supply of plastic from the oil refineries to their plastic utensil factory.

***** PIPELINES ***** Episode 3 ***** Fuel Oil Service

The local authorities were quite appreciative of the bus service provided to them. However it soon became quite apparent that the buses would require fuel in sufficient quantities to tax their meager sources, hence their insistence that we provide additional fuel from the refineries to their fuel depots. As may be seen by the map, a start was made to a local rail service.

***** PIPELINES ***** Episode 4 ***** Utensils Service

Never to be satisfied, and considering the efficiencies of plastic and fuel oil deliveries by rail, the local authorities now insisted that a rail service be established to transport plastic utensils from the plastic utensil factory to Petroleum City.

***** PIPELINES ***** Episode 5 ***** Equipment Upgrades

The local authorities began complaining that bus service was poor due to inadequate capacity so new upgraded buses were purchased as part of an overall equipment upgrade that saw larger tanker trucks put into service along with the upgrading of engines from 0-8-0 to heavier and faster 2-8-0 models.

I wonder why people rarely reply here...
You're doing a fantastic job i especialy love your very detailed station constructions they look fantastic!

Indeed, very interesting building style. I like them It's always interesting to see how others build their networks. Looking forward to more pics

Killer 11 wrote:I wonder why people rarely reply here...
You're doing a fantastic job i especialy love your very detailed station constructions they look fantastic!

Thank you for your kind comments.
Yes, I do like to build realistic stations and depots as well as working them into the industries. The trend to modular station grf's are very helpful for this.
Stay tuned for the next episode ... there will be a shipyard.

***** PIPELINES ***** Episode 6 ***** Production Expansion

With the improved capacity in transportation, it was decided to expand oil production. A new shipyard was built and the MV0168 was put into service moving oil from rig #4 over to rig #5 which is at the head of the oil rig pipeline. As well, several of the oil wells were uncapped and hooked into the oil well pipeline. Production at the refinery has been monitored with a view to possibly adding transportation capacity with additional trains. A bottleneck due to increased capacity has been observed at the oil rig pipeline. Apparently oil rig #5 was able to increase production and along with the added input from oil rig #4, the tanker trucks have insufficient capacity to transfer the additional oil from the oil rig pipeline over to the refinery pipeline. Corrective measures are being arranged as we speak.

Very interesting concept with the pipelines indeed! ...and overall great screenshots, I'm looking forward to seeing more

By the way, those NABS buildings, are they available for the public? The only NABS grf I can find is a very old one, containing only the small houses.

jacke wrote:Very interesting concept with the pipelines indeed! ...and overall great screenshots, I'm looking forward to seeing more

By the way, those NABS buildings, are they availible for the public? The only NABS grf I can find is a very old one, containing only the small houses.

Thank you.
If you go back a few posts you will find a link to download my Pipelinenewgrf.cfg. The comments inside have the links to all the grf sources that I used.

***** PIPELINES ***** Episode 7 ***** Refinery Pipeline Extended

The corrective measures addressing the insufficient capacity to transfer additional oil from the oil rigs has been put in place and implemented. The oil rig pipeline was decommissioned. The refinery pipeline was extended to a point on the coast where an oil terminal was established such that oil tankers could discharge their loads directly into the refinery pipeline. Limitations due to the laws of ttdpatch nature precluded the ideal placement of the terminal at the WPP Shipyard dock. Consequently the ships would have to travel a greater distance thus necessitating a second maintenance facility as well as the need for the commissioning of a greater number of ships. It is envisioned that as the more remote oil rigs are brought on line a third maintenance facility will also have to be established. Plastic and fuel service from the refinery will be monitored for possible expansion and improvement as even more rigs and wells are brought on line.

***** PIPELINES ***** Episode 8 ***** Orudge's Taxi Service

One of the promises made to the local authorities was that Web Petroleum PLC's contract would promote local entrepreneurship. This has indeed been observed and an example follows. As previously mentioned, the St.Andrews University campus on Petrolia was established as a branch of the University of St.Andrews. A student of the University of St.Andrews with a penchant for continent hopping and globe trotting between lab assignments and classes and lectures was returning from one such trip and being in a fog of jet lag, too much beer and natural water droplets, while returning to campus in his new old automobile passed on to him by his father and prepared by John the mechanic, took a wrong turn, boarded the ferry boat, and disembarked onto the Isle of Petrolia. Seeing a sign indicating the direction to St.Andrews University, he thought he was on the right road home and proceeded to the local campus where he took up residence, not noticing the difference, being in the fog that he was in. The following morning , amidst the misery of the remnants of the previous day's journey, he noticed the error of his ways, but being himself the product of an island, he also noticed the familiarity of a once familiar island life. He chose to stay. Now, not being aware of the costs and expenses of operating an automobile, and finding contributions via Pay Pal running low, he found himself in a bit of a bind. His entrepreneurial side reared its ugly head and took charge. He summoned the assistance of John the mechanic and instructed that the car should be painted yellow and that a taxi sign be put on the roof. He then registered with the local authorities as Orudge's Taxi Co. and they were immensely pleased to accommodate him as they found that Petrolia and Petroleum City had few entrepreneurs and even fewer taxis. Orudge's Taxi Co. now plies the roads of Petrolia and gladly accepts Visa, Mastercard, Pay-Pal and cash fares and donations.