Financial effect of start year

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Baldy's Boss
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

Green Victory's key competitor folded in August 1959 and the financial effects were dramatic.
They had about seven tram stations in Whitstoke and in St. Tustock that were luring away passengers.
I'm tempted to blow up some tramway to prevent a future competitor from using it.
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

Here are the companies at their centennials,and the tides have turned.
Both are at record revenues in their 100th year,but despite having higher revenues and lower maintenance,Green Victory seems spiraling to bankruptcy with over 90% of the peak cash pile gone while Tillydean seems sustainable.
Whitstoke-St. Tustock went back into the read though trains seem to run with good loads,and the diving reliability of the Texas engines that dominated the Coal Mine Run group is forcing heavy spending on replacements.

What's the fix if there is one?...electrification is another thing to fund.(And I hate diesels!)

100 years down,70 years of inflation left...
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GreenVictoryRailroad,1stJan1865.sav
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TillydeanGrandVictorianR.R.,1stJan1937.sav
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Sylf »

You posted year 0 copy of one of the games
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

Sylf wrote:You posted year 0 copy of one of the games
Ooops.
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

Green Victory at 101...the Texas engines are finally out of the fleet,but now Hudsons,of which I have lots,are declining in reliability and there's no comparably fast replacement.
Profit or loss (with the cash pile close to gone) seems a function of how much of the sorely needed fleet replacement I do.Revenues are at record levels.

Tillydean remains in better shape.
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GreenVictoryRailroad,1stJan1966.sav
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TillydeanGrandVictorianR.R.,1stOct1937.sav
(3.89 MiB) Downloaded 106 times
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

Here are the companies at 102.
Again Green Victory is in the red thanks to investment but investment is necessary (Hudson engine reliability is cratering and many of them need to be replaced...electrification also costs but enables future savings.).
Tillydean is making money and will in one year issue the order to exchange all the old Clerestory passenger cars for new Lightweights when they hit the market.

Can GV survive?
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GreenVictoryRailroad,1stJan1967.sav
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Tillydean Grand Victorian R.R., 1st Jan 1939.sav
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

I note that I've been asked not to create any more topics on my games.
Of the two covered by this thread,Tillydean Grand Victorian is also in the "Consequences of Fiscal Prudence" and "Grenthwaite-Dardingway" threads,and Green Victory in the "Trying When the Tools Aren't There" and "Salvage Priorities" threads,some others may slip my mind at the moment.
I create a thread for each game in the "Scenarios and Saved Games" board on two occasions,the "up to date" topic when the gameplay date reaches the real-world date and the "finish line" topic when it reaches January 1st 2051 and I generally stop playing.There is also a "links to all my save-game topics" thread on that board (linking to the threads on that board),but that board is basically for retrospectives and not for gameplay advice.

Lately it is Tillydean that has gone into a death spiral while GV is treading water...not sure how to improve things but advice is welcome!
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GreenVictoryRailroad,1stOct1976.sav
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TillydeanGrandVictorianR.R.,1stSep1945.sav
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

Green Victory (started 1865) is moving forward at age 115.I note that century-old competitor Bloggs & Co. is about to go under thanks to a suicidal foray into aviation.

Tillydean Grand Victorian(started 1837) remains in desperate straits at age 110.I've been hoping to be able to get back a cash position by taking a breather on discretionary expenses but the performance is too erratic (look at the graphs!) to offer much hope.
I suppose there are some things that can be mothballed to cut expenses and clear blockage but with NO money to spend options are very limited.

Advice?
Attachments
TillydeanGrandVictorianR.R.,25thApr1947.sav
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GreenVictoryRailroad,1stJan1980.sav
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

Jubilee Rail (started 1887) is doing wonderfully at age 151.(Inflation on the whole time,as always).

Green Victory (started 1865) seems to be out of the woods at age 120,though dumping obsolete rolling stock kills profit if done too quickly.

Tillydean Grand Victorian (started 1837) seems in an irretrievable death spiral at age 111,nothing I do stops the losses.

There are similar NewGRF menus,but one difference besides start year is Tillydean is in a much larger world.Would that be a factor in its distress?
Attachments
GreenVictoryRailroad,1stJan1985.sav
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TillydeanGrandVictorianR.R.,18thSep1948.sav
(3.9 MiB) Downloaded 101 times
JubileeRailGroup,1stJan2038.sav
(551.15 KiB) Downloaded 95 times
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Alberth »

No way to tell what the cause is without proper analysis what kills Tillydean Grand Victorian.
I can't download the file now, nor do I have time now to do an analysis.

Assuming the company has at least some trains that run a profit, check all vehicle lists, order on decreasing profit, and sell at least 1/2 to 3/4 of it. Probably more importantly (assuming your infra-structure bill is amazingly high), also clean out all infra-structure you can do without. Start with everything that all the sold vehicles used, that is, mass-removal of tracks and roads.

Start at the bottom of the lists, and continue removing vehicles and infra-structure like a madman until you get positive results again (without counting the one-time income of all the sales you're doing).


Once you are in a mostly stable situation again, do more cleaning and pruning of every track and signal that you don't actually need.
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

Alberth wrote:No way to tell what the cause is without proper analysis what kills Tillydean Grand Victorian.
I can't download the file now, nor do I have time now to do an analysis.

Assuming the company has at least some trains that run a profit, check all vehicle lists, order on decreasing profit, and sell at least 1/2 to 3/4 of it. Probably more importantly (assuming your infra-structure bill is amazingly high), also clean out all infra-structure you can do without. Start with everything that all the sold vehicles used, that is, mass-removal of tracks and roads.

Start at the bottom of the lists, and continue removing vehicles and infra-structure like a madman until you get positive results again (without counting the one-time income of all the sales you're doing).


Once you are in a mostly stable situation again, do more cleaning and pruning of every track and signal that you don't actually need.
Found my least profitable YTD train,and saw it barely break even with a delivery.Sold it and its mothballed routemate,ripped up the tracks...but my negative cash position means the stations,depots,bridges,and tunnel can not be removed.
(These were steam engines on a route acquired with an AI that always built electric tracks...had tweaked it before but never a good earner.).
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TillydeanGrandVictorianR.R.,4thOct1948.sav
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Alberth »

One train isn't going to do it, every train you own must make a profit each year, except when there are special circumstances, eg you stopped it for a long time, or you messed with the tracks, and stalled them.

I messed around and killed a few more lines and trains, it seems to make a profit again, please have a look (used 1.6.1)
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Tillydean Grand Victorian R.R., 1950-02-23.sav
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Dave »

I'll say this for you, regardless of whether you play the right way, your games always seem to bear some reality to real life. Companies live and die all the time and apparently so do yours...

Not sure how you do it mind.
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

Green Victory is now 130 years old and profitable,though not as successful as Jubilee Rail was at 130.
Only 40 years of inflation left to go,managed well it should weather them and I can see what life is like "post-inflation".

At Tillydean Grand Victorian I've been gingerly implementing Alberth's rescue downsizing.Still not out of the red but
haven't reached his save date either.

As ever,advice is welcome.
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GreenVictoryRailroad,1stJan1995.sav
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TillydeanGrandVictorianR.R.,25thFeb1949.sav
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

Green Victory has edged into the 21st century but is having trouble staying profitable,with 34 years of inflation left.
A number of busy lines are backed up...where is the most revenue-increase potential?
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

More particularly...as trains from crowded Malwell-on-Sea approach Gruhaven Park,many get stuck in a depot.I just started another depot to try to divert some traffic so they are not all after service when they get to the second,but how does one make service available without getting trains stuck?
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Alberth »

Make sure trains can go in any direction they may want to go.
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

Alberth wrote:Make sure trains can go in any direction they may want to go.
But when they're in a depot and another train is stopped across the front of it...?
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Alberth »

Baldy's Boss wrote:But when they're in a depot and another train is stopped across the front of it...?
You can solve it in two ways, move the depot or move the train.

Move the depot means that you should build a depot at a different spot, where other trains don't block the exit (or less often, at least). To empty the previous depot, you may need to stop some train on the track before it manually, so it blocks other trains (and itself) from entering the depot. Leaving trains get the chance to exit the depot. Once it's empty, demolish the old depot, and restart the manually stopped train.

Move the train is less involved. Basically, a train may stop in front of any signal that you place (or at a platform of a station but that is intended). Therefore, if a train should not stop at some point, the signal it stopped for should not be there. In other words, remove that signal. It is safe to remove a signal when a train is passing through it, or when the block in front is empty.

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.
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Re: Financial effect of start year

Post by Baldy's Boss »

Would it hurt or help to allow trains at Gruhaven Park (now segregated into those for trains to/from Nantford,where Green Victory is headquartered,and those to/from Malwell-on-Sea) to use each other's platforms?

After nearly 140 years of inflation Green Victory is hanging on but still at risk.
After 112,Tillydean is barely alive.

As ever,advice is welcome.
Attachments
GreenVictoryRailroad,1stMay2004.sav
(568.3 KiB) Downloaded 78 times
TillydeanGrandVictorianR.R.,25thMay1949.sav
(3.89 MiB) Downloaded 84 times
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