Wasila's Screenies - British Rail

[Wasila]

OK, first things first, mods please move this if neceassary.

This is a journal, similar to those in Simtropolis, that documents the story of GlobalTrans, a new company that has just opened its headquarters in a quiet little corner of London. All advice and suggestions are welcomed, or even just a post to say you're watching. I'm using OpenTTD with cargodist, chunnels, signals in tunnels and bridges and extra-large-maps-patch, using r16816. I'm using the world map and these are the newGRFs:

2cc Trainset
Metro Tracks
Transrapid Trainset
eGRVTS
Hover Bus
Aviators Aircraft Set
Stolen Trees
City Stations
Suburban Stations
Rural Stations
Industrial Stations Renewal
Old Bridge
Total Town Replacement Set
Burj Al Arab
NewShips
Canadian Stations Set

Also be aware that I've never used most of these GRF's ( ) so this is a bit of adventure for myself too. Also the Total Town Replacement won't affect the city centres as it's a scenario. Vehicles never expire because I don't want to be stuck without any in 2100. Inflation is off.

As for AIs, I've got NoCab, ChooChoo and JAMI. (ChooChoo is too new and AdmiralAI doesn't work with cargodist). NoCab/TransAI might not work with cargodist either, as I've never tried it. If they overload the map with buses to a point where the game doesn't work properly, they might just disappear.

Attached is a very basic network map of my two main networks - North America and Europe.

--JOURNAL STARTS HERE--

The dawn of a new century. The 20th century. The dawn of a new age.
The age of transport.

R.S. Wright left the bank, a smile plastered on his face. After days of intense negotiations, he had secured a loan from the manager. £100,000 start-up, with a limit five times higher. He set to work on building a home for his new company, buying up cheap land in the corner of north-west London. GlobalTrans was born. Immediately Wright set to work, planning his first route.

Trains were a new invention, and the first ones were too slow for practical use. He had enthused at home for months about building steam buses around his city, but he soon realised that it wasn't practical. So he set to work on a network using more old-fashioned modes of transport - the 'Public Horse' network. Four 'horse stops' were created, circling the city centre. The carriage had six horses and went at the bone-breaking speed of 20 mp/h. A second carriage was launched, going in the opposite direction. It was the beginning of a revolution.

(Today it's a bit short, but I've only just started . What do you think?)

EDIT SEPTEMBER 2010: Beware that there are two network maps: 'GlobalTrans Network Map' and 'GlobalTrans Network Map New.' The latter is from the current game.

[Wasila]

I realise that this is a bit early for an update, but I also realised that the first post was way too short. I'm still trying to figure out how this is going to work, so bear with me.

R. S. Wright worked for days on end, some months even living in his dingy old office. He hired a couple more workers to ease the workload a bit but still times were tough. Despite this though, Mr. Wright had already become a household name in England. For the first time any one could get around London and the founder of GlobalTrans was responsible for it. He soon became so popular that one shop released the first autograph book!

But, of course, GlobalTrans wasn't stopping there. Despite initial misgivings about the abilities of trains, R.S. Wright soon gave in and built the Manchester - Birmingham line. Despite the double track, it suffered from a lack of the popularity that the London routes received. The train, a Budapest 1894, was hauled in - by horse - to the launch in Birmingham, which was well-documented by the local papers.

Birmingham station remained deserted. The trains would only load a full dozen each time before emptying the platform completely. Something had to be done. A new horse and carriage route was constructed, this time to Birmingham city centre. From there, a connection was built to London. Soon the network was overflowing with people. As for the original network in London, fourteen carriages were now in service.

[Wasila]

I just realised that I kind of forgot to use newstations . Next update will have shots of the new station. Remember, nothing ever happened .
BTW, I've only been able to build Suburban stations. Is that because of the date?

EDIT: My savefile just got corrupted, and my autosave hadn't kicked into action yet. Consider everything rebuilt the same way (except I've got a city centre to station route in Manchester now too.

[Wasila]

I've noticed that I've had over a hundred views, but no replies. Is there no interest or am I just not doing it right? And I'll ask again, are City stations and Suburban stations not buildable because of the year? Thanks.

GlobalTrans has moved abroad. Without a feasible way of getting to Dublin, R. S. Wright has moved expansion to Western Europe. The new route was to connect the Paris region with Randstand-Holland, but the Belguim refused to allow the tracks to be built in its area without a stop in Brussels. The company agreed and construction began. Three protests meant that construction was delayed for a number of months, but the work was completed in the end. With the expected future traffic, the route became the first 'ro-ro' line. With Randstad-Holland Region Woods being forced to the fringes of the city, another horse route is introduced to connect it to the city centre. So far, the loan stands at £240,000.

(Also I realise that I tend to build too much track for my trains, but what can I say? I'm a forward thinker! Also what do you think about skipping the game forwards a decade or so?)

[Badger]

I've noticed that I've had over a hundred views, but no replies. Is there no interest or am I just no doing it right? And I'll ask again, are City stations and Suburban stations not buildable because of the year?

Simple answer, yes.

[Wasila]

Was that to all three questions?

[Benny]

For me it's yes to all three, unfortionately..

But let me give you an advice; Do NOT play OpenTTD so that you can post pictures of your games here to impress us or similar.

[Wasila]

I wasn't trying to impress, just trying to have a kind of story going on. If absolutely nobody is interested, then I'll stop. If anyone is, speak up now.

[Badger]

Sorry, I agree really. Pics of your routes could at least have trains on them.............

[Wasila]

I probably started too early a year. I might give some sort of update when I've reached an age with proper trains out.

[Jimbow]

I do like your idea of telling a story, and your plan to make a global transport company.
And i look forward to follow how your company develops.

But i do not like your RO-RO stations and general station layout. I prefer some more realistic looking stations.
Take a look on some of the other threads in this section and get some ideas of how more realistic stations and junctions could look like.

You are right about that you might have started a bit too early, when you have no real trains and no ships. I had the same problem with one of my games that started in 1920.

[Wasila]

To be honest, I only started putting multiple trains on a track a few games ago! I know that there are screenshots around, but are there any 'guides to realistic networks'?

[beeb375]

Well just take a look at some of the other screenshot threads for ideas I'd say (I might as well advertise my old one: link), and don't try and plan everything too early, networks are usually more interesting if they grow naturally. Also, there's little things about your shots which make them a bit odd, for example calling a city 'London Region' looks a bit rubbish. Also, as was said, more trains in the shots are needed, and interesting things like station buildings and some junctions.

[Wasila]

Well I didn't create the map . Thanks for the link, I'll check it out.

[Badger]

Well just take a look at some of the other screenshot threads for ideas I'd say (I might as well advertise my old one: link)

Mine are better

[Benny]

Well just take a look at some of the other screenshot threads for ideas I'd say (I might as well advertise my old one: link)

Mine are better

Ameecher's are even better.

[beeb375]

Well just take a look at some of the other screenshot threads for ideas I'd say (I might as well advertise my old one: link)

Mine are better

Mine are better

Ameecher's are even better.

F*ck you both (in the nicest possible way)

[JamieLei]

Well my city is the biggest. End of!

[Wasila]

How many people is that?

[Wasila]

I'm going to try and revive this. Are these stations better?

It is 1948 and much has changed. Western Europe has become interconnected and so has the east coast of the USA. A line has been constructed in Britain, running from London-Manchester-Glasgow. And, as of 1947, a fourth line exists, straddling western India. Profits have soared, but so has competition. ChooChoo is rapidly becoming a decent competitor to the incumbent masters of the industry. All these services run with the 90 mp/h Royal Hudson trains, manufactured in Canada.

Two separate routes still exist from the days where metro was the only option. Los Angeles-San Francisco and a 3-station route traversing the entirety of Japan.

GlobalTrans, 26th Apr 1948.png

(252.72 KiB) Downloaded 180 times

Rhein-Ruhr station, connecting western and southern Europe.

GlobalTrans, 26th Apr 1948#1.png

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New York station, a central station on the North American line with a branch to Montreal.

London Victoria station is at the heart of GlobalTrans, with three sections right across London. The Domestic Terminal, the International Terminal and Heathrow Airport. The International Terminal is brand new, adding London to the West European Line.

GlobalTrans, 26th Apr 1948#2.png

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Also new is a transatlantic flight connecting New York to Paris and London, using the new 300 mp/h planes. Unfortunately, while the Paris connection has becoming very successful, the London connection is suffering from lack of passengers.

I also quickly whipped up a network map of my two main networks - Europe and North America - using Paint. Check next post.

Am I better than before?