Something I've Never Understood about Industries.

[Markleshark]

So how comes, when for example im transporting Coal and there is 120 tonnes (for example) at a train station and then it starts decreasing. Why does that happen? Where does it go? You can watch the amount at the station slowly decreasing. Not a huge problem (Although it can be) and certainly not a problem in the program, id just like to understand why.

Cheers

[Ailure]

If the station rating goes below 50% the waiting cargo will start to disappear.

[Dr_Cushty]

To stop this happening, make sure the pickup of goods is more efficient to increase the station rating - i.e, make sure a train visits the loading station more often

Two schools of thought on this matter -

1) Always have max length trains to keep the industry happy and constantly producing, at the cost of goods spending more time in the carriages (my approach)
2) Multiple, smaller, faster trains

[Markleshark]

Ah, thanks, I think I see now.

See, what I do is make the trains usually 5 or 6 carriages long, so there is always plenty sitting at the station, but so it is always going fully loaded every time.

Looks like this maybe isnt the best way to go about it then...

[ostlandr]

I run into this a lot. OpenTTD raw material industries seem to prefer frequency of service. Even if you have a three-track loading bay and at least one train waiting on "full load" at all times, the industry won't like it. They want to get paid for that coal right now, not have it sit at the station for weeks before you get around to delivering it.

One 'work around' for this is to use a transfer station fairly close to the industry. Use vehicles to make frequent short trips between the industry and the transfer station. For example, have a fleet of trucks or a small locomotive or two shuttling between a mine and a nearby rail station, then have either long unit trains or cargo ships take profitable full loads on long distance runs. For trains, this lets big horsepower like the 2-10-0 'Santa Fe' pay for itself. If you're lucky, production may pick up at the industry enough to allow you to load unit trains right at the mine.

Another trick I use is to build a station by a forest or mine, then build another station on the opposite side. Vehicles load at the sattelite station and 'transfer and leave empty' at the main station. This keeps the industry happy with frequent service, and lets you serve the main station less frequently.