Locomotive Plants, sheds, and Mixed Traffic

[NekoMaster]

Living in Canada, I've noticed that some railways have to share passenger traffic with freight, like Canadian National here in Southern Ontario, where GO Transit and VIA rail share the line with frieght along the Windsor to Quebec Line. How would one optimize their line in OpenTTD to allow for mid-speed to express passenger traffic and freight?

Also, playing realistic games sometimes. How would one go about simulating a realistic railroad that has to have their locomotives built at a locomotive plant (eg. the Electro-Motive plant in London Ontario) and have locomotives serviced at Locomotive shed's (or stored when not in use)?

Screen shots would be appreciated

[FooBar]

In real life this is done by assignment of 'train paths'. Or specific times that trains must be a specific locations.
In the Netherlands we have a lot of mixed traffic, and here the often let cargo trains wait at sidings or stations to let passenger trains pass.

That is something you can do as well. More advanced by means of timetables. More simple by sidings along through track that are just long enough to let a faster train overtake a slower one. Maybe with help of priority signalling and waypoints (e.g. have cargo trains take the siding that has prio signalling that stops it in case there is a passenger train behind it on the through track).

Don't have screenshots at the moment, so use your imagination


Locomotive shed is not to complicated: include depot orders in your order list. Best is to unload train completely at the previous station so that you don't take the cargo with you to the depot.

Locomotive plant is a lot of manual labour: permit yourself to only purchase trains at specific depots. Then order them through your network to the local locomotive shed and from there give the train it's final orders. If your network allows to go from everywhere to everywhere, you can also just give the final orders directly from the locomotive plant. But in real life one often can't get everywhere from everywhere without some intermediate shunting (in the game that equals turning at a station).

[Eddi]

the concept of a "locomotive plant" is actually extremely silly. do you think the first steam engines got from england to mainland europe by rail? of course not, they were transported by other means to the locomotive shed...

same thing happens nowadays... or how do you think a new tram is getting from the plant to the city?

[FooBar]

same thing happens nowadays... or how do you think a new tram is getting from the plant to the city?

Depending on where it needs to go, on a truck, on a train, or on a boat. Or any combination of those. And in the city of destination often towed by another tram...

[bremerjoe]

Don't forget aircrafts. They are being used also to move trains around the globe in rare cases.

[michael blunck]

[...] do you think the first steam engines got from england to mainland europe by rail? of course not, they were transported by other means to the locomotive shed...

The disassembled "Adler" came via Rotterdam by ship and cart, and the whole trip needed 4 1/2 weeks. In 1835.

regards
Michael

[Jimmy Jazz]

For freight and local passenger trains I use engines that have roughly the same speed. Express trains get their own tracks and I make extensive use of waypoints to seperate local/freight and express trains after leaving a station. This way stations also look pretty cool and realistic with little waypoint buildings outside of the stations, especially if you use nice waypoint grfs.

So in my games a main line consists of four tracks. Two single-direction slow tracks and two single-direction fast tracks. Small towns just get a double-track slow connection, even smaller places just one single two-way track if there is just one train servicing the place.

[ra_27]

Well down under it seem that cargo trains wait at sidings or stations to let passenger trains pass.

I have just been putting side track away from station

Station with 2 tracks --> before station a siding that goes around station back to main trick other side of station back on to main line.

I have always done this but have just read the above I now see there is a way better way of doing it and next time I start a new game eg.. latter today I will be doing this way so many thanks.

[FLHerne]

MLSS might be worth looking at for shiny big loco plants