Transport Tycoon Forums

I've not got enough screenshot threads have I!? Anyway, I've finally got back into the game after many months of opening the screen, trying to find a map and then closing the game again...

If you want to know where a NewGRF comes from, just ask.

Straight into the action then!

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Barton Mineral Railway, est 1860
The Barton Mineral Railway was established in 1860 by Mr J. N. Morgan, a prominent figure of the Barton Trade Board.

In late 1859, engineer Michael Rufford Draper completed an experimental coal-fired power station, in an attempt to modernise Bartonshire, which had a very progressive county council.

The BMR immediately laid metals to pits on Havant Hill and north of Luton, and with a substantial grant from the Barton Trade Board, constructed a large reception yard for coal arriving from both pits.

Here, No. 1 arrives with 23 loaded coal wagons from Havant Hill Pit, after negotiating the steep gradient on the hill.

Nice stuff Dave.

If I was to put my ultra critical, Screenshot of the Month hat on, I would say to put some non track tiles around the station and give it some road access too. How will the workers get there?!

I appreciate you are probably short on money if you are playing the game 'properly'.

A good screenshot and description .

SwissFan91 wrote:Nice stuff Dave.

If I was to put my ultra critical, Screenshot of the Month hat on, I would say to put some non track tiles around the station and give it some road access too. How will the workers get there?!

I appreciate you are probably short on money if you are playing the game 'properly'.

Patience dear! The Barton will be a railway renowned for its short sightedness!

As predicted, the Barton was slow to attend the requirements of the town it served! In late 1861, Barton Town Council had cooled significantly toward James Morgan, and demanded that if he was to build his railway he was to serve the town as well. The new fangled power station had not caught on quite as well as hoped, and despite serving the Bartonshire area well, was still unpopular with the town's locals, who preferred their locally powered homes.

As a compromise, the Barton Mineral Railway provided facilities for horse-drawn wagons to serve the communities in the centre of the town. In this shot, taken in July 1862, the BMR had developed the facilities extensively, and by this time included an office building and warehouses for the coal to be transferred to the carts to town. Two new locomotives, of smaller build than the heavy freights purchased to begin with, were acquired to bring smaller trains of coal from both pits, specifically for this purpose.

Plans were already afoot by this stage to connect the coal railway to the new steel mill in Bridlington, to the east of Barton, where it would be used to power the furnaces in that fledgling industry.

Nice story. Especially adding in the local context.

The steel mill at Bridlington began taking on supplies of the coal transferred by cart late in 1862 by virtue of a Bartonshire County Council agreement, but was obviously in requirement of iron ore and this was provided from the mines at Slough. Three trains were purchased to supply the mill, but the supply quickly outstripped the limited coal deliveries by cart.
Bridlington Town Council had made private enquiries early on to the Barton Mineral Railway, but James Morgan had at that time considered his loyalties to Barton too great.

However, his forced supply of coal to the town had slashed his profits and the continued cool atmosphere with which he was greeted by Barton's skeptical council had led to a change of heart.

With an injection of cash from Bridlington council to construct a bridge over the River Ling's course into Barton Water, James Morgan and his Chief Engineer Andrew T. Stanley built a single line from the power station yard to the Mill. This was completed in July of 1863. Barton's council first became aware when a cart operator complained of delays accessing the steel mill whilst a level crossing was constructed over the road.

Barton Council, as a whole, was furious. After forcing the town's Trade Board to expel James Morgan, they attempted to block access to the power station, but the County Council refused and in turn forced the town council to back down.

The brick viaduct was a serious engineering project and can be seen below.
The intention once steel was reliably produced was to service Barton's new factory, but James Morgan's relations with the owner of this factory was frosty as they were vehement dissenters of the railway. The owners had therefore demanded that lumber also be provided to ensure the factory's output was at maximum, as well as taking goods away from the factory once produced. But that's another story...

Good and interesting story about the construction of the railway.
Waiting for more stories from you .

By the end of 1863, some 12 trains were working into the power station yard at Barton, and a further three worked across the Barton Mill Line. This meant the single line layouts of the lines to Luton and Havant Hill pits were entirely inappropriate.
The solution was obviously to double both lines, and this was completed in the main very quickly - this shot from the 26th January 1864 shows the new tracks in situ, awaiting being connected to the running lines.
However, there were certain issues with this project, and a solution had not been found by February 1864 to construct a second line through the very narrow cutting near Luton Pits.

18 months on from the thorny affair with Barton Town Council, the town had finally started to soften their attitude as the effects of the line to Bridlington Steel Mill began to have effects on the economy in Barton. By this stage, the reception tracks at the Power Station yard had been reworked, with the lines from Luton and Havant Hill pits now effectively separated. The growing demand for coal had also caused the Barton Mill Line to be doubled, with the exception of Ling Viaduct. Further, the company's works had been expanded.
A deal had finally been reached to provide steel to the factory in Barton, and an Act of Parliament had been passed to authorise the line, with construction expected to start in October 1865. The railway was forced to travel around the south of Barton, but a passenger railway had been provided in the act, using the factory line before diverging to the Barton Mill Line, then sweeping east to the north of Bridlington. The line's roundabout nature was criticised by James Morgan, but there was nothing he could do to change the planners' mind.

The Ling Viaduct was now starting to cause issues with the traffic using the Bridlington Mill area. A wider bridge deck was due to be built by 1870.
Meanwhile, James Morgan had bent the rules again and, during a heated meeting with Barton Town Council, showed the worth of building through platforms facing towards both Bridlington and the big towns in the west. This forced a rethink about the layout of the railway to the south of the two towns, and allowed connection to the Johnson and Co factory outside the town of Barton. Steel was transported to, and goods were conveyed away to Bridlington station.

Passenger services commenced in February 1866.

Continuation of the history of the development of Railways in the UK

And now for something completely different... A Sub-Tropical game!

We join TransRail seven years into existence in the desert. After some single point-to-point lines to help the National Water Corporation, a large contract was exchanged with the General Goods Co, who own a large out-of-town factory between the village of Maracan and the desert city of Tulcán.

There are four loading lines for regular traffic, including rubber from three nearby plantations, and two longer sidings for double-headed copper ore trains from the Jimenez-Cruz company's mine near Huacho. The sidings and approach lines are awkward and poorly maintained, leading to lower speeds in the area of the yard. The shot below shows a general overview of the yard.
In this shot, engine Number 14 leads a rubber train from the Maracay Rubber Co siding, whilst a double-headed copper ore train (Engine Numbers 12 and 17) waits in the passing loop.
With large-scale production of goods in full swing the single line from the factory to Oasis Junction, where it meets the Tulcán-Elorza railway, was causing the railway some headaches, and the board of the General Goods Co were putting on the pressure to find a solution.

With a widened bridge deck proving too expensive, the plan was reduced to doubling the track on the Oasis Junction side, which would free up not only more track space for the goods trains, but would also clear up congestion around Tulcán station, where passenger services and fuel deliveries from Tulcán Petroleum were being held up. The shot below shows work partially completed along the line.

And a pair of less developed shots - both of independently built lines in the early days of TransRail.

Firstly is the water unloading station at Puerto Chala, a village with a water tower in the north.
Finally for now, the winding line which serves the Iberro Diamond Mine, taking diamonds to the bank in the plains town of Callao.

By 1962, the TransRail freight network had ballooned, now servicing the Chuchos Food Plant between Tulcán and Elorza, and helping both towns to go by providing processed food and water.

The network had been built on the Victorian principles of absolute block signalling, as the cost of long signalling equipment was prohibitive. This was now, however, causing unacceptable delays.

In this busy shot, we see three trains.

First, Engines 19 and 20, at the head of an empty water train, wait for the down signal to clear past the depot towards the northern part of the Eastern Line. The next signal is over sixty tiles away; this causes huge delays.

Meanwhile, Engines 201 and 202 shuffle their maize train through the main line tunnel, and round the tight curve to travel over the main lines into the food plant yard.

Finally Engines 21 and 27 lead a water train to the Tulcán station complex, where a special water platform is provided.

The future, now that money was surplus, was to provide colour light signalling, drastically reducing the signal blocks, and removing the requirement for the signalling outposts that the company had created to alleviate the problems with the block principle.

Great pics and love the commentary. Makes me want to play a tropical game!

Another random shot.

The Marlow Mineral Railway (est 1875) had, by the end of 1876, reached mines at both Morley and Henley. Here engine number 2 arrives at Marlow's extensive yard with coal from Henley. Morley's proximity means that only one engine is required to meet the demand of the Morley Mine company's production. Henley Mineral Co. is much further away and two engines work trains to and from that company's coal mine. The line is single throughout bar a passing loop at North Marlow signalbox.

Great shot Dave, it's in the middle of bloody nowhere!

That last screenshot makes me feel less silly for putting headshunts into my station designs.

A new found desire to play has spawned the inevitable new game.

In 1870, wealthy businessman Robert Andrew Crossley organised a delegation of local business owners to answer the requirement of Messrs Brownlow and Chester. These owners of the Bicester Coal Mine Co requested transport for coal from a rich seam in the Derbyshire hills to the municipal coal yard outside of Sollom. Here was not only a domestic coal yard served by local businesses, but also an experimental coal-fired power station.

Three road yards were built at either end of a mainly double track main line using the most advanced signalling techniques available to the company. Even so, the long block sections made close running difficult. As early as September 1870, the line was experiencing congestion outside the mine yard, where the road reduced to single track to traverse a tunnel and steep bank. Here, Engines number 5 and 6 wait at the head of their trains for Engine number 3 to arrive into the yard. Robert Crossley had already made enquiries to both the coal company and the district council, and by February 1871 a second running tunnel was under construction.

At the top of this shot you can see Bicester Bank signal box, with its down starter in front. The coal, meanwhile, backs up in the yard.
By 1875, with the company booming, the municipal council requested that workers be transported in proper conditions rather than the coal wagons which they hitched rides on instead. The company employed a Metropolitan 0-4-4T and a single 6 wheeler to get workers to and from the mine. The company also added a van and open truck for mining equipment and supplies to travel with them. Here the short train passes Bicester Bank signal box, about to attack the incline.
As mentioned, I've tried to stick to traditional signalling arrangements, although it's quite hard in TTD obviously! I've annotated each signal with its description...

Signal Box
CH - Chorlton Hill
DE - Derby Station
DC - Derby Coppice
DW - Dawson's Wood

Line
De - Derby (passenger lines to Derby)
Dn - Down (away from Sollom)
Th - Through (passenger lines past the yard)
Up - Up (towards Sollom)

Signal type
Ds - Distant
Hm - Home
St - Starter
Adv St - Advanced Starter

I think that's just about right - this is pushing realism to just about the limits of micro-management. But it does make you think about your networks a bit more.