[OTTD] Landsborough Central, 1956 (NARS, ECS, 1024x2048)

[Espee]

LANDSBOROUGH CENTRAL (1870-present) - 2 MARCH 1956

Landsborough Central - Diesel -1956-0422 - InfoA.png (773.1 KiB) Viewed 7902 times

Due to a current lull in my work schedule, I have an opportunity to play some OpenTTD and catch up on a few back requests from the last few years, including uploading some of my savegames, which feature heavy North American style railroading over rugged terrain. The Landsborough Central is my latest project, started in 1870 and featuring a large (1024x2048) custom heightmap with rugged terrain, a perfect setting for long passenger trains and multi-headed freight manifests. SwissFan91, Kamnet and others in this forum have provided some inspiration to help me "up my game" a bit, so I hope to have something worthy of contribution back to the forum. Here I am uploading the savegame for 2 March 1956, during the transition from steam to diesel-electric power on the LC rail network. At this point in the game I have 250 trains, 324 road vehicles, and a company valued @ USD $250 million...

Landsborough Central, 1956-03-02.sav

Landsborough Central (savegame) - NARS, ECS, custom 1024x2048 heightmap

(4.63 MiB) Downloaded 570 times

Anyone who has seen my previous screenshot threads knows that I tend to go off on long-winded spiels about the background history of my transport companies, touching on some of the little known and irrelevant facts about the colorful characters that exist somewhere in the ether. In this case, I'm going to take a different approach, and spare everyone the windup. Instead, you will got long-winded dissertations on my particular style of play, which is a bit involved. My transport systems focus on the really fun stuff - railroads - and involve planning integrated rail networks instead to maximize my company's infrastructure dollars instead of just running track all over the place. Given that 200+ train and 300+ road vehicle networks are quite the norm in my games (I rarely play with air, as I tend to have enough going on as it is), I have to spend a lot of game time managing and planning as often I have my hands full keeping what I have going. I will include some notes on how I manage my rail networks and look forward to input on how others do the same...

[ISA]

It seems nice! Can we see a map overview and some more shots?

[Espee]

It seems nice! Can we see a map overview and some more shots?

It's what we call a "work in progress" - give me a couple of days and I will put up all sorts of stuff...

SP

[Espee]

LANDSBOROUGH CENTRAL - Setup

I start out with one of my hand-drawn heightmaps I have developed for my preferred play style: mountainous, rough terrain with wide water courses to present additional challenges. I have settled on 1024x2048 as being the ideal size, as it offers enough wide open space for expansion without causing my less-than-state-of-the-art gaming platforms (5 year old laptop and 10 year old desktop both STILL running Windows XP SP3) to bog down:

LandsboroughCentral-Heightmap.png

1024x2048 heightmap

(1.59 MiB) Downloaded 11 times

My list of NewGRFs included plenty of eye candy in terms of stations - ISR is my must-have for cargo railroading, but I do find plenty of opportunities of places where CHIPS comes in handy, particularly to make iron ore and sand loading stations that are visually different than the mineral loading station I use strictly for coal. However, the real play enhancers are NARS (my favorite rail vehicles set) and ECS, which adds sufficient complexity and challenge to make the game interesting:

NewGRF list

Landsborough Central - NewGRF -1956-0302.png (12.06 KiB) Viewed 7879 times

Last but not least, please see my list of advanced settings, with the arrows pointing to the most critical items:

Advanced Settings

Landsborough Central - Settings -1956-0302-A.png (239.72 KiB) Viewed 7875 times

The idea here is to challenge the player into putting a bit more thought into the route planning process. 90 degree turns are forbidden - which of course will pretty much kill half of the rail-based AIs out there (but that's a topic for another day). Vehicle breakdown are reduced but still present, requiring some planning for routine train maintenance and keeping you from running 4-4-0s into the 1970s. Slope steepness for trains is set a 3% with a 3x weight multiplier to get you thinking about how much tonnage your wood-burners are going to pull up the hill. We're running LONG trains here, so the maximum station size is set to 16 tiles BUT train size is set to 20 tiles, to allow some working room in the maintenance depots as NARS resizes certain vehicles such as the 2-bay hopper cars when refitting for different loads. Road steepness for road vehicles is set at 5% so you won't just be tempted to drag a road up and down hills when planning your routes...

[Espee]

LANDSBOROUGH CENTRAL - Background

Rail System Map - 1956

Landsborough Central - SystemMapC - 1956.png (684.42 KiB) Viewed 7861 times

The Landsborough Central Railway and Navigation Company was founded in January 1870 to connect Landsborough with Brohall, two cities separated by hilly terrain known as the Headlands separating the two main tributaries that fed into the Great Inland Bay. Initial emphasis was placed on passenger service and catering to the local agricultural-related businesses on the south bank of the Avon River, but by the turn of the 20th Century the LC had extended track across the river to the steel mill still located to this day at Wracombe Cross Woods. Rich mineral deposits in the area known as the Northlands provided coal and iron ore to the steel mill, which shipped its output to the goods factory in Carnwell. Oil deposits nearby as well as up in the vicinity of Nanhall in the far north (in the land referred to by locals as "the edge of the map") drove the second big round of expansion as the Landsborough Central was extended to Mesningham Refinery. The fertile region of the Northlands provided fruit and cereals to the food processing plants and population centers of the Jamesburg plain. Rapid growth in this area as well as in the area of Exdown provided the impetus to build extensive and largely profitable passenger business in these areas, with the system gradually expanding to the north.

Landsborough Central - Landsborough - 1880-0818A.png (971.12 KiB) Viewed 7842 times

By the 1930's, the need for additional coal to supply the steel mill encouraged the LC to expand southward. Explosive population growth in the Brondtown Valley area just east of Brohall led to rail expansion into that area a couple of decades earlier, with the all-electric Alpine Division providing service to Trunnston Heights, currently the furthest point south in the LC rail network. Most of the rail network is reasonably tied together, but the discovery of large oil deposits outside of Karlsberg in the far west at the same time that LC's original sources have been ceasing production resulted in construction of the (presently) isolated (and 100% dieselized) Dunton Division in the early 1950's.

Landsborough Central - Dunton Division - 1956C.png (447.9 KiB) Viewed 7842 times

Road vehicles in the form of street trams and buses have always been heavily employed as feeder networks, or in rare cases to provide service to isolated communities that LC management has considered likely candidates for future expansion. In some cases bus/tram stations have been located in cities years before being placed into use, as urgent opportunities often compete for the attention of the executive and engineering staff...

[Espee]

LANDSBOROUGH CENTRAL - Current Issues

Sound financial management and solid strategic planning under the leadership of current LC president Tyrone Jones have served the system well to date. A well balanced passenger network with comprehensive feeder service has helped build up towns such as Tuntown, Plesbourne and Brohall to the point where they are major cities and regional transportation hubs. The policy of developing comprehensive services to support the rail network has resulted in a system where most of the trackage is used quite efficiently. A cash reserve of around $150 million permits completion of major capital expansion programs in a timely manner . However, there are a few urgent issues to be addressed, mostly attributed to the ability of one player to manage such a large system. For this reason, I do enable the ability to build track and purchase equipment/vehicles while the game is paused, as it is the only possible way to keep things under control...

Landsborough Station, 2 March 1956

Landsborough Central - Passenger Traffic.png (477.8 KiB) Viewed 7808 times

The wild success of intercity passenger service is what President Jones considers "a good problem to have". Even with 6-track stations and multiple-unit diesel-electric trains with 15+ passenger cars, the larger stations typically have backlogs of several thousand passengers waiting to load trains - at one point in late 1955, Tuntown had a backlog of over 12,000 passengers. Jones has pointed out that certain game limitations inherent in OpenTTD, particularly the single-track one-way maintenance depots, limit the productivity of expensive passenger equipment. In fact, Pres. Jones stated in an interview with the Landsborough Business Daily that if he could force one single change on the OTTD developers, it would be the introduction of "roll through" maintenance depots along the lines of freight stations. Some creative solutions have been implemented by the LC over the years, such as the through terminal approach with one-way platforms and maintenance depot set up to turn trains, as well as the split-level yard throats implemented at Tuntown, Stanford and Brondtown. Some additional creative thinking and planning will be needed to ensure that overflow traffic does not prove an attractive lure to potential AI competitors.

Nanhall Wells Station, 2 March 1956

Landsborough Central - DepletedOilfield.png (322.09 KiB) Viewed 7808 times

While coal, iron ore, and fruit traffic has been steadily increasing with commensurate gains in high-value steel, goods and food traffic, recent downturns in oil production have severely hampered oil traffic as well as downstream traffic including refined products, dyes and fertilizer. Two of the three oilfields serving the Mesningham Refinery (the Nandown and West Grinness formations) have been exhausted, leaving Avonstone as the sole supplier for what was the sole refinery online before the Josefsstatd Refinery started operations downline from Karlstadt Wells on the isolated Dunton Division out west. Any expansion in oil-related byproducts will require either shipping refined products from Josefsstatd to the rest of the system via a new service (either rail or ship) or locating new sources of oil near the existing main network.

Steam Powered Trains, 1956

Landsborough Central - Steam Old -1956-0422.png (46.6 KiB) Viewed 7808 times

Last but not least, the venerable steam locomotives that have served the Landsborough Central well are due for replacement. Considerable dieselization has already occurred, but with steam still comprising nearly a third of the motive power's cumulative horsepower, work remains to be one. The GG1 electrics on the Alpine Division have proven quite satisifactory for 100 MPH long-distance express trains, but the bulk of the system's passenger trains are in the hands of EMD E series passenger diesels set up with 55:22 gearing for a top speed of 98 MPH. 172 of these units in various configuration of 2-unit, 3-unit, and 4-unit road sets as needed, have been purchased since the initial 3-unit set (E6A-E6B-E6B road numbers 9600A, 9600B, 9600C) was acquired in 1940.

The Landsborough Central currently has 2 categories of cargo service based on train speed: Drag freight service for minerals (coal, sand, iron ore) at 55 MPH, and manifest (general cargo) at 65 MPH. The ability to gear the 4-axle EMD units (F and GP series models), 4-axis Alco cabs, and the 6-axle FM Trainmasters for 80 MPH has given LC management the idea of a new "express" level of service for fruit, food, goods, and even refined products, which can possibly share traffic with passenger trains on low-volume long-distance lines...

[Espee]

LANDSBOROUGH CENTRAL - Rail Network

The design of the rail system of the Landsborough Central follows my particular style geared for (IMHO) the best possible combination of visual and operational realism. Instead of building separate lines for each service, I concentrate on (again, in my humble opinion ) well-engineered high-capacity trunk lines with branches to industries as needed. Passenger and freight service are generally segregated for obvious reasons, but I start off with trunk lines in a given area serving as many industries as possible to maximize the return on my right-of-way investment.

Later in the game, when high-speed diesel-electrics become available for cargo hauling, I will build some express lines for 80 MPH running so that my hotshot goods, food and auto trains aren't stuck behind 5000-ton iron ore drag limited to 55 MPH, but I may also move these to secondary passenger lines as well. In any case, I try to get as much utilization out of my track network as possible.

The layout of the trunk lines includes certain personal restrictions:

• 90 degree turns for trains/rail vehicles are forbidden (covered in Advanced Settings).
• Absolute minimum turn "radius" permitted is 2 TL (tile lengths) for yard and station trackage, 3 TL for mainline use EXCEPT in mountain districts, were tight curves are the norm.
• Rail grades are limited to an absolute 1 elevation step rise/fall in 5 TL on steep local branches, 1 in 7 on mainline mountain districts, and 1 in 10 on high-speed passenger lines.
• I also make a point to incorporate separated grade lines at junctions with other trunk lines to keep traffic flowing smoothly as well.

Alpine Division Map, March 1956

Landsborough Central - Alpine DivisionC.png (592.08 KiB) Viewed 7796 times

In order to keep things visually and operationally manageable, I divide my rail network into identified (named and numbered) divisions, based on some practical combination of geography and traffic types. Trains are assigned to a given division then further categorized by particular service (more on that later). A division can have 1 to 10 different services but not more than 25 or 30 trains. Divisions will often grow with expansion to new industries so often in the game I will to stop and break a division into 2 or more parts, or move certain lines into a neighboring division if it gets too unmanageable. In this current game, the old Acchead Division (number 5) was divided into 2 divisions in the late 1940's when new coal and iron ore deposits were discovered in the Northlands. Trackage north of Wracombe Cross Woods was assigned to the new Jamesburg Division (number 16). The remaining portion of the Acchead Division was renamed the Fifth Division as it no longer operated in the vicinity of Acchead.

Current rail divisions and their originating traffic are identified as follows:

• LANDSBOROUGH DIVISION (01) - Passengers and Mail
• PLESBOURNE DIVISION (02) - Passengers and Mail
• TUNTOWN DIVISION (03) - Passengers and Mail
• TREWOOD DIVISION (04) - Cereals, Fruit, Oil Seeds, Fertilizer and Goods
• FIFTH DIVISION (05) - Coal, Iron Ore and Vehicles
• WRACOMBE DIVISION (07) - Steel and Goods
• MESNINGHAM DIVISION (08) - Cereals, Fruit, Oil Seeds, Fertilizer, Oil and Refined Products
• ABER RIVER DIVISION (09) - Dyes and Fertilizer
• EXDOWN DIVISION (10) - Passengers and Mail
• GRINDORE DIVISION (13) - Glass
• BROHALL DIVISION (14) - Coal and Sand
• ALPINE [ELECTRIC] DIVISION (15) - Passengers and Mail
• JAMESBURG DIVISION (16) - Coal, Iron Ore, Vehicles and Food
• DUNTON DIVISION (17) - Oil, Refined Products, Wood, Wood Products, Paper and Goods

Please note that all numbered divisions are not assigned to rail use, as some divisions incorporate road vehicles only...

Wracombe Cross Woods, March 1956

Landsborough Central - Wracombe Cross Woods B.png (889.9 KiB) Viewed 7796 times

On divisions such as the Alpine Division with one main line, no branches and a single combined service (passengers & mail), further differentiation of the line is unnecessary. However, on divisions with multiple branch lines and/or complex interchanges to other divisions (see the picture of the track layout at Wracombe Cross Woods above), the trackwork may be further delineated with subdivisions and branches, as well as multiple control points and towers to keep trains on the proper routing through complex junctions. These various subdivisions (alternately referred to as mains, branches, or yards) will have their own alphanumeric identifier and be signed accordingly. For example, the Acchead Hills Branch, identified as Subdivision C on the Jamesburg Division (16) has a unique track identifier of 16c.

To be even more thorough/obsessed/anal-retentive in my system identification (take your pick ), I have taken to renaming maintenance depots to provide a better indication of their position, using the subdivision identifier followed by the letter W or E to identify whether it is a "westbound" or "eastbound" depot, followed by sequential numbers from the "west" end of the subdivision - odd numbers for E depots, even numbers for W depots. I may not be sure offhand where Stanford Depot #1 is, but I know that Stanford Depot 10e E1 is the first "outbound" maintenance depot from Stanford East on the Stanford Main, Exdown Division (10e). Given that I tend to pair depots, I know the one immediately across from it is Stanford Depot 10e W2.

This effort may sound sort of trivial, but if you have long train routings with 30+ control/routing points along the way, and need to force trains into regular depot stops (remember, we play with breakdowns ON), it can be easy to goof and click on the wrong depot when setting up a service route. This method lets me scan the final routing quickly and pick out sloppy mistakes if I see an E depot in the middle of a westbound routing...

Brohall, 1956

Brohall Names.png (414.96 KiB) Viewed 7787 times

I also extend my O/C tendencies to station abbreviations, using a system that older gamers may recognize as being lifted from Sid Meier's Railway Tycoon. Each town served by the LC gets a 3-letter identifier, with a 4th letter used to differentiate additional stations in the town limits. For example, Brohall is assigned the town identifier of Bhl, with Brohall Central as BhlC, Brohall woods as BhlW, etc. This comes in handy as I use the same abbreviations for identifying originating and terminating stations for all transport vehicles (trains/plains/ships/RVs) and service identifiers.

[Espee]

LANDSBOROUGH CENTRAL - Route and Train Identifiers

Jamesburg Division Routes - 1956.png (71.83 KiB) Viewed 7786 times

Most of you dedicated ferroequinologists of the UK persuasion should be familiar with the old British Railway 4 digit head codes displayed up to the 1970s on the front of any BR train. I use a 6 digit (expandible to 7 digit) code to identify particular route assignments in my OTTD games. The first 2 digits are the division number, followed by a 2 digit alphanumeric code indicating the cargo type, followed by a unique 2 or 3 digit identifier for each service, based on the order of introduction. This is followed by the abbrevations for the originating and terminating stations. For example, the pioneering passenger & mail service from Landsborough Terminal (LbrT) to Brohall Central (BhlC) on the Landsborough Division (01), Service Route #1 is identified as 01PM01 (LbrT-BhlC). The coal service from Aberhead Heights (AhdH) to Wracombe Cross Woods (WcCW) on the Jamesburg Division (16), Service Route #53 is identified as 15CL53 (AhdH-WcCW).

Cargo codes are identified as follows:

• CE - Cereals
• CL - Coal
• DY - Dyes
• FD - Food
• FE - Iron Ore (Ferrum)
• FT - Fruit
• FZ - Fertiilizer
• GD - Goods
• GS - Glass
• LS - Limestone
• ML - Mail (only)
• OL - Oil
• OS - Oil Seeds
• PL - Petrol
• PM - Passengers & Mail
• PR - Paper
• PS - Passengers (only)
• RP - Refined Products
• ST - Steel
• VH - Vehicles
• WD - Wood
• WP - Wood Products

Landsborough Central - 7002ABCD - 1956.png (230.51 KiB) Viewed 7786 times

All trains on the LC get unique identifiers as well, but we don't assign TRAIN numbers per se. Instead, we use engine numbers . Yep, every steam loco, juice jack, diesel-electric unit and self propelled railcar on our system has a unique number assigned to it, keeping the trainspotters busy and prompting volume sales of Ian Allan number books at our well-stocked passenger station gift shops As can be seen in the picture above, Landsborough Central trains are identified by engine number(s), station abbrevations and cargo codes. A quick glance at the train identifier provides us with routing, cargo type, and an idea of what's up front doing all the work...

[Espee]

LANDSBOROUGH CENTRAL - Motive Power Roster

Roster-1956-SummaryA.png (284.97 KiB) Viewed 7778 times

Landsborough Central - Roster -Steam A - 1956-0422.png (413.45 KiB) Viewed 7778 times

[Espee]

LANDSBOROUGH CENTRAL - Motive Power Roster (continued)

Landsborough Central - Roster -Electric A - 1956-0422.png (481.67 KiB) Viewed 7777 times

[Mizari]

I notice that the passenger network and the goods operations seem never to share trackage, is there a reason for that? I tend to think it looks quite awful myself, so I like to mix 'em.

I noticed also that you double-headed rather short electric passenger trains (GG1's), which seemed a bit excessive given their light load, was there some particular reason for that, too?

And AI's sure aren't good at doing railways yet, regrettably...

[Kaiser-NA]

How exactly do I use this as a heightmap? Your playstyle and route-planning is exactly what I've dreamed of doing since I started playing a month ago, though I still have much to learn.

Keep going, this is inspiring!

Also, I know it's too late for this one, but is there any way you could turn one of these scenarios into a let's play? It would make it so easy for me to see how you plan through rough terrain, and help me polish my mountain-traversing skills!

[Baldy's Boss]

I note that you stopped buying steam locomotives in 1938.I try never to buy a diesel at all and go straight from steam to electric,so we have different rolling stock philosophies.

That issue apart,I think I could benefit from your expertise on my games,so if Mr. Jones has some personnel available to consult...?
(One's in need of integration after growing overwhelmingly by acquisition,no trunk lines when I'm sure they'd help;
one has massively crowded passenger platforms in very early going;
one's in the same time period & world size as Landsborough but vexed by low ratings).

[Espee]

I notice that the passenger network and the goods operations seem never to share trackage, is there a reason for that? I tend to think it looks quite awful myself, so I like to mix 'em.

I noticed also that you double-headed rather short electric passenger trains (GG1's), which seemed a bit excessive given their light load, was there some particular reason for that, too?

And AI's sure aren't good at doing railways yet, regrettably...

Greetings, sorry for the delayed reply as I have been busy with work and travel...

I run separate trackage for cargo and passengers because it would create a bottleneck if passenger trains capable of running 100+ MPH were stuck behind drag freight trains capable of making only half that speed. Later in the game I did introduce some divisions where passengers and fast freight trains do share the same trackage, and locomotives and freight cars (wagons) capable of faster speeds are available. These lines all have trains geared for 80 MPH, with the cargo trains somewhat overpowered to keep with passenger schedules.

As for the GG1's, my double-headed passenger trains on the Alpine Division are 8 TL long, meaning 2 locos and 14 cars, or 7 passenger/mail cars per train. Grades and the need for rapid acceleration out of stations necessitate the double-heading, which was certainly common practice on the PRR NY-Washington corridor where the G-motors ran in real life. This division certainly makes money, so I must be doing something right...

[Espee]

How exactly do I use this as a heightmap? Your playstyle and route-planning is exactly what I've dreamed of doing since I started playing a month ago, though I still have much to learn.

Go to the 4th post in this thread, dated Fri Sep 12, 2014 11:01 pm, and download the file named LandsboroughCentral-Heightmap.png. There's your heightmap.

Keep going, this is inspiring!

Thanks, glad a few people are interested...

Also, I know it's too late for this one, but is there any way you could turn one of these scenarios into a let's play? It would make it so easy for me to see how you plan through rough terrain, and help me polish my mountain-traversing skills!

Please explain your request a bit more clearly, and I will do what I can to help.

[Espee]

I note that you stopped buying steam locomotives in 1938.I try never to buy a diesel at all and go straight from steam to electric,so we have different rolling stock philosophies.

I do make more extensive use of electric locomotives when using European NewGRF sets such as 2CC or DB Rails but most of my gaming is with NARS, which accurately reflects the fact that long-haul freight electrification in North America outside of the Northeastern US and the Rocky Mountains (Great Northern, Milwaukee Road) was pretty much non-existent. Around 1940 when most of my bread-and-butter drag freight locomotives (2-8-0/2-8-2/2-10-2/2-8-8-2) are ready for replacement, the only real option is the GG1, which is rated around 80,000 lbs tractive effort at 90 MPH, the lowest gear ratio available. However, a 3-unit set of F units geared at 65:12 for 55 MPH speed (max speed of coal hoppers and iron ore jennies) has over twice the tractive effort at about the same horsepower rating. Make it a 4-unit set and I can pull a 5000-ton coal or iron ore train up and down my mountain grades without losing any appreciable speed. It only gets better once six-axle diesel-electrics such as the SD9 and Trainmaster get introduced a decade later. My motive power assignments are based on the ideal unit for the job, and given that here in the States (and Canada as well) we have tailored the diesel-electric for the job...

That issue apart,I think I could benefit from your expertise on my games,so if Mr. Jones has some personnel available to consult...?
(One's in need of integration after growing overwhelmingly by acquisition,no trunk lines when I'm sure they'd help;
one has massively crowded passenger platforms in very early going;
one's in the same time period & world size as Landsborough but vexed by low ratings).

I will be happy to help where possible. How about uploading one of your games so I can take a look at it?

[kamnet]

Also, I know it's too late for this one, but is there any way you could turn one of these scenarios into a let's play? It would make it so easy for me to see how you plan through rough terrain, and help me polish my mountain-traversing skills!

Please explain your request a bit more clearly, and I will do what I can to help.

A video which shows you laying out and building your network.

[Espee]

Also, I know it's too late for this one, but is there any way you could turn one of these scenarios into a let's play? It would make it so easy for me to see how you plan through rough terrain, and help me polish my mountain-traversing skills!

Please explain your request a bit more clearly, and I will do what I can to help.

A video which shows you laying out and building your network.

Are you referring to an actual video screen grab showing me playing? Please let me know what software is available, as I'm not very familiar with this - thanks.

[kamnet]

Please explain your request a bit more clearly, and I will do what I can to help.

A video which shows you laying out and building your network.

Are you referring to an actual video screen grab showing me playing? Please let me know what software is available, as I'm not very familiar with this - thanks.[/quote]

Yep, that would be it. Open Broadcaster Software is an easy-to-use package for Windows that you can use to record your games, and then upload them to a service like YouTube or livestream and record through YouTube, uStream or Twitch.

[Espee]

Please explain your request a bit more clearly, and I will do what I can to help.

A video which shows you laying out and building your network.

Are you referring to an actual video screen grab showing me playing? Please let me know what software is available, as I'm not very familiar with this - thanks.

Yep, that would be it. Open Broadcaster Software is an easy-to-use package for Windows that you can use to record your games, and then upload them to a service like YouTube or livestream and record through YouTube, uStream or Twitch.

Thanks, I will look into it...