Running a Railroad

[Kris94]

So what I've learned from Espee's mistakes and experiences with Rails Across America and some personal research on my own time, I decided to come up with a way to figure out the basics of successfully operating my own railroad.

You have to pay close attention to service. Present quality terminals and have modern locomotives of high quality. This is just a few basic things that usually make a huge difference. I'll get into the complex issues later since I've got to get down the basics before going to the more difficult issues since they're a cobweb of simple things spun together. Operation Ratios I'll get to at a later time. So UPRails834 actually motivated me to learn more about railroading before making any judgment about business practices and what not. So this is basically what I've been doing on my free time when I'm not preparing for basic training, which I've been doing extensively. All of it conditioning.

 

[Kris94]

Major 19Th Century locomotives in America:

John Bull: 0-4-0 & 2-4-0 configurations
American: 4-4-0 configuration
Mogul: 2-6-0 configuration
Ten Wheeler: 4-6-0 configuration
Consolidation: 2-8-0 configuration
Camelback: Most noticeable in 4-6-0 configurations, but other configurations were manufactured as well
Atlantic: 4-4-2 configuration

20Th Century Limited Locomotives

Pacific: 4-6-2 configuration
Mikado: 2-8-2 configuration
Decapod: 2-10-0 configuration
Mountain: 4-8-2 configuration
Texas: 2-10-4 configuration
Berkshire: 2-8-4 configuration
Northern: 4-8-4 configuration

 

[Kris94]

I'll do some more documentation tomorrow.

 

[Kris94]

So with very limited quality locomotives in the 1800s the best choice for my freight trains was the John Bull or Baldwin 4-2-0 as well as the American 4-4-0. The mogul I would use on lesser routes or shorter distance trains due to the fact they go 30mph and save the high priority trains for either the Consolidation, American, or Ten Wheeler. The Camelback I used on the transcontinental routes or lines with high capacity and competition. The Pacific's and Mikado's I use for flat land railroading but use the Pacific's for fast freight trains due to having speeds up to at least 50mph while 2-8-2s where only 45mph but where cheaper but it all depends on the route, cargo, priority, and competition. Decapod's used for branchline, coal, iron ore, little or no competition routes.

 

[hert]

I am not exactly sure what the point of this topic is. Is it a guide on how to play "Rails Across America" or an actual railroad company? If its not the latter then it doesnt really belong here. You should remember that this is a forum to discuss things, not a personal blog that you can post just any topic that comes to your mind. It also seems that most of the topics you start you are unclear at the purpose or why you are writing them. Also if you are talking about real world 19th century did have lots of quality locomotives, they had different standards then we have today.

 

[Kris94]

Well it's both how I'd run a real railroad and Rails Across America. But the locos I listed where the most famous, important and the greatest impact.

 

[mutanay77]

Hert took the words right out of my mouth, most of your threads are random and don't make sense

 

[Kris94]

But Yes I think now it should be a blog but I don't know how to use it.

 

[SD45T-2]

Do I have to show you how to operate the blog functions?

And I'm not going to play a muti-player game with you.

 

[Kris94]

Well more like appropriate blogs and I don't even use multiplayer.

 

[Kris94]

I do have a question though.

 

[Kris94]

So basically did railroads do situation or strategical moves when it came to assigning locomotives on routes? For example a railroad is using Atlantic 4-4-2s for passenger and Pacific 4-6-2s for freight for trains traveling from Salt Lake City to Denver via Grand Junction, Colorado. Then a 4-8-2 mountain type is purchased by the railroad as well as a 2-8-4 Berkshire type which according to Rails Across America is best for mountain terrain. And on a flatland route between Stockton and Fresno two railroads run freight and passenger over them, railroad A uses Camelback type 4-6-0 to haul its passenger trains and a Consolidation 2-8-0 for freight, the 4-6-0 can go up to 70 mph and the 2-8-0 can travel up to 50 mph. Railroad B uses a Ten Wheeler for passenger and Mogul 2-6-0 for freight. The Ten Wheeler travels up to 50mph and the mogul can go 40mph. Now railroad b is not only loosing passenger but freight service as well because their trains can't travel as fast as Railroad A. So they decide to upgrade to Camelback and Consolidation. Now they're even. Both lines are double track and use semaphore signals. So how does Railroad A regain the advantage if they have the same quality service as Railroad B? How does Railroad B get an advantage over Railroad A?

 

[Kris94]

So no one knows?

 

[RooRocz]

So how does Railroad A regain the advantage if they have the same quality service as Railroad B? How does Railroad B get an advantage over Railroad A?

Industrial espionage, saboteurs, lobbying to get the other railroad shut down for numerous egregious OSHA violations (from the saboteurs, obviously), upgrading from consolidations to GEVOs.

 

[SD45T-2]

Industrial espionage, saboteurs, lobbying to get the other railroad shut down for numerous egregious OSHA violations (from the saboteurs, obviously), upgrading from consolidations to GEVOs.

Sounds a lot like Rails Across America.

 

[Kris94]

Rails Across America doesn't even have GEVOS.