Topic: Pinewell and sorroundings

[1993matias]

Links to savegames at the bottom of this post. Updated regularly.
This is a map with some big cities scattered around and one bigger city (Pinewell) to the north. My goal was to create an adequate (to the time) rail network to then work through the problems arising in later times. I use Simutrans Extended, most importantly due to the balancing of trips and scheduling (on this map each month is six hours). In Extended, fewer people travel to a point far away making for more realistic travel patterns. Sim's choice of transport method also depends on speed, comfort and price (i.e. an express service is better suited for less frequent service while commuter lines need frequent service).

Map with train types overlaid. Red = Express, pink = stopping, brown = electric/suburban, orange = narrow gauge, white = ferry



Pollingwick East Square Railway Station:


Starting in Pollingwick we head south on one of the two express services - to Ashchester and Appingbury (and one stopping service to Malliwell). Schedules prevent trains blocking each other and allow for transfers in Malliwell. South from Malliwell there are many stopping services. This makes Malliwell station very busy despite the city not even being in the top 15 cities by population. 12 trains per hour total pass through here!



From Malliwell we take the express to the twin cities of Newbury and Mallistead. Located in tricky terrain, these two cities have gotten a very special solution to facilitate trains moving through and terminating. The train line is simply elevated all the way through and no big station has been built in order to save space. The stopping train from Malliwell (and also from Ashchester) terminate here, but to save space the trains continue through both stations and enter a siding outside the cities where they can turn around. This, in turn, also increases frequency of connections between the two cities, amounting to two per hour (one express and two stopping services)




Finally, we visit the mountains. The terrain here is quite tricky and not suited for normal railways are not well suited for this. To deal with this and lower costs (especially due to terrain modifications) it was decided to build a narrow gauge line (seen in orange on the map). It connects the small villages in the mountains and, let's be honest, is very idyllic. Who wouldn't want to go for a vacation here?



What now? Well, everything is centered around Malliwell and Pinewell. There are still unconnected cities, some might not get rail at all and some are eagerly waiting. It's only 1927, so there are still some Railway years to come before it goes downhill!
Map link here, Simutrans Extended 14.5 nightly build (see here on how to download) and pak128.Britain-Ex from same link

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Map links on Google Drive:
Pinewell 1927
Pinewell 1940
Pinewell 1945
Pinewell 1950
Pinewell 1955

You will need Simutrans Extended and pak128.Britain-Ex, the latest versions of both should work fine.

[1993matias]

Some years have passed and changes have happened. The year is now 1935 and the area around Pinewell has gotten more electric lines. All trains going west now use 3rd rail electrification, including trains to Torham which also got a small buffet car. The old steam train to Heppchester was replaced with an electric one, increasing the service frequency. Small commuter towns have also appeared on the way to Hillcross with their own small stations.
Stopping trains to Malliwell have also gotten an upgrade, they are now also running on 3rd rail electrification. This allows for shorter journey times and in change more trains - now there are four trains per hour (two stopping, two express) to Malliwell. Since no fast electric locomotives are available yet all other trains are still using steam locomotives with speeds up to 100 miles per hour.
See the map below, red lines are electrified


Going to the other end of this surprisingly square country we find even more narrow gauge railway lines. Up in the mountains these lines were easier and faster than the old buses. Snaking their way up and down hills, around creeks and along rivers, these lines connect the smaller cities in the mountains. Also note Appingbury, the only city with three stations!

Finally an updated route map. Note the inclusion of bus lines, since recent developments have allowed for speeds up to 50 miles per hour with buses! This is very competitive compared to opening new railway lines through vast, empty areas. As before, red = Express, pink = stopping, brown = electric/suburban, orange = narrow gauge, white = ferry, gray = long distance bus

[1993matias]

Long overdue update, the year is now 1937 and a lot has happened! Let's start by looking at a snippet of the map around Pinewell and to the northwest:

Larger towns are named on this map, you may also notice more small villages than before - more on that in a later post. A new, short line from Renmouth to Herdmouth has been built, connecting with the ferry across the narrow but also increasing frequency on the well-used line from Pinewell to Renmouth.


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Pinewell itself got an expansion underground as it was decided to dismantle the tram tracks entirely and build two new underground lines. One of those lines surfaces near the airport and then goes on the surface to Oldlock on a single track line.

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Oh yes, an airport! There are services to Appingbury and an isolated island in the east of this oddly shaped country.

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On the narrow gauge lines there has been some development. Now passengers can access the entire western network with no more than one transfer in Hillchester. As this required a rebuilt station, a new signal box was built with light signals - the first of its kind on the narrow gauge lines!

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Finally, in Malliwell the hub is growing. The pride of Pinewell Railways, this station has direct connections to most of the country by train and coach. As the third largest station by passenger numbers (only surpassed by Pinewell East and West stations), it will soon need more capacity. Unfortunately Malliwell has started growing on the far side of the station, trapping it with houses. As the location of the current station is ideal, more capacity will be hard to come by.

[Carl]

Nice work!

[1993matias]

Nice work!

Thanks!

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Something I had wanted to add to the previous post, but didn't find enough time to do:

The year is now 1940. The network is more or less at its final extent, as it covers all the towns in this strangely rectangular country. As a bonus, here is a map of the signal systems at work in Pinewell and sorroundings. Red is track circuit block signalling, white is mechanical with light signals, black is mechanical with semaphores. Grey and dark blue are the same, just for narrow gauge.



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Now for the interesting part! As we all know, countries are usually not just big cities connected by rail. In this weirdly box shaped country there are plenty of villages scattered around. Most were not lucky enough to get a train station, but until recently there were no means of fast inter-city transport by road. But now there are plenty of buses to choose from! This has led to an explosion in bus routes together with an explosion in bus passengers - almost 1.5 times as many as train passengers (also counting city buses). The network growth has been such that you can get almost anywhere without taking a single train! Most of the lines are served twice per hour (i.e. 12 times per month) compared to once per hour for most train services - this is mostly to provide the necessary capacity, not to provide frequent departures. Some busy lines are served up to five times per hour. There is even a short stretch of narrow gauge line that has been bussified already!
Individual lines are not shown on the map, rather bus connections are shown as a whole.
The map shows clearly where the concentration of people is, which is mostly on the Pinewell - Appingbury axis and a bit further south. This is also reflected in the frequent overcrowding of the Express train Pinewell - Appingbury.
The colours have changed as follows: Red is for express trains, Orange is for stopping trains, Brown/Maroon is for electric and suburban trains, Yellow is for narrow gauge
Blue is for ship lines, thin blue is for air lines, and thin black is for the bus network



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I'm not leaving without a few aerial pictures courtesy of our own aircraft (they are bored flying mostly empty...)
First off is Pinewell, the metropolis of more than 10,000 people - not counting satellite cities



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Here is Appingborough, the only city with three railway terminals! The terminal to the east connects to Malliwell and Pinewell, the southern terminal to Appinglock and Mallimouth while the western terminal is for the narrow gauge line. Appingbury itself has 6000 inhabitants.



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Speaking of buses, some cities have become hubs in the network where passengers change in many different directions. Some cases are more extreme than others - as an example is Heppwell with 850 inhabitants but almost 1400 departed passengers per month in the bus terminal. Six bus bays accommodate routes in five directions, taking up a big chunk of the city. Find it on the map southeast of Ashchester.



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EDIT:
Forgot to add a save link, download from here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=13XTOST0GJ-ZpLehT87yVohTsJGUQ3fB7
You will need Simutrans Extended 120.2.1 nightly build 14.5 #93490b5 (or newer, I imagine) since that is what I use.
Pak128.Britain-Ex 0.9.3
No add-ons

[1993matias]

Quick update on Malliwell:

What started as a modest station in the beginning of times is now showing the lack of space. Four through tracks and two reversing tracks will not be enough for the future traffic through this station, so a modernisation is now underway.
Before:

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During reconstruction:

Here you can also see the insane overcrowding on the express trains. Apologies to any passengers, hopefully the highway network is improved soon.

[1993matias]

Today we will focus on Pinewell and the urban transport connections. At first, here is a map of all the urban connections out of Pinewell.

Individual lines not shown

Currently, towns south and west of Pinewell are very well connected while northern towns have only bus connections. Eastwards there are two diesel units per hour stopping at all stations towards Reading, from there only steam trains continue. As the city is quite built-up it is hard to fit in a northern urban line, many years of thinking, decision making, analysis, and recessions have postponed it countless times. With the age of the road approaching, it is hard to see it become a reality. A bus terminal has been built in the northern outskirts of Pinewell to serve the towns.
Ferries connect across the bay, but due to their low speed they are not well visited.

To make sense of the underground system the city transport authorities have produced a schematic map:

Note that half the services on line three end at the airport, providing 15-minute headway to Oldlock and Grays. The northern bus terminal is located at the Sattelite subway station.

Future plans are thought to include connections to the northern towns (maybe...), more services towards the east, expansion of the airport and possibly a bridge between Herdmouth and Grays. But the government's mind seems more occupied with roads and highways...

Here, have some aerial photographs:

Thunderfield with its small station and interurban trams
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Pinewell Airport with most of the aircraft stands occupied. Subway station on the left on the surface
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Pinewell Sattelite with its bus terminal. Note the brand new ring road to the north.

[Carl]

Good job! Always nice to see a network diagram

[1993matias]

A short feature on the first mainline diesel usage in this specifically squared country. In November of 1947, the new class 10000 locomotives were put into service, replacing older and slower steam locomotives. The line from Appingbury to Perth was chosen as it was mostly isolated, had few trains per hour and was in need of longer trains. As it is now, in 1955, these locomotive have proved their worth. Unfortunately, it has not been economically feasible to replace other services with Diesel yet, as production capacity is lacking and plenty of cheap steam locomotive designs are available.


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Alongside the class 10000 locomotives, a new train has appeared. Since the summer of 1955 one Derby Lightweight mutliple units has provided extra services between Appingbury and Kirkcaldy to relieve some of the passenger load on the long distance train. Right away this was a success and thus many of the old GWR railcars from before the war have been replaced by this DMU.


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Finally, a small map so you know what is where.

[1993matias]

The time is now 1960 in this staggeringly square country. New technology is appearing, and progress is creeping in on the railway. With modern electric locomotives, travel times have been cut by 15 minutes between Pinewell and Ashborough - a reduction of almost 25%! But not only long distance trains have become faster, also local services have received an upgrade.


The locomotives used are the brand new class AL1 locomotives. Although only capable of 87 mph, they have vastly better acceleration than the steam locomotives they replaced. Thus, average speed has increased from 49 mph to 55 mph at the same time as capacity has been increased.

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The semi-stopping service between Pinewell and Oxford has been upgraded to a class AM2 EMU. Here two class AM2 are seen approaching Torcross to pick up almost 200 passengers going to Pinewell. Average speed on this line has increased by 20%, from 41 mph to 50 mph after the withdrawal of steam service. They are fitted with a few 1st class compartments for better comfort on longer trips.

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For short stopping services, the AM3 EMU has been bought. These small EMUs are used on the Peterborough - Ashborough stopping service among others, seen here departing Ashborough Airport. Ashborough Airport is still served by steam trains on the line to Leeds. At some point in the future, it is expected for electrification to continue to Leeds, allowing for through services from Pinewell.

Passengers are eager to see the next new development, hopefully allowing for even shorter travel times. But who knows, maybe travel times will be axed ... 
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A small map for your convenience. Red = Electrified, white = non-electrified.