SDog,
thank you very much for the feedback, that is most helpful. As for the weights, I've decided to increase the weight to 69t, which would also allow the Schools and the Saint class to use them.
As to the masonry stone bridge; I don't think that there's any way to specify which
bridges are used by the automatic road generator when the map is built. Recently, a new feature was added (to Standard, also present in Experimental 8.0 and up, if I remember correctly) to allow the type of automatically generated road to be customised, but not bridge. You might want to post an extension request on that topic (for Standard), as that seems like a useful idea.
Sorry that you've had problems with the 4-CORs. As it happens, I've already fixed that (fixes on Github), so it should be fixed for the next release. Thank you for spotting it, though! As you'll see from
this thread, the next release will also have
lots more choice of EMUs
As to the city road not being available, I had deliberately taken it out as it is not generally available for private players to build, but there is no differentiation in the code between ordinary players and the public player. On reflection, it does make sense that all players are able to build all types of road, so I'll put it back.
As to the maximum speeds of steam locomotives, this is a tricky one. Steam locomotives did not generally run in service faster than about 80-90mph, even hauling the crack expresses. The world record of 126mph was rather an exception: a very fast locomotive with a lightly loaded train going down a gentle gradient, running at speeds that caused the locomotive to have a serious failure a short time afterwards.
It is difficult to find accurate data about the maximum service speeds of steam trains, as speedometers were not routinely fitted until nearly the end of steam in the UK. Unlike diesel and electric locomotives and units, steam locomotives did not have an official speed limit (other than the speed limit of the track on which they were running). In the last few years of steam operation, express steam trains on the Southern region of British Railways were recorded as reaching about 100mph (using rebuilt Merchant Navy class locomotives), which was considered somewhat of an exception (partly because, it is supposed, drivers, knowing that the locomotives' days were numbered, were less concerned about keeping them in good working order). There was a time when Simutrans-Experimental had a slightly modified physics engine from Standard in which steam locomotives would lose power as they approached their maximum speed. The speed limits for steam locomotives were set during this period to be slightly higher than their expected operating speed for this reason.
Since the new physics model, introduced by Bernd Gabriel, has been introduced, there is no longer a need to do this, and it might be wise to revise some of the maximum speeds for steam locomotives to reflect the fact that this is no longer an issue. My preliminary view is that no steam locomotive should have a maximum speed of more than 100mph (160km/h) and that all but the very elite passenger express locomotives should have a speed limit of 90mph (145km/h) or less.
Carriage speed limits are another complexity. Before British Railways days, passenger carriages did not have an official speed limit. The BR Mark I stock of 1951 onwards had (or, at least, later acquired) a speed limit of 90mph in its original state and 100mph with modified bogies. The trouble here is that I rather suspect that more stringent safety standards were applied as time went on; certainly, the original bogies of the Mk I stock were no worse than those of the very best passenger stock of the 1930s which would have been allowed to go at 100mph had the locomotives been fast enough and track conditions good enough; certainly, the 100mph or so runs in the latter days of steam on British Railways would have been undertaken with coaching stock with bogies no better than those of the original Mk I design, likewise the world record run itself.
Indeed, in the game, the Mk Is have a progression: the earliest type, with the original B1 bogies, are restricted to 90mph; the intermediate type, with the Commonwealth bogies, are permitted to go 100mph but are 1t heavier (the Commonwealth bogies were very heavy), and the final type with the B4 bogies are also permitted to go 100mph and are the same weight as the original carriages. So, to have pre-Mk I carriages permitted to go at faster than 90mph would create a perverse incentive not to upgrade coaching stock to carriages that were undoubtedly better than all that went before them.
Therein lies the dilemma: should steam locomotive maximum speeds be their maximum theoretical speed or maximum likely service speed? And, in each case, how to work out what that number is in any event in the absence of official records? It is not an easy task, as one might imagine! Any suggestions on how to deal with this issue would be most welcome.
Edit: One very interesting thing that I've noticed about your game is that you've closed the branch line to Salford and replaced it with a trolleybus route. May I ask what was the reasoning behind this? It's very interesting to see the sort of thing that happens in real life pan out in a Simutrans-Experimental game like this!
Edit2: As to the traffic issue (discussed in the other thread), I'm noticing in the town statistics a fairly explosive growth in traffic already - and this is 1948! It doesn't seem to be affecting passenger numbers yet, but just wait and see where you are in 10-15 years' time
