Which trains do you use? (2024)

I tend to go for the faster trains. Both to boost the station ratings and because I destroy the landscape and build my rails as flat and straight as possible anyway.

Since I use very few of the default trains I haven't bothered with the train NewGRFs that add lots and lots of trains. My own AsiaStar Redux adds two trains, and that's the only trains I was missing in the typical 1950-2050 gameplay. My typical path through the train models is:

- Ginzu 'A4'
- SH '8P'
- Floss "47" Engine Floss '47'
- SH '40'
- "T.I.M."
- "AsiaStar"
- "AsiaStar 2K"
- "AsiaStar X"

And after this I start converting/using maglev and pick whatever engine is the fastest atm. On maglev there's typically a big enough difference in speed that it's worth upgrading to a new model each time one is introduced. But other than that I skip all the engines in between because I find that they're just not worth the investment and lost income of sending all trains to be replaced. And since I skip models like this and have my few favourites I don't feel tempted to use any train NewGRFs because I feel that I would just do the same thing there.

What's your experience and strategy for train engine models?

shilohfox wrote: ↑30 Jul 2024 18:22I'm pretty new here (just created this account to reply!) and would be interested in what other people use as well. I follow the same of what you say here, except I only really move to electric because diesel eventually gets phased out and I can't keep my trains. In my current map I decided to optimize and move to the Chimera, but I would prefer if my trains were on tracks for appearance reasons. There's just something off (and fun) about seeing a maglev train move tons of cargo.

Welcome

Which electric train is typically the first you use, since you wait that long to introduce them?

Currently I'm playing around with creating quite extreme projects and most often I use only one LevA 'Gator' locomotive (Logic engine 0.6) accelerating to over 10,000 km/h in combination with 2CC wagons and PURR tracks.

For more "realistic" games I usually used 2CC Trains or Polish Trains Set (Polish PKP Set)

In the case of default trains...

pickpacket wrote: ↑29 Jul 2024 11:15- Ginzu 'A4'
- SH '8P'
- Floss "47" Engine Floss '47'
- SH '40'
- "T.I.M."
- "AsiaStar"
- "AsiaStar 2K"
- "AsiaStar X"

...my list is basically identical, except that it ends with Lev4 for longer routes and 2x Lev3 for shorter ones, where more gives better acceleration than higher speed.
Sometimes, for a more interesting look, I left the monorail trains for the shorter routes delivering raw materials, and the longer ones were operated by maglev trains.

In general I rarely use SH 125 and Milenium Z1 due to the often troublesome additional load in the locomotives themselves - automatic exchange is impossible / risky.

I also like to use AsiaStar Redux sometimes. Although it would be nice if this set was more extensive and added more versions of other locomotives. Something like Default Trains+
Brianum: SH 50 & SH 60 and Brianum: X2014 & Milennium Z2 were once available, but due to some conflict they were removed.

pickpacket wrote: ↑29 Jul 2024 11:15What's your experience and strategy for train engine models?

Personally, I seriously dislike the fictional trains and their silly names.

Definitely prefer real-world NewGRF sets and since located in Central Europe, my main choice at the moment are

GETS (German Extrazoom Trainset)
Dutch Trainset 3XL

Also nice is

Polish PKP Set 2.0

and various Asian-themed sets, although I have not used them in the last few years.

pickpacket wrote: ↑01 Aug 2024 06:03Which electric train is typically the first you use, since you wait that long to introduce them?

I usually move to the latest AsiaStar from diesel. It gets the job done and is a dual head like the ones I like to use usually. It's fun to see how much profit I've been leaving out. Usually my year to year revenue goes up a couple million dollars when I do change them out.

ebla71 wrote: ↑02 Aug 2024 13:21

pickpacket wrote: ↑29 Jul 2024 11:15What's your experience and strategy for train engine models?

Personally, I seriously dislike the fictional trains and their silly names.

Definitely prefer real-world NewGRF sets and since located in Central Europe, my main choice at the moment are

GETS (German Extrazoom Trainset)
Dutch Trainset 3XL

Also nice is

Polish PKP Set 2.0

and various Asian-themed sets, although I have not used them in the last few years.

When you pick a set -- say with Polish trains -- how many trains (roughly) does that set contain, and how many of them do you actually use?

pickpacket wrote: ↑12 Aug 2024 10:03When you pick a set -- say with Polish trains -- how many trains (roughly) does that set contain, and how many of them do you actually use?

That depends a lot on the set - I don't have Polish trains installed at the moment but GETS 0.6 which was just released a couple of days ago has maybe 50 steam engines, 30-40 electrical and diesel engines, a couple of EMUs and DMUs and maybe 100-200 passenger and freight cars - not counting color variants of the different companies.

Of course, those are distributed across different decades, so you will normally not run a 1920s steam engine alongside an ICE high-speed train.

I tend to use all that are a good match for a certain epoch and services, although of course I have preferences related to the region I grew up and locos I like most.

Many train NewGRFs also have overview graphics - the one for the original GETS release (now much expanded) is here

The best thing is simply download sets you might be interested in from the online content service, install, try in a quick game, and then either remove or go on enjoying them.

You can easily look them up and filter here

Also, if you like, you can combine different train sets - usually there are little to no imcompatibilities.

pickpacket wrote: ↑12 Aug 2024 10:03

ebla71 wrote: ↑02 Aug 2024 13:21

pickpacket wrote: ↑29 Jul 2024 11:15What's your experience and strategy for train engine models?

Personally, I seriously dislike the fictional trains and their silly names.

Definitely prefer real-world NewGRF sets and since located in Central Europe, my main choice at the moment are

GETS (German Extrazoom Trainset)
Dutch Trainset 3XL

Also nice is

Polish PKP Set 2.0

and various Asian-themed sets, although I have not used them in the last few years.

When you pick a set -- say with Polish trains -- how many trains (roughly) does that set contain, and how many of them do you actually use?

I do a similar thing with BRTrains, which has something like 400 trains and trams

In a "normal" game where I start in 1950 and go through to around 2050 I probably use about 100 of them, although I do use a slower day length factor to slow down time which allows me to use more than I might otherwise

If I do a specific "I'm recreating the UK on a 4K map" then I'll use a lot more - I'll use almost all the modern units in their real world roles, and then bunch of the older stuff on "heritage lines" or easter egg/eye candy services running around my network, so I'll use a lot more of them in that case. But those games take months so aren't really a "normal" game

audigex wrote: ↑12 Aug 2024 18:14If I do a specific "I'm recreating the UK on a 4K map" then I'll use a lot more - I'll use almost all the modern units in their real world roles, and then bunch of the older stuff on "heritage lines" or easter egg/eye candy services running around my network, so I'll use a lot more of them in that case. But those games take months so aren't really a "normal" game

I see there is another connoisseur of games exactly the way I also like

And yes, the "heritage lines" are a very good excuse to run for example steam engines well into the 21st century

Another thing that often happened here on the continent is that old locos (these days of course only diesel and electric) were sold off by the state railway companies to run on industrial sidelines.

But that's the nice thing about OTTD - you can either aim for as-realistic-as-possible use of trains or run Thomas the Tank Engine next to an ICE or TGV