Garbage doesn't go by rail.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Something that has been annoying me for sometime is that, while you may have a rail neighbour connection, you can't make a garbage deal until you connect a road/highway.

Now, the question of whether this is a bug, or was outside the specification is the one being asked.

[grstudios 188]

I think it's one of the many unfinished issues that SC4 has... Sounds like someone told the programmers to rush things out.

[nukeu123 307]

^ must be.... i do recall you were able to transport garbage by rail in simcity 3000 and maybe they were trying to do this in sc4

[z1 566]

Now, the question of whether this is a bug, or was outside the specification is the one being asked.

It would appear to be outside the spec. There's no indication in the Prima Guide that garbage is intended to be transported by anything other than trucks. Also, there's commuter rail and freight rail, and it's hard to see where garbage would fit into this. It certainly wouldn't belong on commuter rail. And freight never actually crosses city boundaries, so garbage wouldn't fit into this scheme easily. Overall, I don't see any indication that transportation of garbage by rail was ever intended.

[CarrotCake07 3]

I think so. In real life it's used in many countries. So I don't really know why wouldn't implement that (assuming that you're not in a rush).

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

IMHO, Z1 has the right of it. The game paradigm is getting Sims to and from work. Garbage and freight are just distractions for the main task. It is really too bad, however, that garbage disposal consists of land fills and a rather wimpy waste to energy plant in the default game. For all of me, it could have been shipped with the freight into the big bit-bucket at the border.

  Edited September 26, 2012 by A Nonny Moose  

[macbroue 2]

Something that has been annoying me for sometime is that, while you may have a rail neighbour connection, you can't make a garbage deal until you connect a road/highway.

Now, the question of whether this is a bug, or was outside the specification is the one being asked.

Could trash be shipped by boats ? Can 2 cities without road connection, on a common body water, with each a port ,are able to make a garbage deal ?

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Yes, and no. Garbage can most certainly go by sea using PEG's Garbage Docks. Unfortunately, you still need that road connection to make a garbage deal.

[jason w 14]

Why is that? There's real life garbage barges.

[Hellken 1,658]

^^^

In SC3K/Unlimited Seaports could also be used for real garbage deals. Something which unfortunately did not carry over to SC4

[dazza262 133]

I haven't tried them myself, but over at sc4devotion there are SFBT Garbage Shipping Yards by T Wrecks, which claim to shift garbage from road to rail even without a neighbour connection.

https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=2724

I may give them a go now to see how well they work.

[jason leo 485]

It works well. However, the rail is not functional and will not ship those garbage to another city.so the rail's (not the whole thing) is actually, an eye-candy. Further explanation is here:

Lot Description: This set contains three garbage loading stations with different capacity that ship the waste of your city from road to rail. These lots do not only give you a nice visual embodiment for your neighborhood deals, but also reduces the amount of garbage in your city. It combines the functionalities of a recycling center and a waste-to-energy plant, but without the heavy pollution this facility emits. Therefore it just has to be ensured that the lots are connected to the urban traffic network and, if necessary, alternative routes for passenger trains exist. Note: You can use these lots independant of an actual neighborhood deal - esp. in smaller cities - which makes it a good alternative to the default landfill.

  Edited October 6, 2012 by jason leo  

[dazza262 133]

Thanks for that Jason. I'm gonna give them a try, anything to get rid of the awful Maxis landfill !

One thing I'm wondering though is if that the rail is non-functional, do you still run a line into it ? And if you don't connect it to your existing network or to a neighbour connection, where do you run the rail to ?

[jason leo 485]

Well, because the rail is not functional, they just make an illusion of the garbage is hauled from there to another place. However, in the truth, those garbage gone there as the cause of the garbage loading dock is the combination of recycling and Waste-To-Energy plant, which mean the garbage is processed there and creating a neighbor deal would be impossible without using road connection. So, I'm sure if the SFBT Team is genius, the garbage gone, and they could make an illusion of the garbage is transported to another city when they reach the loading dock, the rail and the model of the loading dock is the best thing to cover the secrets of the way it works in the truth.

  Edited October 7, 2012 by jason leo  

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Rail is useful for passengers mostly. However, it is also a good vehicle for getting freight to a bit sink, where it vanishes. A bit sink is either a rail neighbour connection or a seaport enabled for rail.

Passengers are recorded when a tile is saved, but freight is not. The result is that freight is just an additional load on the transportation network for the purpose of creating noise or congestion. It is a (dis)feature of the game, and perhaps represents something that could have been completed in an expansion pack that never came to fruition. A freight expansion pack would not have been that difficult, but EA lost interest in the game.

[heavy_discipline 1]

http://sc4devotion.c...php?lotGET=2724

There are these lots over at the Lex. If you make a rail directly from one station to the other with no stops in between(of course with a city you've made a deal with) it becomes very efficient. Personally I just have it for eye candy as I have another lot which disposes of all garbage with no pollution/ lowered rating.

  Edited October 8, 2012 by heavy_discipline