Freight train ports are worthless, killing game for me

[DHarrisG 1]

Problems with freight trains are killing the game for me.

 

Although some have claimed that freight trains can pick up 100 tons of a product (say, coal) at a time, I can only get trains to pick up 10 tens at a time, the amount that two measly trucks can carry (athough the ports themselves hold up to 100 tons, the trains only pick up 10 tons per trip). And there is only one freight train running in the entire cluster (with only 2 freight cars) - I can see it in City View (with the Trade specialization button turned on, so the trade icon appears over it) travelling slowly around all the cities, even ones that haven't been claimed yet!  And this single freight train takes about 9 hours to do its long worthless loop around the cluster until it gets to my train depot, with the result that the whole train depot (which cost me about 500,000 simoleons to get all the necessary authorizations like HQ's and to build the depot itself, with all the necessary edits) only delivers about 50 tons a day worth 36,000 simoleons in profits, which is useless when you need to reach 700,000 simoleons in profits. I have about 95 truck deliveries a day and only 3 train deliveries (a box in the lower right corner gives these numbers), which isn't remotely worth it when trains carry only 10 tons per trip. Moreover, I couldn't even get a single freight train to show up until I first blew up my pre-existing passenger station and ran a road between the trade port and the loader that touches the rail tracks (although I don't know if these had any effect or if I just had to wait until the powers that be decided to finally start a freight train running).

 

And unlike freight trucks, which say how much they are carrying (0 out of 5 or 5 out of 5), the freight trains don't say how much they are carrying, just that they came from a train depot. I can deduce that they are only carrying 10 tons of coal by looking at the Recent Transactions chart on the Finances page, which shows 12,000 when a train stops and 6,000 the rest of the time (for the trucks).  And I can see that there are only two coal cars.  Anyone who has seen a freight train take five minutes to pass, with over a hundred freight cars, knows how absurd this is.

 

This has been a major disappointment to me, since I spent hours setting up a beautiful rail system running around the outer edge of the city all the way to the mines to avoid the traffic pileups that trucks can run into and the pollution. And it is so unrealistic to have freight trains carry only as much as two lousy trucks.

 

Maxis, please correct this so that much longer freight trains arrive more frequently picking up much larger loads.

[ScottyDoesKnow 8]

I'm fairly certain they're supposed to do 20 loads of goods, the boats certainly do. Either way boats are much better if you have water access. I have 4 trade ports. It appears that there's only 1 train, but you get a boat for each trade port. And then they come twice as often. So for my current city, I get boats 8 times more often than trains for the same price.

[jas19illini 2]

I believe the number of storage lots in the trade port for the item you're exporting determines how many freight train cars your train has, thus how many goods the train can export at once.

[DHarrisG 1]

But Scotty, that doesn't help if the only transport option is rail, which is true of many if not most cities.  And have you been able to get freight trains to do 20 ton loads?  I see no evidence that anyone has been able to hit that figure, which is still much too low to make them worthwhile.

 

Maxis should fix the freight trains so that they come more frequently with far more freight cars.

Jas, I don't think so.  I added another coal lot to my train port and it didn't make a difference.  If your actual experience is different than mine, I'd appreciate your letting me know.  And if a single lot holds 100 tons, why should you have to add another (to hold a total of 200 tons) in order to get a freight train to pick up 20 tons instead of 10?  It makes no sense.

[kgpurrs 107]

But Scotty, that doesn't help if the only transport option is rail, which is true of many if not most cities.  And have you been able to get freight trains to do 20 ton loads?  I see no evidence that anyone has been able to hit that figure, which is still much too low to make them worthwhile.

 

Maxis should fix the freight trains so that they come more frequently with far more freight cars.

 

You need to attach storage lots to the freight train station.  Like physically attach them to the sides of the freight station instead of the trade depot (or both, I've always had one on the trade depot, and one on the freight station, haven't tested without but I don't see how the delivery trucks could drop anything off into the depot if there is no lot there and only the train station).  I'm almost positive this is your issue.

 

Thumbs up if this helped...

[jas19illini 2]

^^^Hmm, that's news to me. I'll have to try that.

[DHarrisG 1]

Kgpurrs, that was a clever idea, so I tried it - unfortunately, to no avail.  The only snap-points to add the coal storage lot to the train station impinged upon the railroad tracks.  I got the message can't place on top of road (even though it was rail tracks and not a road that it had to be placed on).

 

So it's back to the drawing board.

[DHarrisG 1]

Kgpurrs, I just tried something else, but it too failed (same 10 ton pickup).  I bulldozed the depot rail connection, placed it further up the tracks, and added coal lots on the side away from the tracks, which I was allowed to do (since they didn't impinge upon the tracks) - in fact, I added 2 having a total capacity of 200 tons.  Freight train arrived, only 2 cars, only picked up 10 tons.

 

Any other ideas?  I think this is a bug that Maxis needs to fix, not something we can do ourselves, but I appreciate all your help.

[TuPhat 27]

I have mixed reviews on trade ports, both train and port.   I expected more from them, especially to recover the investment to unlock the specific boxes for specialization trading.   Depending on how much trading you do, at some point it makes sense to invest in them.

 

I've seen cargo ships dock and barely take any freight (whether it be processors or whatever), then next time they come around and empty an entire box.  Same thing with trains, I've seen a long cargo train pull up and hardly not take anything, then next time it take a bunch.   For the frequency they come and the variability of cargo volumes, I wouldn't necessarily rely them for timely shipments.    I usually end up having a trade ports (ship or rail) and build a bunch of trucks for it too.   

 

I believe the trucks for the trade port are larger than those for the depot?

[DHarrisG 1]

TuPhat, how long were the long freight trains you saw?  What did you do to get them?  I still get tiny trains even when I have 200 tons waiting to be picked up.

 

And the port trucks carry 5 tons, same as the depot trucks.  So I don't think they're larger, at least in terms of capacity.

[ScottyDoesKnow 8]

Gotta love this game, everything you try you find more bugs. Boats work because it just sends one every 3 hours. Trains should come around every 6 hours, unfortunately they rely on their agent AI. So about 7 hours after a train delivery, it's about to deliver again until it hits a fork and goes the other way. So it depends on your region, but my train delivery is every 14 hours. Which I can only assume will get longer as more cities are populated.

 

I also noticed that trains only deliver 12k, which may be 2k per lot but I really don't care enough to test it.

Kgpurrs, unfortunately attaching lots to the train stop instead of the port makes no difference.

 

So taking into account these new figures (14 hours instead of 6, 12k instead of 20k) I now get 31 boats for every train. Yay balance!

 

Edit: My bad for assuming the boats worked correctly either. It's really about 5 hours between boats, so 18 boats per train.

Edit2: The train has a whole bunch of cars. Edit3: 12 cars, 12k pickup.

[DHarrisG 1]

Scotty, I think the 12k you are referring to is simoleons, not tons.  A truck shipment of 5 tons gets you 6k in money (see the financial monthly transaction report).  A train shipment gets you 12k in money, so I inferred that a train shipment is only 10 tons.

 

My freight trains have 3 engine cars and only two freight cars carrying coal. 

 

Note correction: train shipment gets you 12k.

[ScottyDoesKnow 8]

I'm talking processors, so 12k is 12 loads or 120 tons.

[kgpurrs 107]

Kgpurrs, I just tried something else, but it too failed (same 10 ton pickup).  I bulldozed the depot rail connection, placed it further up the tracks, and added coal lots on the side away from the tracks, which I was allowed to do (since they didn't impinge upon the tracks) - in fact, I added 2 having a total capacity of 200 tons.  Freight train arrived, only 2 cars, only picked up 10 tons.

 

Any other ideas?  I think this is a bug that Maxis needs to fix, not something we can do ourselves, but I appreciate all your help.

Did you only have 10 tons in there?  It is supposed to pick up 20 tons each time.  So its double, arrives hourly, and causes no traffic and isn't hindered by traffic.  Try without the attachment to your depot, and let us know if deliveries still arrive.

[ScottyDoesKnow 8]

Did you only have 10 tons in there?  It is supposed to pick up 20 tons each time.  So its double, arrives hourly, and causes no traffic and isn't hindered by traffic.  Try without the attachment to your depot, and let us know if deliveries still arrive.

 

It picks up 120 tons and arrives every 6 to ??? hours. When I have at least 120 tons (12000 processors) in the port, the train shows up with 12 cars and takes 12 shipments.

[DHarrisG 1]

With coal, I can have 100 tons in the port and the train still only picks up 20 tons in 2 cars, and only once every 8 or 9 hours.  Maybe it's a bug with coal if it works correctly for you with processors.

 

Or maybe there's something else you're doing that I'm not. 

 

KG, I've tried it with the coal bin attached to the port and also with the bin attached to the RR attachment; it makes no difference.  One train with 2 cars picking up 20 tons every 8-9 hours.

[ScottyDoesKnow 8]

Sounds like a bug. If you got the money banked, all I can suggest is demolishing and replacing it, or at least doing that with the storage lots. If you do demolish it, make sure to turn it off and wait for all the trucks to return so you don't lose any.

[Vaikin 10]

One of my cities uses rail(because there is no water access) and the train does indeed drop off large quantities of alloys(100+ tons).

 

Sadly, ships are WAY better, completely filling the storage area.

[Mudkest 29]

trains suck, big time, for cargo. only show up once every 6 hours(or less, not sure how the timer works) and only pick up 20 tones per lot. in that time you get 6 trucks for 10 ton each. so if you place all 6 lots of the same type the train will still only pick up 120 tons every 6 hours. Wich is teh same as placing 2 trade depots(for a fraction of the cost) and have 2 trucks come every hour. Can probably place 3 depots for the same space as a trade port with train thing and 6 lots and get 50% more cargo hauled then by train(if trucks dont get stuck in traffic that is wich theye dont do a lot if you place the depots near the highway)

 

Ship on the other hand can hold at least 200 tons and come a lot more then trains. far more usefull if you are pulling a lot of coal, ore or oil. Dont suppose anyone knows how much ships can load?

[ScottyDoesKnow 8]

Ships do 20 loads. Don't know if it's related to number of lots.

[Vaikin 10]

Ships fill your cargo areas. So if you can hold 60k tons of plastic, they'll deliver up to 60k tons of plastic. They do only hold 1 item at a time though. Depending on the city, it is probably ideal to have each port containing only 1 item. ie: have 3 ports. 1 for plastic, alloy and tvs. 

[ScottyDoesKnow 8]

Ships fill your cargo areas. So if you can hold 60k tons of plastic, they'll deliver up to 60k tons of plastic. They do only hold 1 item at a time though. Depending on the city, it is probably ideal to have each port containing only 1 item. ie: have 3 ports. 1 for plastic, alloy and tvs. 

 

This has never been my experience. Every time a ship comes they deliver up to 20 loads if there's space, or take up to 20 loads if there's enough. Seen that many times in multiple cities. If it's different for you, I'd ask for a screenshot of recent transactions showing more than 20 loads being bought/sold.

[DHarrisG 1]

What do you mean by 20 "loads?"

 

How many tons in a load?

[ScottyDoesKnow 8]

A load is 10 tons or 1000 units, based on how the pricing is defined.

[DHarrisG 1]

What if you're talking about a truck?  Isn't a load then 5 tons?  Since the size of a load can vary, I try to use the tonnage as the measurement.

[Vaikin 10]

Appears they do indeed offline 20 loads at a time. Still, considering the frequency at which ships come, I don't really see it being a problem. 

[ScottyDoesKnow 8]

What if you're talking about a truck?  Isn't a load then 5 tons?  Since the size of a load can vary, I try to use the tonnage as the measurement.

 

Only the local delivery trucks carry 5 tons for delivering to local industry. Trucks that come from the region to buy and sell carry 10 tons (or 1000 units) and the prices are listed that way, which is why I call that a load.

 

Appears they do indeed offline 20 loads at a time. Still, considering the frequency at which ships come, I don't really see it being a problem. 

 

They're pretty good, but my current city needs two ports to sell off all the computers, and they seem to come only half as often as they're supposed to.

[DHarrisG 1]

I thought that deliveries to the region were made by trade depot (or trade port) trucks that I create through the edit process. 

 

Scotty, are you saying these trucks only make local deliveries, and that an entirely different set of trucks we don't create or control pick up and deliver all goods exported to the global market?  In that case, I have been adding too many trucks to trade depots and trade ports, since my only local deliveries are to my own power plant.  I guess I should have figured that out, since the Monthly Transactions page keeps showing $6,000 deliveries, which is 10 tons. 

 

BTW, I find the misnamed Monthly Transactions page (because it's actually daily) to be pretty worthless, since there is no good way to get a count of the goods shipped that day.  The scroll is awful, and the total number seems more a prediction of what the daily total might be at the current rate of progress.

[ScottyDoesKnow 8]

Ya they're different. I THINK you get as many global shipment trucks as you have local trucks, but I've really never checked.

 

And ya the whole day and month being the same thing is somewhat confusing. But if you go to the trade specialty menu it shows your imports/exports of your top 4 commodities for the day.

 

My current profit fluctuates between 7 and 14 million daily. It'd be nice to have numbers for the last 7 or 12 daymonths, but that's the same with pretty much all the stats they give you.

[DHarrisG 1]

Scotty, does the trade specialty menu show exports of commodities for the current day?  I thought it was the number for your best day, usually the prior day, not a running count of that same day.  Am I mistaken?