In a word: train set. Railroader is a giant model train set, where your bigger brother sets the rules and challenges and only when he's out of the room you can treat it as a sandbox and finally take that big bad Berkshire out of the box.

What Railroader is not is a train simulator. The controls are simplified and you won't burn the grates, explode the boiler or melt the brakes. Try Derail Valley if you prefer immersive plate spinning, controlling dozen valves, levers and rods at the same time as keeping an eye on the speed, steam pressure, temperature, coal and water levels, simultaneously looking out for track switches and speed limits, inclines and everything else. Railroader is an altogether much more relaxed experience, and for once I'm happy it's that way and the developers do not seem inclined to change it anytime soon.
Because this leaves me enough time to enjoy what it really is: train operations simulator. Giant jigsaw puzzle with pieces made of cars, locos, sidings, switches and signals. This leaves me enough time to sit down in the driver's seat and look at the landscape passing by. This leaves me enough time to follow the shunted car until it connects with others on the track with the satisfying clunk.


Move aside other-games. Railroader is here!

I don't know how or why you got this game, but well done you! Even if you have absolutely no clue about how trains work, but you do enjoy games about logistics (ETS/ATS spring to mind), Railroader will tickle your fancy. It's obviously in Early Access (as of writing this, July 2024), and so there's plenty of empty spaces and placeholders, but apart from visuals the game offers a complete experience already.

Let's begin.
The game has two main types: Career and Sandbox. Whilst the latter offers all fun and no worries (everything's unlocked and you can spawn whatever you want from thin air), it's the Career mode which is more FUN - and is actually the easier way to learn the ropes. Once you know what is going on, feel free to use the Sandbox. I'm using it often - mostly to test things like "how many cars will this siding fit" or "will that engine pull 2000 tons" or "if I put this industry in Tier 5, how much of a headache will it be?".

TIP: In the Settings tab of the Company Sheet (little house icon on the top) there's a section called "Map Settings" visible only in Sandbox. It will allow you to turn on and off various sections of the map - for example signals, if they annoy the living daylight out of you.

So, for now, start a new Career game (Whittier Start), name your company whatever you wish and hop straight in. You should end up outside your new home, Whittier Interchange, with a fully functional G16 Mogul locomotive, a half-dead T17 locomotive, and some other rolling stock.
There are two main camera modes: 1st person and overhead cam, available by pressing 1 and 2 respectively. The FPP is more immersive but very limited. However it's also convenient when operating some more obscure parts of your railroad (like turntables) and oiling those bearings. You can customise your looks somewhat in the game's menu, accessible after pressing Escape.
Also: Usain Bolt has got nothing on your guy.



Overhead cam can be made to follow a train an engine or a car by using keyboard shortcuts or an inspection panel, and can be zoomed out very far for a good overview of the situation, or very close. Close enough actually that you'll be able to operate levers in the cab or the valves on the car.
A third camera is accessed by pressing 3 on your keyboard, and this one is fixed to show a room at Bryson station, dedicated to control room for signals - look in section 5 for my thoughts on this.

Basic controls, functions and operations are covered in the well-written tutorial, so I will not repeat all this here - just follow it up to the point when your Mogul is back on Whittier having done the basic passenger run to Ela.
For the first few runs, especially to new places, I'd recommend that you actually follow the train in motion to the very end, either from the driver's perspective or overhead cam. You don't have to drive it manually, the AI Road setting (Ai Engineer) costs very little and will make sure the speed limits are observed and that the train will not plough head-on into some obstacle. It will also make stops on any and all stations which you ticked in the operations tab of the "inspector" for the passenger coach.

Just a couple of suggestions for the tutorial: don't fill the T17 with coal, we're selling it so save the money. Don't buy the spare parts either (we have plenty and more are coming!). And for your contracts choose Ela Farm Supply at Tier 1 only.
Why only this one? Mostly for time efficiency and also as a slight added variety to alleviate repetition: you'll get the compulsory services to House Tracks anyway, and Ela's one is just one switch away from the Farm track - unlike Stenzel and Hollifield, the only other two small contracts available, where you spend a lot of time running around cars to position them correctly in relation to your loco.
Also, do not at this point take the Whittier Sawmill contract - we'll get to it later.
Also, also - please don't go to sleep yet when the tutorial suggests. We have a couple of things to do yet! - see section 3 for details.



Apart from running the trains, most maintenance-related tasks are performed using the Company Window, accessible from the default key shortcut - (i). Familiarise yourself with this window, especially Locations and Settings. The former is used often to check things like stocked materials in the industries and status of your engine sheds. The latter allows you to skip time and tweak the game to your liking. The developers at Giraffe Lab are a precious bunch, who will not stand in your way of having fun, so most of the annoying features can be turned on and off there.

The vast majority of the game is centered around what you've just done during the tutorial. Hook up cars, deliver them to a specific place and leave them there to be loaded/unloaded, then bring them back to the interchange to be sent away and replaced by a new set of cars. If it sounds repetitive it's because it is, but with enough variety to keep things interesting.
Once you learn what you like to do, you will be able to tailor the game so that it's fully enjoyable.
For example - you like watching trains but the AI Engineer whistling at every crossing makes you mad? Company Window -> Settings -> Features -> untick Crossing Signal.
You absolutely love unscrambling cars at the Interchange? Company Window -> Settings -> Features -> Blocking -> change to Hostile.
Hotboxes and oiling is a grind for you? Company Window -> Settings -> Features -> untick Hotboxes and Oil.
Prefer just running a small commuter train? Don't take any contracts and you can do it till your eyes pop out.


Busy morning at Whittier.

As mentioned before, the basic controls, like camera and movement, are covered in tutorial. There are however a few important key shortcuts which are practically necessary to run the railroad efficiently.
In no particular order:

TAB - toggles tags above each and every car and loco, showing where it's supposed to go. If the car has a grey tag - it's got no waybills attached. If the tag is coloured but "shaded" light, it's where it is supposed to be. Different areas have different colours assigned, which allows at a glance identification.
Hovering your cursor over the tag will show approximate direction and distance to the target location.

0 and 9 - these jump the camera to the front or the very back of the selected consist respectively. Very useful when putting a train together.

Shift+0 and Shift+9 - will jump the view one wagon towards the front or the back. Useful when connecting/disconnecting gladhands and oiling the bearings.

Shift+Click on Gladhands will activate both glandhands and the anglecocks.

Shift+Click on a locked Coupler will open it and close the anglecocks.

Ctrl+Click on a car will open an inspection tab on it. Use self-explanatory Follow button to keep the camera centered on it - useful when shunting.

Ctrl+T is a teleport, useful both in 1st person and overhead cameras and on the map.

Ctrl+0 will teleport your engineer avatar to the driver's seat of your selected locomotive.

Ctrfl+F on a track drops a "do not pass" marker.

Shift+ / (slash) - is a "query" to check the section of the track for incline and curve on hover-over.

IMPORTANT: By default you can throw switches from the map view - which is a godsend by the devs, as it allows you to quick check if the route you're sending your train on is correct.

This section is for lazy railroaders, such as yours truly. Obviously, you can play the game whichever way you want to, if you're happy running a sleepy two-coach passenger service between Whittier and Bryson, who am I to dissuade you, but here you'll get general tips and guide on what to do and when, so as to obtain good results with little effort.
The first and most important job you should set up is the Whittier Sawmill. It's a type of captive service, which means, if I understand it correctly, that the raw material already belongs to the industry. They just need someone with a locomotive and some cars to transport it to the Sawmill.

Day 1
We pick up where the tutorial leaves us in the cold. If you followed it (and my alterations/suggestions) you should end up with the G16 at the Whittier, T17 in the shed, and one contract to Ela Farm at Tier 1. And still on Day 1 of course!
Now open Locations->Whittier Engine Service, choose 2x repair speed and repair the T17 to 100% (Open the Company sheet -> Settings -> Wait 1 Hour - until it's done), then prepare it for selling (Inspect->Equipment->Sell at Whittier Interchange) and finally pull it to the interchange. While you're at it sell the Caboose as well.
DISCLAIMER: You can just as well sell the G16 Mogul instead. They're similarly priced and have almost-comparable power base, however I find the T17 more maintenance-intensive with its tiny tender capacity. This guide will work fine either-or. Well, obviously keep the T17 if you're a die-hard Back to the Future fan!


Just a slightly modernized T17 if you ask me.

Now you can sleep until 6am.

Day 2
Selling the loco and caboose nets you in excess of $7k. You reputation changed at midnight and now should be at 110%, thus giving you a hefty 25% discount on milestones and 10% on rolling stock purchases. Now purchase 1 (one) T22 Ten Wheeler and 3 (three) 40ft skeleton flatcars.
- Using the Mogul run the mixed passenger/freight consist to Ela (you should have two cars to the Farm and possibly two more to Whittier and/or Ela House Tracks).
TIP: In order to maximise your profit, stop the train at Whittier, wait until all available passengers board, then "Wait 1 hour". Rinse and repeat at Ela.
- Meanwhile coal and water the T22. Attach three flatcars to those eight already waiting at the R1 siding of the Sawmill. Now create waybills for five of those at the end of the track for Loading Logs at Connelly Creek L1, and remaining six for L2. You will not have any options for "unloading" as we haven't started the contract for Sawmill yet. Run the train to Connelly L1 as is, pushing the cars up the hill. Don't forget to prepare the route - including the switches near L2 - by throwing the switches on the way, using either overhead cam or the map.
TIP: If you don't know where what track and why, open the Locations tab in your Company Window, find the industry (in this case Connelly Creek Logging) and click on a little arrow by the name of the track. The camera will jump to the location and you can trace your way back from there.

Tree density lowered for clearer picture.

- (1) The train should roll straight into the L1, and five forward cars will start loading right away. Apply handbrake on one of them, disconnect air and uncouple. Apply fusee (Ctrl + F) on the single track, just before the first switch (see white dot at the screenshot above) - this will help control the train in the future. Then roll back (2), throw the switch and (3) continue to L2. Once there, 1 hour wait is enough to have all of those cars fully loaded. Journey back to the R1 siding - just reverse what you did and you'll be fine. On the way out from L1 if you're using AI Engineer - tap the Danger symbol (exclamation mark in a triangle) on the loco's selection panel and choose the "Pass Fusee" option.
TIP: Keep the AI Engineer speed setting to 20 mph on Connelly, due to multiple speed limits. Save fuel!
You will make this trip at least once a day for the rest of the game, but it's one of the most profitable things you can do.
- Choose the Contract for Whittier Sawmill at Tier 2. It will use 11 cars of logs per day, starting at midnight. The first load will disappear quicker, because the Sawmill has to stock up, but it will regulate itself by day 4.
TIP: If you run out of logs at an inconvenient time of day, take the whole trip at the time you actually want it to happen, even if some cars aren't empty yet. Just remember to switch the waybill for the half-empty car manually.
- Finish your day by stashing your active rolling stock (both locos and the passenger car) in the shed. This will refill the oil in the bearings and keep the stock in good condition, which is particularly important for passenger service.
REMEMBER to wait until just after midnight and update the waybills on your log flatcars to unload at the Whittier Sawmill.


Mogul hard at work at the Sawmill.

Day 3+
- In the morning you will receive your first load of cars destined for Whittier Sawmill - usually five for S01/S02 and one or two for C2 track. Switch them in -> please see Appendix A below for a detailed instruction.
- These cars will be filled throughout the next 24 hours and, when full, their overhead tag will change to say Whittier Interchange. This means they're ready to be switched out of the siding and back to Interchange tracks.
TIP: There's absolutely no need to pull the cars as soon as they're ready. Aim to service any industry once a day only - things move much more slower in the railroad work - and until you get contracts of Tier 2 and above, being swift doesn't make that much difference.
- Keep repeating your daily run to Connelly Creek and servicing the S01/02 and C2 tracks of the Whittier Sawmill using G16 and a mixed train to Ela using the T22. All in all you should easily earn minimum $2000 per day: ~$1200 from logs, ~$700 from contract and compulsory waybills, ~$100 from passengers. This setup allows for minimum time spent each day, because you can run your passenger/mixed train to Ela at the same time as logging run up Connelly Creek. Passenger service at this point is treated only as necessary evil to keep the reputation up.

Do you actually need the passenger service?
Absolutely not. You can run industrial railroad only with no issues, but your reputation will suffer greatly, and with it: your discounts and ability to start contracts at higher tiers.
Running a daily passenger service will earn you hundreds, save you thousands and requires literally the least effort out of everything you can do in the game.

Anyway, now that you're running an efficient, but boring, mini-railway, it's time to decide on your next steps. There are two big earners to choose from - either coal drags from Robinson Gap to the west or captive pulpwood service to Parsons Tannery and Sylva Paperboard in the east.

REMEMBER: Whilst it's easy to cancel an inconvenient contract - although you will pay a fine for doing so - completed Milestones are non-retractable. And, believe me, an enjoyable save can be completely ruined by doing something you're not prepared for (hellloooo Track to Sylva!). Thus the following two sections will attempt to help you make an informed decision.

Pros:
- instant gratification
- access to two very profitable industries at once
- no excessively hard climbs means no heavy equipment needed
- profitable passenger service

Cons:
- long distance to cover daily
- Paperboard and Tannery are both an unholy complicated mess of sidings and tracks
- it's a hefty, one-off $7500 investment

To go this route:
- Grind until you have around $20k in cash (taking a loan is also an option!). You'll spend this on a C25 Consolidation or A26 Atlantic locomotive (which could get useful later on Robinson Gap climb) and at least 6x F50 bulkhead flatcars, which we'll gradually increase to 18x - because pulpwood takes around 8 hours to load and three sets allow to have one loading at Connelly Creek, one unloading at Paperboard & Tannery and one in transit, assuming you don't want your Mogul to live permanently in the woods.
The new loco is required to shuttle stuff from interchange to Whittier and back. Your existing locos won't do much for you, because a consist of 6 pulpwood racks and 6 cars with lumber and wood chips from the Sawmill will weigh in excess of 750 tonnes, which will put even the C25/A26 to the test on the slow-but-steady climb to Sylva.
- Push the 6x F50 to Connelly Creek P3/P4 (not forgetting to create a waybill) when running your daily logs, and leave them for a day to load up. They can go down the following day and get stashed at the Whittier siding.

Day S
- When ready, buy the Tracks to Sylva Milestone for $7500 - it's okay to take a loan to cover the cost. Time it after you finish everything for the day but before midnight. Straight after that, set contracts to Sylva Paperboard and Parson's Tannery both to Tier 1.
Because your interchange has now changed, you will most likely have to run an evening service to Sylva - no fret, it's to our advantage - with the Whittier cars and your precious pulpwood. It will take around 15 minutes realtime to complete but the route is quite scenic and in some places the Connie will struggle uphill, but pull through, adding to the drama.
- Consider buying another set of 6x F50s and sending them to P3/P4 with the daily logs.
- Finish the day by waiting just after midnight, then updating waybills on your pulpwood cars - 3 for Tannery, 3 for Paperboard - and finally pushing them to their destinations. Then stick your Sawmill cars into the Interchange, just up the track, and sleep until morning.


Loaded F50 cars on Connelly Creek P3 and P4 tracks.

Day S+1
- Let the dance begin. Run the usual T22 to Ela, and then on return journey tick the boxes for all stations to be serviced.
- Your new interchange at Sylva should have received around 20 cars: 6 to Whittier Sawmill and 14 to Paperboard & Tannery (it may be more if the game had decided you need an additional midday service). You know what to do - check the waybills on cars and switch them where they need to be, then take the Whittier consist down west. Your pulpwood cars should also be empty by now, so include them in the run.
TIP: If for any reason you need extra pulpwood, there's a Barkers Creek Spur good for emergency reload just a few miles past Dillsboro.
- Once you're at Whittier, switch the Sawmill cars (using G16 probably) and in the meantime send your C25/A26 up to Connelly P3/P4 to load empty F50s and pull down the full ones (2nd set). Now you can run everything back back to Sylva with the C25 and switch the full cars to P2 and P3 tracks accordingly. Check the waybills!
TIP: The Dillsboro Engine Service Milestone should cost you $3750 and is built instantly - a get-out-of-a-pickle solution if you find yourself stuck outside Cowee with little coal or water.

Day S+2
- Your interchange will receive some cars, service the industries then put together a train consisting of empty F50s and Whittier Sawmill cars and run it to the destination.
- Go back to Sylva with full pulpwood and full Sawmill cars.
TIP: Making morning rounds collecting cars in Tannery and Paperboard before bringing in the fresh ones makes for a lot less unnecessary switching.
- When money allows buy the third set of F50s - because once the pulpwood stock is full at both industries, the use will normalise and it will take 24h to empty the cars - and include them in the daily runs. At any given time you should have one set loading at the P3/P4 Connelly Creek, one set unloading at the P2-P3 in Sylva and one set either empty or full, in transit or waiting to be pushed to the destination.
TIP: It's not strictly necessary in the beginning as long as you're okay with making another daily trip up the Creek with empty cars. The G16 isn't strong enough to handle the full load in addition to the logs anyway.


Fresh load of pulpwood.

What's next?
From now on you should start thinking about expanding to Alarka and beyond - each large Milestone typically takes three days and an increasing amount of money - and/or expanding your existing services.
Thoughts on the latter are as follows:
- Paperboard and Tannery take EACH: 3 cars of pulpwood at T1, 4 at T2, 5 at T3, 7 at T4, 10 at T5. Whilst it's possible to run all of it from Connelly Creek, the amount of shunting, switching and waiting makes it impractical. Connelly Creek can comfortably serve both industries up and inclusive of Tier 3, as both P3 and P4 take six cars each and the siding right next to those will happily take 10 cars whilst switching the empties in. Bear in mind that the P2 and P3 tracks in Sylva will not take more than 8 cars at a time, so my suggestion is to keep it to tier 3 maximum.
- Similar to this, the Whittier Sawmill can be happily serviced with logs up to tier 4, when you'd need 21 cars of logs a day, and L1 + L2 of Connelly Creek supply maximum of 24. This will require a second run during the day and possibly another set of 11x 40ft flatcars.
- Increasing amount of loads will put a strain on your C25/A26. It is "fit-for-purpose" at the time of initial setup but you will need to upgrade your motive power as soon as you can. If you decide to expand to Alarka - get a C46 Consolidation or at least the P43 Pacific. If you're happy with what you have - get a second C25/A26 and run them in tandem as a multiple unit (See Appendix B below for tips).
- Consider buying a K28T or S23 to work at Whittier and Connelly Creek. Your tiny Mogul is barely adequate to push your empty flatcars up the L2, it won't necessarily make it with additional F50s up the 3% slope to P3/P4. It will also free the G16 to be the dedicated engine for compulsory service to the stations.
- Buy a switcher for Sylva interchange and servicing the industries there. Again, if you're staying put, get the S23. If you're expanding, save money for the bigger brother, the S51. Or if you're a smelly diesel fan - the SW1. Don't skimp on it, it'll save you a world of hurt.
- Extra passenger car(s) would also be nice, as the fares increase with distance and it's cost effective to carry more passengers per trip. That's why the T22 instead of T17 - it's better at long distance routes and thanks to its large wheels it can attain higher speeds (not really, but it'd be like that in RL).
- Finally, if you're bored, add some extra small contracts on the way and expand to Bryson by repairing the Bridge to Ela.


End of a busy day at Dillsboro Depot.

Pros:
- slow and steady expansion requiring two major milestones to be completed, allowing extra time to secure some cash
- Robinson Gap coal industry is an epitome of lazy money.
- Gives access to Alarka mines which is a smaller scale Robinson.
- Bryson comes fully loaded with turntable, large sheds, coaling and water columns.

Cons:
- slow and steady expansion requiring two major milestones to be completed, requiring extra time spent doing the same things over and over
- Bryson industries are a lot of work for a little pay.
- Requires some serious motive power to drag all that coal and copper back to the interchange.

This is the "default" expansion route, going west. It takes a few days - typically three per Milestone - to get it completed, so I will not explain the process day-by-day. It also doesn't require buying and setting up any additional cars: just straightforward delivery service, which doesn't need extra explanation. Just continue running your small Whittier setup as usual and keep purchasing the phases as they come up.
Start by (surprise!) repairing the Ela bridge. It should cost you 3x $750 spread over 3 days of delivering small consists to the track just west of Ela station (and then taking them back to the interchange). Once this is completed, you'll get access to another 4-or-so miles of track and the crown jewel of your railroad: expansive, fully equipped yard at Bryson. Three watering holes, a coaling tower, multiple repair tracks, a large shed and a turntable! The 6+1 track switching yard is designed to be a classification yard, where incoming cars are sorted out by destination and then sent back on the road, but you don't have to worry about this yet.
Also - a wye to turn around your T22 passenger service, so that it finally runs the correct way on the way back to Whittier.
Also, also - access to a bountiful section of Walker track, where you can easily and effortlessly load even more logs and pulpwood should you be crazy enough to want to get Sylva and Whittier industries past Tier 4.


Bryson Depot

Unfortunately this is where the good things end, as the three contract opportunities you get with this expansion are hardly worth it. Coal & Lumber is troublesome to service due to a very short connecting track next to the turntable, Standard Oil is an infrequent service located on a very steep slope and Apallachian Hardwoods is a whole lotta busywork for not a lot of money.

So for now, leave it all be - you'll get a lot of compulsory service to two Bryson tracks anyway - and concentrate on the next step: Bryson Bridge to Fontana.
It takes three sets of cars, 3x $1500, and some hauling but it finally opens up your biggest moneymaker (in terms of $$$ per switch :) ) in the game: Robinson Gap Coal. Start it up as soon as you're able. Even if you don't have the power required, start at Tier 1 and work your way up.
All this industry requires is a loco pushing a set of cars into a siding, occasional switch of a single car to another siding and then collection of full cars the following morning. Cha-ching!
TIP #1: Run around your engine to push (not pull) the coal hoppers at the Alarka Junction. Robinson Gap mines are located on a steep incline, making it harder to do once you're up there.
TIP #2: It is advisable to construct both a Wye at Alarka Junction and the water column, even if you don't plan to expand to Alarka proper.


Lots and lots and lots of hoppers...

The only downside of RGC is the sheer volume and weight of the trains. Whilst even Tier 4 empties can be pushed up the Hemingway Ridge and into the mines by a lowly C25 (and the way back is just a controlled roll downhill), the route to Interchange from Bryson will have a few upward 1.0-1.5% slopes. Which doesn't sound like much, but when your full consist weighs in excess of 2500 tons, even a GP9 starts freaking out. In order to service this industry, you will need at least a C46 or a pair of A26s working in tandem - to begin with.

Next up is Alarka proper, with its industries and two small Copper Mines. In my humble opinion it's a logical extension to the Robinson Gap, moreso than the Nantahala-Andrews route.
To achieve this, you'll need to run two Milestones: build a Wye at the Alarka Junction first, then construct the actual railway. The former is a single stage, the latter comprises usual three stages, but the consists to the building site are long and heavy, so be prepared to make separate trips with them.
TIP: Make sure all your cars actually sit at the site - there's a gap for the road crossing.

Once this is completed you'll gain access to a lengthy Branch, complete with two passenger stops, a fully kitted-out yard and no less than five new industries to serve. The three industries around the depot are easy to service and a welcome, if infrequent, distraction from a daily repetition.
TIP: The yard at Alarka is on the slight incline, make sure anything you leave there has engaged handbrakes!

The crux of the expansion however are the two copper mines up in the hills. The single access track is steep (reaching 3.0% in places) and bendy, but fortunately even at the highest tiers the amount of cars does not exceed 10-12, so a mid-tier shunter, such as K28T (because it's strong for its size), is usually enough to service both at the same time.
Servicing is just as complicated as the RGC - stick a hopper consist on a track, switch a mining machinery boxcar in and out of a siding and collect full cars. Done.
TIP: With a little bit of cheating (technically called 'having a brake man on the car') you can gently nudge the full hoppers and they'll roll down the slope on their own. Just keep the pace manageable with a judicious use of the handbrake.


Alarka yard and engine shed.

The two branches of the Alarka expansion - the Robinson and the Alarka proper - have somewhat differing requirements. Both have challenging inclines but one has way tighter turns and very limited space for maneuvering. Thus you should consider employing two locomotives to service these two. I would suggest the following:
- 2x long-distance loco such as A26 Atlantic or K35 Mikado. Arrange two separate trains - one to Alarka, the other to RGC - at Bryson, then attach them together for a journey up to Alarka Junction, where they will go separate ways. They can then re-unite back at Bryson and, after refueling, be pressed into tandem service pulling all these goods back to the Interchange.
- 1x K28T, S23 or similar, to service all the industries in Alarka area.
- Extra passenger coach(es) are also a good idea, as the fares increase with distance.

Obviously this is just an example to begin with. As you expand the services and increase tiers, you'll need more and more motive power - but with time- and money-efficient contracts you have set up so far, it should be fairly easy.

Endgame is when you unlock everything, have a dozen top-tier locos, and everything is running at the top-tier contract level... and by that time you get overwhelmed by sheer maddening number of daily cars to serve, bored by swapping pulpwood cars three times a day. Oh, and there's a sense of emptiness gnawing at your soul.
So... you start over from scratch, promising yourself that this time... this time, you'll be good and careful and just do the basic necessities and go back to enjoying the game.

Nah, who am I kidding - nothing beats the sight of two Berkshires hauling 3000 tonnes of coal, copper and talc/debris at breakneck speed!

Anyways. Endgame.
Once you complete the Alarka and Sylva, there are two ways to continue onward - keep adding and expanding contracts on the existing ones, until you have maxed everything out and require two tandem GP9s to haul logs and pulpwood from both Connelly and Walker, just to feed the hungry maws of the industries. Or go further west and measure your railroading chops against the most challenging part of the network.



This begins with expansion to Nantahala, and then further to Andrews. Whilst the first section of the track isn't anything special: just a long, picturesque track on the shores of Fontana Lake, the ultimate milestone after that adds the dreaded red grade to Andrews.
Don't even attempt to tackle this milestone without serious motive power. Practically everything west of Nantahala is a steep climb. Top of the track is around 90th mile mark and the grades are murderous: west side up to 3.5%, east side is 4.5%. Even getting out of the Andrews interchange to the Snowbird Paperboard industry is over 1.5% grade.
Yes, the industries here are profitable, pulpwood is abundant in Graham County, Talc & Limestone take a lot of cars daily, but your general purpose locos will die quickly on that hill. A pair of GP9s is an absolute must! And that idea of a helper locomotive between Nantahala and Andrews is looking better and better by the minute.
This section is also incredibly long. The railroad network, all the way from Sylva up to and including Alarka Depot branch, is about 28 miles long. Distance between Alarka Junction and Andrews is almost 30 miles on its own.


I really hope you've had your coffee already...

Endgame also means dealing with a headache of having two interchanges. This means daily carnage as two mixed loads are going to be dumped at the opposite ends of your railroad, necessitating a whole lotta running around.
There are three ways to deal with this:
1) Disable one of them. You'll get multiple servings to one in the morning, but at least they'll be in one place. But that's not the mark of a true railroader. ;)
2) Start at both ends, delivering cars to industries as you go along, until the two trains meet in Bryson, exchange cars and do the same thing on the way back. Rinse and repeat in the evening.
3) Haul everything to Bryson from the get-go. Then divide, sort and block your consists and finally send them to your destinations. Do the same with completed services. That's what the classification yards are for anyway

A word on time management. When you do everything yourself, you need to be efficient with the tasks. There's always something to do on the railroad. So prioritize your tasks - send the train from Andrews first, then Sylva to Bryson, then Sylvia to Whittier, then do the logging run etc.
And here comes the time setting. You can adjust the flow of time from 1x (real time) to 8x. What it does is affect everything based on the flow of time in the game: engineer's wages, loading,/unloading speed, passenger generation. What it doesn't apply to is train speed.
The timescale should be inversely proportional to the size of your railroad, as it's a double edged sword. On the one hand having a 4x speed and train waiting times increased to 20 minutes is a boon as real time wait (for logs for example) is much lower, but there's a serious risk that you'll run out of time on a larger network.
The default 2x speed is actually pretty balanced for most of the game.

Endgame is also also being a CTC operator, directing trains across the entirety of the railroad from your office above the Bryson Station.
I find the signals complicated and limiting, so I'm not using them at all. Thus, I'm not quite the authority to lecture you on how to operate them efficiently.
Have a look at the official CTC tutorial by the developers:



Last but not least is the passenger service. With the fully unlocked railroad, you will have 15 stations to service, two of which are on the Alarka branch of the rail. Which means that in order to service it properly you will have to run minimum of three Commuter trains daily - in addition to any "Express" - one running from Sylva to Andrews, and one each from Alarka to Sylva and Andrews. This will add to the chaos on your mainline as you will need to start setting up where the trains pass each other and also the multiple freight trains you have set up so far.
Last word on the Express trains - only five stations are the "big" destinations, where most of the passengers originate from and also travel to: Sylva, Whittier, Bryson, Alarka Depot and Andrews. Running a small, cheap commuter train with maybe two cars will fill them up quickly. Running a dedicated fast train with several cars, but which only stop at the big five, before you go with your slow commuters, will be much more profitable.
It's just a suggestion - and a way to only sustain yourself on passenger trains - but at this point learning how to operate those signals is becoming more and more alluring.

Switch list for cars, audits for switch throwing, admin console, something, crew lists, something.
I don't know, I don't do multiplayer.



You're on your own here. Sorry.

To actually complete this guide I have to finish by making a full tutorial on "How To Exit Railroader", however there already are several excellent Steam guides on how to do this and no matter what I do, I won't beat the eloquency contained therein:

End_Of_Track's: How to exit Railroader in 3 simple steps!

and

GenXGamer's: How to exit Railroader in ONE STEP


This concludes my Beginner's Guide to Railroader. Thanks for reading and please do not hesitate to leave a comment telling me how much of an uneducated idiot I am for mixing up all the terminology.
Or praise me for my efforts.
Either way is good.

...and remember:



Also also also, please don't forget to look at the Appendices below. :)

Disclaimer: I know that in reality "shunting" and "switching" really do mean one and the same, but for the purpose of this guide I will refer to these two as somewhat separate events. Switching will refer to powered delivery of car or cars to its destination (end destination or a yard), whilst shunting would describe the "unpowered roll-in".


In order for you to deliver the cars where they need to be you will have to switch them multiple times. Pushing a block of cars into a yard, connecting two blocks together, separating cars by destination and finally rolling them into their final destination specified on the waybill - this is all switching.
In this section we'll concentrate mostly on that last bit, but the experiences gained here will be useful everywhere else.



We'll work out of Whittier, delivering a set of cars to the Sawmill. The diagram on the screenshot shows the most likely arrangement you're going to get at Tier 2.
Please note the position of the engine in relation to the cars and the tracks - it should be away from the Sawmill, pushing the cars out of the interchange,
Step by step:
- Hook up the cars, push them out of the Interchange towards the Sawmill until your entire train passes the switch to the Lead Track. Note: all the surrounding switches should be set to 'normal'.
- Throw the switch then reverse down the Lead Track until you reach the end of the Drill Track.
- Using one of the cams or the Map throw the switches to have an unobstructed route to the rightmost S01/S02 track. From the perspective of the loco it should say: 1. reversed 2. normal.
- Manually or using the AI Yard engineer push the entire consist into the S01/S02. Keep the speed below 7 mph, slowing down to 4-5 mph near the end, and stop before hitting the buffer.
- Apply handbrake on at least one car, uncouple the entire cut of S01/S02 cars and reverse back out onto the Drill Track.
- Throw the switches to lead to the C2 track - all three should be reversed for this purpose.
- Same as above - push the remaining car into the C2, stop, apply handbrake, uncouple and reverse back onto the Drill Track.
That's it. Not a rocket science.

Switching the cars out of the tracks is done exactly in the opposite way. Obviously.

Oftentimes you have to do both at the same time, when a car is ready to be taken back to the interchange but a new one has already arrived. This usually happens at small, single track industries such as the Farm or Stenzel. The quickest way to do this is to run up with a new car, as if you were switching it in, attach the old car and reverse out of the track, past the nearest switch. Throw it and switch or shunt the old car only, so that it is clear of the junction. Back up again and finally switch in the new car.

TIP: Safe speed for coupling is stated to be 3 mph, but it's not as restrictive as the real thing. You will be okay with coupling at 6 mph or less.

A little more time-saving method of "shunting" cars into the tracks is described below.



This is the default way of shunting a consist into the siding. It's akin to pushing a hockey puck along on the ice - nudge and it will continue on its own. The best place to practice this is obviously Whittier Sawmill. You will get a daily set of cars to S01 / S02 and gondolas for C2. Position your loco at the end of the consist, away from the Sawmill and head down to the Drill Track.
- Prep the cars by detaching gladhands and bleeding the brakes (inspect and click Bleed button on each car). For this exercise we will assume the same setup as before.
- Set up the switches so that you have an unobstructed route to S01/S02.
- Select your shunter loco.
- Position your view on the S01/S02 car closest to your engine (Inspect -> Follow)
- Using the Manual simplified controls accelerate the loco to about 7-8 mph.
- Click the coupler between the C2 car and the last S01/S02 thus uncoupling them.
- Engage the brakes on the loco
- If you did everything correctly, the entire section of cars should detach and continue on their way unopposed. Follow it just in case and engage handbrakes as soon as it's close to the end of track buffer.

TIP: Adjust your shunting speed to the length and curvature of the siding. For our example here a speed of 6-7 mph is okay for S01/S02 but the C2 should be shunted at around 8 mph. You'll learn it the hard way when your car stalls halfway.

Now we'll repeat the same thing for the C2 car - throw switches, select loco, position view on the car nearest to the locomotive, accelerate, uncouple, break. Done.

This is what it should look like:
(They say a picture is worth a thousand words. By that logic I've just broken the Steam character limit thousandfold.)


Now this is more complicated but if done right it saves a lot of time running around with the locomotive. It works best with medium to large sized consists and is mostly useful to change the place of the locomotive in your train - for example you are pulling a long train but there are three cars at the end of it which need to be pushed into the siding which is the same way that your train is facing. The correct way to do this is stop the train on the pass-by, apply brakes, unhook the loco, run it around to the back of the train, detach cars, reverse, throw switch etc. etc. ad infinitum.... you get the point. Fly shunting lowers the amount of work quite drastically.
To execute:
- Loco at the front. Select it.
- Unhook the gladhands of the cars to be shunted, close anglecocks, bleed the brakes.
- Set the switch away from where you want to shunt your cars.
- Position your view on the first car to be shunted.
- Using the Manual simplified controls pull the throttle to 100%.
- As soon as the train accelerates to about 7-8 mph, click the coupler.
- The loco with cars will pull away, now accelerating quicker because of the lower weight. As soon as it hits 15 mph, put the throttle to neutral.
- As soon as the powered, accelerated train passes the switch to the desired siding, throw it.
- Engage brakes on the train.
- Monitor the shunted cars for speed and direction, applying handbrakes as soon as they are at the desired location.
- Done. Continue with your normal route.

A quick demonstration:

And that's it! With a bit of practice, you'll be the shuntmaster in no time at all!

REMEMBER: shunting only really works on the flat ground. Shunting up the incline or downhill may or may not end up badly!

(no, not a real word, and also a very labored pun on 'trainspotting')

Every day you get cars, delivered to the edge(s) of your network by other railroads. These are all the result of orders placed "somewhere else" by the industries you have a contract with, stations you service, or even your own orders. They usually come "blocked by destination" - sorted into groups - unless you of course change this in the settings.
How you deal with those is up to you, but the game seems to want you to organise them into trains going to specific "hotspots" - yards, stations, interchanges, spurs, sidings. It's like sending a data packet on the internet, they'd bounce from server to server until they arrive at the recipient.

...I went off on a tangent there a bit.

What I mean is: organise several trains to specific destinations. One of the reasons for that is: massive 50-car trains, while being very entertaining and efficient, don't really work very well. One, they require enormous motive power, and two, the already overworked compressor on your loco at certain point ceases to be able to supply enough air pressure to keep the brakes disengaged.
Let's think of an example where you have already expanded to both Sylva and Alarka. You will get morning service at the interchange with cars going to the Paperboard, Tannery, Sawmill, Bryson Coal, Robinson Gap and Alarka Copper Mines, plus a sprinkling of compulsory service to several stations. It's a veritable mess, several dozen cars, some empty, some full, dozen destinations. What do?



Well, divide and conquer.
- First haul everything to Dillsboro Yard. You did build the engine service, the yard and additional sidings, right?
- Separate everything into three consists:
1) Track from Sylva to Bryson is practically devoid of any inclines, so you can lump everything going to Bryson, Alarka and Robinson together. Hook up to a nice hefty loco and drag it all to Bryson, where it will be further subdivided into two trains and a local shunter.
2) Consist to Whittier, with everything for Wilmot, Whittier, Connelly Creek and Ela. Your local shunter will then service the Whittier area whilst a small freight loco will dispense the other cars in the area.
3) Everything local to Sylva and Dillsboro can go back to Sylva with your switcher.

Of course this is just an example of how to operate your railroad, feel free to experiment - ie. run a separate tiny loco with all the compulsory services, or attach them to your commuter train; send a separate train for Connelly Creek pulpwood only; haul everything as-is all the way to Bryson and deal with it there. Your railroad, your rules.


Consists to large industries (like RGC) or yard destinations (like everything that goes to Alarka) are no-brainer. Lump them together, sort out at the end destination.
Small intermediate contracts and compulsory service are a different kettle of fish though, as they require dropping off cars as they go along. And you really don't want to mess up your passenger schedule by manually stopping and running around with cars at every station from here to Andrews. Wat do?
Just as above - divide into smaller groups, dealt with by dedicated local small locos (as in literally the cheapest G16s and T17s) or a longer dedicated freight train with multiple stops on the way.
Let's consider an example of a local freight train with cars to: Whittier House Track, Stenzel, Ela Farm, Bryson House, Bryson Freight, Bryson Coal. All delivered to Whittier siding on a consist from Sylva alongside empty F50s and Sawmill cars.

The "correct" way of doing this.


(Yeah, I forgot the caboose!)

The "laymer gamer" way of doing this.



The point here is that in reality a consist like this would be headed on the mainline by a locomotive - because in order to drive a train, a train driver needs to see something in front of the train he's driving, right? So, a consist would turn up at Whittier, loco and two cars would detach, run around, switch, push and shunt. Then the loco re-attaches and continues to Ela, where the dance repeats.

We, however, are like gods. We have a better view and an unparalleled, intimate knowledge of our own railroad. So in the second example all the running around has been already done in the yard - most likely with the help of a switcher locomotive - and so the cars are already in the correct position and sequence to be simply pushed into their destination, saving time and money. But admittedly looking quite silly.

Told you this is going to be done from a layman's perspective.


Making more than one locomotive working on a single train is a cheap and effective way of pulling that much extra weight. Because if you already have a C25, but need a C55-level of performance, buying another C25 is less than half the price and the overall effect is almost comparable.
There are two ways to do this - an actual MU setup or with a use of a helper.
Actual MU setup (called double- or triple-header) has been, and still is, fairly popular on the railroads. It usually comprises two or more locomotives of (usually) the same type working together, but controlled from the front cab. It is cheaper and more utilitarian to do that than to construct one larger loco and deal with articulation problems.
To set it up in Railroader attach two locos together, connect air and set them to Manual, with brakes off and no throttle. Then Inspect (Ctrl+click) the second one, and tick both MU and CUT OUT boxes. All done. You can now control the entire train just from the first loco in the set.


Two dedicated passenger P43 Pacifics pressed into temporary coal drag from Robinson.

Helper locomotive is used in real life in certain situations only. For example when 90% of the railroad in the area is max. 0.5% grade, but there's this one section with 1.5% incline, the company running the railroad can decide to employ just a cheaper, smaller locomotive - which is designed to deal with the smaller grade - for most of the work. And then station a second one near the troublesome grade. It attaches at the back for that section and only helps navigate the incline, returning to its usual position afterwards or doing other jobs in the area.
In Railroader utilizing this idea properly could be hard work and a waste of fuel, but there are times when you will need a helping hand - because the usual consist is overweight due to extra cars or more likely when climbing the dreaded red grade west of Nantahala. In my case it happened a few times on Whittier-Sylva route, where the only immediately available spare loco was a K28T with tiny coal and water reserves.
To set this up attach a helper loco at the back, connect air, Inspect it and tick only the CUT OUT box. When the train is ready, set the helper to AI Road engineer and set the desired speed to 20mph (or 15 or 25, depends on how often you want to use its help). Run the train as usual, manually or AI. The helper will only open the throttle when the speed falls below 20mph on the hard incline, saving fuel and water.



Troublesome, overweight train to Sylva. Smoke from the helper loco at the back can be seen through the trees.

That's it for this section. Now go forth and tandem things!

I'm assuming the Developers have at least some experience in the great world of the steam-era railroads, and thus are using a lot of jargon, which can be overwhelming for simpletons such as us.

First though, a FAQ (which in this case stands for FAke Questions).



Q: What's this 2-8-2 thing?
A: It's the number of wheels - or wheel arrangement - on a locomotive, according to a classification method called Whyte notation. This particular moniker means the loco has two leading wheels (1 axle), eight driving wheels (4 axles) and two (1 axle) trailing wheels. Usually only the driving wheels are powered. Also - the lack of other numbers or letters tells us this is a tender locomotive, so it has a semi-permanently attached specialized car supplying it coal and water for the boiler.

Q: Why are there three Ten Wheelers and they all look different?
A: Because it's not a model name, like Ford Focus, but a nickname. Particularly in the USA, specific wheel arrangements received common names, usually after the first locomotive of the type ever produced. So, all Consolidations will be of a 2-8-0 type, all Mikados are 2-8-2's and so on.

Q: Tractive effort? Factor of Adhesion?
A: Unlike cars and trucks, steam locomotives' performance is measured in tractive effort, which generally means the pounds-of-force that the loco can exert on the track. This characteristic is a bit iffy, not only in the Railroader game but also in real life, because it is calculated using several assumptions which leads to under- or overestimation of the locomotive's power. And it varies with speed, temperature and other things.
According to my tests, a rule of thumb to understand this would be: a K35 will start up the Andrews hill (steepest 4.5% grade) with 350 tonnes of load. A G16 - 160 tonnes. Very roughly of course. See table below.
Factor of Adhesion - forget it exists. It's complicated and involves explaining multiple engineering definitions to fully understand, but generally it's a number describing how well a loco can put its tractive effort to use. As a rule of thumb the higher the better.

Q: What's the curve radius, and why does it matter?
A: It doesn't (at least not as much as you think it does). Obviously the larger and longer the engine, the more in-line driving wheels, the more rigid the train - the larger the "turn radius". Fortunately for us the Railroader doesn't model track damage, but in real life pushing a B65 through a sharp curve would end up badly. In this game however having an L-radiused locomotive means that on some tight turns the safe speed will be severely limited.

Q: I know what the flatcars and boxcars and hoppers are for, but what's with the Caboose?
A: Modern railways have all mod-cons: staff toilets, staff cafeterias, air-conditioned staff rooms, TVs in the lounge etc.
1950s steam railways had a caboose.
It had multiple roles to fulfill:
- provide space for the train crew - somewhere to make a pot of coffee, cook dinner, sit and rest, out of the sun and rain,
- have a good vantage point to overlook the entirety of the train, to spot shifting load, breakages and hotboxes,
- provide additional braking force,
- indicate the end of the train with red lanterns.
So, technically, every long-distance train should be tail-ended with a caboose. But it's so inconvenient that it's literally the first thing I get rid of, realism be damned! Your Railroad, Your Rules. You don't tell the 1st Atlantic how to run their trains, do you?

Q: Speaking of which - what are those class lights for?
A: I'm no railhead but the way I understand this is that the lights are supposed to indicate whether the train is in the timetable or not.
- no light: a scheduled regular (ie. daily passenger service)
- green: scheduled one but has some extras attached (ie. mixed train with cars for a milestone)
- white: ad-hoc (ie. "rescue" train, return cars after cancelled contract etc.)
Same would apply to the end-of-train markers (red) which is why every train travelling on the mainline should have a caboose as the last car (except for Palace Observation which have in-built markers).

Q: Diesels are so much stronger, why even bother with steam engines?
A: Because they're sexy. And they're cheaper.
Also - in Railroader the steam engine can put its full tractive effort to use much quicker than a diesel. If you don't believe me try a sandbox drag race between a C46 and SW1 with some 300T of drag. Use steam shunters.


Anglecock - not what you think, although it is roughly banana-shaped. It's just a 90° air valve, serving the train's pneumatic brake system. The pressurized air is fed from the main reservoir in the loco and actuates brake pads in the wheels.
Gladhands - a posh name for air hose connectors. Continuing from above, the air pressure for the brakes needs to be connected to every car in the train that you wish to contribute to the overall braking force. Gladhands do exactly that.
Waybill - is in essence a delivery order saying that "this car needs to be transported from location A to location B".
Consist - a train.
Fusée - a red flare placed in the track, serving as a "you shall not pass!" mark.
Wye - A 'Y' shaped piece of track with a couple of switches, used to turn a train - or just a loco - to face the other way. Why 'wye'? Why, it's a Ye Olde Englisc representation of the letter 'Y', which wye resembles.
Siding - a piece of track branching away from the Mainline serving as 'parking' or 'loading' area. Historically (and unlike what you may have seen in the likes of Transport Tycoon) the railroads only laid a single track connecting main hotspots - industries, towns, warehouses. This single track was meant to be kept clear for traffic at all times, so any rolling stock not currently in active use was stashed away on a siding.

The Railroader wouldn't be as engaging as it is if not for the detailed models of transition-era steam locomotives. There is something inherently "romantic" in a choo-choo slowly chugging away - something that a whine of diesel-electric propulsion can never fully replace. This section will attempt to tell you, dear layman reader, something more about the locomotives available in the game.

But first check this excellent guide by HeavyPootisMan2 containing some juicy details about the real-life inspirations for the in-game engines: Railroader Locomotives and their real life prototypes.

Below are two reference tables: one comparing basic statistics of the engines and the theoretical total weight they can pull, the other (in the section D2) presents results of a fuel consumption test.


The values in this table are calculated using a formula: Grade * 20 stems from engineering assumption of 20lbf required per tonne of train, per grade of incline. The (+5) is a similar assumption of max. 5lbf per tonne required to overcome friction (since the cars in Railroader seem to have plain bearings, not modern journal ones). This does not take track curvature into consideration which would require additional 0.8lbf per degree of curvature to calculate.

COMMENTARY: In tests these numbers seem to be higher. For example I have successfully managed to start off a K28T up the 2.5% slope with a consist weighing grand total 775T (calculated effort should be 518T). Started - but never got to any reasonable speed, and since there are many factors in tractive effort calculations (ie. velocity, factor-of-adhesion, size of drivers etc.) the real numbers will generally not be 100% accurate.
Treat the numbers in the table as a guideline - with significant tolerance - on the acceptable total weight of the consist to pull up the specified grade at a speed of 10-15mph.
Also: even the 0.1 difference in the grade, makes a lot of difference in the tonnage - for example G25 Mogul loses over 70T of drawbar pull between 1.0% and 1.1%.
Most likely these will still be tweaked and changed when the proposed alterations to track adhesion and weather are implemented, I shall revisit then.

Drawbar horsepower is a representation of the engine's power, but unlike "static" Tractive Effort, the DHP is "dynamic". For this guide's purpose, treat the TE as "how much my loco can pull" while the DHP tells you "how fast it will pull the load".
The DHP in the table has been obtained through in-game tests using partly measured, partly calculated data.
The tests were completed using consists weighing close to the calculated pull at 1% grade - tailored to each locomotive - making a rolling (10-15mph) start at about 50 mile marker, up from Barkers, and running until the train no longer accelerates (or reaches Cowee tunnel). This stretch has an almost-constant incline with few curves.
You may say this was a 1-mile drag race (d'oh!).
The data were then used in the calculations using the formula:
Where:
- Maximum Speed in mph attained on the 1% incline (where the pulling force and resistance are at an equilibrium).
- 375 is a constant, because 1hp = 375 lbf * mph.
- Drawbar Force in lbf required to pull the load, calculated using the formula derivative of the "pull at grade" one, but with a difference that the Mass is a total weight of the consist minus the weight of the locomotive:
Same mathematical assumptions apply.

Last but not least, the DHP/TE Ratio is a non-dimensionless relation between power and speed. In this table anything above 4.5 will have a very good speed performance whilst anything below 3.5 should be confined to yard shunting.
Practical example: both P18 and S23 have 630hp, but TE/DHP of P18 is much better, meaning it will pull its specified 720 tonnes up 1% grade faster than the S23 does with its 932T load.
Hopefully it's clear enough.

Special thanks go to the Steam user Knsgf for inspiring this test and presenting his process of obtaining the end figure.

The test was conducted using sandbox mode with signals turned off. Starting conditions:
- Equal load of 10x F50 flatcars for a total weight of 170T.
- Freshly spawned, fully watered and coaled locomotive hooked up in the pusher configuration.
- Route from Bryson station to the first switchback at Walker Logging (bendy, 3.1% climb).
- AI Engineer control with speed set to 25mph.

The test was repeated twice and the average value was used in the table.


*obviously diesel engines do not carry and consume water but Diesel Fuel.

So, what does this actually mean?


Lots of numbers signifying nothing probably.

In all honesty I didn't really expect anything from this test, but do treat this as a very rough idea of which engine is more frugal with coal and water, ergo plan your trip more efficiently.
A test using tailored load for each engine (ie. theoretical drawbar pull for 3.0% grade) would probably give us more insight to real fuel consumption. I may do it in the future if the time allows.

There are plenty of industries in the Railroader (and more are being added with time). We could talk about how big they are and all that. but instead I'll classify them according to work needed to service them. Because I'm lazy,
The "initial no. of cars at T3" rubric should give you an indication of what to expect from the contract. Most industries delivering initially 1 or 2 cars will require relatively infrequent service. Those with 3 and above will usually increase their output exponentially.

1. Good money for little work.
Robinson Gap Coal mine and both Alarka Copper mines fall into this category. There's minimal switching involved and the turnover is absolutely massive.


2. Good money for a lot of work.
All four captive service industries fall here. Higher tiers are good money makers but there is a lot of switching required to service those, in addition to providing your own rolling stock to supply raw material.
Also: Nantahala Talc & Limestone. This is not a captive service, delivery only. Four locations to service and fairly tiny siding to do it all, but the amount of cars=earnings is very good, especially on higher tiers.
Nantahala Power & Light almost made the list but the numbers aren't really that high to warrant it.


3. Small money for little work.
All compulsory services fall into this category as well as all "heating", "coal", "lighting", "lumber" type industries. These are easily identified because of a small, single track siding, where we deliver cars with fuel, miscellaneous, parts or whatever, only to watch it being emptied over the course of the next few days. Next load comes in, we switch out the old ones, switch in the new ones and done. Not much money but not much work for it either.
I'd suggest treating these like "distractions" and limiting them to Tier 3 maximum.


4. Small money for a lot of work.
Actually any tiny industry listed above at a 4+ Tier will be a lot of work for mediocre money, because of frequency and constant switching of small number of cars in and out of the single track. Stenzel in Whittier is an even worse example of that, as we actually get two types of boxcars to be delivered to a very short track and no real place to store any extras.
But the top marks for the hands-down worst industry is Appalachian Hardwoods. Firstly there are three locations on two tracks, necessitating a constant in-and-out, and the number of daily cars is just high enough to have to switch everything, but not enough for a hefty profit. I personally avoid this industry like the plague.



Sylva Paperboard
Full (50T) cars of pulpwood daily:

Parson's Tannery
Full (50T) cars of pulpwood daily:

Whittier Saw Mill
Full (3 No,) cars of logs daily:

Snowbird Paper Products
Full (50T) cars of pulpwood daily:

Ruling Grade is a maximum incline on any given section of a track, ie. the steepest climb a consist will have to navigate. Some are only few dozen yards long, but most are much longer so you need to come prepared and choose the right motive power for the job, especially when the section of track sports a lot of curves - they do require extra effort to overcome.

In the table:
+ means only flat or going up (looking from Bryson or the Mainline).
- means only flat or rolling downhill (ditto).
+/- means that the track section has both.





* Nantahala - Topton has a very steep (4.5%) and bendy (10 deg+) climb until around 90th mile marker, where it turns into a 3.3% descent.





* Alarka Copper Mines spur reaches 3.0% even before the first switchback, the worst after that is actually 2.5% (1.9% sustained) for M1 and 2.9% (2.6% sustained) for M2. Both are also extremely bendy, with curves reaching 26 degrees. Use smaller locomotives.