I wondered why the grass was so uniformly green , the hillsides so straight. And those cute little houses ... reminds me of something ...

Then I understood: This wasn't REAL LIFE. This was a dream, and I was dreaming in TT-land!

. A man came around the sawmill corner, and I asked him for the nearest bus stop. He answered: "Oh no! There are no bus stops in Littletown. Our local transport manager - Mr Blunt - never starts anything that he thinks won't pay. Littletowners don't travel anywhere. The only transport here is North Sea oil to the oil refinery down there."

"But what about the goods from the refinery?" I asked.
"Just piling up! Rats are starting to eat some of it" He replied.

. I added: "And this sawmill - aren't there any forests somewhere?"
"Oh yes! Two of them near each other, and quite near Bigcity - population 1800, about 80 MTiles inland" he answered.

"80 MTiles is a good sort of distance", I said. "So why doesn't Mr Blunt take wood from Bigcity forests to this sawmill?"
"He calculated that project, and found it not profitable enough" said the man. "He found it needed about 2 1/4 wood trains per month - an awkward number."

"But", I retorted, "He should think synergy! - not just wood!
If there's wood enough for 2 1/4 trains / month, there will be goods enough for 2 1/4 trains more from the sawmill - And trainloads of goods from that oil refinery too!"
I was getting excited: "The sawmill and refinery are near each other. If you build an extended station , covering both sawmill, refinery and town, you can receive wood, oil, passengers and mail in just 1 railway station, and also send 2 types of GOODS from it."

"At the Bigcity end, build another extended station, covering most of the city and both forests. Then build a good efficient 1-way rail loop between the two."
I continued: "You have wood and goods for about 7..8 trainloads per month. Now add 1 or 2 passenger carriages to each train, and 1 or 0 mail wagons, making it 9 trains / month or so. The passengers / mail from Bigcity will pay for itself, and help develop Littletown."

I added: "And of course use mixed trains! About 2 to 3 wood, 3 to 4 goods wagons on each train, and 2 passenger / mail. No full load!
Just pick up what's at the station, and go! Keep the trains rolling!"

This story - I really dreamed most of it! - describes the best type of long-term TT project - the synergic multi purpose one. If one resource disappears, there may still be business for the rail line you built.

My TT pages talk about lots of things, but the main focus is on:

• Extended or MEGA stations: covering more than 1 resource.
  
• Synergy, and mixed trains:
  avoiding those short inefficient 1-purpose trains - 3 wagons!
  
• Developing towns into cities. Road planning. Keep'em happy ...
  Also:
  
• A number of tricks of my own.
  
• Opponents - avoid damage, and even make them work for you!
  

My TT text is not a complete documentation, covering all aspects of the game; there are so many good ones around already. I try not to repeat too much of the advice I've seen in other TT pages! I just try to fill in the holes; And the holes have grown ... and grown ...

My TT play looks rather like a tree: much of the time is spent out on one of the branches, in 'Curiosity mode': What happens if ...
Maybe I lack the patience and determination to simply play in a straight line, from start to finish.

When I started, I was new on the Web, so I used TT as HTML training ground. My graphics were few at the start. Now I have a number of screen shots from my own TTdx games and experiments. My modem is slow, so I try to keep them small; this sometimes gives them odd colours - reducing to 16 colours, you know - sorry.

September 2003: A chapter on TTdx economy:
MONEY economy - when to spend; pinching pennies when necessary;
TIME economy - how not to waste TT time when building.
Your FIRST project: getting a good start is always important.

My Sardinia Holiday page: Portisco,
on the Emerald Coast / Costa Smeralda; in Sardinia, Italy.
If you'd like an uncrowded beach holiday, somewhat exclusive but not too expensive, try it!

January 2003: Major revamping of most of my pages; some new (smaller) pictures; the old ones will (I hope) load better now, you can read while they come in.
Most of the text has been checked and revised. Some old stuff removed.

New:
A separate TOC - Table of contents - Site map page. Now I'm less untidy than before.

The section on Wishes for next TT has a good deal of new stuff.

Bridges 2-deep! Hanging Inca bridges! Still in use in Peru? It's still not possible to build them in TTdx, but my hacking shows that maybe soon ... in TTdPatch?

Mountainside Ledge for rails, along a steep hillside: avoid distorting that mountainside too much. This might also work in TTdPatch ... I hope.
There's a download ZIP with pictures, Html text, and a savefile. Containing all 3 of my hacked examples; + bits of water at high levels.

'Grass Bridge' 'Grass' or 'Brown' Bridge for houses, ships passing under? Another of my bridge ideas; for next main TT version.

Coming soon??

- . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - .

Here since 2002, 2001:
Someone once EMailed me to ask about a good junction. Both small and efficient, capable of handling a large number of trains without bottleneck.
I'm afraid one has to choose: either small or efficient!
For a large capacity junction, you need to make the branchoffs long enough for 1 full length train, otherwise trains waiting in those branches will cause trains to wait on the main line.

I've built and rejected a few junctions; but now the chapter on intersections is updated with:
- some new knowledge about signals, 1-way or 2-way.
- 3 junctions designed by me, on principles stated earlier.
You can see my junction design in pictures, or download 2 save-games containing the constructions, including trains to test the junctions.

Here since 2001:
How to get rails to your Oil rig! Ships are so slow in TT ...
A really useful seacrawler MEGA station.
3 examples of complex MEGA stations with large rail station + Airport.

"Advanced city development:" I discovered some important new items about town growth and city ratings. Make town grow with Industry only!
And: how to get the town to remove that irritating stadium from the centre! Although this is not always easy to do.

- . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - .

I hope my 'updated' list is of use - reactions, please! I've had NONE so far! My updates are sometimes small, sometimes LARGE. I'll mention the LARGE ones.
Note: I use LOGICAL dates! yyyymmdd:

- - - last updates - TT pages: - - -
ttrigt.htm 2003-0905,0817,0108 (2002-0226,2001-0702,...)TT main.
econottd.htm 2003-0905 TTdx economy: handling MONEY and TIME. 1st project.
tttoc.htm 2003-0905,0817,0108 Table of Contents - Site Map.
ttlink2.htm 2003-0903,0817,0108 (2002-0226....) external TT links.
ttlink3.htm 2003-0903,0817 external non-TT links.
index.htm 2003-0903,0817,0108 (...)Home page.

hack-ttd.htm 2003-0108 Hacking the savegames: Bridges!
miscdisc.htm 2003-0108 Wishes for next TT.
compdown.htm 2003-0108 some new download ZIPs; removed old stuff.
k-intsec.htm 2003-0108 (2002-0226: signals, 3 junctions.
megastat.htm 2003-0108 (2001-0528 3 advanced MEGA stations!

townadva.htm 2003-0108 more pictures (new 2001-0529).
towneasy.htm 2003-0108 more pictures (2001-0602)
treerati.htm 2003-0108 more pictures (2001-0529)
landfwat.htm 2003-0108 (2001-0702, 20000110 (991023, 980901)
The remaining pages have minor adjustments (2003 Jan).

- - - last updates - non-TT pages: - - -
gah02.htm Games 2003-0817,0108 (2001-0519 (990404 980407)
cih02.htm Mensa 2003-0817,0108 (2001-0519 (980307 980215)
sardinia.htm Holiday page: swim, dive on Costa Smeralda 2003-0903,0817
smeralda.htm Holiday: Emerald Coast housing, rental. 2003-0903,0817
cv-engl.htm C.V. (980307 (980215)

to top of this document.
Hints in my VERY OLD files are from plain old TTo, no one way signals etc! Some of those hints may be obsolete / wrong in TTdx - TT deluxe.
Few graphics? - Sorry, I had no screen capture facility - then!

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