Developing a Railroad Game (HELP!!!)

BrianS Feb 9, 2001

  1. BrianS

    BrianS E-Mail Bounces

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    I have been asked by one of my teachers to develop a game to teach his American History students about railroads. The game is very basic because it was designed for the non-railroader. In a nutshell, a group of students runs one railroad. The teacher, acting as the shippers, announces a pair of cities between which shipments are made. The railroads will then bid on the account. Bid price and transit time all play into weather or not they get the bid. The groups will be provided with how long each route segment is and how much it costs to operate over it. From that they can determine how much they want to charge.

    What I need from you guys is some help with the game details. I've developed different railroads to be controled by the groups. Now my problem is finding out route distances on the different lines. I've gaken some liberties in developing these system maps, they are close to the real ones, but not totally accurate. (Remember, these are for non-railfans.) I also need information on shipping rates. I guess looking at my lines, I'm representing the late 1970's. What would be realistic costs per mile to operate trains on each line? I'll probably represent two levels of service in the game. Getting down to it, I need mileages between the cities listed, operating costs per mile between each city pair, and an average line speed between the cities. I know not one person will have the answers, which is why I'm calling on the entire board for help. Without further waste, here are the selected line segments:

    Burlington Northern
    Seattle - Spokane
    Seattle - Portland
    Portland - Spokane
    Spokane - Butte
    Spokane - Minneapolis
    Butte - Billings
    Billings - Denver
    Billings - Minneapolis
    Minneapolis - Duluth
    Denver - Ft. Worth
    Ft. Worth - Houston
    Minneapolis - Chicago
    Denver - Omaha
    Omaha - Chicago

    Milwaukee Road
    Seattle - Spokane Jct.
    Spokane Jct. - Spokane
    Spokane Jct. - Butte
    Butte - Minneapolis
    Minneapolis - Duluth
    Minneapolis - Davenport
    Davenport - Chicago
    Davenport - Omaha
    Davenport - Kansas City

    Missouri Pacific
    El Paso - Ft. Worth
    Ft. Worth - Texarkana
    Texarkana - Little Rock
    Little Rock - Memphis
    Little Rock - St. Louis
    Little Rock - Kansas City
    Texarkana - New Orleans
    St. Louis - Kansas City
    Kansas City - Omaha

    Rock Island
    Chicago - Des Moines
    Des Moines - Kansas City
    Des Moines - Omaha
    Omaha - Denver
    Kansas City - Herington
    Herington - El Reno
    El Reno - Oklahoma City
    Oklahoma City - Little Rock
    Little Rock - Memphis
    El Reno - Ft. Worth
    Ft. Worth - Houston

    Santa Fe
    Oakland - Los Angeles
    Los Angeles - Albuquerque
    Albuquerque - El Paso
    Albuquerque - Ft. Worth
    Ft. Worth - Houston
    Albuquerque - La Junta
    La Junta - Denver
    La Junta - Kansas City
    Kansas City - Ft. Worth
    Kansas City - Chicago

    Southern Pacific
    Portland - Oakland
    Oakland - Ogden
    Oakland - Los Angeles
    Los Angeles - El Paso
    El Paso - Santa Rosa
    El Paso - San Antonio
    San Antonio - Ft. Worth
    San Antonio - Houston
    Houston - New Orleans

    Union Pacific
    Omaha - Gibbon
    Gibbon - N. Platte
    N. Platte - Cheyenne
    N. Platte - Denver
    Cheyenne - Ogden
    Denver - Marysville
    Gibbon - Marysville
    Marysville - Kansas City
    Ogden - Los Angeles
    Ogden - Pocatello
    Pocatello - Pasco
    Pocatello - Butte
    Pasco - Portland
    Pasco - Spokane

    Western Pacific - Rio Grande
    Denver - Albuquerque
    Denver - Ogden
    Ogden - Keddie
    Keddie - Oakland
    Keddie - Portland

    The plan is to play the game in class starting Tuesday, so I need everything ironed out before then. Thanks for all the help, guys!

    [ 09 February 2001: Message edited by: BrianS ]

    [ 09 February 2001: Message edited by: BrianS ]
     
  2. Gregg Mahlkov

    Gregg Mahlkov Guest

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    As someone who has spent the last two decades in charge of marketing and pricing for s major short line, i can tell you that there is no way you could hope to create a realistic scenario for rates between those points in less than a month, working 60 hour weeks.

    First, rail rates do not reflect cost per mile, because the major costs are in terminals, the line haul costs very little, therefore rail rates are telescopic, i. e. the rate for 500 miles may be 3 times that for 100 miles and the rate for 1000 miles would be 1.5 times the rate for 500 miles.

    If you are dealing with the 1970's, your marketing officers would be looking at jail terms if they bid for the traffic. Prior to the passage of the Staggers Act in 1980, rail prices were set by a committee or cartel if you will of all the railroads in a geographic area and all railroads charged the same rate. Rates could only be raised or lowered on 30 days' notice and the ICC was likely to "Investigate and Suspend" any major changes for a year or more until they had held exhaustive hearings.

    Historically, rail rates were really "what the traffic will bear" in that they reflected the value of the service to the customer rather than the cost of the service. The excuse for charging high rates on valuable commodities was "freight claim experience and costs".

    That said, costs would be around $50. per car to spot or place and $100. for each terminal handling. Road haul costs would be about $0.02 per ton mile. In the 1970's equipment costs would have been about $0.25 per hour, and $0.05 per mile.

    Since it would ber impossible to recreate the actual or realistic circumstances in the time allotted, suggest you all just pretend and "wing it". :eek:
     
  3. BrianS

    BrianS E-Mail Bounces

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    I understand your points as well as any other student of railroading, but he's pretty dead-set on this game. (The basic concept was the teacher's, he just left the details up to me. :rolleyes: ) I told him a better railroad simulation would be on cooking the books to make it look like you're breaking even, but he didn't enjoy that suggestion much. What I'm trying to do at this point, because he's not changing the concept, is just following orders. If you saw what they tried to do with railroads last year, you'd think this game was light years ahead of that one.

    I guess I'm trying to simulate unit train service more than anything else. There's no way I can show the local delivery of cars, so I'm concentrating on moving between the large cities. By the time they got enough traffic to make up a train, and figgured out the rates (sic) the period would be over.
     
  4. Gregg Mahlkov

    Gregg Mahlkov Guest

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    If your teacher is bound and determined, suggest you go to the Class I railroad websites, especially BNSF and UP and root around, they both have a limited amount of "public" rates on their websites. These actually move a car here and there, but mainly serve as a basis for negotiation. You don't say what commodities are involved. Some, such as coal, grain, and some chemicals are still technically regulated. This mainly means the shipper can complain to the Surface Transportation Board, which succeeded the ICC. But, the Surf Board is deaf when it comes to listening to shippers.

    Can you access Rand McNally's "Milemaker"? This provides highway miles, but many railroads use it for prices, as the truckers use it. It is a program that users pay a fairly hefty fee to use, so you would need to know someone in the logistics department of a large company. :rolleyes:
     
  5. Dwightman

    Dwightman TrainBoard Member

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    Brian,

    As a cheaper and more accessible alternative, check out this link:
    http://nyow.railfan.net/pfmsig/atlas48.html

    It's the 1948 Rand McNally Handy Railroad Atlas. You'll have to add up the distances, but you should get pretty accurate route miles that way.

    Dwight

    [ 10 February 2001: Message edited by: Dwightman ]
     

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