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Oak Creek Subdivision

As the sun rises one morning, spewing its light over the horizon, you take control of the Oak Creek Subdivision. You are solely in charge of getting commuters downtown during the morning rush. But it's not that simple. Don't forget that this line is also a busy freight corridor. The morning rush doesn't stop the freight trains from running. Your job is to juggle both the rush of commuter trains as well as the heavy flow of freight trains in and out of the city.

Starting from the West (top left), Palm Village is the second to last stop on a bustling commuter line. All commuter trains stop here before either heading on to their final stop, or continuing their journey into the city. Next is Beaumont, the eastern terminus of the commuter line. It is here that the commuter trains flip back to head into the city. Commuter trains generally sit here for 3-5 minutes, meaning that the mainlines are often blocked up. Just East of Beaumont is Beaumont siding and Beaumont chemical. The siding provides extra space for holding trains, and assures that the local working Beaumont chemical never gets in the way of mainline freights.

Between Beaumont siding and Oak Creek Yard, the tracks stretch out with only a set of crossovers to break up the straight lines. Oak Creek Yard itself is split into two sections, Oak Creek Yard West and Oak Creek Yard East. The West yard serves as a pick up yard for mainline freights. The East yard serves as a set out yard for mainline freights. Both yards are utilized by the four locals that originate at Oak Creek Yard. Each local comes in from their respective sink stations, work the East Yard, utilize the wye between the two yards, work the West Yard, then head back to their sink station.

Radiating out from Oak Creek Yard are four different lines. The one already covered runs West to Palm Village. This is the mainline, and it continues East out of Oak Creek Yard to Byron. Running North is the Peoria Subdivision. The Peoria Subdivision sees local and manifest traffic as it runs mostly around the city center and interchanges with other railroads. Running South is the Oak Creek Branch, which serves a few industries, but it mainly utilized by the coal trains. A near constant stream of empty and loaded coal trains work their way onto the single track branch line.

The main choke points/focal points are Beaumont and Oak Creek Yard (which takes up pretty much all of the second layer). Freight trains tend to queue up at Beaumont while waiting on commuter trains before heading into the city. Meanwhile at Oak Creek Yard, the coal trains must run through yard tracks in order to get to the branch line, which means snaking them between the manifests and locals that are working the yard. Suffice to say, this map isn't meant for those that want to sit back and watch trains. It's all hands on deck.

There is no one way to complete this map. It is all double tracked with cross overs, so trains can run on either track. Right handed and left handed running both have their benefits and detriments in this map. It is very free flowing and up to the player to decide how the railroad is run. The only trains that have a strict schedule are commuter trains and freight trains that have intermediate stops. Other than that, all freight trains end at their sink stations at 9:45, the end of the map. That means there is no correct order that trains need to end in. Have fun and explore the possibilities!

Feel free to comment or @Whiskers (me) on discord in the #mapsdiscussion channel if you have any questions or issues.

Stats for nerds:
- 1 hour and 45 minutes
- 54 trains
- 1350 total points (100% achievable)
- Signal Stopping Penalties enabled ONLY FOR COMMUTER TRAINS since they must be kept on time. There are some tight timings at Beaumont between commuter trains, but it is doable without any penalties


Well it's about time you get to work. Have fun and happy dispatching!


Credits:
Thumbnail Template & Icons by SteR.