I work for a class 1 railroad and since you asked, I will tell you. I will try to explain as simple as I can. When tracks exit from a mainline, especially into a terminal, great care is given since the switches and switch points need a certain geometry to work. The tighter the excursion the slower the speed. Ideally track layers would try to get to and from the main line as quickly and efficiently as possible so other trains may pass as soon as the line is clear. Your current setup wouldn't work as the passenger service would ideally like to get back to the mainline and up to speed as soon as possible to keep with the timetable and arrival at the next station stop. Also switches are usually on level grade as to decrease the chances of derailment. Your station is good where it is, but the switches leading off should be first the outer into the mainline and the inner into the outer. That would be best for the sake of realism. If you need any evidence, see google images of the railyards of Sunnyside in NY, Union Stations in Chicago and Washington DC and Philadelphia. The Tracks branch off a "lead". The Lead is as it sounds. The lead track the branches off the mainline to all other tracks
I love this channel, not just because of those wonderful Cities Skylines videos but the community is just so good. You can find anyone from any country with any job. I just love this content, hope it never ends. ❤
I’d also add that the three crossings would be very questionable. You would typically want the lead line to be the only one crossing a road if necessary. I would probably have chosen to turn the right-side roads into a subway connection.
You correctly identified that you needed to place more vegetable farms because of low production, and then you placed another grain farm lol that's why you got another petro chemicals farm. Not sure if anyone else pointed this out so just letting you know. Thanks for the new episode loving this series!
For the fire watching towers: you don't need to connect them to a road, they just need electricity. Also if you don't want to unlock and build the firefighting elicpter depot because you find it too expensive, the firefighters headquarter has the option to add the helipad, which will give you one helicopter
The road connection is probably more for realism than game mechanics - you would unlikely find something like this without a road connection. However, the road does also supply electricity, so solves two problems in one - the requirement for electricity, and the looks of not having something randomly placed without any access.
It's true that the watch towers don't need a road, but CPP likes to put one in for the sake of realism (at least I think that's what he said in other vids he's done). Usually there will be some kind of dirt/service track that leads to a tower so I think that's why he puts them in. Nice tip with the helipad for the firefighter hq - I hadn't noticed that!
I work for a railroad. The tracks would bridge over the road, but land on the other side on elevated solid ground of equal height. All the switches would come together on that flat ground then grade down from there. Great video 🎉
If you turn on developer mode on steam there is a tool that allows you to plop any building or prop in the game like plopable rico is CS1. This could be used when trying to build the gas station like in this video. Love the content!!!!
@@RandomPantsFotonot really dangerous, there would just be gates between the outer tracks, and the other two tracks lead into a passenger station, so they aren't blocked long.
Great episode. I like the fact that you’re going to take the time each video to pepper the area with more farms. That will really help further enhance the landscape on par with this part of the country irl. No comment on the visual settings personally; it doesn’t affect my ability to enjoy your content.
I would love to see a small community that super far away from the main city. And it should have some dirt roads away from it leading to just a couple of single family homes and maybe a small farm. Anyway love the content and the stories you’ve created.
Just so you know in the tooltip at 20:39 it said you DON'T need a road connection, only electricity, so if you want to change it to a path or something you can do that!
Personally I like the natural look, gives the city life. I also love that the timeline is much more reasonable. Only 2 years have passed in game since the start of the series, vs like 10 an episode in CS it felt like lol
For the train station at the start. I think it would've maybe made for sense to elevate the entire station and then have the tracks on bridges both ways, avoiding the level crossings. It'd be expensive but I think having a line that's entirely elevated could be an interesting way of safely having these lines through built up areas. It'd also give more flexibility in how the tracks come out of the station and mean you're not forced to have 3 tracks merge into 1 immediately. Personal preference but I think it is realistic to have railways be either above or below the level of the surrounding terrain, which obviously helps with avoiding gradients.
The most realistic option is usually the cheapest when it comes to railways. So to be honest, other than all the retaining walls this station seems pretty realistic. Plus if it were any higher either the grades would be too severe (the 2.3% is already considered mountain grades) or he would have to use an absurd amount of eminent domain, which is expensive.
@@ThePedro8161 Honestly it was a tough location to begin with. I know I probably wouldn’t have done it that way but I like your point as to realism due to the cost involved. Any other option would be really expensive.
@@a_boat93 It's funny, in real life you see situations like this a lot. Places that seem like they were the worst place chosen for the project and that somewhere right near by would've been 1000x better. Sometimes it's the only choice they had, or what they got with what they willing to spend 💸 Also, there are places that made sense when they were built but don't anymore.
One of your best episode so far! The lore is amazing and the production level is so much better. Love the continuity between the multiple series! Would love to see some competition for chuckles as a form of a few bus lines/One or two historic streetcar lines
Depends. Sometimes a bus is better for a specific job and sometimes a streetcar is better. Buses can generally have bigger coverage and more flexibility but less capacity and less development potential. Also the reason buses get stuck in traffic is due to lack of dedicated bus lanes. Also trams generally also need dedicated tracks if you wanna avoid traffic. @@Someone36991
On the climate settings, it might be nice to have the settings match up to real life, kind of like what you tried to do with Clearwater county. I acknowledge that it'd mean keeping it in winter at the moment, though, which might maybe not be the funnest thing. Alternatively: Australian weather. Keep it at opposite the current season for maximum chaos.
Hey CPP, today is my birthday (no foolin) could we please get a graveyard? Magnolia county deserves a place where local history can be remembered, the dead can be publicly laid to rest, and goth teens will have a place to make out.
I really like the Magnolia County videos, I normally don't watch all the videos of other "city series" but I really like this one and I have learnt some things to use in my city as well. And I really like the story of the city, not just a city that is right next to a big highway.
Perhaps the Grand Hotel and the large fancy fountain could serve as the main tourist attractions for this city... or rather, when this town grows into a city.
In the US, freight always has priority over passenger service for rail lines. Jameela would not care less about sharing her lines with passenger service since it would theoretically not impact their frieght service. This is the main reason that passenger trains in the US are terrible with timeliness and service options.
Is it just me, or while futzing with the tracks, you severed Magnolia from the other side of the railroad-and then never reestablished the connection? I think that might be the source of your crime issue (and why that building a few blocks away burned down while you were developing the land adjacent the station on Magnolia). Service vehicles are having a harder time getting there, going the long way around! Speaking of the futzing, can I just say I absolutely love the motif of the "please hold" music playing while you fast-forward through iterations of laying things out? Absolutely perfect choice of tune for that. The whole bit just cracks me up every time.
great video as always! i personally like having the seasons and precipitation, as i think it adds more life to the builds. the little eesny details I really appreciate, i think it adds to the city and area overall.
This has big 'dad reading to his kids and being asked to "do the voices"' energy and I am really here for it. Personally, I think I would have done the train station at the lower elevation, lowered the tracks, and bridged the roads over it. I always tend to prefer bridging roads vs trains because in my mind that's going to be less expensive in the real world (and minimize grade changes for the rail). It would also let you keep those connection tracks on the ground level, which again seems way more maintainable IRL? e: thinking about it more: I am not a Civil Engineer, but I suspect you'd always prefer to cut/remove earth than build up, because of compaction/stability. If you build up when you grade you've got to do a lot more work/spend a lot more time ensuring that you have a strong bed that won't shift over time, wheras if you cut to the lower elevation you just have to shore up the sides.
You are one of the most entertaining creators on here. I just love the story telling, and sort of putting yourself in the shoes of people trying to live and work in the cities you're building. It just adds another layer. Following a person or family in the game can be interesting, but putting a realistic story to it just makes it even better.
if you have railway lines near or going through suburban areas, it’s realistic for there to be fencing/walls around the trackor the track being slightly elevated so animals or people don’t go on the track. you can maybe add an asset of this?
Maybe where you're at, but if you look on Google Earth, the common stations are either just platforms, or old train stations, with no fencing, or barely any (only for along the parking lot). A train will take out an elk, and a grizzly, and not care until it meets a something larger than a pickup with trailer, people, and animals are not issues...unless said people want to forever sleep...in that case if you (anyone who sees this comment) are thinking that, please get help. You are worth it.
@@BattleshipOrion i’m talking about the tracks and not the stations. i’m from india and we here have a lot of train infrastructure and i’ve noticed there is a wall around busy tracks..
@@advancify_ You don't really see many fences along tracks here unless they're blocking sound, separating the tracks from a park or it's a really busy pedestrian area. I wouldn't expect to see a fence here, people should know to stay off the tracks and railroads don't particularly care about animals.
This has become my go-to series ‘must-watch-on-release-day’. Loving every moment. 1) On the fuel station, you were right to go 3x3, but I think the taxation for them comes under the “vehicles” section of the commercial property (not the petrochemicals slider in industry that you lowered. 2) As a Brit, I enjoy the dull & miserable look to seasons… they feel natural and cosy through association
I work in station design and level crossing removal projects. It does not make sense to remove only 1 level crossing and maintaining the other, it defeats the purpose of a level crossing removal. I would suggest to remove the current level crossing on the right and severe the road connection (cul-de-sac it). Usually, from what I see in past and other projects, this old road would then be turned/linked into a new carpark or a bus interchange/hub. In other cases, it would be turned into a pedestrian space with a new retail TOD. On the other hand, the road which has been grade-separated (left) would then be upgraded to accommodate a larger traffic capacity. Usually, these type of urban fabric redevelopment comes with new shared user paths, parks and playgrounds. See Melbourne Level Crossings Removal Project for examples on station redevelopment, road reorganisation, and precinct improvements.
🎉 The Chuckle Shuttle seems like the best taxi service known to man. Also I appreciate the story telling in this series (that also goes for all of your past series). The storylines give the towns a sense of history and that really adds a lot to the series and makes it feel more realistic.
Only thing bugging me was the train crossing over the road, thers like 4 of them seperate and you can get caught in the middle, right now its fine but as soon as you have more trains and more usage its gonna get hectic
I love how, in older parts of your city, you can see the tree growth in your city tours. It feels like part of that is being lost with the line tool's full growth. Love to see the detail though!
As a driver of a car, buildings close to the tracks worry me. I imagine cutting off sightlines of the tracks until you're right on them could be a bit dangerous! I love the build though!
I love how you use characters and add a bit of roleplay and lore to your cities, it makes watching your videos more engaging and fun. Also the character art is really good.
Nice to see the mods creeping back into the game. I’m holding out until the official forum is launched but they look fantastic. Once the community starts creating assets we are in for a treat.
Phil: "Oooh 2.3, that's a good grade!" Trains: *"Father, why must you punish me?"* 😂 You could name the street connecting to the station from Amity Lane to Station Road or Station Street.
I started watching CPP when he started Verde Beach then took a hiatus and when I came back Verde Beach already had grown so much and I missed the entire progression which I really regret. Not gonna make the same mistake this time and I’m excited for the next video. This is peak content and such a a joy to watch.
If you're adding taxi stands, you definitely need one in your down town/high street area. Also, I wouldn't be scared of having industrial near housing, it is pretty realistic. Looking specifically at towns in the South Wales valleys. As it is, this town actually feels like a commuter town to me, where people live because it's cheep, but it's easy to get to work in the big cities on the train. This also makes the lack of offices make sense. I see more heavy industrial here rather than large office complexes, lot's of small residential areas with several industrial estates of varying size, but with good access to the main train line.
Unfortunately your cims will be made unhappy by air pollution pretty quickly if you zone regular industry near them. One way to work around this is to use small zones, 2x2 and 3x3 industry buildings usually spawn without smoke stacks and don't seem to make air pollution. They still make noise and ground pollution but as long as you don't zone the residential right on top of the industrial the cims don't usually complain.
I love the "we don't want to share with passenger trains" drama. As someone who frequents Amtrak's Cardinal and Metra's Heritage Corridor (Chicagoland), that hits close to home. Both are limited services because of freight windows.
I love the idea of adding a farm or two every episode. I’d also say you can add plenty more “orchards”. If you plant certain bushes in tight rows with the line tool you could even make vineyards. Re: industrial park, you could try adding small stone quarries amongst your factories. The stone quarry texture would help it have a “pavement” feel.
i was just thinking its amazing how far you've come as a creator. the editing and cohesiveness and how you build a story has kept me hooked, but also the production quality of the background music, transitions, and just overall flow. and I've been here since Bluffside Crossing! such an awesome channel, thank you for all your hard work and fun we've had along the way
Love to see Chuckles return! I binge-watched the Nicolet Bay series when I had Covid in November and I enjoyed his presence whenever he came up. Considering the train station, I would love to see more pedestrian connectivity between Lincoln and Amity Lane/the new train station. Maybe a new pedestrian connection could be established at the crossing of Lincoln and Coleridge? Or the path behind the new development on Magnolia could get a more direct connection to the pedestrian bridge connecting the station and the new riverside plaza?
You know, Phil - I hear the waiting is the hardest part. 🙂 I love the idea of you slowly surrounding the city by adding one square of farmland with every episode. Sure, some of it will eventually be urbanized but in the interim it definitely will add to the overall feel of the area.
Great episode, good to see Chuckles. The fog being off is nice, I do that in my own game. The rain I'm indifferent on, I do enjoy seeing the lighting change through the seasons though.
I just love the lore and storytelling in this series so much. Thank you for putting in the effort. Makes the series much more engaging and interesting.
The way you tell a story with this game is amazing, keep up the amazing work. Love all the little details of how a city or private company would work to improve infrastructure and then seeing how it unfolds in your build.
I love how the phone number in the docs is for the Naval Observatory Clock. I was worried for a second because it wasn’t a 555 number, but then I recognized it from when I had an analog watch!
This series is moving in a good direction, nice to have the bits of detailing and purpose back, makes it feel more complete and not rushed. Thanks Phil! (Also, the full size trees and line tool are good additions, not really a mid that changes game play but allows for builds to seem more complete)
I think for the external rail connections it would make sense to have the 2 lines meet on the middle platform for cross-platform transfer for passengers going between Nicolet Bay and Duluth. I don't think the mechanics of the game have people doing that, but I think it would be more based in reality to have a cross-platform transfer. Also the foot path heading straight out from the train station would 100% zig zag across the front of the station and wouldn't just go straight down to the road. Maybe a set of stairs would go straight down, but a ramp would have wheelchair users zooming down into traffic at mach 5.
For my money, I like the variety that comes with weather and seasons. You can't really appreciate how good spring looks without the cold of winter. Night time is too much, but rain and such is welcome in my book.
At grade crossings in the middle of the city always remind me of when I lived in Lincoln (UK) where there are two right in the middle of the city. Whenever a train came through the High Street would be at a stand still. Unfortunately there are no height differences for bridging so the section of the high street was pedestrianised and a new loop was put in to link to flyover bridges either side of the city centre. Must of been quite the challenge for the planners!
Good tip for rail and other long transportation structures like highways: if you use the complex curve tool, click straight ahead, then click on the rail/highway you’re trying to merge and then drag out your connection, you get a really really nice curve and junction that flows perfectly
a good example of a train station with a lot of cool bridges is the station of Mechelen, Belgium that is in full renovation. There are old bridges and new ones. And there is a rood running under the station!
I think it makes more sense to create train lines that go through your station, as most likely an Amtrak line would go from Duluth to Nicolet Bay or something rather than having 2 individual lines to Bend. You could call it the Superior Line or something more creative. Love the new and old series
I love this series! I’ve only played cities skylines remastered one time, now waiting for cities skylines 2 to come to xbox gamepass, and you’re giving me so many ideas and teaching me to play, so thank you!
Thank you! I enjoyed this, but i am missing the CS1 content. At this point, the original game modded builds seem to give so much more freedom and I love what you have been able to do in Clearwater County!
This build is great! to help with realism you could think about adding a row of both small and medium sized dense shrubs on the north and west facing edges of all of the farms which is known as a shelter belt, it helps protect farms against wind erosion. Most farms in my area use hawthorn as they also grow fruits for the birds to eat rather than eating the crops.
I truly love your videos!! ❤ you frame the whole thing with a story which makes the videos so much more interesting! Its not just "i put the road there, and school there, and lets place houses there". I am excitedly waiting the whole week for a new episode ❤
Great build! Looking at the train station the pedestrian bridge seems a little odd since there's no way to get down to the path that runs under it. In terms of accessibility IRL you might see a staircase on one side along the front retaining wall and an accessible ramp switchback on the other. Alternatively in euro-world the whole path might be ground level to an entrance with faciliites like shops, lockers, etc on the ground floor and elevators to platforms above. I'll use my imagination - can't let perfect be the enemy of good!
Not sure if anyone has pointed this out, but with the line tool you have the ability to randomly rotate trees and bushes. It's a nice way to break up the pattern and make it look more natural. It's the dice button on the tool menu.
For your consideration, though this is my first watch-through, so apologies if it's already been noted!: Some of those farm fields may have one large lone tree in them (or maybe more depending on the size), especially if they're Old farms, these trees let the workers before mechanical tractors have some place to take their breaks that's not in the blazing sun, as well as shade for livestock.
I like what you did in this episode except for one thing. The placement of the post office. The building is a distribution office and not the local shop collecting in residential post. This means it would be more likely located in an industrial area (near the taxi dept, the train service yard or even near the train station as there is often low value land and small industrial uses around stations) The main thing is that it wouldn’t be located in a residential zone especially with large lorry’s accessing its loading bay and the the local distribution vans, it would be a crime and noise issue
I love the natural, ever-changing feel that CS2 brings -- LUTs included! Messing with fog makes sense for visibility, and precipitation for youtube bitrate, but hopefully keep mot changes to a minimum!
🎉 Happy that Chuckles is back. Crossover between the "stories" of each city really adds to the depth of the viewing experience. Pleas keep making characters and keep them interacting :)
Your farms look amazing , which admittedly I also commented to Biffa on his last video where he name-dropped you for the detail inspiration. I really enjoy your approach to building in both CS1 and CS2.
Hello! Great video as always! I have some recommendations as a railroad enthusiast for railroads that can help with future infrastructure in the area. 1. It's important to avoid level crossings in the area. Especially on the main line that crosses the map. They are dangerous, depending on the amount of rail and road traffic. The heavier the traffic on one or the other, the more dangerous and complicated it will be to manage flows on either infrastructure. However, where there's no choice, you can leave them until a new road has been created to bypass the level crossing, and then cut the road afterwards. On the other hand, on secondary lines, level crossings make all the sense in the world; you're not going to build big infrastructures for 2 trains an hour. Historically speaking (and I'm speaking mainly for Europe), level crossings have always been very common, even on rail lines heavily used by both freight and passengers. It often happened that a town was cut in two by the tracks, and so there were many level crossings. Once cars and trucks began to take up more space (especially after the Second World War), the risks for users increased considerably. The dismantling of industrial tracks (for direct wagon loading in factories and then return by locomotives to the main station marshalling yard) already made it possible to eliminate a large proportion of small level crossings. As for the roads on the main lines, governments either created bridges or tunnels where possible, keeping the original route or cutting the road and rethinking the road system. This had a major impact on towns and villages, because very often there were level crossings on either side of the station. 2. For switches and entrances to freight and passenger stations. You have to avoid bottlenecks to get to the platform. It's preferable for each platform to have its own access road. After that, it all depends on how the tracks are used. A little-used platform can have a single-track access connected to another single-track access elsewhere. In the case of the new station, it would be necessary to have a double track that exits the main line and then separates into a single track for each double platform at least. I hope I've made myself clear, and I'd like to thank all those who took the trouble to read me! Have a nice day!
I am fascinated by logistics, so anytime I get to watch Phil deal with city services (especially transit!) is just 😙👌🏻 This channel has come so far since I started watching at Verde Beach Ep. 3, and yet every video still has the essence and mojo of that very first. Excellent work as always!
I work for a class 1 railroad and since you asked, I will tell you. I will try to explain as simple as I can. When tracks exit from a mainline, especially into a terminal, great care is given since the switches and switch points need a certain geometry to work. The tighter the excursion the slower the speed. Ideally track layers would try to get to and from the main line as quickly and efficiently as possible so other trains may pass as soon as the line is clear. Your current setup wouldn't work as the passenger service would ideally like to get back to the mainline and up to speed as soon as possible to keep with the timetable and arrival at the next station stop. Also switches are usually on level grade as to decrease the chances of derailment. Your station is good where it is, but the switches leading off should be first the outer into the mainline and the inner into the outer. That would be best for the sake of realism. If you need any evidence, see google images of the railyards of Sunnyside in NY, Union Stations in Chicago and Washington DC and Philadelphia. The Tracks branch off a "lead". The Lead is as it sounds. The lead track the branches off the mainline to all other tracks
I love this channel, not just because of those wonderful Cities Skylines videos but the community is just so good. You can find anyone from any country with any job. I just love this content, hope it never ends. ❤
@StudyingToBecomeADoctorF.
Iv learned so much from this community ❤
Don't forget that 2.3% is pretty steep for standard gauge trains. I believe the steepest grade on standard gauge in the US is 3.4%?
Love your videos as always they are awesome. But your voice acting needs work 🤭 before people attack me. It's a joke.
I’d also add that the three crossings would be very questionable. You would typically want the lead line to be the only one crossing a road if necessary. I would probably have chosen to turn the right-side roads into a subway connection.
I like seeing the seasons change adds a sense of realism as the city grows older each year!
You correctly identified that you needed to place more vegetable farms because of low production, and then you placed another grain farm lol that's why you got another petro chemicals farm. Not sure if anyone else pointed this out so just letting you know. Thanks for the new episode loving this series!
Yep, I went into the comments just to point this out. Glad I wasn't the only one who noticed!
For the fire watching towers: you don't need to connect them to a road, they just need electricity. Also if you don't want to unlock and build the firefighting elicpter depot because you find it too expensive, the firefighters headquarter has the option to add the helipad, which will give you one helicopter
The road connection is probably more for realism than game mechanics - you would unlikely find something like this without a road connection. However, the road does also supply electricity, so solves two problems in one - the requirement for electricity, and the looks of not having something randomly placed without any access.
It's true that the watch towers don't need a road, but CPP likes to put one in for the sake of realism (at least I think that's what he said in other vids he's done). Usually there will be some kind of dirt/service track that leads to a tower so I think that's why he puts them in.
Nice tip with the helipad for the firefighter hq - I hadn't noticed that!
A watch tower could actually just have a trail connection.
I massively prefer watching the seasons change while you're playing, helps give me a sense of how long things take
40:40 The train station actually has an upgrade for a taxi stand inside of the footprint of the building
I work for a railroad. The tracks would bridge over the road, but land on the other side on elevated solid ground of equal height. All the switches would come together on that flat ground then grade down from there. Great video 🎉
If you turn on developer mode on steam there is a tool that allows you to plop any building or prop in the game like plopable rico is CS1. This could be used when trying to build the gas station like in this video. Love the content!!!!
The voice acting is absolutely elite, god I love your content
thank you so much!
Phil is coming for that Emmy
For your little truck stop, might be worth seeing how far you off the unique commercial building that’s a gas station/food stop.
That triple at-grade crossing is nuts. I'd tunnel that road to clear the rail lines.
All too common all over the US, though. See that sort of dangerous nonsense everywhere!
@@RandomPantsFotonot really dangerous, there would just be gates between the outer tracks, and the other two tracks lead into a passenger station, so they aren't blocked long.
yeah, if tunneling is too much I dont think that specific road is too necessary? you have another road up the block that fulfills the same purpose
Honestly the station should be halfway above Lincoln and halfway below Eisenhower. Unrealistic to change that now though
It’s completely fine, I know of multiple like this in my city
🎉 Glad to see Chuckles getting a fresh start!
Same.
lol....that voice he does, though. Phil, your kids must love story time!
Seeing Chuckles made me happy. Can't wait to see what CPP does with him in the future.
Got big plans! @@marvinneu7111
I hope at some point they create a parklife DLC so Chuckles can have his own amusement park.
loving the more story based format you’ve got going on in this series, keep it up!
Phil: 50% of the land area in this part of town will be parking lots.
Also Phil: And the roads will be flanked by 6 lanes of sidewalks on either side.
Pedestrian gang rise up!
31:01 Hello Phil there are 6x6 buildings!! You just need to wacka mole them if they pop up as 2 bldgs
Great episode. I like the fact that you’re going to take the time each video to pepper the area with more farms. That will really help further enhance the landscape on par with this part of the country irl. No comment on the visual settings personally; it doesn’t affect my ability to enjoy your content.
I would love to see a small community that super far away from the main city. And it should have some dirt roads away from it leading to just a couple of single family homes and maybe a small farm.
Anyway love the content and the stories you’ve created.
I live in a city, but very close to rural parts of the county. It’s always nice to know I’m only ever about 15 minutes away from farm fresh produce.
If you just build one line Duluh-Bend-Nicolet bay, instead of two like you did, you'll get more passengers.
How did you get to developer mode
Just so you know in the tooltip at 20:39 it said you DON'T need a road connection, only electricity, so if you want to change it to a path or something you can do that!
Personally I like the natural look, gives the city life. I also love that the timeline is much more reasonable. Only 2 years have passed in game since the start of the series, vs like 10 an episode in CS it felt like lol
I would love it if you could include some close ups in your city tours to get a feel for how the city feels like from the view of the residents!
I second that.
He has done that I think in the CS series but not in this series yet. It would be a great idea to get the city vibe.
For the train station at the start. I think it would've maybe made for sense to elevate the entire station and then have the tracks on bridges both ways, avoiding the level crossings. It'd be expensive but I think having a line that's entirely elevated could be an interesting way of safely having these lines through built up areas. It'd also give more flexibility in how the tracks come out of the station and mean you're not forced to have 3 tracks merge into 1 immediately. Personal preference but I think it is realistic to have railways be either above or below the level of the surrounding terrain, which obviously helps with avoiding gradients.
The most realistic option is usually the cheapest when it comes to railways. So to be honest, other than all the retaining walls this station seems pretty realistic. Plus if it were any higher either the grades would be too severe (the 2.3% is already considered mountain grades) or he would have to use an absurd amount of eminent domain, which is expensive.
i woul have lowered the whole thing with a tunnel on the other side
@@ThePedro8161 Honestly it was a tough location to begin with. I know I probably wouldn’t have done it that way but I like your point as to realism due to the cost involved. Any other option would be really expensive.
@@a_boat93 It's funny, in real life you see situations like this a lot. Places that seem like they were the worst place chosen for the project and that somewhere right near by would've been 1000x better. Sometimes it's the only choice they had, or what they got with what they willing to spend 💸
Also, there are places that made sense when they were built but don't anymore.
Nice use of the smokestack as a transition point in the City Tour
One of your best episode so far! The lore is amazing and the production level is so much better.
Love the continuity between the multiple series!
Would love to see some competition for chuckles as a form of a few bus lines/One or two historic streetcar lines
Streetcar lines > buses imo since buses get stuck in traffic because people feel the need to drive everywhere
Depends. Sometimes a bus is better for a specific job and sometimes a streetcar is better.
Buses can generally have bigger coverage and more flexibility but less capacity and less development potential.
Also the reason buses get stuck in traffic is due to lack of dedicated bus lanes. Also trams generally also need dedicated tracks if you wanna avoid traffic. @@Someone36991
On the climate settings, it might be nice to have the settings match up to real life, kind of like what you tried to do with Clearwater county. I acknowledge that it'd mean keeping it in winter at the moment, though, which might maybe not be the funnest thing. Alternatively: Australian weather. Keep it at opposite the current season for maximum chaos.
Hey CPP, today is my birthday (no foolin) could we please get a graveyard? Magnolia county deserves a place where local history can be remembered, the dead can be publicly laid to rest, and goth teens will have a place to make out.
I really like the Magnolia County videos, I normally don't watch all the videos of other "city series" but I really like this one and I have learnt some things to use in my city as well. And I really like the story of the city, not just a city that is right next to a big highway.
I like the fog personally. It's good to have different moods as you see the city.
Perhaps the Grand Hotel and the large fancy fountain could serve as the main tourist attractions for this city... or rather, when this town grows into a city.
In the US, freight always has priority over passenger service for rail lines. Jameela would not care less about sharing her lines with passenger service since it would theoretically not impact their frieght service. This is the main reason that passenger trains in the US are terrible with timeliness and service options.
The street under the retaining wall after the grade separation is one bumpy, wonky ride from the looks of it!
Is it just me, or while futzing with the tracks, you severed Magnolia from the other side of the railroad-and then never reestablished the connection? I think that might be the source of your crime issue (and why that building a few blocks away burned down while you were developing the land adjacent the station on Magnolia). Service vehicles are having a harder time getting there, going the long way around!
Speaking of the futzing, can I just say I absolutely love the motif of the "please hold" music playing while you fast-forward through iterations of laying things out? Absolutely perfect choice of tune for that. The whole bit just cracks me up every time.
When you upgraded the road by the "gas station" area, it renamed it. I liked the "Progress Street."
The Bob Ross of city planning. Keep killing it!
I would love to see winter in this city. Its on lake superior after all. We need the bonechilling midwestern winter
Nothing makes me smile more than the circus-esque music in the more frustrating timelapses. Give a laurel and hardy vibe.
"I just want to have purpose again." -Chuck "Chuckles" the clown
I personally like keeping the seasons as they are, it's nice to see them transition through the year.
great video as always!
i personally like having the seasons and precipitation, as i think it adds more life to the builds. the little eesny details I really appreciate, i think it adds to the city and area overall.
8:22 I am a train, and I like it.
I don’t know if you noticed, but instead of doing the vegetable farm, you did the grain farm at the end.
This has big 'dad reading to his kids and being asked to "do the voices"' energy and I am really here for it.
Personally, I think I would have done the train station at the lower elevation, lowered the tracks, and bridged the roads over it. I always tend to prefer bridging roads vs trains because in my mind that's going to be less expensive in the real world (and minimize grade changes for the rail). It would also let you keep those connection tracks on the ground level, which again seems way more maintainable IRL?
e: thinking about it more: I am not a Civil Engineer, but I suspect you'd always prefer to cut/remove earth than build up, because of compaction/stability. If you build up when you grade you've got to do a lot more work/spend a lot more time ensuring that you have a strong bed that won't shift over time, wheras if you cut to the lower elevation you just have to shore up the sides.
The effort and editing and style in your video is just top tier
You are one of the most entertaining creators on here. I just love the story telling, and sort of putting yourself in the shoes of people trying to live and work in the cities you're building. It just adds another layer. Following a person or family in the game can be interesting, but putting a realistic story to it just makes it even better.
if you have railway lines near or going through suburban areas, it’s realistic for there to be fencing/walls around the trackor the track being slightly elevated so animals or people don’t go on the
track.
you can maybe add an asset of this?
Maybe where you're at, but if you look on Google Earth, the common stations are either just platforms, or old train stations, with no fencing, or barely any (only for along the parking lot). A train will take out an elk, and a grizzly, and not care until it meets a something larger than a pickup with trailer, people, and animals are not issues...unless said people want to forever sleep...in that case if you (anyone who sees this comment) are thinking that, please get help. You are worth it.
@@BattleshipOrion i’m talking about the tracks and not the stations. i’m from india and we here have a lot of train infrastructure and i’ve noticed there is a wall around busy tracks..
@@advancify_ You don't really see many fences along tracks here unless they're blocking sound, separating the tracks from a park or it's a really busy pedestrian area. I wouldn't expect to see a fence here, people should know to stay off the tracks and railroads don't particularly care about animals.
There's also no fences in the game yet you can place 🤦♂️
yeah it's the same in europe, there'll be fences along railroads near any urban areas
This has become my go-to series ‘must-watch-on-release-day’. Loving every moment.
1) On the fuel station, you were right to go 3x3, but I think the taxation for them comes under the “vehicles” section of the commercial property (not the petrochemicals slider in industry that you lowered.
2) As a Brit, I enjoy the dull & miserable look to seasons… they feel natural and cosy through association
Beyond being a pro in CS you're also a great storyteller. Thanks for the episode and the series Phil. I wish you success ❤❤❤
I work in station design and level crossing removal projects. It does not make sense to remove only 1 level crossing and maintaining the other, it defeats the purpose of a level crossing removal. I would suggest to remove the current level crossing on the right and severe the road connection (cul-de-sac it). Usually, from what I see in past and other projects, this old road would then be turned/linked into a new carpark or a bus interchange/hub. In other cases, it would be turned into a pedestrian space with a new retail TOD. On the other hand, the road which has been grade-separated (left) would then be upgraded to accommodate a larger traffic capacity. Usually, these type of urban fabric redevelopment comes with new shared user paths, parks and playgrounds. See Melbourne Level Crossings Removal Project for examples on station redevelopment, road reorganisation, and precinct improvements.
cool fact here. You don't need a road to your fire watch towers. Just a low voltage power line
🎉 The Chuckle Shuttle seems like the best taxi service known to man. Also I appreciate the story telling in this series (that also goes for all of your past series). The storylines give the towns a sense of history and that really adds a lot to the series and makes it feel more realistic.
Only thing bugging me was the train crossing over the road, thers like 4 of them seperate and you can get caught in the middle, right now its fine but as soon as you have more trains and more usage its gonna get hectic
IRL there'd probably be just one gate around the outside, to prevent that
I love how, in older parts of your city, you can see the tree growth in your city tours. It feels like part of that is being lost with the line tool's full growth. Love to see the detail though!
As a driver of a car, buildings close to the tracks worry me. I imagine cutting off sightlines of the tracks until you're right on them could be a bit dangerous! I love the build though!
Used to binge watch your videos 2 years ago…. You’ve added characters now ? lol this is awesome I gotta catch up
am i the only one that just praises the #sun
I love how you use characters and add a bit of roleplay and lore to your cities, it makes watching your videos more engaging and fun. Also the character art is really good.
Yay Chuckles!
Nice to see the mods creeping back into the game. I’m holding out until the official forum is launched but they look fantastic. Once the community starts creating assets we are in for a treat.
Phil: "Oooh 2.3, that's a good grade!"
Trains: *"Father, why must you punish me?"*
😂
You could name the street connecting to the station from Amity Lane to Station Road or Station Street.
I started watching CPP when he started Verde Beach then took a hiatus and when I came back Verde Beach already had grown so much and I missed the entire progression which I really regret. Not gonna make the same mistake this time and I’m excited for the next video. This is peak content and such a a joy to watch.
If you're adding taxi stands, you definitely need one in your down town/high street area. Also, I wouldn't be scared of having industrial near housing, it is pretty realistic. Looking specifically at towns in the South Wales valleys. As it is, this town actually feels like a commuter town to me, where people live because it's cheep, but it's easy to get to work in the big cities on the train. This also makes the lack of offices make sense. I see more heavy industrial here rather than large office complexes, lot's of small residential areas with several industrial estates of varying size, but with good access to the main train line.
Unfortunately your cims will be made unhappy by air pollution pretty quickly if you zone regular industry near them. One way to work around this is to use small zones, 2x2 and 3x3 industry buildings usually spawn without smoke stacks and don't seem to make air pollution. They still make noise and ground pollution but as long as you don't zone the residential right on top of the industrial the cims don't usually complain.
First engagement!!!
Your vids have lowkey been my peace for the past couple years man. Its always a treat to see you post again :)
I love the story behind the building you are doing combined with your personal insights into real city planning makes it the best to watch!
I love the "we don't want to share with passenger trains" drama. As someone who frequents Amtrak's Cardinal and Metra's Heritage Corridor (Chicagoland), that hits close to home. Both are limited services because of freight windows.
I love the idea of adding a farm or two every episode. I’d also say you can add plenty more “orchards”. If you plant certain bushes in tight rows with the line tool you could even make vineyards.
Re: industrial park, you could try adding small stone quarries amongst your factories. The stone quarry texture would help it have a “pavement” feel.
i was just thinking its amazing how far you've come as a creator. the editing and cohesiveness and how you build a story has kept me hooked, but also the production quality of the background music, transitions, and just overall flow. and I've been here since Bluffside Crossing! such an awesome channel, thank you for all your hard work and fun we've had along the way
Love to see Chuckles return! I binge-watched the Nicolet Bay series when I had Covid in November and I enjoyed his presence whenever he came up.
Considering the train station, I would love to see more pedestrian connectivity between Lincoln and Amity Lane/the new train station. Maybe a new pedestrian connection could be established at the crossing of Lincoln and Coleridge? Or the path behind the new development on Magnolia could get a more direct connection to the pedestrian bridge connecting the station and the new riverside plaza?
You know, Phil - I hear the waiting is the hardest part. 🙂 I love the idea of you slowly surrounding the city by adding one square of farmland with every episode. Sure, some of it will eventually be urbanized but in the interim it definitely will add to the overall feel of the area.
Great episode, good to see Chuckles. The fog being off is nice, I do that in my own game. The rain I'm indifferent on, I do enjoy seeing the lighting change through the seasons though.
I just love the lore and storytelling in this series so much. Thank you for putting in the effort. Makes the series much more engaging and interesting.
The way you tell a story with this game is amazing, keep up the amazing work. Love all the little details of how a city or private company would work to improve infrastructure and then seeing how it unfolds in your build.
I love how the phone number in the docs is for the Naval Observatory Clock. I was worried for a second because it wasn’t a 555 number, but then I recognized it from when I had an analog watch!
This series is moving in a good direction, nice to have the bits of detailing and purpose back, makes it feel more complete and not rushed. Thanks Phil! (Also, the full size trees and line tool are good additions, not really a mid that changes game play but allows for builds to seem more complete)
I like keeping the weather natural, a new game dynamic that maybe will just take some time to get used to for everyone.
I think for the external rail connections it would make sense to have the 2 lines meet on the middle platform for cross-platform transfer for passengers going between Nicolet Bay and Duluth. I don't think the mechanics of the game have people doing that, but I think it would be more based in reality to have a cross-platform transfer.
Also the foot path heading straight out from the train station would 100% zig zag across the front of the station and wouldn't just go straight down to the road. Maybe a set of stairs would go straight down, but a ramp would have wheelchair users zooming down into traffic at mach 5.
The pedestrian access to the train station is absurd
It would make more sense for it to be a single line covering the whole route, so people didn't have to change at all.
For my money, I like the variety that comes with weather and seasons. You can't really appreciate how good spring looks without the cold of winter. Night time is too much, but rain and such is welcome in my book.
At grade crossings in the middle of the city always remind me of when I lived in Lincoln (UK) where there are two right in the middle of the city. Whenever a train came through the High Street would be at a stand still. Unfortunately there are no height differences for bridging so the section of the high street was pedestrianised and a new loop was put in to link to flyover bridges either side of the city centre. Must of been quite the challenge for the planners!
Chuckles! Don’t know what to think. Poor guy is going to have the same problem here. There’s going to be a lot of development.
As someone who went to school at UMD (Duluth, MN) I'm so happy to see that you changed the train color to maroon! Go bulldogs!
CHUCKLES!!! Dude, I loved the intro story telling so much. It really adds a purpose to what you build for the entire episode. Love love love it!
Good tip for rail and other long transportation structures like highways: if you use the complex curve tool, click straight ahead, then click on the rail/highway you’re trying to merge and then drag out your connection, you get a really really nice curve and junction that flows perfectly
a good example of a train station with a lot of cool bridges is the station of Mechelen, Belgium that is in full renovation. There are old bridges and new ones. And there is a rood running under the station!
I really like that you create these rural parts, makes everything so much more realistic. A small town far away from the main city would be nice
I think it makes more sense to create train lines that go through your station, as most likely an Amtrak line would go from Duluth to Nicolet Bay or something rather than having 2 individual lines to Bend. You could call it the Superior Line or something more creative. Love the new and old series
I love this series! I’ve only played cities skylines remastered one time, now waiting for cities skylines 2 to come to xbox gamepass, and you’re giving me so many ideas and teaching me to play, so thank you!
Thank you! I enjoyed this, but i am missing the CS1 content. At this point, the original game modded builds seem to give so much more freedom and I love what you have been able to do in Clearwater County!
This build is great! to help with realism you could think about adding a row of both small and medium sized dense shrubs on the north and west facing edges of all of the farms which is known as a shelter belt, it helps protect farms against wind erosion. Most farms in my area use hawthorn as they also grow fruits for the birds to eat rather than eating the crops.
"I just wanna have a purpose again"... Well damn, that was suddenly both relatable and dark 😅
I truly love your videos!! ❤ you frame the whole thing with a story which makes the videos so much more interesting! Its not just "i put the road there, and school there, and lets place houses there". I am excitedly waiting the whole week for a new episode ❤
The stories you make for these makes it so much better
Great build! Looking at the train station the pedestrian bridge seems a little odd since there's no way to get down to the path that runs under it. In terms of accessibility IRL you might see a staircase on one side along the front retaining wall and an accessible ramp switchback on the other. Alternatively in euro-world the whole path might be ground level to an entrance with faciliites like shops, lockers, etc on the ground floor and elevators to platforms above. I'll use my imagination - can't let perfect be the enemy of good!
Not sure if anyone has pointed this out, but with the line tool you have the ability to randomly rotate trees and bushes. It's a nice way to break up the pattern and make it look more natural. It's the dice button on the tool menu.
For your consideration, though this is my first watch-through, so apologies if it's already been noted!: Some of those farm fields may have one large lone tree in them (or maybe more depending on the size), especially if they're Old farms, these trees let the workers before mechanical tractors have some place to take their breaks that's not in the blazing sun, as well as shade for livestock.
I like what you did in this episode except for one thing. The placement of the post office.
The building is a distribution office and not the local shop collecting in residential post. This means it would be more likely located in an industrial area (near the taxi dept, the train service yard or even near the train station as there is often low value land and small industrial uses around stations)
The main thing is that it wouldn’t be located in a residential zone especially with large lorry’s accessing its loading bay and the the local distribution vans, it would be a crime and noise issue
I love the natural, ever-changing feel that CS2 brings -- LUTs included! Messing with fog makes sense for visibility, and precipitation for youtube bitrate, but hopefully keep mot changes to a minimum!
Absolutely love the story you add while building your city. Right where they belong! Welcome home chuckles
🎉 Happy that Chuckles is back. Crossover between the "stories" of each city really adds to the depth of the viewing experience. Pleas keep making characters and keep them interacting :)
Your farms look amazing , which admittedly I also commented to Biffa on his last video where he name-dropped you for the detail inspiration. I really enjoy your approach to building in both CS1 and CS2.
Hello! Great video as always!
I have some recommendations as a railroad enthusiast for railroads that can help with future infrastructure in the area.
1. It's important to avoid level crossings in the area. Especially on the main line that crosses the map. They are dangerous, depending on the amount of rail and road traffic. The heavier the traffic on one or the other, the more dangerous and complicated it will be to manage flows on either infrastructure. However, where there's no choice, you can leave them until a new road has been created to bypass the level crossing, and then cut the road afterwards. On the other hand, on secondary lines, level crossings make all the sense in the world; you're not going to build big infrastructures for 2 trains an hour. Historically speaking (and I'm speaking mainly for Europe), level crossings have always been very common, even on rail lines heavily used by both freight and passengers. It often happened that a town was cut in two by the tracks, and so there were many level crossings. Once cars and trucks began to take up more space (especially after the Second World War), the risks for users increased considerably. The dismantling of industrial tracks (for direct wagon loading in factories and then return by locomotives to the main station marshalling yard) already made it possible to eliminate a large proportion of small level crossings. As for the roads on the main lines, governments either created bridges or tunnels where possible, keeping the original route or cutting the road and rethinking the road system. This had a major impact on towns and villages, because very often there were level crossings on either side of the station.
2. For switches and entrances to freight and passenger stations. You have to avoid bottlenecks to get to the platform. It's preferable for each platform to have its own access road. After that, it all depends on how the tracks are used. A little-used platform can have a single-track access connected to another single-track access elsewhere. In the case of the new station, it would be necessary to have a double track that exits the main line and then separates into a single track for each double platform at least.
I hope I've made myself clear, and I'd like to thank all those who took the trouble to read me! Have a nice day!
I am fascinated by logistics, so anytime I get to watch Phil deal with city services (especially transit!) is just 😙👌🏻
This channel has come so far since I started watching at Verde Beach Ep. 3, and yet every video still has the essence and mojo of that very first. Excellent work as always!