Handle on the Bread Basket

**The Handle on the Bread Basket** is the second mission in the classic campaign in the game Railroad Tycoon II. The basis of this scenario is the growth of the New York Central railroad in the 1840s and 50s. The map used for this mission is the Eastern USA standalone scenario.

## Overview

### Introduction Spiel

> *With the wheels in motion, railroads are emerging from everywhere! For every successful line, there are four bankrupt ones. Take advantage of the momentum you've managed to start, but beware of some of the more sinister deals that big money always seems to bring. And wipe your chin, you got some muck on it or somethin'!*
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### Victory Conditions

* **Bronze:** Connect New York to Chicago and haul 8 loads between the two cities by 1870
* **Silver:** Also have a company book value of at least $4 million
* **Gold:** All conditions earned by 1858

A loss is triggered if the bronze medal condition is not met by the end of 1870.

### Available Bonuses

* **Choice 1:** +$80,000 available starting cash
* **Choice 2:** 15% lower track laying cost
* **Choice 3:** +20% Steel Revenues

There's only one choice that could possibly be recommended here, which is the lower track costs. Even though starting company cash is relatively low, the extra $80K from choice one at the start will make very little difference in the long run for most types of strategies in this scenario. Choice three is practically useless, since Steel Mills don't appear until at least 1856, and it never become a game-changing commodity unlike some other scenarios. The lower track costs with Choice 2 is relevant though, and will save a lot of money over time, especially when building the final stretch of track towards Chicago.

### Starting Situation

* **Starting Year:** 1847
* **Player Name:** Cornelius Vanderbilt
	+ **Starting Player Cash:** $58K personal cash
	+ **Starting Player Stock:** 1,000 shares of New York Central (10% of company)
* **Company Name:** New York Central
	+ **Starting Company Cash:** $181K

The player starts with a single track line between New York and Albany. New York has a large station with a sanding/water tower and a roundhouse. Albany is only a medium station with only sanding and water towers.

### Ending Spiel

> *Good job there! Now that the ball is rolling, how about stretching that rail to the West Coast?*
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## Strategy

This scenario is slightly harder than the previous scenario, as it can take a while to get going if starting conditions are unfavorable. However, still there is no personal finance interaction required, and no AI to deal with either.

### Starting Out

Money is tight in the start, and it should be spent on two Prussian locomotives to run the line between New York and Albany. Preferably, one or both of the stations should start with three passengers, so that at least one train can get going straight away. Sometimes a couple of restarts are required to get this sort of a start. These trains should be fairly profitable, and should yield close to $300K per run. Once some money is on the board, issue a bond and construct track west towards Syracuse. To get the nicest gradient, just continue the track west from where the track at Albany ends. At this point, another locomotive can be built, and the most efficient routing system is probably to have them stop at all three stations (New York to Albany to Syracuse).

### Next Steps

The American-C will available by now, and it's recommended to upgrade to this from the Prussian for obvious reasons. More money will roll in soon, and when it is possible continue extending the line westwards to Rochester and Buffalo. Purchase a couple of new locomotives; one train for each city, running express to New York and back. The player is also recommended to connect to a few of the nearby logging camps, and run trains between them and the lumber mills in either Albany or Syracuse. Once a bit more cash has been generated, the player should issue a couple more bonds, and build the rest of the line towards Chicago in one go. The best route is to hug the coastline south of Lake Erie, and then build a long straight track through Chicago, building a large station that covers the entire city. At this point, a nice $2 million will be rewarded to the player. Note that Chicago is a long way from the previous station at Buffalo, so intermediate small stations with sanding/water facilities should be built near Erie and also west of Toledo.

### Victory

To get the gold, this connection will want to have been made by 1854 at the latest, in order to allow for 8 loads to be hauled between the two cities, and allow plenty of time for breakdowns if they were to occur. As soon as Chicago is connected, three trains of four-car length should be routed between New York and Chicago only. The extra train is just in case a crash was to occur. The silver medal should have been achieved by now (especially with the $2 million reward), and if enough time has been left for the loads to be hauled, then a gold medal should be achieved.

## History

"The spread of railroad building was nothing short of a phenomenon in the second half of the 1800’s. Once the initial connections were made along the U.S. Eastern seaboard, attention shifted to connecting anything west of the Appalachian Mountains to the blossoming populations of the east coast.

As the railroad spread west from the coast, a flurry of railroad speculation began. Over-inflated and deeply indebted railroads sprang up overnight, only to quickly declare bankruptcy and go into receivership. In this environment, the legendary robber barons where able to make their fortunes forcing mergers and manipulating stocks to their advantage. People like C. Huntington built their empires on hard-nose managing while others, such as Jay Gould, tickled the shaded underbelly of the stock market to gain wealth and power. Still others, such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, danced a fine line between the light of good business and the darkness of unscrupulous business manipulation. As chairman of the New York Central Railroad, your goal in this scenario is to connect Chicago and New York with one continuous track and haul eight loads of cargo between them. Your start date is 1867."

-- Railroad Tycoon II Strategy Guide

## Trivia

* There is no separate Canadian territory on the map. All territory is depicted as belonging to the United States instead, for whatever reason.
* One of the city names on the map is anachronistic, as the city of Kitchener was not given that name until 1916. It was known as *Berlin* before that.