Transport Fever Easy Profit Making Money in 1850 Tutorial

It can be hard to make money in Transport Fever if you start in 1850, and you need that profit to build your network fast.
In this tutorial I examine 4 different approaches to making profit early in the game using trains, carts, coaches and ships with both passengers and goods. With the tips in this video you'll have an easier chance to make a strong route right at the start of your game.
Subscribing is a good thing goo.gl/KdeJ4Y
Support this channel goo.gl/jvhLyt
Look dandy in Failurewear goo.gl/PLLnSH
I don't always live stream, but when I do, I do it on Twitch goo.gl/3QszpT
Keep up to date with the latest masterplan on Twitter goo.gl/G7WzYt
Join the conversation on Facebook goo.gl/x3vKQQ

[@rockfarmer2524]

If you are in hard mode, it is imperative to reduce your loan as soon as possible because the interest is double of normal mode and profits are really low. trains are too expensive in the beginning, so my approach is to find a town with either farm/quarry/crude oil close it and a food/construction materials/refinery not too far away. Saturate it completely with horse carts, so they only run empty a short distance from the town goods terminal to the raw resource. I am now in 1879 with 4 lines of this type, 1,5 mill in the bank, no loan and earning over 500k per year.. Hard mode is all about reducing running costs and make small steps..

[@Matthew-vg7xh]

Rockfarmer I

[@a.l2025]

Yes, once i have trigger myself to get some achivements, like truck fever and this other to not take more loans than this first wich You start with, i forgot the name of this achivement tho.. And made it on hard mode but it took like from 1850 to 1950 to complete them both, but i must say i was very satisfaing and i've learned a lot from this, and now try to always make a routs for trains to go with cargo both ways, not jus one. Of course it is not always possibile, but when it is not, i try to make that Line as short as i can, so trains don't have to drive throught half of map without any load on them..

[@MTRfundamentalist]

Hard mode makes it become not a game and it makes you to be too focus on money, and forget that it's just a game. I've never tried the hard mode, because I always want to relax. Everytime I play, I use the 'no cost' mod. If you think the easy mode is still hard, just subscribe the 'no cost' mod! You may also try to use this mod in hard mode, and see what happens.

[@idk-hj4mf]

Transport Fever is downloading at we speak and I'm so excited!!!!

[@mlorde8857]

Also, just so you know. You don't have to have both grain and livestock produce food. You can produce food with just livestock. Making for an easy back and forth with just the one type of cart. Also note that the further a product, resource or passenger is delivered, the more money it makes. This has lead me and my group of friends to set up a Resource -> Process and then Process -> Town -> Town -> Town -> Recourse on the way back. Compensating the long distance travel of the, say .. Oil, with the return of three towns supplied with Fuel. I GREAT video idea, would be to test and show JUST how much distance can effect the value of a delivery. (You'll be rather shocked at the magnitude.) Just remember not to give them a cheaper option.

[@mrwatson4569]

I would like to hear more about this. Are you running one route that stops at each town, or a separate route to each town?

[@Flylykou]

Transport fever 2 is out. Why do you want to hear more about how to make money in transport fever 1?

[@YanisBatura]

@@Flylykou Maybe because TF1 is better?

[@Flylykou]

@@YanisBatura i dont think so

[@caseyzayne8987]

you probably dont care at all but does anybody know of a tool to log back into an Instagram account..? I was stupid lost the login password. I would love any help you can give me!

[@WizzyThaMan]

First video I looked up about the game after buying it. Instantly subscribed. I love these type of videos. Thank you!

[@OldBlueDragon]

nicely done, sir. strong, clear analysis and concise informative detail all delivered in that deep, resonant tone!

[@Sjonnie889]

Great vid! This is going to help out alot of people getting started when the game gets released in a few hours.

[@totoabicyclette7100]

Thanks. Your videos have been of great help in getting a feeling of how the game will be. Downloading has started, btw. I hope everything will run smoothly from there.

[@GeneralThargor]

This should all be useful tomorrow when it releases. Thanks Colonel, Dismissed.

[@colonelfailure]

Much obliged General. I'll be in the mess if you need me.

[@csc6141]

You have set us up for a good start colonel well done look forward to more

[@TowMater603]

loving your videos ColonelFailure. iv'e been following you for a few years now.

[@rangasux]

super nice voice to listen to man, thanks for taking the effort to make such a well polished video.

[@RvW1985]

Great job making this video. Not bored for a second and your voice is nice to listen to 👍

[@colonelfailure]

Thank you!

[@harag9]

Great vid Colonel. My 2 tips are. 1. use just goods wagons for livestock & food - don't bother with grain 2. fuel runs to towns are good - same tanker for crude oil and fuel extra one: #3 When setting up the above routes, look for a town in the MIDDLE of the two, e.g. pick up crude oil, go pass the town, drop off crude, pick up fuel, sell fuel at town on way back to pick up more crude, then you can make profit both ways. Like he did with the ship run on farm/food.

[@shimky301]

Beautifully articulated, Col. Failure!

[@norfgorg]

logical and analytical. looking forward to see more transport fever content from you. very helpful.

[@itsmeric6729]

Awesome video, very well edited and easy to listen. Support from Italy.

[@KevinStoffel]

Great video! You did all the testing for us. Unfortunately, I had already done all this testing BEFORE watching this video. Man, how much time this would have saved me had I seen it sooner...

[@FluppiLP]

17:45 oh god, Plan D looks so frightened really nice video, thank you and I love your voice :D

[@2CraftySeniors]

Fantastic information. Thanks for sharing. Now I'm ready to start the game with a bit of knowledge as soon as I buy it. :)

[@yannizy1]

Love the vids, keep it coming.

[@MrBenstero]

loved the video and your latest playthrough. Keep at it :)

[@MaffoGodLike]

Really liked this Tutorial helped me make my empire pretty damn fast. Alrdy 200mil+ only at 1920 :D Only focused on passengers.

[@LEIGHonPC]

Great video and great content...keep these up mate :)

[@Poadood]

Thanks Colonel!! Enjoyed the video!!

[@Rusty_RuleRulle]

Big thanks! Helped me out ALOT especially since I am new to these types of games. Keep it up and I will be looking forward to your next vid. Nice voice btw *KappaPride*

[@davidholman3470]

Great stuff. What I did was to connect 2 towns by rail with minimum elevation changes (like you did) with a passenger service, but I double-tracked for the majority of the route. I couldn't set this up without taking out more loans, but then again, they were your rules, not mine. After 10 years, loan payed and 2 million in the bank.

[@Lowenssohn]

Thank you Colonel. Very informative and helpful.

[@kiralynn72]

Excellent vid, loved your 10 year experiment ideas 😊

[@BretGillan]

Thanks for the tips on how to make a few quid! Great video.

[@warthunderhighlights2723]

Excellent Vid Colonel!

[@stormywater8992]

I needed this! Thanks col!

[@Hutkarian]

Omg Just love your tutorial voice! Commercial here you come!

Great video. I`ve been following you. I do still think you overplay the interests of loans. I believe that playing as you do, I mean being careful about what to build and keeping costs down it is much more profitable and much faster to keep getting loans as long as you can keep growing in a sensible way. It seems to me that interests are fixed and not multiplicative in this game.

[@Pwnzistor]

So glad you made this video- I tried making a transport route with ships in 1850.. was very bad.

[@colonelfailure]

It will totally work for you, but you'll need to bankroll it to begin with using a faster service. Ships create great return on investment, but they're very very slow.

[@METALFREAK03]

15:50 you can make the goods wagon only and only cart livestock. livestock still makes the produce and therefore you can do more shipping loads back and forth!

[@zekmax3001]

Jolly good. I also suggest setting commuter services in various towns. Specially larger ones woth more comercial and residencial buildings. Makes profit. Not much I must say, but it Can be a cheap steady way to make some money at first to cover the cost of a train line (which would be set up between a pair of the towns you have the commuter lines at) then after some years due to maitenance costs some can be removed. you will have obtained some profit you had used to lighten the train cost.

[@playmototoys5655]

Nicely done Cnl. Very calm and s(m)oothing. Respect!

[@captainkokomo7966]

Thanks for the info Colonel. I was starting out with heaps of vehicles. It was profitable but very very slow profit. Trains in this game are intimidating because of initial cost.

[@WiccaRobin]

Darn it remembers I was here.. ALL i CAN SAY IS wow!!!! they've done wonders with this game since the time you made this. anything can be started with at this time, as long as you know the sweet spot of the vehicles you are using. Like I said. even a tram route across country can now make MONEY albiet a bit slow over the first 15 years or so.. it then blossoms into a money Machine able to drive your game to any high you wish to achieve.. but it doesn't hold a candle to the Pork Belly mod!

[@stoneagepunk]

Very Helpfull, Thanks Chap!

[@Jones8080]

17:42, the town of Winslow looks like a man who is running with sword in his back. Nice video also, good tips for people who are starting their careers in TpF :) One suggestion if possible to do and you're making more these videos. Add black edges around white text. Makes it easier to read and looks bit better too. Or white edge around black text.

[@c.j.carter6803]

oh wow good eye

[@colonelfailure]

I usually do.... evidently missed it yesterday. Thank you.

[@c.j.carter6803]

Colonel Failure ok love ur work btw

[@Csmiccsmos1]

another good tip if your running 2 trains stop one at end station then wait for other train to reach other end and start the train to synchronise also if you got bigger line from the 2 already synced trains follow until they meet stop them put marker in send 2 trains to the marker and stop other two trains at ends when all trains are in position start them all up and you have 4 synchronised trains optimising passengers and income

[@LievenSerge]

High end KZbin content! Great!

[@mostlysane9376]

Perfect timing for the video, launch day. Anyone would think you've planned it that way. Thank you. Very useful. Now if the game would just download....

[@colonelfailure]

Me? Plan something? Don't tell anyone, it'll destroy my reputation :)

[@WiccaRobin]

Nicely done CNL

[@ScipionLaurentiend]

usefull. keep up the good work mate

[@jimmyincredible3141]

Key is to take out the full 10mil loan. With that money you can set up a long railway line for goods - long line means less throughput and more money per run - long level line also means you can add far more cars per locomotive as distance for acceleration becomes less and less relevant. Go for a production chain that just needs one type of car, make sure it is loaded both ways, only make two stations and only distribute to towns from one end via truck. So i.e. connect farm to food plant, only use goods waggons and have trucks distribute starting at the farm - that way highest difficulty is no problem in 1850

[@mlorde8857]

This. This is great. Subbed.

[@StarlightEquinox]

great for when the game releases thanks! Very usefull video :3

[@MisamHunnan]

Great video! Thank you!

[@QDem19]

Very well done! Respect!

[@peterray7523]

Hi there Col., just downloaded the game but thought I'd watch this first! Great options to be had, but I think I shall start with your last scenario, that is, a train line in between to close towns.

[@colonelfailure]

Try to follow the river where you can, as the land will be flatter so rail costs less. Also add an in-town coach service at either end that picks up from each of the three zones before dropping at your station (make good use of the catchment area overlay) and you'll be running strong profits quickly.

[@WrongDrn]

"Do not spam carts" :) I've startep many times at hard difficulty and the result is alway the same. Carts are great! The secret is that the cart should haul the load both directions. Making the cargo hubs on crossdoads and extanding the network for a different kins of cargo is my point. The main feature of the cart or a truck is that the cart is all-purpose instead of train car. So you may haul the stone forward and construction material backword. Try to do this by train! In the other hand such cart routes may be quickly overloaded by cargo. To avoid this you may use trains bypasing many hops for some kind of cargo in this case trains will be efficient. Sorry for this "russian" english :)

[@Kim-uu8fc]

Thanks.

[@YammoYammamoto]

Entertaining. :) The most profitable way I've found is by using wagons only, start with a base resource (i.e ConstructionMaterial/or Food/or Fuel). Preferably with the base resource near a town. Preferably in a corner of the map. Spamming the line full with carts. As funds allow, I try to find another base resource (with town) situated in another corner of the map. Once both lines are running I am usually well out of dept and able to launch a long-distance shuttle-route between the two lines, connecting delivery to each town in between. Each line will be profitable in both directions and the product will end up being shipped clear across the map, for maximum profit. By the year 1900 - money is so plentiful that it is basically "Creative mode". :) _(...and that's on hard mode)_

[@Arkturu5]

Great Video, thanks for the perspective :)

[@robmuzz]

Great video, thanks!

[@oddball-soul]

Hey Failure, this video has been such a great help in getting started with a game genre that is entirely new territory for me. It would be much appreciated if you did more guides like this for us newcomers (e.g, how to use signals...I have no idea). P.S. Love your voice.

[@colonelfailure]

Signalling guide is definitely coming.

[@franciscoioimperadordaaust824]

I will make a small guide for you. You put signals to allow/disallow trains to pass through one point of the track. If there is any train between this signal and the next signal/station, it will be red. If there isn't, i will be green. Waypoints are used to define which track the train will follow. Example: You have a line going from A to B and another one going from B to C. You can use either a double track station or a single track station with signals. If you use option one, you may have to put a waypoint in front of the platform you want the train to use. I hope this helps you.

[@oddball-soul]

Francisco I, o Imperador da Áustria hi, thank you for the information, the one thing I don't understand at the moment is how to get trains to use diamond crossings, whenever I put signals down; multiple trains either want to use one set of track or use either side of the track as one way (which I don't want) therefore they never use the crossing

[@franciscoioimperadordaaust824]

Use waypoints.

[@Malforian]

fantastic video! thanks

[@myhybrid09]

very informative! Nice explanations and diagram.

[@colonelfailure]

Thank you - hope it helps.

[@mishkalee4534]

Thanks man it was super help full :D

[@m2a2gaming5]

Awesome video!

[@happybez787]

Just saw this video while waiting for TF2, and low and behold we come across a town called Desborough :) my hometown on a CF video been waiting ages for this :)

[@GrunfWorks]

Great video colonel. In depth analysis. You got another sub :-)

[@colonelfailure]

Thank you!

[@Wooteman1]

Thanks for the tips! :)

[@bugraozkan8137]

I liked your narrative.

[@Csmiccsmos1]

good video. when you run railway between to cities. have stage coach move passengers to station. also check contour lines before you build track to keep cost down not only do bridges and tunnels cost fortunes to build but also to maintain. build 1 train that can carry 30 people then count how long it takes between stations eg 50 seconds. then count 22 seconds on way back. put signal in. count 22 seconds other way. put signal if done right there be a 6 second between signals if so build second rail here and when you have demand for it put second 30 passenger train in. make sure you put signal at end of 2nd rail for both directions and only at end where train won't cause congestion if it stops there. reason do it this way is to keep cost down on second rail only using minimal track for passing lane

[@alanramiresbr]

very nice, and simple!

[@Vayify]

Fantastic tips and your audio is brilliant! If only I could get my voice to sound so rich :-)

[@colonelfailure]

Years of vocal abuse have left it this way...

[@HunterTeddy010]

You need to do documentaries or read of phone book.

[@Wikkus]

Very helpful, thanks chap :)

[@vincewilson1]

KZbin showed this again and I thought this should be remade for TpF2. The newbies would benefit.

[@Halvesoul]

Its simple but requires alot of planning to make a whole lot of money: u should connect 1 farm to 1 food processor and 1 quarry to 1 contruction materials plant, then ship all the processed goods to the towns, not just 1 town, but basicly all of them, just make sure all the towns get food and construction materials with just trucks and u can repay ur loan in the first 10 years easily. Use trucks first, then trains later

[@saldainis55]

Thank You, Master !

[@zyzla87]

This guy is simply awesome!!!!!!! I would like to see him play good old transport tycoon delux lol

[@rickt4c]

Hey Colonel Failure, how do you get that close camera following the train in the start of the video? That's awesome to watch! Haha

[@rmjkruithof]

awsome testing, thanx ;)

[@raskol7585]

Hello Colonel, Regarding approach 3; you could use just goods carts carrying only livestock to the processing plant, that way you could potentially get a full load of food on the way back.

[@raskol7585]

Enjoyed the vid btw, liked and subbed :)

[@AntonyShannon]

I loved this Col

[@colonelfailure]

Glad you liked it.

[@SlimGamingChannelYT]

Brilliant video, now we just need to send it to a few KZbinrs/Twitch streamers that haven't got the basics down and we're all good.

[@colonelfailure]

They'll fall by the wayside Slim. This is Transport Fever Thunderdome, only the most badass will survive!

[@SlimGamingChannelYT]

One would hope, the launch is definitely going well though, gained quote a few more subscribers and lot's of views on the Transport Fever videos :-)

[@J.F.K.O]

i would love to see a hard mode version of this vid :P its soo hard to make money

[@bazkib]

I start with two towns close to each other and put in 4 bus stops and 2 buses / then run a train line / then I locate the closest farm and food/bread processing plant and run carts to the two towns. Profit starts pretty quickly. I pay off all loans and then repeat this procedure in other towns.

[@MrDanno2]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

[@Bluemoon_19]

nice video i watched it while I had the game downloading in the background lol

[@koolerpure]

man free roam is overwhelming, the moment i start i have no idea where to start and what city to work at, although i find planning for the future of the city is awesome as it will look cool and be effective even if it doesnt start that way

[@jamesbutler606]

Just bought this game as it came as a bundle with the soon to be released 2nd volume. I have tried about 5 or 6 times to get a profit in the beginning, even on the easy map setups i now realise i was trying to go too big too quickly, i'm going to have to be a little more patient....i also waxed the whole 10M loan amount in the beginning with no-where to go!

[@memorablename5187]

I love scientific videos like this!

[@ThemDarnedTeenagers]

nice, thanks!

[@benratcliffe1502]

Thx im a noob at the game and that helped alot 😀

[@atilaaugustodelima8280]

It's like Severus Snape is teaching me how to do well in games!

[@kuutiox2601]

Great voice and just like a real colonel with little bit whiskey charisma style :)

[@TOGOOMII]

Just found you here on YT. Thanks for this video :)

[@colonelfailure]

You're welcome.

[@omg5643]

I like how your voice changes completely in this video, it's so official :P One thing I found strange is that sometimes maintenance costs were actually less in a given year than the year before it (Example 1859 vs 1858 for the ship at 14:00) and likewise money received for full shipments also isn't constant for some reason. Is there some sort of random factor involved in these things or is it a bug?

[@colonelfailure]

Not random - if a vehicle is waiting at a stop (of any kind) rather than moving its costs are decreased. Overall everything costs more each year, but you can reduce those costs by using wait until full in places.

[@omg5643]

Ah, I see now. Thanks for the reply :)

[@jochenschmidt1072]

I like your voice, i like your clear english....go on with this good work! :)

[@colonelfailure]

Thank you.

[@jochenschmidt1072]

...and,....i like your Humor! Great Work..it´s a pleasure to listen to you!

[@YeoltheClumsy0]

Great tips for *medium* difficulty games, but on hard in 1850 without extra loan, the story gets more complicated, because shuttling passengers from town to town with whatever vehicle is not going to keep you afloat. The secret lays in shipping *freight* both ways for the majority of a rather short total distance. Often you will restart a map to find a suitable starting configuration. I won the "penny pincher" achievement, but it took me 40h to find out the secret how to start a game in hard mode, and get passed let's say 1875 without going bankrupt

[@kev4ev]

lol 52h, 5th attempt, and still no success on hard. It's not easy to find a place where cargo will ship both ways...

[@27EeYOrE10]

I got it after around 20 tries, and i restarted same map 6 times. Really hard, but once u get the hang out of it, its not that hard anymore.

[@donkeech1081]

Wow. I bought this game based on my love of a free 3.5 Disk of Transport Tycoon that came with the PC Gamer magazine i subscribed to many many years ago. Back then, we called those type of games "Micro-Managing". Apparently, those were simpler times! WOW! This feels more like WORK now! This feels more like something you should get paid to do. The kind of anxiety this game generates in me is akin to the anticipation of sticking my finger in a pencil sharpener, again. This is not a game, it's a exercise.

[@SherrifOfNottingham]

Only thing with this testing that kinda makes some of these ideas not work, when in reality they might is the fact that you set it up and let it run without upgrades. Goods routes for one town will almost never end up profitable, you'll have to supply more than one town to keep your routes profitable. In the goods train example, I have no problem making large profits off of that route, upgrading the train from time to time, additions of trucking, multiple towns, and adding new industries to the network over time will definitely work better than expecting a 10 year fast forward of any route to be profitable. However passengers is the "set it and forget it" resource, it's kind of like a solar panel, it's not amazing profitability, but you don't have to really worry about it near as much as goods. A good thing to point out to players is that a non-profit in town "distribution" network will help keep your long hauls even more profitable, and in some instances will be better than running two long haul routes into a town (for example).

[@jenwrenredmcmoore880]

Thanks again. You've been very helpful... could you please make your cursor arrow a bit bigger... hard to see what you're pointing at

[@jturie]

Very nice analysis....basically, follow the Train Fever approach. Not all that surprising, as railroads are still the basis of the game.

[@PrograError]

but with slight variation ... don't want those running cost running up your arse

[@colonelfailure]

Quite right. In Train Fever the easiest early money was running 10-20 stage coaches point to point between each pair of towns. If you try that here you'll be bust in 10 years.

[@MysticalNerdTV]

I'm 6 seconds in.. subbed.. great audio.

[@colonelfailure]

Thanks :)

[@8fuzz]

I find goods by road very profitable, I usually get my goods stops filled up and i can transport the produced goods to near by towns and I usually make around at least 50k a year

[@paulharwell8908]

Colonel, I must say that when I first ran across your videos a year or two ago you were making a lot of simple game play errors and so I stopped watching you. I happened to watch this video of yours and was very pleasantly surprised that you have progressed to the point of having a more logical, serious outlook on your TF gaming. I APPLAUD this change and IMHO the viewers prefer a more logical, well thought out instructive viewpoint much more than your previous one. I mean this as a COMPLIMENT because you deserve it. Keep up the good work, Sir. - "Tall Paul"