Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-90.14.94.253-20150927165611/@comment-26518423-20150929044453

Yep, hold out and watch the SO. The SO sometimes offers up 29, 59, or 66, electric or diesels, that have a free tax. You'll need desielization and/or electric, of course. (You can check costs, but I seem to recall 150, 275 and 375 gems.)

About the time you are short on gems, something like the GT1h-002 Quad (66 cars and free tax) shows up. Free vs 557 fuel. Not a lot when you are doing 24 hour runs, but quite a bit if you need to do short hops, such as our recent Beer Garden achievements. My current load (18 hours) is collecting a bit over 3200 XP, more if I use the XP cars.

As for "fun" trains, I think some of the best are given to you by completing achievements. The Pioneer Zephyr and Turbo-train have fascinating histories. I also enjoy the looks of matched sets. They don't usually give the best return, but are fun to watch.

When you are watching SO's, try to buy the "big" cars for coins. Your level is where it starts to get interesting. You should soon be able to buy cars that can carry 600+ passengers, or 500+ with high bonuses. Load your electrics with the "biggest" passenger cars and you'll be able to collect all passengers with fewer trains. My 29 electric is collecting 5.5m coins on an 18 hour ride. (The game sorts the "biggest" cars to the left of the screen. It may carry fewer passengers/cargo but will return the best return.)

Enjoy