Hi Rat, Lama -
Just finished NWP. Got all gold for goods, lumber and paper, but screwed up in the later years not routing passenger trains out of SF soon enough. Missed Silver by four loads.
Managed to get gold just now on expert, after two false starts.
I reasoned that I would need at least some kind of industry for cash flow, so on my first attempt I took out the 11% bond and built a lumber mill in South Fork. The mill was a goldmine from the get-go, so the 2nd year I took out two more 11% bonds and laid track from Eureka - South Point - Alderpoint - Willits, and ran two Shays. The Shays did fine the first couple of loads, but then demand petered out evereywhere and I was running mostly empty trains, and barely breaking even after paying the interest. After the 3rd year I could see I was getting nowhere so I quit & tried again.
In the 2nd attempt, I built the lumber mill at Alderpoint. Again it was a goldmine from the start. Issued stock the next January, saved my money and upgraded the mill near the end of the 2nd year or beginning of the 3rd year, without taking out another bond. Just got the mill upgraded & about to pump out lumber by the bushel when a new mill appeared out of nowhere at Willitts and stole all my logs!
3rd attempt: Built the lumber mill at Dos Rios; had to wait an entire year before it started attracting logs, so my investors gave me the old "fed-up" speech. Finally the mill started producing big time; issued stock each January and saved up 'til I could upgrade the mill. By then (3rd year) the fates smiled on me and the economy went booming; so I was able to refinance at 9%, 7% and then at 5%. Sold another bond or two and built a new paper mill at Willitts where the original one had just disappeared. Saved up another few months and upgraded that mill. So, finally, sometime in the 4th or 5th year, I could borrow enough (at mostly 5%, but the last two were at 6% & 7%) to start laying track.
After running a line from Dos Rios - Willitts - Fort Bragg, which hauled really well with two Shays, I bought into San Francisco and ran a line all the way from SF to Eureka. Got the lumber, paper, goods hauling well to the desired places, and put stations in the remainder of the 13 towns (through which my line already ran) and started hauling pax out of SF. Even built a hotel/restaurant/tavern combo there with fair-to-middling returns. With so many trains to/from San Francisco, I doubled the line as far north as my limited track allotment would allow; but had no further major gridlock problems.
Bottom line: Had completed the gold requirements for lumber, paper & goods by about 1920-21. Used Shays exclusively until about 1922 when I replaced them with H10-2-8-2s. My last train (#24) was a Northern 4-8-4 which started the SF - Eureka run in August 1924. Hauled my 120th passenger & got the gold in February 1925, a little less than 2 years before the deadline.