It probably is with the restrictions you're imposing on yourself, but go ahead and prove me wrong if you like.
I wasn't restricting myself with industry purchases and had gone for an industry start, so the first track wasn't laid until 1877. By then I already owned four distilleries (three of which I had built, one bought when seeded*) plus three sugar farms and a cattle ranch. Averaged industry ROI for 1876 was 21%, despite the price of Alcohol dropping quite significantly on the coast due to lack of transport, so I was in a strong position and was able to take a risk on Mexico. There was good haulage there, so I figured I might as well try it.
Incidentally, a tip for anyone thinking of buying sugar farms at the start of the scenario: don't do it. At the start of the scenario the purchase price for sugar farms near the port will be $200+ k. If you leave them for a few years their profits drop to almost zero temporarily, and their purchase price drops to $140-160k. This applies even if you start by building your own distillery in the area. The amount of sugar already there will temporarily overwhelm the demand from the new distillery, so sugar farm profits will still drop to near zero. Buying them when their profits start heading up again is the way to do it. They end up being a very good investment.
I can see the potential of it, but in this particular case I'm not sure how beneficial it was. Bear in mind that a large part of it was due to prices dropping on the coastal plain, so you would have to trade off the profits from the stackathon against the earlier profits I could have made if I connected up to GC earlier. At the moment I'm not sure how it balances out, but I did notice that lifetime profit up to January 1881 is only $12.99m, whereas in my previous play I had lifetime profit of $24.1m by the middle of 1883.Stacking is key to big riches.
To match that this time around I will have to make $11.1m in two and a half years, which is just possible but realistically not likely. Given that lifetime profit is probably the best indicator of company strength, I'm not sure the approach taken this time is necessarily better. Although growth this time was flat-spotted to some extent by me going for 100% of stock, so that's another factor to take into account. To really get a good comparison I'd have to try a similar start to this one, but without the 100% stock aim, and see how that goes.
It always amazes me what is possible with grades in this game. I liked your approach to Tegucigalpa too. I hadn't thought of trying it that way, and will have to experiment next time I get down there.Good job on the 4% gradient too.
*About the four distilleries: it's usually worth building one over at the Caribbean side. I usually put it just north of the Izabal River, on the border of British Honduras, where it will give solid profits for several years. Later in the game, clothing will start flowing from Punta Gorda around to Peurto Barrios and alcohol prices at the distillery will start dropping, at which point I throw down a short branch line from Puerto Barrios to pick these up for shipping further afield.
On the Pacific coast: distilleries are usually the best option for fast money, with Puerto San Jose being a prime location at the start. This is my standard first move. The second move depends on what seeds and how fast, but usually another distillery on the Mexican border is a good option.
However, having thought of it I just checked the price differentials between sugar and alcohol at both locations, and it turns out to be fractionally better at the Mexican border ($182 vs $176) so it's probably worth trying the one on the border first. There is still good demand for alcohol in Mexico, and the lack of a distillery at Puerto San Jose for a few more years should drop the sugar price further there, so overall ROI is probably going to be slightly better if building at the Mexican border first.
It's likely that more distilleries will seed later in the game. Escuintla and Retalhuleu are common locations. I don't try to compete with these. I just buy them as soon as they start making a profit ($850k each). There is enough sugar on the coastal plain to supply four distilleries, and the purchase price for them is not much more than the price for upgrading the ones you built, so buying the seeded ones and not upgrading any of them ends up being a good strategy. They will all be well-supplied with raw materials and you own the lot, so it's all good.
Edit: Ran a quick test. Built the first distillery at the Mexican border, and the second one at Puerto San Jose. Seems to be an improvement. Slight difference in economy over the first few years, but not much. Profits are substantially better with the Mexican border start.
First year is down very slightly, probably due to less concentrated sugar loads offsetting slightly better price differential. Second year profit is substantially better, although part of this may be down to me paying off the initial bond at the start of 1872. I can't remember if I did that in the other start, but since there was no useful possibility of expansion it made sense to not hold that bond for an extra year (the reduction in interest outweighed the early repayment fee by 9%).
This time around I also used one stock issue to finance the second distillery in January 1873, since that was just enough to get me over the $1,400k build cost without a third bond. The second distillery did very well, because by January 1873 the price of sugar at Puerto San Jose had dropped 25% compared to the price in January 1871. Net result is that the company is in a significantly better position in January 1884.
I'm also in a better position. Stock ownership is down compared to the earlier play, but will be easily made up.