Just tried this today... I'm liking these small concept scenarios, Mecklenburg & Pomerania the other I tried today. Unfortunately, I don't think I played this one as intended, lol!
After attempts starting with rail from both Osterholtz and Bremervord which failed miserably, I did the math on the points to see how much room I had, decided plenty, and went for an industry start. Textile mill north(?) of Karlshofen, with a stream of wool coming down the river already (towards Bremen...) As the 5 sheep ranches become profitable, snap them up, too. The furthest one away disappears, oh well. Caught a new logging camp next to Bremervord (which had a lumber mill.) I'm grabbing a few points early by operating without debt (still taking a bond but paying it back,) and waiting as my credit builds. Economy improves a notch and in the fourth year I start issuing bonds I know I can't repay. Bremervord to Karlshofen, with a pair of S3's custom consists and routes micromanaging. With the industry behind me, and the economy going Boom, I take out many more bonds, upgrade the textile mill, stick a furniture factory in Bremervord on top of the lumber mill, and buy into Bremen and DR Trasse. Prematurely as it turned out, as I wasn't able to connect all the way to Osterholtz immediately. Worked for another year, as the economy turned south, to finish the connection in 1913. Then ran two S3's from Bremen to Karlshofen and another all the way to Bremerhaven. That was enough to start generating the Bremen points. I was $7.5M in debt, at 9% or so average, and not really that profitable, and I knew I needed to clear that up soon to start getting points for no debt. Took about 5 years, issuing stock each year, as the economy crashed, but eventually I got out from under the bonds. From there it was just amusement. Double tracked a bit when I realized I couldn't build into Bremen for the shortcut (and loaded up the old Autosave...) I had Bremervord, Karslhofen, and Osterholtz as my hubs, with a single direct train going between each, and another train going one-by-one through each little village between and back. I replaced all my long hauls with P8's and gave them priority, and copied and upgraded the "local" S3's into Atlantics, so at the end I had 9 locos. Oops, no I had 8, I wasn't running a direct loco from Osterholtz to Karlshofen. Economy was improving as well. The year I replaced my locos and copied the two "locals" profit went from $1.2M to $2.1M, so that was fun! Got the Gold on Expert in Jan 1929.
I'm thinking to add some drama to the final years that a PNW goal would be best, enabling the stock market. I essentially didn't touch a thing after 1913...
