Gathol

The Camelback is the correct choice, but the routing was not correct to make 16 stops, and you need to maximize the engines speed. I can see from your screenshot you did not do this. First, the route: 01. Cheyenne 02. Rock Springs 03. Pocatello 04. Twin Falls 05. Boise 06. Pasco 07. Portland 08. Salem 09. Eugene 10. Bellingham 11. Seattle 12. Tacoma 13. Spokane 14. Missoula 15. Helena 16. Great Falls Forget about the offer early on from Missoula about the firebox. Don't fall for it. To max the train speed (this will increase the chances of a breakdown so I recommend saving each day when you haven't had a breakdown) go to the consist/routing screen at the very beginning of the scenario. Above and to the right of the water level indicater is the throttle. You need to click on it, maybe several times and put the needle to the bottom of the red instead of where it is just at the bottom of the black. If you do end up having a breakdown just reload your last save and try again from there.

Actually I do this on occasion depending on the game. The way to do this to keep the AI from buying it is: 1. Pause the game 2. Issue the stock 3. Go to the stock market and buy the stock. 4. Unpause the game The only way I know to get the stock once he has bought it is if he ever decides to sell it then you can buy it.