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Problems with Rail Signals

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 2:40 pm
by Skrillerman
Hello,

I am not a factorio pro I am just familiar with the basics.

Today I planned to build a new route from my new iron outpost to the base by crossing the new rail track with an old one.

My problem is that the two rails are very short and the odds for a collide are very high so I am forced to use the ´railsignals´ for the first time.

As you can see in the picture 3 of the 4 signals are green. The train is currently in the south right next to the factories and unable to move.

Firstly I thought that the train is a bit too close to the rail signal but even after I extended the track the train was unable to move.

I hope someone can help me with my problem .

thank you and sorry for my english mistakes

Re: Problems with Rail Signals

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 2:58 pm
by Destijah
I'm assuming your train is supposed to move back up this rail. Did you put a second pair of signals on the other side of the track to let it move upward?

Signals only work in one direction. To switch the direction, you need to put it on the other side of the track.

Re: Problems with Rail Signals

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 3:12 pm
by Skrillerman
@Destijah

oh thank you :D

Re: Problems with Rail Signals

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 3:35 pm
by ssilk
Moved from General to Gameplay Help.

Re: Problems with Rail Signals

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 9:47 pm
by Frightning
Destijah wrote:I'm assuming your train is supposed to move back up this rail. Did you put a second pair of signals on the other side of the track to let it move upward?

Signals only work in one direction. To switch the direction, you need to put it on the other side of the track.
Yes, two-way rail needs to have paired signals, one on each side, otherwise the games sees a one-way block on part of the track, and it won't allow trains to path through that block in the 'wrong' direction. One other thing about crossings like that: If/when you run multiple trains through crossings like that, without chain signals it's possible for a train to stop in the crossing because the next block that wants to enter is currently occupied by a train, this in turn means the waiting train is now blocking off the crossing itself, preventing traffic in the other direction from being able to cross, and it doesn't need to do that! The problem is the train sees no reason not to enter the block containing the crossing because it's not 'looking ahead', this is what chain signals do, they don't let a train past unless the signal after them in that direction would let them pass as well, so at a crossing like that, you can put chain signals before and regular signals after so that trains will wait in the block before the crossing until they can go into the block after the crossing.

Re: Problems with Rail Signals

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 11:59 pm
by Shokubai
Not just on both sides but paired up....
Image

Re: Problems with Rail Signals

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 1:37 am
by Frightning
Shokubai wrote:Not just on both sides but paired up....
Image
Yes, this is what I meant by paired signals. Nice to have a picture of it so you can see what it looks like. Notice how when you mouse over one of the signals, it also puts a box around the other, that indicates that they are actually paired up (if you didn't align them correctly, as happened to me the first time I tried to signal a 2-way bit of rail, it won't do that).