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[Is there already a post/guide about train (un)loading in 13.x? I searched but couldn't really find something, sorry if I missed it!]

AFAIK, in 12.x the main train loading design options were a (a) 6 logistic chests with fast inserters into the wagon, or (b) an n-to-6 belt splitter with fast inserters into steel chests into the wagon. In 13.x, logistic bots became more expensive while the stack inserters are a much improved way to load from belts. So, it seems that it is might be viable to revisit the inserter train loading design.

It seems to me that a much simpler design of a 1-to-4 double splitter to 4 stack inserters buffered with 4 steel chests suffices for a pretty high throughput:



What design do you use nowadays?

(related question: Do we have numbers on how many stack inserters can fully saturate/empty green/red/blue belts, and/or the number of items per second stack inserters can move to/from containers and belts? )

Reddit is currently full with train loading and unloading stations:

https://i.imgur.com/3bQ5Oi1.png

https://imgur.com/gallery/67i08

They're probably the best two for unloading. The first one has 100% compression, the second one only ~98%, but the second one is more compact, but also uglier.

I'd probably go with the first one.

For loading you should use the smart loader with a combinator, but you can load more belts now, so some splitters are needed to saturate the smart loader (if you have the input).

(related question: Do we have numbers on how many stack inserters can fully saturate/empty green/red/blue belts, and/or the number of items per second stack inserters can move to/from containers and belts? )

4 stack inserters can saturate a blue belt (with some excess throughput even).

1 stack inserter moves about 800 units/minute to a belt at full tech (a little less, I don't know the exact number right now, just measured that with a counter; I think it's something like 770/minute).

Edit: The stack inserter can move 766 items per minute at full tech (from a chest to an express belt).

Sorry to kick this old thread, but since this post is referred to by the Factorio wiki page of the stack inserter:

siggboy wrote:Reddit is currently full with train loading and unloading stations:
Edit: The stack inserter can move 766 items per minute at full tech (from a chest to an express belt).

I was wondering how you got to those numbers, because I'm seeing different things (in 0.15.30 though, so maybe things have changed in the mean time, but I don't think so). I'm measuring ticks between swings of an inserter using circuits, and I found that a stack inserter taking a full stack (12 items) from a chest and dropping them on an (empty) belt pulses every 58 ticks.

Or more generally, for the fast inserter family (includes stack, filter and stack filter):
chest to chest, or chest to belt with a stack size of 1: 26 ticks
chest to belt with a stack size of n (with n > 1): 3n + 22 ticks

Here's a blueprint of my test setup. Basically just an inserter that pulses its contents, a tick counter that resets every pulse, and a memory cell that records the number of ticks between pulses. Note: this blueprint requires the Creative Mode mod.

So, with 58 ticks per transfer, that boils down to 60 ticks per second / 58 ticks * 60 second per minute * 12 items per transfer ≈ 744,83 items per minute.

.edit: I confirmed that it is indeed approximately 744 items per minute by counting the number of items traveling on the belt and dividing by time.