One Lane Only crossing ?

[MilaweaX]

Hey forum,

Noob here, seeing picture of 2 lanes junctions everywhere, I wanted to know if something like this is possibe, allowing trains to go both ways on each track.
Is there anyway to do this ? With another design maybe ?

one_lane_cross.gif (137.82 KiB) Viewed 2905 times

Thank you !

[Zavian]

It should be possible, but to get it working reliably with multiple trains you will need to add rail signals. Signalling can be a complex subject, but a simple approach that might be adequate would be to add a pair of opposed chain signals on the approach to the junction from all 4 sides. (Make sure the signals are on both sides of the track directly opposite each other, otherwise they will prevent any trains from pathing down that section of track).

See https://wiki.factorio.com/Tutorial:Railway/Signal for a basic guide to signalling, https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comme ... ts_23_and/ for more in-depth coverage of signalling. Both of the above are more focused on the more common dual track setup, see viewtopic.php?f=194&t=53937 for something more focused on two way rails (this last one tends to assume you already understand the basics of rail and chain signals).

[Mr. Tact]

Do yourself a favor, go with a dual track system. It makes life easier, it has a higher capacity, and sooner or later you are going to realize you need to do it.

[MilaweaX]

Thank you for the links !

I managed to do something that works with the setup on first image. The second image comes from the third link you gave me, I wonder if changes anything to do one or the other..

one_lane_cross2.gif (160.12 KiB) Viewed 2892 times

one_lane_cross3.gif (159 KiB) Viewed 2892 times

Do yourself a favor, go with a dual track system. It makes life easier, it has a higher capacity, and sooner or later you are going to realize you need to do it.

Haha yes I'm sure it's much better since everyone does it like this, but I wanted to this for science (I don't mean in-game science.. lol)

[bobucles]

Single trains don't need fancy intersections or signals. Bring them directly from the mine to your base. A solo rail system can only have one train for the entire straight length of track. If it crosses another track you will need signals at the crossing to let the tracks cross.

The best way to set up a strong train network is with a twin track highway. This will dramatically increase your train capacity because each lane can support multiple trains at once.

Using signals on twin way junctions is so simple you can practically automate them. Put a full signal after the junction. Place a chain signal at the start of the junction. Spam chain signals before every point one track touches another track. Done. The most difficult part of a junction is making sure there's enough clear ground space to place chain signals at all the points. Place your twin tracks about 4-6 tiles apart and it should be fine.

For more advanced train systems, try to keep train junctions pretty far apart. You want room for a full sized train between any two junctions, otherwise you have to replace full signals with chain signals to merge them into a single large beast. That will slow things down.

[Zavian]

Using normal rail signals on two-way tracks is problematic and might lead to deadlocks. Imagine a train approaching from the south that wants to turn east, and a train approaching from the east that wants to turn south. They will both get to the junction and wait forever. That is why you normally only use chain signals on sections of two-way track. Use normal rail signals to make the train wait back at its station. That is why two way tracks aren't suited for parts of your rail network that need more than very low throughput.

If you change the the rail signals in your image to chain signals, then your version and Aaargh's version will function virtually identically. In Aaargh's version the trains will stop within the junction, in your version they will stop just outside the junction. Personally I'd go with your version, with the rail signals replaced with chain signals.

[nosports]

just make a continious manufacturing of rails and signals....

It don't need to be super fast, in fact, you only need rails when building, so the factory can catch up and load some chests......

place a dual-way with blue prints all along, because you have a much more throughput and if you build it its with blueprints( best with poles, and maybe signal wires) no additional work, all covered in a single walk....

sooner or later you want / need to upgrade .....