Rail Blueprints

Smart setups of railway stations, intelligent routing, solutions to complex train-routing problems.
Please provide - only if it makes sense of course - a blueprint of your creation.
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Tnarg
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Rail Blueprints

Post by Tnarg »

Here are the 4 blueprints I use to make junctions. They can be built over the top of each other as shown on the right. the 45deg cross over dose not work with the 90deg one but other than that you can make any junction you want. It's best if there is at least 90 deg between turns.
Pictures

garath
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Re: Rail Blueprints

Post by garath »

Cool stuff! I'm just getting started with blueprints. I didn't even think about using them for railroads. Very cool!

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Re: Rail Blueprints

Post by AutoMcD »

I make one of a simple 90º turn just because the normal curve rotation is so inefficient. :D

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brunzenstein
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Re: Rail Blueprints

Post by brunzenstein »

Tnarg wrote:Here are the 4 blueprints I use to make junctions.
Please share the blueprints as the signals are clever placed

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Re: Rail Blueprints

Post by Tnarg »

AutoMcD wrote:I make one of a simple 90º turn just because the normal curve rotation is so inefficient. :D
The plus point of these junctions is at turn running north-south will not slow a train going south-north. Also you can do 180 turns.

Well yes if you want to do a turn you don't need blueprints. These are for junctions (i.e. with 3 or more exits) if you need the option to do a 180 then then cross over blueprint will do. I've never felt the need to make a blueprint for it but if you want a junction with the main path going around a turn then you could do something like this:
Turns
brunzenstein wrote:Please share the blueprints as the signals are clever placed
Because you said nice things about my signals I installed the Blueprint String mod:
Blueprints
Attachments
90T.txt
(577 Bytes) Downloaded 402 times
45C.txt
(868 Bytes) Downloaded 238 times
45.txt
(428 Bytes) Downloaded 199 times
90C.txt
(606 Bytes) Downloaded 183 times
90.txt
(396 Bytes) Downloaded 214 times

garath
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Re: Rail Blueprints

Post by garath »

You are awesome! Thank you for the blueprint strings!!

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brunzenstein
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Re: Rail Blueprints

Post by brunzenstein »

garath wrote:You are awesome! Thank you for the blueprint strings!!
I sign that statement

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Re: Rail Blueprints

Post by Qon »

I used a very similar design for my junctions. My trains drive on the right though. But fast and long single headed trains are far superior to short and slow double headed trains. Only real negative is the risk that a train might chose a train station as a valid path because the real path is blocked by another train. Might be fixed in the future though.

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Re: Rail Blueprints

Post by searker »

Qon wrote:I used a very similar design for my junctions. My trains drive on the right though. But fast and long single headed trains are far superior to short and slow double headed trains. Only real negative is the risk that a train might chose a train station as a valid path because the real path is blocked by another train. Might be fixed in the future though.
Even though right-hand-driving (RHD) was the expected way of the devs (therefore signals are on the right), left-hand-driving (LHD) is more efficient when using a loopless system. The main reason is that the "usual" T-Junction with the smallest size cant be signalled the most efficient way with RHD. Idk if similar cases happen in loop-base systems, however, LHD is the suggested direction since it copes better with some signal-placement-limitations.

Fyi: I used RHD in my previous map (double-headed, no loops); I is definately doable, but the LHD-system in my current map is definately more efficient due to less limitations in (mostly chain-) signal placement.

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Re: Rail Blueprints

Post by sparr »

If you move the signals closer closer to the previous intersection, your trains will clear the blocks sooner, and throughput will increase.

Tnarg
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Re: Rail Blueprints

Post by Tnarg »

sparr wrote:If you move the signals closer closer to the previous intersection, your trains will clear the blocks sooner, and throughput will increase.
For some junctions that possible but I want then to work for any kind of junction, When you start overlapping a lot of the junctions I dont think you can move them... maybe I wronge.

The idea is to have flexablity with just a small number of blueprints. If you want to make a junction going NW, NE and S then you can easy do it with these. You could you make a better junction making from scrach, Sure, but these are "good enught" and can make over 250 diffent junctions with only the 2 basic blueprints. I found 3 blueprints was all I needed, basic 90, basic 45, crossover 90.

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Re: Rail Blueprints

Post by searker »

You could exclude the inner-loop signals from the blueprints and place them afterwards. That way, the majority of work would still be automated but your signals would be in the optimal places.

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Re: Rail Blueprints

Post by Tnarg »

searker wrote:
Qon wrote:I used a very similar design for my junctions. My trains drive on the right though. But fast and long single headed trains are far superior to short and slow double headed trains. Only real negative is the risk that a train might chose a train station as a valid path because the real path is blocked by another train. Might be fixed in the future though.
Even though right-hand-driving (RHD) was the expected way of the devs (therefore signals are on the right), left-hand-driving (LHD) is more efficient when using a loopless system. The main reason is that the "usual" T-Junction with the smallest size cant be signalled the most efficient way with RHD. Idk if similar cases happen in loop-base systems, however, LHD is the suggested direction since it copes better with some signal-placement-limitations.

Fyi: I used RHD in my previous map (double-headed, no loops); I is definately doable, but the LHD-system in my current map is definately more efficient due to less limitations in (mostly chain-) signal placement.
The question about RHD and LHD drive is a hard one to anser. It comes down do you want your signals inbeween your tracks or on the outside. Which rises the questions of how close should your parallel tracks be? I played about with both RHD and LHD and different gaps. All I can say is "this worked for me".
As for "double-headed" trains, if you have more than one train in a track system then single diraction trains are the way to go, you get faster and cheaper trains at the cost of having to have a u-turn after each station.
searker wrote:You could exclude the inner-loop signals from the blueprints and place them afterwards. That way, the majority of work would still be automated but your signals would be in the optimal places.
Yes I could, and I do sometimes play around with them but this post was meant to be newbie friendly so they are made to work out of the box.

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Re: Rail Blueprints

Post by silverkitty23 »

I don't know that "signals on the right" mean the devs cared or expected either handedness for two trains running opposite directions. Just means they had to make a choice where to put the signals - for all I know, they flipped a coin.

One of the first train tutorials I found suggested "using the handedness of your country," but I don't think that helps. I'm used to driving on the right, but I also drive in first person. I'm not actually used to watching roads from the top, so I wasn't biased either way and it was "signals on the inside" that won me over to LHD.

I found making a good 4-way junction to be a pain without roundabouts until I gave up on the assumption that the trains have to be 2 tracks apart. I place mine 3 tracks apart now and there's always room for signals (though I don't use diagonals and haven't tried an 8-way, so I dunno) - even when I made a 4 track (2 in each direction) 4-way junction, plenty of room for signals.

The important thing is that you are pleased with your railway system, no matter what anyone else thinks or what they would have done differently.

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steinio
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Re: Rail Blueprints

Post by steinio »

Importing 45° Crossover doesn't work because of an error message in Foreman:
Also this blueprints are for left driving trains.

Attached are the right handed blueprints.
Foreman 2.png
Foreman 2.png (399.43 KiB) Viewed 15627 times
corrected blueprint string
Greetings steinio
Attachments
90° Turn.blueprint.txt
(593 Bytes) Downloaded 198 times
90° Crossover.blueprint.txt
(646 Bytes) Downloaded 157 times
90°.blueprint.txt
(428 Bytes) Downloaded 158 times
45° Crossover.blueprint.txt
(868 Bytes) Downloaded 162 times
45°.blueprint.txt
(456 Bytes) Downloaded 150 times
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Re: Rail Blueprints

Post by ssilk »

Moved from General to Railway Setups.
Cool suggestion: Eatable MOUSE-pointers.
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