Trains trains, and SIGNALS

[jaxterity]

Hey all. So I have been doing tons of trains and trying to learn train signals really well. Some of you may have seen my base from my streams I do on Twitch but if not I'll try to explain it a bit. I cannot really post a screenshot currently because I am at work.

Currently it is very closed in together of two rail lines one going one direction and the other going the other direction and then as it needs to break off it goes from multiple directions. I am trying to create better intersections and rail lines.

So the issue I'm trying to resolve is, my lines go all over the place in intersections going from the left lane (if vertical it goes down and the right one goes up) and the right line going up and down.

The question is, when to use chain signals exactly? I started going kinda crazy with them and placing them before and after intersections/blocks. As there isn't enough space in between the next intersections in my current rail network there are intersections all over the place on my vertical rail line cutting off left and right. I plan and intend to redo my rail network to have more lanes going up and more going down so maybe 2 down and 2 up or even in the future 4 down and 4 up.

I also hope to perhaps make my intersections much more spread out so I can do rail signals properly after each big intersection so that trains can go in between without having to wait a long line down from the rail signals.

Some people have told me to do chain signals at the beginning of crossings and at the end of them (end of intersection or whatever) put a signal (rail or chain depending on what fits best to the next intersection). Would you all suggest that way? Or do another way?

I also plan to do two engines on each train as well, as I've seen others do it and its starting to sound pretty appealing to me.

[ratchetfreak]

For every signal you don't want a train to wait at; go back and change all preceding signals to chains

[vampiricdust]

The first chain signal the train will stop at, so you want it before an intersection where it would be ok for it wait its turn. Now, the rest of the chain signals will mark a path in which the train must wait the first one until every block on that path is open to the first normal signal. So if you had a simple crossing, you would place a chain before and a normal after. If there was a path with two intersections close by enough that you don't want the train to sit there, than you put chains up to the next intersection and a normal right after.