Factorio Forums

That's right. I said rails AND roads. I'm curious what people do in game, with a consideration of what their real-life road structure is like. I tried to think of everything, but probably forgot something.

Specifically I'm asking:

What side if the road do people in your country drive on? And what side of a 2-lane, 1-way rail system do your trains go on when you're building it?

Personally I drive on the right where I live, but train on the left. I expect I'm an oddball.

Road / train side isn't always the same by the way. Since railways were basically invented in Britain, British engineers had a lot of influence early on. Whereas roads already existed obviously. France or Italy for example use left-hand drive, but drive on the right with cars

I'm fine with Right/Right. I am using the Asphalt Roads mod. Haven't actually built a two-lane road yet except for a short decorative stretch. Highways would only be really useful in a big multiplayer game and/or with AAI Programmable Vehicles. The hauler tops out at over 90 km/h on pavement; it's a lot slower off-road. Haven't had the car up to full speed on a road yet- the "driving assistant" won't help if you come into a sharp corner at high speed- cornering radius for the car is dependent on speed. Also, highways would use up a LOT of resources and real estate- oil and stone for the asphalt and median barriers (walls.)

5thHorseman wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 05, 2020 3:56 pm

I tried to think of everything, but probably forgot something.

Like "Drive Left / Train Right" .

This poll has no option (except the "no option fits" option) that fits me.
What side cars drive on the road has no influence on my trains track system.

I choose left or right hand side for my trains depending on space considerations. If I want a clean edge along straight tracks then I put the signals and power poles between the tracks.
If I want less space wasted by tracks I put the rails closer together and then I need to put signals and power poles on the outside. This works for specific layouts, like my planned grid layout. It doesn't really have an "outside" the tracks though since that's just inside the grid cells, so it's not as weird as it might sound.

There are two Drive Left, Train Left options. So that must be right, right?

Squelch wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 06, 2020 9:38 am

There are two Drive Left, Train Left options. So that must be right, right?

Hard choice

SoShootMe wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 06, 2020 7:03 am

5thHorseman wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 05, 2020 3:56 pm

I tried to think of everything, but probably forgot something.

Like "Drive Left / Train Right" .

Nope, didn't forget that.

Forgot to PROOFREAD that.

Qon wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 06, 2020 8:17 am

This poll has no option (except the "no option fits" option) that fits me.
What side cars drive on the road has no influence on my trains track system.

I choose left or right hand side for my trains depending on space considerations. If I want a clean edge along straight tracks then I put the signals and power poles between the tracks.
If I want less space wasted by tracks I put the rails closer together and then I need to put signals and power poles on the outside. This works for specific layouts, like my planned grid layout. It doesn't really have an "outside" the tracks though since that's just inside the grid cells, so it's not as weird as it might sound.

Now THAT is a mistake. I've added it. And simplified the options a bit. And clarified the title.

...all of which has cleared the voting options. So yay. Revote, anybody who reads this

Qon wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 06, 2020 8:17 am

I choose left or right hand side for my trains depending on space considerations. If I want a clean edge along straight tracks then I put the signals and power poles between the tracks.
If I want less space wasted by tracks I put the rails closer together and then I need to put signals and power poles on the outside. This works for specific layouts, like my planned grid layout. It doesn't really have an "outside" the tracks though since that's just inside the grid cells, so it's not as weird as it might sound.

+1, too lazy to write the same thing

I think more important reason is that train traffic prefers right side in my country. But I think the selection of train traffic has much to do with right hand road traffic so I voted it.

5thHorseman wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 05, 2020 3:56 pm

Personally I drive on the right where I live, but train on the left.

I'm curious as to why that is. Genuinely makes no sense to me.

I drive on the right. Factorio's signals are right handed. Therefore, the trains *almost always* go on the right.

I understand the people that are just very used to left hand drive are willing to overlook the wrong sidedness of the signals for convenience.

ColonelSandersLite wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 09, 2020 8:28 am

5thHorseman wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 05, 2020 3:56 pm

Personally I drive on the right where I live, but train on the left.

I'm curious as to why that is. Genuinely makes no sense to me.

I drive on the right. Factorio's signals are right handed. Therefore, the trains *almost always* go on the right.

I understand the people that are just very used to left hand drive are willing to overlook the wrong sidedness of the signals for convenience.

I like the signals inside the tracks. It looks neater and allows me to - when necessary - place things (mostly tracks but sometimes belts if things get tight) where there would otherwise be signals.

I have no idea why you consider this "wrong." At best (worst?) it's "different."

This outweighs my desire to "drive on the right" and after an hour or so it stopped bothering me. Now it bothers me when I watch a YouTube video where they actually do "drive on the right."

ColonelSandersLite wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 09, 2020 8:28 am

I'm curious as to why that is. Genuinely makes no sense to me.

For France they explain it with several reasons, one being that at the time the first trains were built 1830's/1850's, they were heavily inspired by British trains who were the precursors and were using the left side to drive.

Another reason that is often given to avoid saying that it was just merely copying more advanced oversea neighbour is that train drivers are mostly right-handed. For precise operation they were required to have their head pop through the train, to see what was happening, while manoeuvering with their remaining hand. To avoid risk of getting hurt by a train coming from the other side it was deemed safer to drive on the left side, so that the remaining hand was the right one when they pop their head through the left side window.

You can also find explanation related to the ergonomy of the cabin with one mecanician and one driver, and the need for shoveling coal by a right handed person, development of signaling having an impact on it too and even the orientation of travelers at station, which is supposedly more natural when station were located on the left side of the train , it was more practical to not build them between rails but rather outward.

Also alsace and lorraine were german at the time, so a right-handed train system was built there and is still in use today, despite the rest of France driving on the left side because it was deemed to costly to change it after wars.

To conclude, there could be on the poll and option saying : "i mix LHD and RHD trains in my network" , or maybe "where i live there is no proscribed side of railroad" but i guess the last option will do

mmmPI wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:35 am

To conclude, there could be on the poll and option saying : "i mix LHD and RHD trains in my network"

That should really be the wording of the "...other than driving..." option, but I screwed up and am leery to change the poll again lest I piss everybody off

mmmPI wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:35 am

or maybe "where i live there is no proscribed side of railroad" but i guess the last option will do

I'll freely admit that I never considered that people would take how TRAINS in real life operate. I don't know much about IRL trains and kinda thought that they generally ran like single, 2-way tracks in the game.

5thHorseman wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:21 am

I like the signals inside the tracks. It looks neater and allows me to - when necessary - place things (mostly tracks but sometimes belts if things get tight) where there would otherwise be signals.

I have no idea why you consider this "wrong." At best (worst?) it's "different."

Because IRL, signage is always on the outside of the road (or overhead but factorio doesn't do that). Imagine sitting at an intersection with a 4 way stop. If you are in a right hand drive country, the stop sign will be on the corner of the street to your right. If you are in a left hand drive country, the stop sign will be on the corner of the street to your left. The same applies to rail signals. There may be exceptions in special situations where rail traffic runs opposite the norm for some special reason (like the grade on a mountain) but the engine itself is still the conventional seating arrangement but that's pretty niche.

In factorio, the signal that applies to a given train is always on the train's right side so it's a right handed signal.

5thHorseman wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:44 am

I don't know much about IRL trains and kinda thought that they generally ran like single, 2-way tracks in the game.

That depends on where you are and how much rail traffic there is. In the US, we do a lot of single track with passing sidings for cross country purposes but heavy traffic areas may well be quadruple tracked.

I mostly choose RHD, because in a two lane one way setup the signals are on the outside. this has the benefit that there is more space for signals at intersections. also, if the gap between the two lanes is 4 tiles, which often is used for roboports, there will be no conflicts.

I choose LHD, when building signals outside of the two lanes is not desirable. like in narrow ribbon worlds.

I do left side trains because I like having the signals on the inside of the rails...

Rjskeet wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 17, 2020 1:09 am

I do left side trains because I like having the signals on the inside of the rails...

pretty much this.

I also leave a gap of two rails for smooth lane changing.

We have right hand traffic where I live.

I dont think driving on a certain side is a thing in factorio. Especially when you play 99% alone.

I drive on the right side of the road and my trains in Factorio run on the right as well. I am used to it and then the signals are on the outside and less confusing as to which signal belongs to which track(also sometimes there is not enough space between the tracks).

There are a couple of places where you could say that the train goes on the left side, but that is more like a big loop instead of two tracks side-by-side.

Where I live, there is no proscribed side of the road.

Got to cover all the options!

LHD here, I really don't think I could get my head around a RHD layout for some reason! Too set in my ways maybe.

RHT is used in 165 countries and territories, with the remaining 75 countries and territories using LHT. I wonder if the poll results will reflect something similar, though I guess there are more than 2 options..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-_and ... nd_traffic