[POLL] Left- or Right- hand rails and roads?

Post all other topics which do not belong to any other category.

What side of the road in real life, and what side of the tracks in the game?

Drive Right / Train Right
51
57%
Drive Left / Train Left
11
12%
Drive Right / Train Left
14
16%
Drive Left / Train Right
2
2%
Train Outlier - I choose Left or Right for reasons other than driving.
7
8%
Train Outlier - I don't make 2-lane, 1-way train tracks in Factorio.
2
2%
Train Outlier - I use a mod to change the way signals work so this question doesn't work for me.
0
No votes
Drive Outlier - Where I live, there is no proscribed side of the road.
0
No votes
Outlier - I'm not in any of the above categories.
2
2%
 
Total votes: 89

Aru
Fast Inserter
Fast Inserter
Posts: 212
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:31 pm
Contact:

Re: [POLL] Left- or Right- hand rails and roads?

Post by Aru »

I mostly assumed, and very non-extensively tested, that right hand drive had more options for signalling intersections. With LHD, all of the signals have to be inside the intersection, including the "easy" turn (left for LHD), and the "hard" turn would need signals inside the curve instead of outside, where there is less area available. I want my intersections to be as small as reasonably possible, since I don't do tiny trains or buffered intersections, so I chose RHD. And I only accept intersections that can be fully signaled, meaning, permitting every theoretically possible combination of simultaneous paths.

User avatar
Khagan
Fast Inserter
Fast Inserter
Posts: 232
Joined: Mon Mar 25, 2019 9:40 pm
Contact:

Re: [POLL] Left- or Right- hand rails and roads?

Post by Khagan »

Aru wrote:
Mon Oct 05, 2020 7:40 pm
I mostly assumed, and very non-extensively tested, that right hand drive had more options for signalling intersections.
You'd think so, wouldn't you. But let me offer a counter-example. This simple T-junction is optimally signalled for LHT:
LHTOnly.png
LHTOnly.png (985.9 KiB) Viewed 1465 times
I can see no way that the same configuration of tracks can be correctly signalled for RHT!

Aru
Fast Inserter
Fast Inserter
Posts: 212
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:31 pm
Contact:

Re: [POLL] Left- or Right- hand rails and roads?

Post by Aru »

Image

There's many ways to make 3-way intersections, for different lane spacings. Whenever there is a signal spot on one side, there is also a spot on the other side, inside and outside of curves, unless there's another rail blocking it.

User avatar
Khagan
Fast Inserter
Fast Inserter
Posts: 232
Joined: Mon Mar 25, 2019 9:40 pm
Contact:

Re: [POLL] Left- or Right- hand rails and roads?

Post by Khagan »

Aru wrote:
Mon Oct 05, 2020 10:39 pm
Image
Yes, but you had to move the tracks to do it. The configuration you have here works equally well for RHT or LHT (and is in fact the one I usually use now).

Aru
Fast Inserter
Fast Inserter
Posts: 212
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:31 pm
Contact:

Re: [POLL] Left- or Right- hand rails and roads?

Post by Aru »

Well I didn't move it, it started that way because it's fewer rails.

Edit: I tried remaking my 4 lane 4-way intersection with 4 tile spacing, LHD is the same size and 16 rails cheaper, 512 instead of 528, I slightly reduced the inner circle. Neither one can be directly signalled as the other. The conclusion I came to long ago, is that optimized LHD and RHD intersections, while different, are probably extremely similar in size and cost, so it really just comes down to standards and preference. Now, I guess I can make a LHD rail book to go with the RHD one, since that intersection was the most complicated piece.

Post Reply

Return to “General discussion”