Help signalling this station junction?

[wilse]

Hi All-

I really appreciate the community resource here. I've gotten so much out of reading the threads here and now it is my turn to ask a question. I have read all the documentation and tutorials I can get my hands on, as well as watched a lot of videos, but I am still for some reason having a hard time wrapping my head around how to properly use signals for the junctions leading to my resource loading and unloading stations. I don't know why but my brain just can't seem to get this, so I'm hoping I could ask for some help. I will describe my scenario and then post an image of the junction as well as a blueprint string. Any advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated!

So, here is a picture of the junction in question. I have a 4-track main rail corridor with 2 tracks going one direction and 2 tracks going the other direction. For helping me figure out how to utilize trains, you can see that I am building the tracks with lots of empty space so it is more easy for me to really see what is going on. I use double-headed trains, 1-4-1. I like to use single-track "inline" stations for simplicity, so here is an example of a junction where I would go off the main corridor and up to a station (or leave the station and come back onto the main corridor). I think I have some of the fundamental signals for this junction placed correctly, but I don't think this is sufficient to avoid problems. What/Where else should I add?



And a blueprint string:

Code: Select all

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

[Engimage]

This intersection is signalled correctly and will definitely work as expected.
However I find your 4 lanes being too wide so a train will spend quite some time while turning on it resulting in a heavy traffic jam while it is doing so.

[mrvn]

I find it better to have 2 tracks at the top and two tracks at the bottom of the base with the base in between instead of one 4 track in the middle. Less tracks to cross at each intersection leading to better throughput. Or stripes of 2 tracks with parts of the base in between. You can far better scale this just by adding more stripes as you expand.

As the logical conclusion you end up with a big grid of 2 tracks with parts of your factory in each cell.

[wilse]

This intersection is signalled correctly and will definitely work as expected.
However I find your 4 lanes being too wide so a train will spend quite some time while turning on it resulting in a heavy traffic jam while it is doing so.

Ah, I see what you mean about the lanes being wide and that causing the trains to take longer to cross the whole set of tracks. I can compress these more than they currently are. Thanks for the feedback on the signals!

[wilse]

I find it better to have 2 tracks at the top and two tracks at the bottom of the base with the base in between instead of one 4 track in the middle. Less tracks to cross at each intersection leading to better throughput. Or stripes of 2 tracks with parts of the base in between. You can far better scale this just by adding more stripes as you expand.

As the logical conclusion you end up with a big grid of 2 tracks with parts of your factory in each cell.

I think this is a cool idea that I can put to use in a couple other parts of the factory also! Thanks for the feedback.

[Jap2.0]

It would also help (although a very small amount) if you added a few chain signals.

Like this (where chain signal is . and regular signal is , and track is - or |

Code: Select all

              |
              |
              |
           /  |   \
        /     |.     \
 ,   /    .   |   .     \     .
--------------|-----------------
              |

Move the bottom three signals to the bottom and mirror them for tracks going the other way.

Actually, this might not work. It will work for sure if you add chain signals on the curve, but I'm not sure if you can do that and I unfortunately can't test that at the moment.