Factorio Forums

I just realized something interesting. For a small scale train operation, it can be better to put the locomotive in back. I'm not talking about the "two-headed" option, just having the locomotive push instead of pull. The advantage is that you need less space for your stops, because the cargo/fluid wagon(s) pull all the way up to the stop. It doesn't matter if the engine behind is still on a curved track section. So for a minimal train, with one wagon, that means you only need 4 straight track pieces instead of 7. Only downside I can think of, aside from looking a little funky, is that the rail stop blocks one of the 12 possible inserter positions. Also, a caveat, you will still need one stop with big enough for the whole train so you can load fuel.

You can load/unload on a curve too, just not with 12.
But fuel doesn't need as many inserters.

leitk wrote:You can load/unload on a curve too, just not with 12.
But fuel doesn't need as many inserters.

Hmm, I made a brief attempt at doing that but without success. Might have to experiment a bit more.

Edit: Right you are. Not sure why it didn't work the first time.

I tend to build trains with 2 locos and 3 wagons.
In the beginning I use double headed trains and later when I switch to a 2-lane setup and only use single direction trains I rotate the second loco for more accelaration.
Tanker trains have 3 locos nd two tanks because they are slower.

This actually works great for fluid trains as you generally need only a single wagon (.15 talking here, this might be different now) and you can still fit 3 pumps together with the station.