New vs old train tracks

Blaze (he/him)@lemmy.cafe to Factorio@lemmy.world – 48 points –
5

The only bad thing about the new tracks is that roundabouts don't fit a chunk

Do they cut corners? If not, it might not bee that bad for cityblock bases where the spacing is one chunk.

In defense of the new tracks, the trains did seem to careen around corners a bit too much.

I'll tell you what though, took me awhile to figure out why nothing was lining up properly. I have a saved blueprint that is just two lengths of straight track with a rail signal on both, set to the length of a 1 engine, 4 car train and separated by the width of a (not in the blueprint) turnaround. Yeah.....that blueprint needed a quick adjustment after laying down way too much track.

I really need to learn proper 2 way trains now.. My Nauvis needs a full rework

As in single-lane two-way or two-lane two-way (single-way per lane)?

Either one is pretty easy. Single-lane you just put chain signals on both sides on entering the segment. This may be all you need, but for longer stretches you'll want a sidetrack. This is just a parallel segment that's one-way on both sides (in Factorio, real life can have either direction sidetrack). This breaks your rail into segments, so a train can move up to the sidetrack and wait for a train coming the other way clear it, instead of waiting all the way back at the station for a clear path.

Two-lane is harder to build but easier to manage. Any large-scale network will probably use this, at least for busy tracks. You just need to make sure your signals are only on the right-hand side of the rail (if you want left-handed travel then put them on the left instead). Chain signal when entering an intersection and rail signal when existing, unless there's not enough room for a train ahead before the next intersection.

I've got a mix of both of these. Most of my rails to resource patches are single-lane, because they don't get much traffic. My factory is two-lane.