Is there a way to set up blocks in a pattern effectively?

[JFK_360NoScope]

So, I want to set up lanterns and things on my railway but I want them to be at the perfect radius, (So RIGHT when I'd go out of range of one, I'd enter another before I can leave it. My initial strategy was to go across until a lantern perk wears off then place another, but those wouldn't be the maximum distance (Only half) so I need to measure it to about 340 blocks apart. I tried the ruler but it obviously can't reach that far. Any solutions?

[quacksouls]

Use blocks that are found in abundant, e.g. Dirt Blocks. If the maximum horizontal distance between any two Heart Lanterns is 170 blocks (for example), use 170 Dirt Blocks and place them in a row. Then place a Heart Lantern at either ends of the row of 170 Dirt Blocks.

[Mr. Unregistered]

Originally posted by JFK_360NoScope:

So, I want to set up lanterns and things on my railway but I want them to be at the perfect radius, (So RIGHT when I'd go out of range of one, I'd enter another before I can leave it. My initial strategy was to go across until a lantern perk wears off then place another, but those wouldn't be the maximum distance (Only half) so I need to measure it to about 340 blocks apart. I tried the ruler but it obviously can't reach that far. Any solutions?

What I do to solve this is putting the first Heart Lantern and Campfire, then I walk to the exact point where the buffs almost dissapear, after that I open the Map (the map is always following the player so dont touch anything) and using the mouse wheel I start zooming in/out (several times) till the borders of the Map are really close to the Heart/Campfire (1 or 2 blocks) and finally I search in the other border a point of reference like a rock in the ground, maybe a tall grass or before measuring, put some colorful blocks to easily find them, then just proceed to put the next group of stuffs. Not 100% accurate but isn't going to take thousands of blocks.

[Geothermal1159]

Another option similar to what quacksouls said would be to use torches but, instead of lining up 170 of X item do it in 10 block intervals or, what ever you find easiest so that you can mark out the maximum distance you need to space the lantern/campfires.

You can even use a different type of torch to mark the exact location for each lantern/campfire all along the railway or, whatever it is you are working on then go back through & place the lantern/campfire in their correct positions using either the the right mouse button or a pickax to take out the torches.

Also as a bonus to using torches instead of blocks is that you will always have a light source to work with as you are constructing your project.