What is the best way to have multiple ore pick up stations that signal a train to come pick up when they are full?

[Khalagar]

Like, if I have 3 ore stations, I can set trains to go there, but if there isn't enough ore the trains just wait. I can set the stations to only turn on if there's enough ore, but then that will break the entire train network when they turn on because every available train will make a beeline to the station and clog the lines up, when only one train is needed.

Is there an efficient way to just have an ore loading station say "hey I have a full load here" and have a train go pick it up without having 10 trains backed up trying to fight their way into the single station

[Steelwind]

You can tell your trains to stay until they are full. I tend to not let them leave the station until they are full then, if I am running multiple trains, I have parking (spurs with switches) lined up behind the station.

The way I see it trains are so cheap it is easier for me to stack up whatever number of trains I think the station needs than to have trains running to multiple stations to pickup. To clarify my trains are setup like: go to station, wait for full load, go to smelters, unload, go get fuel, repeat. They do not go to multiple stations to get ore.

[stlyau]

Yep. Don't have 10 trains all set to the same station schedule. LOL

Ok, I know that was the easy answer, but it's about the truth. However if you're using a stacker, the trains will only leave on the condition based on their arrival into the stacker. Pretty much a "First Come, First Serve" type of thing.

[Jupiter3927]

I had that problem with oil.
My solution was to tell the train to go to the oil field then come back and go to another oil field and come back and repeat until I was out of oil fields to give out to my trains.
The circuit network can turn train stations on or off depending on how much stuff is in storage at your station.

'Off' stations will be skipped by the train and 'on' stations will behave normally.
Just make sure you have 1 station that's always on so you don't back up your trains.

[Jonathan]

A lazier option is to look at how fast your cargo will fill if "everything is perfect".

Exemple : I usually fill 6 steel chests with 6 stack inserters, and then use 6 more stack inserters to fill the cargo. If "chests are full", how long does it take to fill a cargo ? 15 seconds maybe ?

So I set the schedule of the train at that station to :
- Wait 25 seconds
- OR untill cargo is full

So the train never waste too much time there.





I tend to spread a lot and use many different mines. (instead of exploiting 1 Iron mine at the time but changing often, I use 7-9 different mines, each with a purpose. They last longer that way. For exemple : I use 2 iron mines to feed my yellow Sc.Pack factory. 2 more to feed my purple sc.pack factory. 1 for Red+Green. 1 for grey and 1 for blue sc.packs. 1 to generate Steel for general purposes...)

As such, I use 1 train, with 1 waggon, per mine. Train travels faster and always brings a full cargo. ( I do have 3 or 4 trains with 2 waggons. Special needs... )

Probably very clumsy to the eye of many, I guess. But it works. And I get a lot of trains running around ! :D Trains are cool.



If a mine of oil field is depleting and can't fill the cargo fast enough, then I start looking for a new one...

[SeaBee]

Yes you can, Nilaus does this on his MegaBase Video;

https://youtu.be/H6em0AP2Kl4

You just need a staging area (railyard) for them to wait at, circuit conditions setup, circuit wires from the loading area to the staging area. You can also have it setup based on demand, so the trains only roll if there is supply and demand.

[VladK02]

You dont need full loads, it does not matter how much of a load you have. What matters is having the buffers at refinery full at all times.

Tell trains to come and go every 2-6 minutes.

Go to harvest station 1, wait 60 seconds, go to refinery, wait 60 seconds, go to harvest 2, wait 60 seconds...etc

This picks up ore no matter how much accumulated, even if field is fully depleted it wont break your network.

Also another benefit:

When you are uranium mining, and need to haul not only uranium, but acid TO the harvesters, this is best solution, because you never know how long it will take to load and unload fluid.

And if you are mining regular ores, you could be hauling steam to power local power grid in one train car, and you also dont know how much steam will take to load and offload, depending on power usage, turrets etc. So if train simply waits a minute instead of fullfilling complex conditions, it makes things simple.

Make the trains big and long, so they are never full, and you never miss peak output, and it does not matter how full they are, as long as they run.