New guide - Switches and Signalling

[ameinild]

Hello everyone!
I've created a new guide discussing switches! The guide gives detailed information about switching setups to use around your cities for a smooth railway operation.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1679833398
If you have any questions or suggestions, don't hesitate to post here or in the comment section.
I hope you find it helpful!

[NetPCDoc]

@Patches

FYI: Diamond (i.e. double crossover) switches will interrupt directional signalling.

You need to place a Directional Signal to get the animation you are asking about; like Stop Signals these have an arrow to show which direction a train needs to be going - if you expect said train to pay attention to said signal - but the Directional Signal also shows a "Wrong Way" sign-board to stop trains from entering from the wrong direction. Directional Signals work best when placed next to a switch - to prevent trains from leaving the switch via the track the Directional Signal is on; only one Directional Signal is required on a single stretch of track between switches/stations, if there is enough room left for multiple signals - these may be Stop Signals.

If all else fails - once a directional signal has been placed - try changing the direction of the signal, to see what happens. One can also change the type (stop or directional) of an existing signal.

BTW: you need to be in either signalling mode or build signals mode to see the desired animation.

Edit:

Oops - seems 'Patches' post disappeared while I was busy attempting a reply.

@ameinild

Nice art work. Might mention that 4-4 switching is included as part of Large Station with Signalling Control?

And as you are advertising signalling advise - you might go into a bit of detail about 'railroad blocking'? That is how to break up long sections of track with signals? Maybe something about when and where directional signalling might be desired? (The in-game wording is a bit confusing to me - "trains might be pushed ahead into switch, blocking the tracks" - as, on short sections of track, it seems to be warning me that I have placed my signal on the wrong side of the switch?)

[ameinild]

@NetPCDoc
Thanks for the suggestions, Logistics part is now expanded with a bit more about directional signals and line blocks. Also, I already mention the "Large station building with signalling", just below the illustration of the 4-4 solution principle. Cheers!

[{pdX}MindsEye]

Indeed. "Signals" ruin this game for me. I have 100's of hours on Sid Meiers, know the concept, have watched every YouTube video and the signals still baffle me. Try to use "shift", etc. and tracks will still not change direction. I have 10+ hours on the tutorial and have progressed no where, trains just sitting. When I try to "alter" a signal, game tells me "it is in use". etc. Incredibly frustrating, will be returning this game which is a shame cuz I love the concept.

[ameinild]

MindsEye, have you made sure to create double tracks with directional signals? You always need double tracks for trains to pass each other, single tracks with signals will not work.
Do double tracks with directional signals anywhere possible. 😊

[chaney]

Below is the SIGNALS section from my guide. It is just the raw mechanics of how they work, and doesn't have any examples or case studies. If you want examples, I'm sorry others' existing guides/videos didn't help. Anyway, if you are having trouble with how signals function:

"Signals divide track into blocks. In Realistic mode, only ONE train may use a block of track at a time, the first train to claim a particular block goes first while the others wait for it to exit the block.

The signals may require some practice and experiment to use effectively. Please play with them while not trying to win a scenario!!!

There are two types of signal: Stop and Directional. Stop signals are represented during construction by a yellow cone, Directional by a yellow cone with a red disc (the "no" symbol.)

Signals will cause trains traveling in the direction of the cone to stop if the block ahead is not clear. Stop signals will have no effect on trains going the other way, but Directional signals will completely prevent trains from going in the other direction. Use them to make an efficient two-track setup.

You can place individual signals, or many at a time. Hitting CTRL will place signals along an entire section of track with one click. They will be spaced roughly a full train length apart."

[Simple]

Shift+Ctrl+Click will auto-populate Directional signals. This is not documented in the tool tips.

[{pdX}MindsEye]

Thx Ameinild, I finally figured it out. By Mistake!!! What the youtube videos and tutorial do not tell you is to roll the mouse wheel while pressing "shift". Or, if it was there I just did not catch it til tonight. TY Chaney and Hell for the extra tips!

[ameinild]

MindsEye, glad you finally found the solution !! And yes, check Chaney's guide, it's awesome for the basics of construction, including signals and blocks.
Simple Hell, nice tip! 👍

[ameinild]

Guide updated with an additional switching solution and in-game examples from Chapter 2 and 3.

[gardlt]

Not sure how you generally handle pass-through traffic with your setups, but there is one option that passively directionalizes pass-through. Like this:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1595721141

If I do pass-through I generally use this signal/switch pattern which can be used with a regular station also. Just sharing in case you are interested. I see you went to good detail about some setups, I especially like the recognition that short-haul resources should be handled differently to longer lines such as city-city.

[jhughes]

Originally posted by gardlt:

Not sure how you generally handle pass-through traffic with your setups, but there is one option that passively directionalizes pass-through. Like this:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1595721141

If I do pass-through I generally use this signal/switch pattern which can be used with a regular station also. Just sharing in case you are interested. I see you went to good detail about some setups, I especially like the recognition that short-haul resources should be handled differently to longer lines such as city-city.

I almost always build a bypass for traffic and don't tie up a platform for that.

[ameinild]

I haven't tested this myself, and I'll not be home until later, but I'd imagine the best way to do pass-through trains (when train type is Manual) is to insert a station stop where you want to pass through, but then set the cargo to not unload anything (via the cargo loading interface). Then you can still set the track usage. I would then imagine that the train would pass through on the selected track. Again, I haven't confirmed this, but will test later.
I'll recommend a solution like this anytime over reducing your switching capability.

[chaney]

I think (not certain) setting a stop will cause the train to stop, even if it won't unload or load anything. This wastes precious time for the train and Platform. You could force a train to pass through a particular Platform with a Waypoint if you can find an exclusively appropriate chunk of track outside the Station disc to click.

If the track you want to use for passthrough is the shortest available, that of course will be automatic.

I'm certainly a fan of the physically separated bypass. Cheap, easy, effective. They even get automatically selected by the pathfinding method unless they are more than 17 miles longer than the shorter path through the Station.

In low density areas, "main tracks" are straight and go past a City, so the Station is actually offset for those trains going there ... which minimizes global train path distance by letting many long-haul trains pass by without curving while only the stopping trains take the small extra distance. Clean, minimal interference.

[ameinild]

Thanks for the insight chaney. Maybe this is a point the developers could take into consideration - that trains actually will not stop but is able to pass directly through when not loading/unloading anything at a station.
I'm also a fan of track separation that "branch off" into cities, but otherwise bypass them.

[Jenska]

Another trick you can use on long (slow, steep) runs or runs that have smaller (empty) trains is to over populate the signals. The multi-signal mode only populates blocks that can hold a full train. This means the trains will not move until the large block in front of them is empty. By adding additional signals to halve the block size you can reduce the size of the empty buffer block. Even though the trains may fill two blocks the blocks are smaller and so is the empty space. This means the trains will be closer and be moving more frequently and consistently.

In this image you can see that both trains take up two blocks, but they are very close together.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1687496674

Behind them you can see that the upward blocks are smaller than the downwards blocks, because I haven't changed them yet.

This can also be done on feeder business tracks where the inbounds should always be empty and take up little space.

In this image I can have two inbounds (there aren't any now) waiting rather than just the one that would fit the length of the passing track:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1687506334

In this image I can shorten the conflict to the passing track and stack more inbounds without blocking the mainline:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1687507091