Railway design

[dot1q1978]

I find very little content about rail design anywhere other than for basic function and aesthetics. I find it extremely frustrating to try to keep to realistic gradients while avoiding road/rail direct crossings as much as possible. Maybe this is just the reality of things as crossings obviously exist in abundance in real life. Excess of elevated or underground railways seems unrealistic especially for cargo. Passenger trains have more real world tolerance to slope but still a challenge. However, underground seems more realistic to me than elevated? (I'm no train expert). I compromise with sub ground level -7.5-10m tracks to minimize the distance on the slopes. Also sometimes try stations at close to surrounding ground level (meaning not quite ground level, little lower or higher than immediate surrounding area depending on the rail elevation), again to minimize the slope but they look odd. You can get more natural effects with creative terraforming but its a pain to plan an entire area for this.

Just wondering if people have tips to share.

[Bannedit]

I find installing one way rail easier to control. I also find that using overpass for intersecting roadways is far more realistic. Tends to keep any train derailments from falling on road vehicles.

[Stealthy]

I use 2% grade. Bit steep, but hardly noticeable in the game.

Usually I drop the road under the rail, this can be done by just lowering the road to -8.75m or also lifting the rail up by 2.5m or so.

In some areas I terraform ground downwards to make it easier to build a viaduct for the train across the "valley".

Combining different approaches you can get quite interesting and realistic results.

[Bannedit]

Several ways to skin the cat, just pic the one(s) that fits the map. :)

[dot1q1978]

Curious how 1 way tracks makes this easier?

I keep it between 2-3% for cargo. I know its not ideal but its a compromise. For passenger I go up to 3.5%. I agree from a visual perspective 2% is hardly noticeable. It's just knowing it's still not the most ideal.

Do you guys also notice the overpasses at minimum accepted height differences between the rail and road, the overpassing segment gets all funky on both sides of the mini bridge it automatically builds. I don't know how else to explain this but sometimes really short nodes are created where sometimes it aligns but sometimes just overlaps and have to recreate. Doesn't slope properly as expected and has sudden drops. This behavior also makes equal distancing the slope to ground level on both sides a challenge. Just becomes trial and error messing around and redrawing to get the exact look.

[Bannedit]

Originally posted by dot1q1978:

Curious how 1 way tracks makes this easier?

Sure, Fewer Issues ! I only do Cargo an only interested in exports. One way track keeps everything moving in one direction. ... OUT !

[dot1q1978]

Got it. I was thinking in comparison to two lane tracks, one in each direction. I never create single lane two way tracks.

[Bannedit]

Good for you. Each to their own. I simply have no need for two directional cargo. One way handles everything very efficiently. If two seems to work as well or better for you then that is what you should stick with.

[mikelleh63]

I have been trying to avoid steep grades for more realistic in last builds and it is tough. My CS1 builds were rife with one way overpasses to eliminate crossover confrontations to make intersections work without getting jammed up from crossing conflicts. They worked, but there is nowhere in the world where this is actually done. So as you have noticed, the answer is in distances. Train traffic is not as heavy in CS2, so there are fewer jam ups, but they can happen if you dont have runout room at intersections. The end results are better when grades are kept low.