Simple Series - Rail Guide

What is the simple series about?

Workers and Resources is a complicated game, when you are new (or newish) it is very easy to struggle with basic things like getting public transport working.

There are video tutorials but not only do you have to invest 10 minutes or even as much as an hour, but they might never mention or just gloss over the specific thing you wanted to know. The simple series about provide a bite-sized chunk of information that you can skim through in a minute to get what you want to know.

The simple series often provides a single opinioned way to do things. not because it is the only way or even the best way, but just because it is easy to explain concisely.

Crossovers

A crossover is when you connect two tracks in an X shape. This allows trains to switch from one track to another. Generally used in station junctions. There are also Y-shaped crossovers.

I've also seen crossovers called diamond crossing; I'm not 100% sure that is the correct term though.

Double tracks

Double one directional tracks are the normal way to set up your rail.


The game even has a button that lets you easily place double signals down.


To save money, you can start with a single track but plan to turn it into a double track when you need to support more than one train on the route.

Of course, if you know what you are doing, using single track is possible but this guide is about making things simple.

Signalling

Signal colours

Blue means it is a block, and orange means that it is a block/junction. Different shades of blue are to distinguish between blocks.

I treat purple junctions as "weird junctions". They will probably work most of the time but might block depending on the rest of the network. Often, this can be fixed by removing a signal and making a larger orange block.

All other colours mean that the junction will cause problems in one way or another.

Chain signals

A chain signal should be used going into a junction, and a block signal should come out the other side. If you don't follow this rule, you'll probably have (more) train-blocking issues.

Mixed signals

A mixed signal is a signal where there is a chain signal in one direction and a block signal in the other.

Junctions

Station Junctions

There are 4 main station junctions that you want to be using.


Basic station.


Turnabout station. This is generally superior to the one without a turnabout because you don't have to worry about trains blocking each other. The downside is that it takes more space.


This is only needed for 3-track custom houses. Double tracks custom houses can use the first junction.


The junction for single track stations like warehouses and open storage.

Other Junctions

3-way junction.


4-way junction.

Don't try to cram your rail into too small an area

This is probably the main reason you end up with too many junctions and then having complex signalling to handle it.

Avoid complicated junctions where multiple tracks from different directions are crossing each other

Instead of this


Do this

It might seem difficult to make, but once you get used to it, you can make a non-blocking junction like this fairly quickly. I made this rail in 10 minutes for example. I didn't have samples for because I don't use 4-track rail.

I've linked bballjo's non-blocking junctions video below.

Consider using a one-way loop for big industry areas

The downside of one-way loops is that you have to structure your industry area to support it and that can increase the amount of space it takes. On the other hand, having several Y junctions nearby or lots of crossovers can result in blocking issues.


It doesn't need to be a single track the entire time. You can split the track into multiple tracks to go to different stations and join them back into a single track at the end.

What's important is the tracks are always going in one direction.


A non-blocking junction connecting to a simple one-way loop.

Blocking only happens when trains going in one direction run into a train coming from the other direction

The reason why station turnabouts, one-way loops (which is just a combined station turnabout) and non-blocking junctions are so useful is because trains will never block on them.

Making every junction a non-blocking junction would be a bit excessive though.

Signal colors addendum

I want to clarify this since I don't want to spread false information; I've seen a few people complain.

"Blue good, orange good, purple bad" is a childish and simplistic way of viewing and treating signal colours. It is more complicated than that, but it's a good rule of thumb.

Treating signal colours like this is a way to keep your rail network design simple.

Rather than spending a lot of time getting a purple/green/whatever junction working via trial and error, it is easier to spend that time making your junctions blue/orange. Usually by following everything I suggested above. That is (a) spacing out your junctions, (b) using one-way loops in and out of industry areas and (c) making your complicated junctions non-blocking.

You can check out the "Ultimate Train Guide" linked at the bottom to understand signal colours and blocks more in-depth.

Other Guides

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2896268854

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1718149719
Some images were taken from this guide. It also covers block length, which I haven't covered in this guide.

https://youtu.be/cJG54EdC-AI
This video guide has an in-depth explanation of signals. It's 60 minutes long, but visually showing things might make things easier to understand.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2965408165
More in-depth rail guide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ3Y66waxgU
The video is 12 minutes long and goes through the making of a 3-way and 4-way junction. You will probably have this open the first few times you make a non-blocking junction.

[John Moridin]

> Having the crossover immediately outside of a two rail station like in your pictures causes trains to get clogged

Yeah, blocks need to be as long as your longest train. The official guide already covers block length so I didn't put it in this guide.

[lotherius]

Having the crossover immediately outside of a two rail station like in your pictures causes trains to get clogged.

This is because if the station is the last stop for the train before returning back the other direction, the train will reverse out of the station instead of going forward to find another crossover or turnaround. However if it is a long train (more than the distance between the station and the start of the crossover) it can't back up into the crossover, and instead backs up down the wrong direction rail, getting stuck. Therefore the crossover has to be at least as far away from the station as the longest train, so that when the train engineer throws it in reverse and goes the wrong way on the track, he has a crossover he can use to get on the right way.

The junction for the single track end station you show is also broken for the same reason - if a train is too long, it will "hang out" the end and won't be able to take the split.

[Silent_Shadow]

Trains reserve a path through the track they plan to take, which is the basis for the yellow light mechanic. Trains will check two-way track to see if another train is pathing through it and will wait for that train to clear its reservation on the two-way track before proceeding onto it.

The issue is that trains which are waiting at a station to load or unload (even briefly) do not have a path reserved, so other trains assume that the two-way track is clear when it isn't. To fix this, you just need to have enough spots for trains to wait at at the end of the two-way track.

[John Moridin]

@SiberianDev It might be possible but I think it is simpler to use double tracks

[SiberianDev]

It's actually possible to have more than one train on a single track railway.
All you need to do is place regular signals in the single section.
Since the new update last year, there has been a new yellow signal aspect, which prevent this setup from causing deadlocks.