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Fix complex rail networks!
The rail signal system has BUGs!
Efficient RoRo loops - avoid train queues
Trunc lines - Integrated rail structures!
Island in Midstream RoRo Station!

Fix complex rail networks!
To use simple rail systems: each train it's own tracks - usually makes your trains more efficient in TT; due to the program's stupid way of handling train meetings / train waiting.
But most train lovers want to build real-life complex, integrated rail networks with lots of trains! This is why some of us play TT!
Some advice from TTo:

If you can bear it: Simplify your systems a little: define your trains in train groups, each with it's own separate network, and it's own tracks at the stations; and it's own DEPOT!
The complete integrated rail network almost always leads to confusion, especially when trains break down, or suddenly need to go to "The little house (with a heart on the door?)".

If trains 23 to 26 only go between stations A and B: reserve one or two tracks at each station for these; separating Trains 23, 24, 25, 26 from the rest of the system.

If you are playing TTo and have no one way signals:
You might use 'dummy stations' in your 3- or 2-track passing loops; just a couple of 1-track, length 5 stations, doing nothing; and an overflow line inbetween.
Direct the West-going trains through Dummy-station A; Direct the East-going trains through Dummy-station B; this will avoid most of these situations when the trains insist on using the same track of 2 or 3 available.
The trains will waste a little time in these 'nothing' stations; but they would normally spend some time waiting here anyway!
TTDPatch has a 'cheat' to let trains pass through such a station without stopping.

You might also use a dummy station to direct trains to enter the correct end of a "Through" station; then leave at the other end. But One way signals are much better for this, if you have them.

In TTo: You should normally use only ONE entrance to each track of your multi-track stations! You get much less train looping and meeting 'nose to nose'.
And use a depot at the back! In 2-player (humans) mode, this will even protect you from 3 of those sabotage methods!

For TTd the situation is different! Here "Through" or RoRo stations with a one-way track system is probably best. With Depot Forces on the way. And "Trains reverse at End-of-Line only" in the difficulty settings works much better with 1-way systems.

Consider these 2 rail systems between Station West and Station East:
(Imagine them longer, for real life)
. . . A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B
.
System A is the classic old-fashioned one used for two trains, emulating 'real life': one track in principle, with one or more passing loops.
System B gives each train quite separate tracks.
Which one do you think cost most TT money to build?

B may have a few more actual rails, but A needs extra connecting rails; at least 8 signals; and maybe more depots? So in TT sometimes solution A costs the same, - or more, - than B!
And in solution B the 2 trains won't bother each other at all.

Now consider System C:
If you thought 'simple' at the start, using system B:
When you want a 3rd train on this route, simply add some crossover points and signals to your 2 tracks; you can probably afford it now. This sort of system works quite well provided:
- You don't overload it. The number of trains it can handle depends on the length of the run. You want to spread your trains
- Don't skimp on depots at crossing points! An extra depot is much cheaper than train trouble.

Now look closer at system C: imagine a broken down train across the entrance to the depot down left!! a train inside the depot, hoping to get out; a 3rd train going west on the other track, unable to get into the West station.
I sometimes believe the Program(mer) on purpose makes trains break down at the worst spot.

All these rail systems with crossover tracks etc. are very vulnerable to breakdowns at junctions. I think this is the main argument for using Ro Ro solutions, with one way signals; and depot forces!
Note: A Ro Ro system is a loop, and you don't want all your trains at the same part of it!

If in TTd, instead of system C you might do something like this:
The original 2 lines transformed into a Ro Ro loop, passing through just 1 of each station's tracks; 1-way signals; a depot-force once per round. Important to avoid (most of the time) trains queuing up behind a breakdown.

The other tracks of each station could be used for other Ro Ro loops!

"Keep it simple" is still a good idea, even in TTd.

The "Grand Opera Fullsize General RoRo Station" as shown several places on the Web - is probably best left till later in the game - when you have FAST trains.

The "Fullsize General RoRo Station" - I've seen a really GOOD one in TTo! - yes, I said TTO! - go to:
Kevin Bunyans Transport Tycoon Original Page
There download his 2047 game - see it for yourself! His solution needs LONG transport distances (to make room for many oil trains); lots of space; and FAST trains.

.

This is a small Ro Ro loop example from a game (Mike Wieclawek's Tropical competition): Mixed trains 8 and 14 go round and round ... taking water to Coro, diamonds to Ibarra; and passengers between the 2 towns. The trains have 2 GOTO's to the end stations; to complete the station 'turn', and get better ratings.
Forcing the trains to twist around at the ends makes the loop slower than if they could just turn in the station, and get out via connecting tracks. In this case, the slow twist around gives good timing for the 2 trains. and less risk of the trains blocking each other

The rail signal system has BUGs! Especially when a depot is around!
Does this rail (spaghetti?) structure look sound to you? - well, it does NOT work!
The train you see is waiting - that signal is RED! - There is NO train in the station; NO train outside D or C; or in the depot, bottom left. The B part is clear - green signals.

If I remove the A track, the train moves. But WHY?
Note that depot with connections to 3 station tracks - I suspect this is the reason. (Excuse the rail mess - mixture of old and new rails; and the bad 'transparent' pic) .
One's excellent logic may construct good rail systems, but the bugs will kill it. .

After experiments and changes, this is my result: 3 separate track systems. - separate depots!
The station's track 4 (down right) is reserved for the trains bringing fruit and copper from Bolivar.
Track 2 is for the Food-and-piglet train to Coro (down left).
Tracks 1 and 3 for the 3..4 "Cops'n Robber" trains (Eeeh ... Copper, Rubber) going by 1-way rails to Carupano Factory.
The 1st train to come in will always choose track 1 - nearest; and have a short route out to the lefthand 1-way track leading UP.
If track 1 is occupied: train B will choose track 3; and have a longer way out. So if trains A and B were too close before (an A breakdown?), they will be nicely spaced after the station visit.

Efficient RoRo loops - avoid train queues
Whether you use RoRo technique or not, your trains complete a round trip on a set of tracks - in TTd usually on 1-way tracks.

The efficiency of such a train loop depends a lot on how many trains you stuff into it! If there is too little free space between trains, they will spend most of their time waiting behind other trains; the round trip takes a long time; trains get to depot too rarely, they break down too much, clogging up other trains ... ... ...

On a 1-way round loop, trains should be well spaced out, with at least 1 trainlength between trains, preferably much much much more!
Ideally, the space between trains should be long enough for a train to break down, get well, start off again, before the next train catches up.
Not always practical, but sometimes I make my rail loop a little LONGER to make it more efficient.
A heavy train stopping, then starting up again - wastes much more time than having a loop 5 .. 10 tiles longer.

Check out one experiment I tried on another TTd player's gamesave. In that experiment the loop was long enough, but over-stuffed.
If your stations have high production, and your rail loop is too short, you have a real problem.

When planning a train loop, ask yourself: "How many trains can this loop easily handle?" If the answer is 4, and I need 6 .. 7 trains between these stations, I usually lay out 2 separate rail loops, and maybe make them a little wider to accommodate 5 trains each; thinking of future production doubles.

After a production double or two, you may need to re-think: a third rail loop? double tracks each way? in my experience, too many of the trains choose the most popular track, from 2 or 3 available.
Or maybe adding docks and ships, or airport and planes, will fix the problem.
Or maybe make 2 stations, 1 to receive oil / wood / farmstuff; the other to send out the goods.

If instead of separate loops, you build an integrated all-purpose long 1-way track with branches to a number of stations: you still need to plan how many trains to run on your system!

Trunc lines - Integrated rail structures!
Yes, I've finally started to integrate SOME of my rail lines, but not all.
The next signal example is from my new High-Low trunk line in my Australia game. The level 2 line shown in the picture is used both by empty trains going North (N) (you see a full one coming back under the bridge); and by full trains going West (W). If a train goes wrong at the branch, it can't right itself for a long long time!
The diamond train skitters away from the red signal at 'a', choosing the wrong track at 'b'; which does NOT lead to the nearby W station.
Both branches are supposed to be 1-way, so what to do?

Answer: Determine which branch is the most important one! Here, the full Water, Diamond or Food trains have first priority, so the signal at 'a' on the main track should be 1-way, forcing our train to wait here.
.
Now the junction is rebuilt, with room for 2 signals in sequence on each branch. On the 'b' branch, the first signal should (maybe?) be 2-way; otherwise 1-way signals.

This will solve about 95% of cases, since the 1st signal seen by a train usually will be green. For the remaining 5%, one might build a second branch-off (upp,left corner) for the trains going North.

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Trunk lines: You've probably seen this sort of thing before: From a station on the right of the picture, trains need to connect to both tracks of the trunkline. In one of the directions, the trains must cross the trunkline somehow. This picture shows the much used "Tunnel-under" method. It has several disadvantages:
- Great distortion of the countryside - near a city you won't be popular!
- The train must go quite a few extra tiles to get from A to B,C,D.

As shown in the chapter on intersections, it's often an advantage to have at least one free tile between the 2 parallel tracks.
This makes level crossings easier to build. It also makes it possible to replace "Tunnel-under" by a "bridge-over" to the inbetween tile:
Now the train just goes A - B, and straight onto the trunkline.

But why just ONE inbetween tile? I believe the best system is the High-Low or HiLo line: 2 (or more) tiles between the lines, and one of the lines 1 level higher than the other!
With this system, it's easy to pass rail branches straight over the low line, or under the high one, using bridges or tunnels. No twisters needed; shorter distance for the train to go. Room for 2 consecutive signals near the branch.
This overloaded picture shows side branches to 4 stations, 2 on each side; some on level 1, some on level 2. Trains may go North or South. All connections are possible.

Each train must go up to the Hi line once per round trip. It's often possible to arrange things so that it's the light or empty trains which go up!

At a big Goods-producing site, in order to get enough station tracks for all the trains, it's often a good idea to use 2 stations: one for the source trains (Oil, Wood etc); another to send out the goods. So:
Place the first station on level 1, the second one on level 2; connect in- and outgoing rails to a Lowline coming in, a HighLine going out:

Station LOW:: ==== Low line - empty Goods trains come in
Level 1 station === <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Low line
Station LOW:: ==== Low line - full Oil trains come in

Station HIGH: ==== High line - empty Oil trains go out
Level 2 station === >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> High line
Station HIGH: ==== High line - full Goods trains go out

With 2 well-designed RoRo stations, this system ought to be very efficient! The Oil trains go empty UP to the Hi line, after delivering at station LOW. The goods trains go empty and non-stop UP to station HIGH, fill up, go out.

.

3 or more tiles between the 1-way trunk lines (HiLo or not), combined with Extended station technique, (the coal mine is 7-8 tiles to the right of the heliport) make it easy to build the
"Island in Midstream RoRo station":
Trains not going to this station just gallop past on the outside 1-way tracks. Trains Going to the station branch inwards, visit the station; turn if wanted; then go straight out again, North or South.

No tunnel-under or bridge-over needed! A much faster trip for our trains.

This page was tested on a 15" screen, full screen mode, in Netscape 4.7, and Opera 7

Last updated: railstru.htm 2004-0409,0213,0201 ,
2003-0106 (2002-0303 (2001-1004,0508, 99.., 98..)

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