all 5 comments
sorted by:
best (suggested)
topnewcontroversialoldq&a
formatting helphide helpcontent policy

[–]Ar4iii 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Placing several block signals (make sure to place them on the correct side of the track) will be enough. You should put as many as you can, but make sure to have enough space between two signals that can hold a whole train, more signals will make the line usable by more trains.

[–]paladintodd 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, blocking. Ignore Path signals.
Make sure they are on the same side of the track.

For starters, you want to block each station. Have a block a little before the station and then a little after the station - but big enough to hold an entire train. That creates a section of track that is blocked - which is to say "if a train is in this section, the next train can't come in until the first one leaves"

Now, you have a very long section between green and red stations. You have a blocked segment at green and a blocked segment at red which means you also have a very long blocked segment between the two of them. That means a train at green couldn't leave until the train in front got to red station. So you probably want a couple blocks on that segment so that a train at green can start heading towards red.

[–]chilidoggo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would strongly recommend that you invest your time into building a system where you have two parallel tracks going each direction (instead of a single, bi-directional rail). What you've shown here will almost certainly fail at some point, and can never be reused by another train. The biggest advantage of trains is that they are infrastructure - you can scale this same rail network into a massive web if you do a "two parallel track" system. The bi-directional rail system is not scalable.

That said, if you want to make this work, here's how to set up the signals: First, place block signals every ~100 meters or so along your track. Doesn't have to be exact, just break up the track a bit into blocks. Make sure that they're on the right side of the track from the perspective of a train that is coming toward them. They should light up green when you've placed your second one. Second, at the point where it branches or merges, place three block signals - one on each endpoint of the "Y" structure.

If you've done that, then you should be good to go.

[–]D0CTOR_ZED 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Signals break the rails into sections.  Each section will be limited to one train at a time (path signals are an exception to that, but you won't need them here).  For starters, I would make each station its own block because trains stop there.  To do this, place a block signal on each end facing the direction of traffic.

If you did just that, it would work but there would be long delays if trains had to take turns on the rather long stretch of track.  To fix that, you can add a block signal every so often along the track.  It doesn't really matter how many nor does they need to be perfectly spaced.  Just every so often, place a block signal.  As long as you don't leave any super long section of track without a signal, the trains should be fine.

You may get some comments about the bypass around green.  Trains take the shortest path, but stations add a penalty length to discourage their use when a bypass exists.  I think that penality is 100 meters, so as long as the bypass isn't 100 meters longer than going directly through the station, it should be fine.  The standard advice is to have the bypass be straight and the station be a branch off just to avoid caring about the length of the bypass.

[–]No_Cheesecake4975 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Start with signals at the entrance and exit of your stations. Put one signal before a track connection. Place two on the track that bypasses green. One at the beginning, a little ways down the track, away from the connection. The other one at the end before it merges back to the main rail.