Farndown

[Baldy's Boss]

However many trains I add to the passenger service from my HQ city of Farndown,it seems there's more demand.There's a bottleneck of sorts in that there's only one passenger platform next to the freight platform.
I tried adding an X of track just beyond the depot that would enable trains to use either platform but an incoming freight train tried a U-turn right into the face of an oncoming passenger train.At this point I reverted to loading an autosave...
Given that I never enable 90-degree turns this shouldn't even have been possible but I saw it.
What's the SAFE way to clear the backlog?(I hate tearing up cityscapes).

[Alberth]

Perhaps the freight train needed a depot, then had a lot of trouble going back to its own track? Keep in mind that trains will turn to a depot at any possible moment.

You may want to try first merging both flows:

merge.png (119.81 KiB) Viewed 3290 times

Everything now shares the same entry and exit (the freight tracks to its platform are not used after merging). An X should work then.


There is second way to increase efficiency. What you want is a train loading or unloading as much as possible, a platform must be used all the time. In your current setup, a passenger train that is done travels 10 or so tiles before the next train can move. That train then travels the same 10 tiles to the station. All that time, the platform is doing nothing.
If you double that part, trains wait much closer to the platform, and the time between trains at a platform is lower, the platform is being used more.

[Baldy's Boss]

While I solved a logjam near the Wronlow end of the line by adding a depot,the freight train made a 90-degree turn in the middle of the X when going straight through the X would have taken it into a depot.

I've considered bringing parallel passenger tracks closer to Farndown.

[Emperor Jake]

There is second way to increase efficiency. What you want is a train loading or unloading as much as possible, a platform must be used all the time. In your current setup, a passenger train that is done travels 10 or so tiles before the next train can move. That train then travels the same 10 tiles to the station. All that time, the platform is doing nothing.
If you double that part, trains wait much closer to the platform, and the time between trains at a platform is lower, the platform is being used more.

I made some minor adjustments that allows this. Traffic flow is now great. The center track is now a waiting track for the freight line. Note the x that doesn't allow 90 degree turns.

farndown.PNG (320.19 KiB) Viewed 246 times

I saw that many trains were turning around trying to head back to Wronlow. The culprit was this depot which trains serviced in, but then couldn't head in the direction of Wronlow, so they went back to Farndown to turn around.

depot.PNG (52.79 KiB) Viewed 3284 times

[Alberth]

@Emperor Jake:

I think the depot at the bottom left of your improvement should be removed. Passenger trains may use it for servicing, and are then unable to get back onto their track.

[Emperor Jake]

@Emperor Jake:

I think the depot at the bottom left of your improvement should be removed. Passenger trains may use it for servicing, and are then unable to get back onto their track.

Good idea, I didn't check that. I usually play with breakdowns/servicing off.

[Baldy's Boss]

The depot near Wronlow was built because the whole area there clogged with trains waiting for free path so long they needed service...so further improvement is needed.
Current status quo attached,will work further.

EDIT:A solution at Farndown is in place,though it could be called a cop-out...see last save.

[Emperor Jake]

The depot near Wronlow was built because the whole area there clogged with trains waiting for free path so long they needed service...so further improvement is needed.

Try double tracking the line all the way and building a depot for each direction. Here I also made the approach to Farndown a true triple-track line and improved the overall signalling.

[Baldy's Boss]

I don't understand all of the signals,are they bidirectional?
I see you also bought a couple of AIs,including that weird six-engined train...

[Alberth]

You never have too many steam engines in a train

[Emperor Jake]

I don't understand all of the signals,are they bidirectional?

On the triple track line, there are two unidirectional tracks with a bidirectional track between them. These have backwards path signals on their entrances to balance the penalties between them and the bidirectional track. On the regular line, I used one way block signals instead of path signals because it's just good practice.

I see you also bought a couple of AIs,including that weird six-engined train...

Yeah, I just did that without looking. That train breaks down like every 2 tiles

[Baldy's Boss]

You never have too many steam engines in a train

This would certainly be true if reliability were calculated for each engine...you could keep steam engines going long after individual reliability went to pot if just ONE of a bunch were not broken down...but if it's calculated on the lead engine only all you do is hike your running costs disproportionately to the load/acceleration increase.

That train's owner going under would let me simplify the approach to a sawmill from which I'm shipping a lot of goods and to which I'm supplying a lot of timber,so I hadn't had it on my buy list.

[Baldy's Boss]

Given the above foray into 1922 by EmperorJake,I set a goal of saving on the same date with the company in better condition,and I think I achieved it.
While the Farndown station is the same as in his version I didn't do the full inter-tracking there.However,I waited out the bankruptcy of that AIAI rather than buying it,and no longer having to bridge its tracks enabled improvement of service from and to Beepool East.

[Baldy's Boss]

I have commented on matters at Farndown both here and at the "Bridges to Nowhere" topic...now comes something very odd...the pink competitor has two ship docks on the lake that is crossed by the bridge to nowhere (still leading nowhere after 33 years)
that each are assigned a ship to travel between them and stations they can not possibly reach (and the lake has never been connected to the ocean)!
Problem with the AI,or the game?

[Alberth]

The game doesn't care if you add ships at the wrong place, just like it does not care if you build a train in a depot not connected to the station it should go to.
Likely the AI didn't check if water actually offered a feasible connection (silently assuming all water is connected, which is the case if you only have sea, at least for not too large distances).

As for your bridge to nowhere, I had a quick peek a while ago, the empty side is a bit weird connected to the land, maybe the road builder gets confused there. I tried extending the road a bit myself, and then wait, but that didn't work either, it seemed. If you want activity there, the best option is to connect the empty side to some other town road. Don't know if that works though.

[Baldy's Boss]

Times have changed at Farndown but there are still traffic issues.
The 10 passenger trains from Wronlow share 3 tracks and the 5 goods trains from Slabourne share 1 track.The latter are especially backed up.
But what's the easiest way to increase throughput?

[Alberth]

/me digs up the old report about Farndown from 1914, and wipes the dust from its cover...

Already at that time, it was suggested to merge both streams into one, so the trains can use all available tracks.
That advice still holds.

A further suggestion is to move the depot away from the station, to eliminate the slow traffic to and from it.
Keeping incoming and outgoing traffic separately by means of a bridge further enhances the flow.
Finally, have two exit tracks, giving trains ample room to leave as soon as possible is considered to be useful.

For example one could consider to develop towards

merging.png (451.17 KiB) Viewed 246 times

[Baldy's Boss]

The tracks have been reallocated to provide two in,two out.
Platforms are now available to all trains and all the same length.

[Alberth]

Oh, right, I forgot about the leftmost platform.

Some other things you may want to improve close to the platforms:
- Just after the split of the incoming track to 2 tracks leading to the station platforms (ie the bend just next to the water), you have a lot of signals. Trains wait there, and block the split, so trains behind them cannot use the second track to the platforms. By removing enough signals just after the split, until you have a train-length of space without signals, prevents that from happening.

- The track from the depot to the innermost incoming track to the platforms should be removed. A train from the depot using that and breaking down, blocks both entrances. Instead, let it wait for an opportunity to leave the depot at the right track only.

- Restrict the rightmost incoming track to the 3 right-most platforms only. The 4th platform (left-most track) is served exclusively by the inner incoming track. That prevents a train from going from the far right to the far left, blocking everything.

- A similar consideration holds for the outgoing tracks, a train from the rightmost platform should not use the leftmost outgoing track.

The latter three changes reduce blocking, especially in case of breakdowns. While breakdowns still happen, they cannot block the entire station anymore, so traffic continues at a slower rate.