Transport Tycoon Forums

Dungrove Rivers North station was built long and wide to make sure its catchment covered two farms.Running a dedicated train on each of the three tracks doesn't adequately move the two farms' production.If I switch to directional tracks and crossovers I can run more than three trains on the route,possibly dropping one or more trains to a lower level tunnel near the farms to avoid waits...but given that I have three tracks,is there a way to let the third be used for overtaking?
How would the route in the early screenshot best be optimized?

The later screenshot is of the far end of the route shipping the goods resulting from those farms and a nearby steel mill...I must say there's no mystery as to why Gostable hates me.I offer their town no service,and that embankment I built cuts off their view of and access to the water.I can readily see the locals having demanded that I build a pedestrian tunnel,boat/beach house,and dock to allow me to proceed.

Even though this company has a better cash-to-maintenance multiple of any comparable one I've run,there's clear room for improvement.

Just take out the middle rail. You're running loaded trains at one side, and empty trains at the other side. In both cases, all trains are running equally fast, no point in overtaking.

If you do want overtaking, it's better to just add a 4th rail, thus doubling both directions.


Bi-directional track is often a nightmare to get properly working, and not worth the trouble, imho.

Alberth is right. It's far easier to run two or four tracks and there is no benefit in that setup to have three tracks compared to two.

Agree that three tracks usually is an odd number, but I have on ocasion used it sparingly, mostly close to stations as a "fan-out". Capacity of three tracks, if done right, is slightly higher than the capacity of only two. However, at least in my playing style, it is an unusal situation to be able to actually make use of it. The delta over two tracks is relatively small since in practice the third track will in practice often have trains going different directions over time.

Under the presumption of "three and exactly three":

* double-tracking only one direction, it is usually a bit more useful in the loaded direction (slower train speeds)
* or you can set it up as a middle "overtaking track" with some connections both ways. Would mostly be useful if breakdowns are on, though. In this case it would be one dedicated track each way (with one-way signaling) and a middle track (with signaling both ways)

OK,the trains now leave the loading station on the side tracks,on a lower level to help acceleration,and return on the central track.Service to the farms has improved significantly now that there are 5 trains instead of 3 (enough for one to always be loading).
Now I may need to add another train delivering goods out of the factory these rains deliver to...
(I ALWAYS play with breakdowns on).

I thought a third goods train to Little Grimnor would do the trick,but I'm now up to seven and the goods STILL pile up at Dodean Valley.
I've been adding double-track sections to the route to ease passing but there are still holdups.

Meanwhile,despite this actual increase in my number of vehicles,the "Vehicles" number on my "Detailed Performance Rating" has been going down!

Why not make them both RoRo stations, up track on the left, down on the right, no crossing. You have room to run double tracks in each direction if you really do have too many trains for singles.

BTW, when making a station catch to farms, it doesn't have to spread between, just make one platform near one farm, then Ctrl-click to make teh second platform near the second farm but as part of the same station.

I think the grain and livestock service from the two farms into Dodean Valley is working fine now,there's room to add more trains there if needed.
The goods service OUT of Dodean Valley,to Little Grimnor,is harder to handle...I have kept increasing the dual-tracked portions and adding trains,and there are now two goods platforms,but the big embankment by Gostable would be really hard to double-track.
Also it will be time to retire the steam engines and electrify soon...any advice?

As factories (steelworks, sawmills, etc) get busy, it gets difficult to maintain a smooth flow of both supply and delivery trains. Sooner or later you risk having all platforms full of trains waiting for goods (or steel) so no raw materials can be delivered.

I always make two separate stations close enough to the facility to be covered by it. Example attached shows two RoRo stations adjacent to a steel works. Steel is removed only from the right station, though both can take deliveries of ore. Even if the right station ends up full of part-loaded goods trains, as ore trains can still arrive on the left, it doesn't jam up.

ccomley wrote:As factories (steelworks, sawmills, etc) get busy, it gets difficult to maintain a smooth flow of both supply and delivery trains. Sooner or later you risk having all platforms full of trains waiting for goods (or steel) so no raw materials can be delivered.

I always make two separate stations close enough to the facility to be covered by it. Example attached shows two RoRo stations adjacent to a steel works. Steel is removed only from the right station, though both can take deliveries of ore. Even if the right station ends up full of part-loaded goods trains, as ore trains can still arrive on the left, it doesn't jam up.

Dodean Valley has 3 platforms connected to the supply trains,2 platforms connected to the goods trains...neither can take the other's space.There's also a loading bay for steel trucks.
I take it you didn't look at the savegame.

Baldy's Boss wrote: Dodean Valley has 3 platforms connected to the supply trains,2 platforms connected to the goods trains...neither can take the other's space.There's also a loading bay for steel trucks.
I take it you didn't look at the savegame.

That would have the same effect but there's a limit to the size a station can grow to, making two stations gives you more growth potential.

No, I didn't, i looked at the screenshot.

ccomley wrote:That would have the same effect but there's a limit to the size a station can grow to, making two stations gives you more growth potential.

If you ever need a station larger than 64x64 tiles, then yes. And if you do, you can always add a second station when you need one

FooBar wrote:

ccomley wrote:That would have the same effect but there's a limit to the size a station can grow to, making two stations gives you more growth potential.

If you ever need a station larger than 64x64 tiles, then yes. And if you do, you can always add a second station when you need one

Well the default station spread is smaller than that. I know you can change it. Sometimes I tinker with teh settings. Most of the time, I figure, its like cheating at patience! Call it the Kobiashi Maru if you will but the challenge is to beat the system as it is, the ability to change the rules so you can beat it make it a different game.

ccomley wrote:

Baldy's Boss wrote: Dodean Valley has 3 platforms connected to the supply trains,2 platforms connected to the goods trains...neither can take the other's space.There's also a loading bay for steel trucks.
I take it you didn't look at the savegame.

That would have the same effect but there's a limit to the size a station can grow to, making two stations gives you more growth potential.

No, I didn't, i looked at the screenshot.

The 1957 screenshot is out of date with respect to both stations and the track layout between them (as well as on the goods line).
There are more trains in action now as well.
The farm station growing with only the 3 tracks to the factory would create bottlenecks?

More screenshots would help.

So here's a screenshot of the farm-to-factory run as now organized,
I thought that I had another of the station by the factory as of the savegame date,but appear not to.As of the save:
An iron ore train will shortly be delivering to the steel mill,loading the trucks for the short haul to the factory station(Dodean Valley).
Aging train 57 is arriving to take most of the goods on the platform,two-year-old Train 105 coming in behind will go to the other goods platform and take the rest.
At Dungrove Rivers North Trains 94 and 104 are doing the left-turn-in-each-other's-faces routine as one leaves the center platform with a load and the other leaves the center track for a side platform to take a load.

The goods run from Dodean Valley to Little Grimnor is where things get bottlenecked these days,I think...but the whole steam fleet is likely to face phaseout.

Bottlenecks are those points where trains wait because ahead of them is blocked.

The only way to find a bottleneck is to observe the flow of trains, and note patterns in heir behavior. How do they move, where do they stop, how long do they wait, how many wait (1 every 10 for example?), or how many wait at the same time (4 trains are trying to leave the station, and they have to move all to the same track).

Once you know the pattern, you can decide whether it is worth fixing. An empty train waiting for an empty platform generally doesn't need fixing, unless the station is crowded with cargo that needs to be transported. (Otherwise, you can add a platform, and the train will wait at the platform instead of just before entry, until its turn.)

Trains trying to leave a station but being blocked is more a concern. The question is how bad is it for them to wait. If it is a temporary situation (typically a secondary industry getting a load of input cargo which all gets loaded onto waiting trains), it's not so bad, unless you need the platforms for other trains.

In Malberg Mauve,most of that goods line is double-tracked,but there are places like the Gostable embankment that would be very hard to double track.So one train can pass through that section at a time.

Maybe we need to see a screenshot of the Gostable embankment.

The farm line looks a bit unconventional but it is way under capacity so can't imagine any jams there.

How do those question marks not bother you? Also how do you stand mixing 8bpp and 32bpp graphics?