Transport Tycoon Forums

Despite much trying, and looking for help and tutorials, I have not been able to come up with a good signal configuration for a two track dead end station. My trains get jammed with no way to go.

My general idea is to build a high-speed connection between production and processing facilities. I do this by having two one-way tracks with one-way signals 5-6 block away from each other.

Now the stations get tricky: I want a two-track station, where both tracks can be used simultaneously, something like this:
I thought that entry signals were the thing to use. But they need exit signals, and exit signals are one-way only. The trains get stuck in the station.

Then I used a single path signal on the incoming track, and two outgoing path signals right after the station. But that led to only one of the two station tracks being used.

Then I found the two-way signal example in the wiki: https://wiki.openttd.org/Signals#Basic_two-way_station
This was when things really got ugly. Multiple trains got jammed, the trains could no longer leave (because the block signals correctly determined that the crossing was in use), and even after getting the train out of the station, I am still figuring out how to resolve the jam of the incoming trains.

Can someone please enlighten me?

All you need is a single path signal on the incoming track, and a single block on the outgoing track, and bob's your train driving uncle.

Forget about entry and exit signals, use path signals instead. Here are 3 examples. They are all terminus stations, trains enter at the left track, and leave at the right track (sort-of). At the top an actual station for a farm. Only a one-way path signal just before the junction in the incoming stream is required for the station itself. The other signals are useful for having more trains at a single line after each other.

A disadvantage of the top solution is that the empty train that is just entering now, will leave the station at the right track. To do that it will cross the junction, thus blocking all other traffic there.

To fix this, make a second exit for this track. The bottom picture is the clearest. The train cannot go to the right track, it is forced to leave the station over the bridge. In doing so, the junction stays free, and another train can enter the second platform at that time.
As you can see, the bridge takes a lot of space. The middle station uses the same idea, but the entry line is now lifted, so the exit can go underneath.

When playing with breakdowns I use the bottom layout with dual force depots for extreme efficiency, its really good, but gets a bit awkward with more than 3 platforms I'd say.

Thank you so much! I was using a single path signal before the crossing into the station. I guess, I did my rebuilding while the trains were already about, and did not give them enough time to figure out the changes before asserting whether that solution worked.

I wonder how the efficiency loss for blocking the whole crossing is compared to the efficiency loss for going a longer track and having to cross a bridge, especially for early engines?

Asperamanca wrote:I wonder how the efficiency loss for blocking the whole crossing is compared to the efficiency loss for going a longer track and having to cross a bridge, especially for early engines?

I don't believe there is a single answer to that question, it depends on too many things. If you really want to know, try both solutions and compare.

However I'd recommend not to bother about efficiency, but instead build what feels right to you. It's a game, have fun!

If you've got enough traffic to worry about efficiency, you shouldn't be using a terminus station anyway - you'd only use a terminus station for aesthetics or low traffic situations

If you've got enough traffic to worry about efficiency, you shouldn't be using a terminus station anyway - you'd only use a terminus station for aesthetics or low traffic situations

audigex wrote:If you've got enough traffic to worry about efficiency, you shouldn't be using a terminus station anyway - you'd only use a terminus station for aesthetics or low traffic situations

That opinion is not shared by everyone, in particular, some pros in high-density traffic say otherwise.
See also http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php? ... 2#p1121852

Alberth wrote:

audigex wrote:If you've got enough traffic to worry about efficiency, you shouldn't be using a terminus station anyway - you'd only use a terminus station for aesthetics or low traffic situations

That opinion is not shared by everyone, in particular, some pros in high-density traffic say otherwise.
See also http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php? ... 2#p1121852

They did qualify that with an "almost".

audigex wrote:If you've got enough traffic to worry about efficiency, you shouldn't be using a terminus station anyway - you'd only use a terminus station for aesthetics or low traffic situations

All my stations are terminus, bar those in the middle of the line. Terminus can be quite efficient, depends on how you build it. Ro-Ro might looks better but at some cases it's nearly just the same as well-designed termini.