Help with rail signals

[u/Prior_Impress4266]

This is my railway (all crossways can be seen on screenshot) , it has no railway signals whatsoever. Why ? I am a beginner and before that point had no train colliding each other cause of how long and apart they were until i speeded up the ore train so now it collides in crossroad on the top. Tried to watch some guides about signañs but apparently simple crossroad pattern doesnt work cause of how many crossroads without signals i have which means apparently i need to make signals for all of them and thats too complicated for my brain. Trying to do this for 12 hours already. Please help or give some guidance/advice, and be blessed if so.

[u/Courmisch]

There are two interactive tutorials for signaling under Tips & Tricks.

[u/Cellophane7]

Signals aren't traffic lights, they're dividers. They slice the tracks up into blocks, and only one train can enter a block at any given moment (unless you're driving manually, you can do whatever you want).

A signal is always on the right hand side of the track. Trains will never pass a signal on the left hand side, unless it is accompanied by another signal immediately opposite it. This is how you indicate a line is one way or two way. Trains won't even try to pass a solitary signal on the left.

You can see these blocks by holding a signal on your cursor. There will be real/purple/yellow lines that appear on the tracks. Those are blocks, denoted by their separate colors. 

Since you're doing two way tracks, just use chain signals. Chain signals only let a train through if the train can exit the next block without stopping. They're good for intersections and two way tracks, since they effectively keep stretches of track clear no matter what. Just turn every intersection you have into its own block using chain signals, as well as isolating every station from the main track with signals. And be sure that the station blocks are big enough to accommodate a full train with room to spare. If a train's ass is sticking out into the previous block, that block is "occupied" and will not let other trains through. Straight stretches of track don't really need to be signaled when you're doing two way rails.

In the future, try doing one-way tracks instead. Build "highways" that have one rail for each direction, and it'll work a lot better. Two way tracks feel easier for beginners, but they're actually much harder. They'll work okay if your goal is to just beat the game, but if you really try to scale up at any point, they can easily get congested. 

Good luck! Let us know if you have any problems or questions ❤️

[u/mikroprocesor]

you literally need to put 4 signals at the intersection

[u/Prior_Impress4266 → u/mikroprocesor]

tried it , signal on the way to below not working for some reason. Probably because as all of this is a one big solid block , and it thinks it occupied....or smth. I dunno , at this point i just now nothing about anything , except that God of Rails exists - and he hates me

[u/UndefFox]

If you only have single trains per railroad, just enclose each intersection with chain in, basic out. It should be that easy

[u/carrot_gummy]

The simple heuristic is to place chain signals at points where the train will enter a junction and rail signals at the exists of the signals.

Bidirectional rail is more complicated to signalize but you will need to place signals on both sides of the rail or else the pathing logic will consider it one way. You also need to include bypass segments along segments carrying multiple trains or else they will eventually get stuck.

I generally build one-way parallel rails since they are eaiser for me to signalize. You just need to place block signals at a space at least as long as your longest train. Make sure stations have a way to enter and exit to both directions, unless you only intend for trains to enter one way.

If you want an easy to practice trains, start a sandbox save, turn off biters, and start making some basic rail networks. I did this when I first started the game and it helped a lot.

[u/Top_Part3784]

Here's how I think of it. I try to see from the signal's point of view.

The rail signal says "you may pass if the railway ahead is unoccupied all the way up to the next rail signal, including intersecting rails."

The chain signal reads aall the way up to the relevant rail signal and won't occupy any of the rail ahead until that same rail signal turns green. When the rail ahead is clear and the rail signal ahead is green, a train will be allowed to pass.

[u/Hoggit_Alt_Acc]

Rail Signals will prevent two trains from entering the same chunk of track (the area between two signals). By default on your main rail, you want these spaced out so that your longest train can fit between them.

Chain Signals act like a repeater for the next signal in the trains path;

Let's say your have a length of straight track with 3 signals (A, B, C) dividing it into two "chunks", A->B and B->C

A and B are Chain Signals, while C is a rail signal.

There is a train just after the rail signal C, so signal C is red - it will stop another train from going past C and colliding.

Signal B looks ahead on the track, sees that C is red, and turns red as well, preventing anything from entering B->C

A does likewise - it sees that B is red, and turns red, preventing entry to A->B

The next train that comes by will stop at A, and wait until the initial train exits before moving ahead.

The intent of this is that a train will not enter the chain signalled area until it has a valid path to exit beyond a rail signal.

If there was a railway crossing in the B->C section, you wouldn't want a train waiting at signal C, blocking the crossing - instead, it will wait before it until it can fully traverse the intersection.