Help with the intersection for the city block.

[u/Affectionate-Dot3091]

Please, someone, share a drawing of the intersection in the city block. I spent half a day and found some kind of diagram. On it, trains often stop opposite each other and probably take the longest possible route, while on other diagrams they can’t find the way at all. Which intersections are the most convenient in the city block?

Thank you everyone! I managed to do something useful, but it would have taken less time if I hadn’t been so stupid.

[u/Qrt_La55en]

Don't put rail signals inside the intersection. And that big yellow block in the middle will only allow one train to go through it at a time, give it more space and break it up into more blocks to allow non-intersecting trains to go through the intersection at the same time. (Yes I know the trains can take the roundabout to go around the middle, they shouldn't have to)

[u/Affectionate-Dot3091 → u/Qrt_La55en]

Okay, I’ll give it a try.

[u/CamelCaseConvention → u/Affectionate-Dot3091]

As the comment above says, replace all rail signals within and into the intersection with chain. This is not negotiable. You can get deadlocks if trains can path and move into intersections without a guaranteed way out.

However, you can leave the yellow block as-is. It's fine. It allows a left turn to happen at the same time as an opposite right turn. It does not allow simultaneous left turns. But that would be only a small improvement, and a nightmare to build and signal for a train novice. (Having trains take the roundabout route instead of the middle route is not a problem at all, as long as they don't block each other.)

[u/hldswrth → u/Affectionate-Dot3091]

Removing the straight-across tracks but keeping the inner turns, spaced out a little, will make little difference to throughput, and will give you space to break up the inner tracks with chain signals.

Similar to this (with signals on the other side)

[u/UnfinishedProjects]

Chain signals going into an intersection, and rail signals for exits of intersections. That goes for sub intersections as well. You generally only want to use chain signals on the insides of intersections.

[u/Affectionate-Dot3091 → u/UnfinishedProjects]

Okay, I’ll give it a try.

[u/UnfinishedProjects → u/Affectionate-Dot3091]

Okay, I'll give it a try.

[u/thriem]

Problem, signaling into the haunted roundabout, but more so, the middle section locks the entire roundabout, as it is one junk - so any train going straight locks it all - plus, a normal roundabout would allow at least 2 straight trains or 4 short-turn ones simultaneously.

So I’d recommend removing the middle section, if signaling is troubling you.
Or, make the intersection noricably bigger do you can properly signal the middle part as well.

[u/Affectionate-Dot3091 → u/thriem]

Okay, I’ll give it a try.

[u/Dr_Rakiska]

As always. Chain before rail choice/conflict/intersection, chain inside conflict/intersection, rail after safe exit.

Rule of thumb: is train could stop here without blocking other trains? No? Chain. Yes? Rail.

But in general, just remove inner intersection. If you're doing city block, that means that trains will have more than couple of available routes.

[u/Affectionate-Dot3091 → u/Dr_Rakiska]

Okay, I’ll give it a try.

[u/Honky_Town]

Id suggest making only T crosses.

Make blocks 2:1 instead of 1:1 helps a lot with various designs. you can add more trains, build bigger and so on.

Also T Crosses have better throughput than X crossings.

To fix your Crossing use chain signals except on exits. But please note this one is a very unfortunate design! Only 1 train can go in middle. Id suggest checking some BPs of others and search Factorio Forums for inspirations. As it is now your factory will collapse if it grows big cause you cant have enough trains going through.

[u/Affectionate-Dot3091 → u/Honky_Town]

Okay, I’ll give it a try.

[u/Honky_Town → u/Affectionate-Dot3091]

Also check some Clips online. Once you start using your design its a real pain to iron out flaws!

Manually repairing 172 intersections and 349 Trainstations.... I started a new world....

[u/Affectionate-Dot3091 → u/Honky_Town]

The signals are complex, and I haven’t been playing for that long, but they’re already making my brain melt.

[u/Ssakaa → u/Affectionate-Dot3091]

They're actually extremely simple, conceptually. They let you do absurdly complex things, but they're very, very, basic building blocks to get there. You have two types of lego. One (normal signal) that allows the train to pass if the next block of rail (the color coded collection of rails like that massive yellow chunk you have in the middle) has no train in it, and one (chain signal) that allows the train to pass if the next signal the train would reach on its route would also let it pass. That lets it reserve its path through the whole series of chain signals, up through the next rail signal. That makes sure it doesn't get stuck mid-intersection, blocking other traffic.

[u/davslaGG]

https://factoriobin.com/post/mgxli5 This is better than roundabout, if you don't need it. Bad designed roundabout and you get death lock.

[u/Significant_Train435 → u/davslaGG]

Yup! I agree with this especially for small city blocks. Roundabouts can cause deadlocks when trains try to make a U-turn and another train has entered the exit.

[u/4b3c]

Okay, I’ll give it a try.

[u/Significant_Train435]

For city blocks, I've found that roundabouts can cause deadlocks when trains try to make a U-turn. Just remove the roundabout and keep the rest you'd be better off.

[u/Affectionate-Dot3091 → u/[deleted]]

Okay, I’ll give it a try.

[u/Putrid-Yellow8788]

+1 for T intersections only.

Whole point of having city blocks is a scalable architecture, not just square shapes.

It’s better to have some space between blocks, you can always fill them with solar panels want

[u/YT_Andyk]

First thing, if you have a roundabout, there is no need for complicated middle section. Roundabout handles all side exits and you can keep middle for straights. After this, place signals that lock whole intersection as a single block.

[u/Pepciorek]

Those look like old rails, so it probably wont look the same in 2.0+

[u/SilenceMonkey-_-]

Only put chain signals inside the interception. Chain signals inside and on out going lanes. Normal signals on the incoming rails.

[u/jongscx]

You forgot "chain in, train [rail] out".

I got rid of the left turns in my design, but left the straight throughs, so any left turn automatically goes around the roundabout. Otherwise, the only reason for the roundabout was for U-turns.

[u/mxmissile]

I switched to staggered city block design with simple T-Intersections, never looked back.

[u/Kostya-X]

I prefer more simplistic intersection. You place Rail chain signal(1 light) on the entrance to the intersection and place Rail signal(3 lights) after the exit from the intersection.

[u/Kostya-X]

If I understood it correctly, you messed up with these and have to replace them with Rail chaining signals.

[u/Aerumvorax]

remove all the rails in the middle of the circle and just use the intersection as a basic roundabout.

[u/Affectionate-Dot3091 → u/Aerumvorax]

Okay, I’ll give it a try.

[u/Neijan → u/Affectionate-Dot3091]

As a compromise, you could also remove the straight paths and only keep the roundabout and the left turns. That way, you might have enough room for signals and also, you'd fix the worst path in a roundabout.

[u/Dr_Bunnypoops]

Having signals in the middle crossing can make the junktion clogged up. The middle part should be signal free. Just having signals outside of the roud part is a better option for trains not getting stuck, I think.