Factorio Forums

I finally decided to tear down and redesign my central unloading station:



At the top are five waiting bays, branching from the central line with a normal signal, and converging on the right with chain signals. From the top right the line branches to the various stations, all ending with normal signals. Each station has 2x14 inserters that insert onto 2x2 belts, currently yellow but easy to upgrade. From there the coal/plates are transported to my central bus starting in the bottom left, with an extra iron resupply going to the top left.

The leftmost two waiting bays have a "shortcut" to bypass the stations. Since these waiting bays are also the longest route to the stations, they are the last to be filled. I could remove the link from the lieftmost bay to the unloading area, but if all bays are full there will be a backup anyway, so it wouldn't help.

I set my trains to unload and wait indefinitely, so my trains function as a sort of extra buffer (and what use is an half-full train going back to the outpost...)

On the returning track (my trains drive on the left) is first the "home" station, where my passenger train waits, with indicator lights to show stock levels for local iron, copper, and steel, crude and petroleum from my chemplant, and coal at my power plant (which is in a different station built on the first coal patch I found). Next on the top left is the FARL station, with automatic loading via a double row of request chests and long inserters (thanks @DaveMcW!) to keep the farl wagon always loaded with rail and outpost building material via reserved cargo slots.

(and on the bottom left you see the edge of the glorious mess called "my factory", with as only design rules that everything is built when and where I need it, no logistics are used for production (except for the speed module), and inter-machine inserters are maximized. As you can see the landscape is highly fragmented, which I find good fun as it constrains the sprawl and allows for complete eradication of aliens from islands / peninsulas. I didn't reapply concrete after building the station, so the green parts are where I filled in land to allow for construction - like a good Dutchman, I suppose)

All comments welcome. Is the current setup optimal for waiting and unloading of trains?

Also, as stated above I set my trains to wait indefinitely until empty. I noticed that there often is an imbalance, with the front wagon unloading quicker (or more plates drawn from the front chests) than the back. This can lead to a train waiting with 100 copper remaining in the back wagon, while there is room for more plates in the front chests? Is there a good way to balance that? I use smart trains, so I could use a smart train stop, but I can't see whether either wagon is empty as these are summed up.

Looks nice, but please add more and bigs pics

Heya,

Like it, its pretty compact i'd say, I usually sort my trains and then have long instead of wide waiting bays near the station. Because the waiting train is very close behind the train that is currently being unloaded, it takes less time to enter the station when its his turn to unload.

I always use Equalizer chests at train stations to balance unloading, these chests 'equalize' content with the chest positioned next to it. Basically if you have 2 chests next to eachother and give 200 iron ore in one, then they will both end up with 100 iron ore.
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =94&t=6537

Havent found a way to balance this differently, as long as all unloaded stuff is used then there is no problem.. Its starts when the output belt is clogged and splitters fail. It does not matter for the factory because theres enough of that resource anyway, but yeah it looks a bit meh.

I like how you managed to get so many junctions in a small area, must be scary to walk there with all those little trains driving around. I usually centralize all train stuff a bit away from the factory and transport the last bit with belts.

Thanks for the replies

Yeah, maybe I should fill some more land to allow at least a single waiting bay behind each station, that would improve efficiency. The equalizing chests sound useful, although I currently use provider chests (for counting as much as for providing), but I guess I can add a downstream buffer with provider chests.

For some reason I dislike sprawl, I guess I like the challenge of building everything compact.... I do regularly get run over by my trains, but nothing my power armor can't handle . Actually, a favourite way of stopping my passenger train when approaching a u-turn is to jump off at full speed, walk over to the opposite track, and catch the train when it comes back.