Train Station

With the station in hand, first right-click a track: the targeted spot is outlined in green. Then place the station anywhere within 16 blocks of that track, on the ground or in a wall. A blue marker appears on the track: that marker, not the block, is the actual stop.

Every station has a name, editable in its interface. That name is what a Train Schedule targets: “go to Mine”, “go to Farm”. Several stations may share a name; the train then heads to the nearest one.

Right-clicking the station opens its interface. The assembly button changes the station's flag and shows on the track where bogeys were found. This is the mode in which you build your train, block by block, on the tracks in front of the station.

While a station is in assembly mode, no scheduled train stops there: schedules targeting it wait. Remember to leave that mode once the train is done, or a whole line can stay stuck on the server.

When the train is ready, open the interface again and confirm the assembly: the blocks become a train. The flag stays up while the train is in the station and drops when it leaves. Our animation uses Create's real acceleration, 3 blocks per second squared.

A train only turns back into blocks at a station. Stop it on the marker, open the interface and choose disassembly: every block returns to its place on the track. Anywhere else the train stays an entity, even when standing still.

Using a filled map on the station adds a marker with its name. Handy for drawing the plan of a network on a wall of maps, or for finding a distant station again.

An assembled train can be moved to a nearby track: right-click the train with a Wrench, then the target track. Useful when you assembled on the wrong platform of a multi-track station.

A train only drives on its own with a conductor and a schedule. The station is its destination: the train brakes to stop exactly on the marker, then leaves once the schedule's conditions are met.

A comparator against the station outputs a signal while a train is present. Use it to open doors, start loading belts or show the arrival with a Display Link.

The marker on the track has an arrow: the station only accepts trains arriving that way. A train coming from the other side drives through without stopping. For a terminus served both ways, place two stations, one per direction.

A schedule can be placed in the station itself, for instance by a belt or a funnel. Every train stopping there afterwards receives a copy, so you can reprogram a whole fleet without boarding a single train.

The conductor keeps the copy and leaves at once on its new mission. Unlike a schedule handed over manually, the item stays in the station: it does not leave with the train and serves the next one.