Powered rails

AirBiscuit · 19-04-2011 02:38PM #1

I can't figure out how to make them, or find the recipe anywhere

This is all I have so far:

Taken from the .jar's terrain file

Ideas anyone?

Fajitas! · 19-04-2011 02:46PM

The powered one looks like redstone, could you mess around with the configuration of normal rail with some redstone in?

Looks like they've finally found a use for gold!

http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Powered_Rail

pablomakaveli · 19-04-2011 04:02PM

Edit: nevermind

Star_Cow · 21-04-2011 07:44AM

You need to power the rails with redstone you should place a Redstone torch & use red stone to link it to the rail for unlimited rail power also the detector rail can switch it on! Hope it helps:D

seamus · 21-04-2011 08:25AM

Awesome.

That could actually be used to build an automated rail system; Train coming into the station triggers a switch which turns off the powered rail and stops the train. But the switch is on a timer, so ten seconds later it turns back on and the train leaves. You could create a continuous loop of trains moving around the world.

Cool.

Fajitas! · 21-04-2011 11:39AM

That would make for one awesome under/over ground network. If we could come up with a somewhat standard station template that anyone could make, and then plan hooking them all together.

It'd require a bit of planning and teamwork, but it would be pretty awesome. It'd be great to have an organised network, rather than trails of track heading from here to there...

seamus · 21-04-2011 11:58AM

Actually thinking about this, rather than a timer, it would be more appropriate for the train to stay where it is until another train is approaching the station, say from 50 blocks away. This means that where the distances between stations are short, the trains stop for shorter, and they stop for longer at long-distance stations. It also means that if someone decides to stick their minecart onto the "public" system, they won't be upsetting the timings.

Another benefit over the timer is troubleshooting. If a train breaks down (let's say someone accidentally digs up some track), then all the trains will stop at a station and not move. With the timer setup all of the trains will "bunch" and you won't know that anything is wrong until you're standing like a pleb waiting for a train that'll never arrive.

I could go on and on, and I'm not even on a server

The detector rail has so much potential. As pointed out on the wiki, it could be used for mundane things like playing a tune from a music box when a train is arriving at the station

AirBiscuit · 21-04-2011 12:06PM

They're actually pretty crap to be honest. The only advantage I can see is you can make a slope using these and go up it no problem. But it would take aout 20 of these in a line to give results as good as traditional boosters.

As for detector rails, I have a few ideas that invlolve TNT, lava and switches...

seamus · 21-04-2011 12:18PM

Well the primary benefit is that it will brake any minecart on the flat, meaning you can stop them at stations. It's also a much cleaner solution than the traditional boosters if we're going to be honest.

AirBiscuit · 21-04-2011 12:22PM

seamus wrote: »

Well the primary benefit is that it will brake any minecart on the flat, meaning you can stop them at stations. It's also a much cleaner solution than the traditional boosters if we're going to be honest.

But the boosters have the power to send you for miles, but the powered ones are VERY weak compared to them, you'll only go about 50 blocks before you stop, and that's with 6 in a row pushing you.

seamus · 21-04-2011 12:39PM

Seems to be the case looking at it alright. Maybe he'll up the power of the boosters in updates, otherwise building a large rail system with them could be costly.

There's also the possibility that he will remove the booster "bug" in the future

pablomakaveli · 21-04-2011 12:53PM

I've found the booster rails to be pretty weak as well. I had a rail in SP that had booster carts which i replaced with the rails but whereas i was able to to travel the whole line with just a couple of booster carts before i now need a good 6 or 7 powered rails and still dont get the same speed.

Hopefully the boost they give might be increased in future updates.

Shiminay · 21-04-2011 03:40PM

At the same time, this is the first genuine use for gold we've had so no harm. I can appreciate the stress of not having as much "boost" out of the powered track, but it does seem like a far more elegant solution.

FunkyTowner · 23-04-2011 03:06PM

With powered tracks we can ride our minecarts through the 90's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIAJg_EaZTs

TheBegotten · 12-06-2011 02:36PM

This is my (as yet un-tested) design for an automatic station. The repeaters can be set to a varible delay, the longest being 0.4 seconds and shortest being 0.1 seconds. With nine repeaters that is 3.6 seconds. Note: NOT to scale

Soby · 12-06-2011 09:30PM

i cant get the cart to move again though when the last rail is powered ?

TheBegotten · 12-06-2011 11:13PM

The cart should bte right up to the solid block at the end. I tested it earlier today and it worked with a cart and chest cart.

Soby · 12-06-2011 11:28PM

problem is though if you were doing a train station you would need two rails.as the said cart would then be coming back in the opposite direction blocking the next train

Soby · 13-06-2011 02:43AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiFQfEvQfus

To get it to continue on in the same direction,meaning you only need one track you need to stop it on a slant at each station

seamus · 14-06-2011 05:41PM

Soby wrote: »

To get it to continue on in the same direction,meaning you only need one track you need to stop it on a slant at each station

As I figured out quite quickly when I tried it, if the cart is stationary when the powered rail gets powered, it doesn't move because there is no "forward" direction. The cart has to be moving (in this case, down a slant) in order to be powered by the rail.

Powered rails

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