Railway station reliability/ease of use improvement | Suggestion Box | Forum

Mine carts can now be moved at a slow speed or started when on a powered rail by using the normal movement controls.  Currently, all the mine cart stations on the server use the old sloped powered rail system triggered by a button.  While there is nothing inherently wrong with this system at first glance, I noticed some reliability issues when riding along the west line.  At several stations, my mine cart slid too far forward and pressing the button would not make it go.

Here's my solution: replace this system with a flat section of four or five powered rails that lose power briefly (stopping the cart) when the cart rolls over a detector rail just before it.  The cart could then be easily moved on its way by simply tapping W.  To prevent a cart from going back the wrong way, a switch track could be permanently fixed in position to switch the cart onto the other rail if it goes the wrong way.  This would also add an easy direction-reversing device that does not require the cart to be broken and placed again.

A second advantage to this new system is carts arriving at the same time.  With the current system, carts usually have to be broken and placed back on the sloped rail if they are rear-ended at the station.  With a flat-rail stopping system, the first cart to arrive will simply be bumped forward a little on the track (unless the rail doesn't remain unpowered long enough, in which case the first arrival will be catapulted forward).

If anyone is remotely interested in this idea, I could do some testing and perfect this system for use in Vetronia's railway network.