Locomotive
The Diesel locomotive is currently the only engine for movement of trains. It can be used for transportation of large amounts of items over large distances. After laying the track form a train, fuel the locomotive and drive yourself or do an automatic transportation using Train stops.
| Recipe: |   |
| Total raw: | |
| Max power: | 600 kW (burner) |
| Health: | 1000 |
Despite the name, it can take any fuel (including Raw wood or Coal), not just oil-derived types.
Trains
To form a train you have to place a locomotive and one Cargo wagon minimum. To connect them to a train you may either simply place the stock car next to the locomotive via a green outlined connection, or if the stock car is already unconnected, you have to drive the locomotive near the Cargo wagon and press "G"(default) to connect rolling stock. To disconnect the last wagon in the train press "V"(default).
| Locomotive | Stacks |
|---|---|
| |
3 (for Fuel only) |
Driving a train
- Vehicle/Train/Driving: When you enter a train (press Enter-Key to enter), you can drive it.
- You can use the loco as personal transport. This makes great sense in later game, when the distances to your resources-fields get bigger and bigger.
(Re)fueling a train
- Vehicle/Train/Refueling: Trains need Fuel to run. See basics, how to fill it into the locomotive.
Directions
- Vehicle/Train/Reverse driving: In automatic mode a train can run only in the direction the locomotive is currently programmed to go to.
- It is important to note that your Train Stations and Train Signals should always be on the right side of where you expect the train to go. Trains which go both directions on the same rail will require signals on both sides.
Larger Train Processions
- Vehicle/Train/Wagon: A wagon is like a rolling chest, allowing one to move material from train stop to train stop. It additionally has a larger world model size, allowing more inserters to work at once.
Other things
- As trains are a priority target of Enemies, more or less any place where trains can stop should be defended. This is of course more important at train stops/stations, due to the additional hardware which may be present. Note that defending a train in transit is not as important, as when a train moves it is more or less invincible and crashes through everything in the way, up to and including Biters, Tanks, and the Player. However, Enemies can attack and destroy rails, potentially stopping the train in transit and leading to the train being damaged or destroyed.
- For the eventuality that one's train is damaged somehow, put a Robotic network with Construction robots and some Repair packs at a train station, so that any eventual damage is repaired. The Player may alternatively check their train network often to ensure it remains free of serious harm.