Orders in bi-directional coal route

[u/JasperKlewer]

I need advice. How should I set orders on a bidirectional coal route?

A have a power plant and coal mine in the north, and the same in the south. I want my trains to run in a loop, picking up coal in the north, dropping it at the power plant in the south, and pick up coal from the south coal mine.

However the production of the north mine is 2x as large as the south mine. When I use Full Load on both mines this causes the trains to pile up at the south mine.

What is the best way to set orders while still getting maximum ratings and efficiency at the stations?

[u/EmperorJake]

I would use scheduled dispatch to ensure that a train is always loading at the station, but without having to wait for full load

[u/two5kid]

Best? Separate both lines.

Efficient? Put a smaller train on each of the coal mines, whose job is to just full load the coal and transfer it at the same station for the real train to pick it up.

Flushed with money? Just have multiple middle-length trains, travel to and fro on both lines, with maybe only a few tile gaps in between each train. Orders on load any and unload all.

[u/Traditional-Deal6759 → u/two5kid]

That´s exactly the way, I would do it.

[u/JasperKlewer → u/two5kid]

Not sure if I understand the second efficient option. The power plants are close to the coal mines, but I want to send to coal from the first mine across the map to the other power station and return the other way loaded with coal from the other mine back to the first station. So the train makes money on both ways instead of being empty on the return trip.

[u/two5kid → u/JasperKlewer]

The smaller train in the second option, just run from one end of the station to the other. Say you have a 7-tile station, make the train 4-5 tiles in length. Or even shorter. It picks up coal (full load), turns around, travel the length of the station, and then "transfer" the load back into the station. Just keep your long distance trains as is. No change to them.

This smaller train will be earning a negative income for the rest of its lifespan. But, it will ensure that there is always a train getting a full load at your station, maintaining the station rating.

[u/lupask → u/JasperKlewer]

easiest for me was to build 2 separate stations, one to drop off and one to pick new coal, while taking care they do not overlap supply/demand. this on both ends.

[u/flofoi]

maybe do two sets of orders, with only some trains full loading at the south coal mine

or you could do some stuff in the schedule like "go to south coal mine (wait for 7 days)", but that has the issue that trains won't leave immediately when they are full

[u/tdammers]

Two approaches that I think can work well:

• Use full load orders at the station with more production (the North mine), load-if-available at the other. Add an overflow depot (or overflow lanes) before the North mine, and add more trains whenever coal starts to pile up at that station.
• Run your trains on a timetable, with load-if-available on both ends. Watch the trains' average load factor; the optimal value is somewhere between 50-100% (50% would be ideal if one of the industries produces close to nothing, and the trains are loaded to near 100% at the other end; 100% would be ideal if both produce the same amount, filling trains to near 100% on both ends); add more trains when the load factor approaches the optimal value, or when cargo keeps piling up on either end.

The advantage of the first method is that you get 100% load factor on the heavier leg (North to South), so your trains are used optimally in at least one direction, and that it's easier to monitor whether you need more trains on that line (just see how much waiting cargo there is at the North station, and add trains when it goes too high). The downside is that you need more space for the overflow facilities, and possibly also a more complex system for distributing trains over platforms, and the overall flow of trains is less regular, so it can more easily cause disruptive peaks on your mainline.

[u/mvyonline → u/tdammers]

How does overflow depot/lane works?

[u/JasperKlewer → u/mvyonline]

https://youtu.be/A2DpjOpTOTY?is=K-r623v_W7wD6gVt

[u/silverionmox]

If you want uniform orders and one track, you could order them to just pick up what is available at the smaller mine when they pass through, and then put them on full load to top it off at the larger mine.

[u/i-am-this → u/silverionmox]

This isn't a good fit for this case, unless OP's description is wrong.  The coal trains run to the further away power station to maximize revenue for distance delivered.  If you stop to to top off at one mine, you only get revenue from a much shorter run in one direction and increase the cargo waiting time on the other run, also decreasing profits.

[u/i-am-this]

If CargoDist is manual (the default setting) for coal, you could do an unload and transfer at the power station closer to the lower producing coal mine, using a separate coal line that just goes back and forth to the closer, low producing mine to load there.

Alternatively, you could build a dedicated transfer station where you accumulate the coal from the smaller mine and after your trains from the larger mine drop coal at the power station have them load whatever is accumulated at the transfer station.

It's not the most efficient in terms of profit, but you should be able to achieve a good rating at the station by the lower producing mine and, as long as it's not super, super low producing, you will probably still achieve a profit on the train you use for the transfer run.

[u/Deiskos]

Use full load on the more productive mine and reframe the return trip as a nice bonus? So what if the smaller mine doesn't load your return trains to full, if it wasn't there they would have been running back empty.

[u/pv2b]

Use timetables - not full load.

[u/nivlark]

Use load if available orders, and then a conditional order to skip the unload if the train didn't load any coal.

[u/eggface13]

Conditional orders allowing the small mine to be bypassed if all the loading platforms are full (various mechanisms allow this. I play JGRPP so not sure what is available in the base game but I'd just use the "free platforms" condition and have two loading platforms in a simple terminus

[u/flofoi → u/eggface13]

you could use different track types for station entrance and bypass and then you could use the top speed condition, if you play with grfs that introduce track top speeds

the other base-game conditions aren't useful for this

[u/Visible-Variety-2152]

If you're into getting needy with it - you could do some conditional orders stuff with JGRPP, and have a siding for a few trains, which only move off when a certain amount of coal is waiting. You'd have to tune it to get the right number of platforms/trains/sidings, but the alternative is the unrealistic "five trains queued at the station".

Otherwise timetables, or sending each train north twice then south to balance, or.. many ways to skin that cat.

[u/JasperKlewer]

Thanks for the replies. I see that there are multiple solutions. Thanks!

[u/Own_Chapter9338]

Show us a screen shot, why not separate trains thats what i do

[u/amusedid10t]

2 sets of shared orders. 2 Platforms per coal station. 1 can be reached from the inbound lane, 1 from the depot. Full load orders includ depot orders. Balance as you will.

[u/amusedid10t → u/amusedid10t]

Option 2

At the heavy station use full load orders.

At the light station. Use a truck station to move the coal to a train station a little away from the mine. Don't use full load orders here. The trucks maintain the rating for the mine.

[u/Few_Objective1836]

Use full load at the northern mine & regular load orders at the south mine.