Railroad Switch Control

The Railroad Switch Control is used to decide the path of a manual driven Train on a Railway switch. It is generated automatically on every Railway switch that is properly built. It cannot be built separately, dismantled, or moved by any means other than save editors or mods.

Usage

A Railway switch is formed by joining two Railways together, or branching off of an existing Railway. Switches can be created either at the existing joint between two railway segments, or in the middle of a segment as long as it is at least 12m (1½ foundations) from the end of a segment (to avoid creating a too-short segment). A switch may not be created at the point where the rails connect to a Train Station or its platforms. A switch can branch or merge either 2 or 3 tracks into a single track. Junctions can also be built such that two (or three) tracks merge and then immediately split again at the same point (an X-shaped junction).

If the Railroad Switch Control doesn't appear, the track is not connected properly and the switch will not work. If a certain path cannot be switched to, the switch may have been built in the wrong order and should be rebuilt (this can happen when the common track is dismantled after the branches are already built, all of the branches have to be rebuild afterwards).

Switching the switch is possible either by interacting E or while manually driving a locomotive using A/D. The chosen path only affects trains with autopilot disabled. Automated trains ignore Railroad Switch Controls and always choose the desired track automatically, even if the switch is switched by another automated train.

Current issues

• It is possible to construct a switch with more than 3 ways or a n:m switch by locking H the Railway hologram.
  • This restores the pre-Update 5 functionality.
  • Note: As of 1.1 it is possible to construct an n:m (X-shaped) switch without using any tricks.
• Even though the switch cannot be removed directly, it is possible to remove a switch from a junction indirectly. On a 2:1 junction remove any segment from the split side and quickly rebuild it before the switch is gone: the old switch will be removed and the new one will not appear.
• X-shaped junctions (where multiple tracks merge and then split again at the same junction) are prone to bugs, such as not being able to switch to a path, or the merging rail in an X as a possible third path (causing a locomotive to be able to make a 180-degree turn onto the merging path). Prior to Update 1.1, the game did not allow the construction of these type of junctions due to the likelihood of such issues (it was only possible to create 2:1 or 3:1 Y-junctions). To prevent issues, avoid building this type of junction by placing a short common segment of rail between a merge and a split whenever possible.
• When removing a Switch built before Patch 1.1, the Railroad Control Switch will not disappear but will become blank and nonfunctional. These pre-1.1 Railroad Control Switches can be targeted with the Build Gun and safely deconstructed. Post-1.1 Railroad Control Switches can't be targeted with the Build Gun at all.
  • Prior to Patch 1.1, Railroad Control Switches were a separate buildable that was protected from deconstruction. They are now no longer a separate buildable, but are a part of the rails they are connected to. The old buildables are now nonfunctional but are still present in a save file from before the patch.
    

Gallery

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  Different states of a Railroad Switch Control

History

• Patch 1.1.0.2
  • Fixed train tracks being able to be branched and create switches from the end of a Train Station or Freight Platform which would result in issues
  • Fixed crash when loading a save caused by Railway Switches
• Patch 1.1.0.0: Railways have gotten some major improvements with their implementation, so they should be a lot nicer and better to build overall than ever
  • Undocumented change: Switches and signals can now be added in the middle of an existing segment (this splits the segment), instead of only at the existing joints between segments.
  • Undocumented change: X-shaped (n:m) switches can once again be constructed
  • Undocumented change: Changed the way that Railroad Control Switches are implemented, which can result in leftover, deconstructable Railroad Control Switches when removing a junction
• Patch 0.7.0.1: Fixed Blueprints containing special buildable's that get auto created by other buildable's (Like Sign poles, Railroad Switch Control, etc) not being able to be loaded
• Patch 0.5.0.14: Reduced Railroad Switch Control size
• Patch 0.5.0.12:
  • New visuals for the Railroad Switch Control.
    • Undocumented change: Changed the arrow-shaped lever to a diamond-shaped sign with an arrow indicating the direction
    • Undocumented change: A switch can now only have 3 possible paths, but switches constructed earlier still function
• Patch 0.5.0.0: X-shaped (n:m) switches can no longer be constructed
• Patch 0.4.0.4: Fixed “Floor is too steep” appearing when railway switch controls were placed in between foundations
• Patch 0.4.0.0: The "flag" for Railroad Switch Control better shows the actual position of the switch
• Patch 0.1.16: Now officially available