Railroad designs

Since the creation of the south line, and all the expansion of the Rail Transit Network various switches and terminals have been developed to work at the interchanges between lines, some of them based on mechanisms and redstone devices, this article lists these devices.
==MTM's Three-click switch==
Single line intersection switch.
*Switches built: At least 3
*Switches currently in use: 0
This simple system was developed by MTM in mid 2013 (Early days of the south line) to connect the south line to a now removed subway going towards the couthouse in Athiras. The first of these switches was placed at the back of his house, he placed a few more along the south line to connect it's branch lines.
It's name derives from the three click sounds made by the two buttons that had to be pushed to move the cart, plus the one made by the lever that switched the line intersection.
==Molster's one-click switch==
Single line, uni/bi-directional intersection switch
*Switches built: N/A
*Switches currently in use: N/A
Molster's one-click switch works by pressing one of the two (or more) buttons, depending on the destination. One of the buttons power only the unpowered rails on the stop, while the other powers that and also the switch/junction rail, reorienting it so that the carts go through the alternate line.
The design works on both single-track and double-track lines, but in the latter's case only one direction was allowed to branch, and the line coming back was simply merged.
This design cuts the time spent on the stop, as one press of a button aligns the switch rail and also send riders on its way. The reduced number of mechanisms (buttons and levers) to operate also reduces confusion. MTM's three-click switch in Southville was converted for this reason.
This design (or rather the philosophy of 1 button press per direction of travel) has become de facto standard for junctions in the server world.
==High-speed junction switch==
Double line, non-stop junction switch
*Switches built: 3
*Switches currently in use: 2
These switches provide optional stops or transfer to a branch line without having to stop. This can be achieved partly due to the double-tracking of that particular stretch. The name "high-speed" thus refer to the non-requirement for stopping at the junction.
There are two versions of these junctions. One version, as built by Molster, requires the rider to fire an arrow to a designated button located in between the tracks. A straight stretch of track and a clear line of sight is usually provided approaching the button to provide maximum window of opportunity to strike the button. Even so, the inevitable network lag could result in riders missing the button and the junction, a particularly disadvantageous situation for players with large ping (like Molster himself).
Another version, as built by MTM, employs a long row of buttons at the side of one track. While being more fail-safe than Molster's version, it uses more space, and the only instance of junction built this way are built into a side of a hill cutting.
In both cases, the button(s) activate a redstone circuit that powers the switch/junction rail, sending riders to the alternative line.
Locations of switches:
*South Line, behind MTM's House: Sends riders to MTM's private station.
*North Line branch, northbound: Transfers riders to the Steamer Line.
*[Former] Molster House junction: Demolished spectacularly (TNT'ed) after frustrations with failures and lag.
==Steamer Line adapter==
Railway powering mode adapter  thumb|322px|link=
*Adapters built: 1
*Adapters in use: 1
This device allows you to pass from a redstone powered railway to one that uses furnace minecarts and back into the first one with ease. it's mostly automated, but the player still has to feed the Locomotive with charcoal, and push a button to place one if it's not there, or disappeared for some reason.
The one in the server is the final version of the device, which was modified 5 or 6 times by MTM and Molster.
It is partially based on terminals Molster had on his old survival world. This terminal design doesn't require you to get off the minecart, the furnace carts are already facing the right direction for fuel-feeding (while still on the minecart) and once the trip ends the furnace cart returns to its initial position.
The only one of these in use in the server stitches the Steamer Line to the North line.
==Empty cart remover==
Single line empty cart remover
As the name suggests, this device designed by MTM on late August 2015 removes moving carts lacking passengers from the line. It's design is inspired by the steamer line adapter.
The first one (pictured) is located on a branch of the outer line, that until then was an abandoned line that was built by MTM more than a year ago, and closed by Molster. More devices of this kind will be placed on the outer line. One more of such device was installed near Jawado Junction on the Outer Line. As of 2019, the plan to install more of these on RTN's lines are shelved as MTM went on dormancy, and as lines are double tracked, reducing incidence of accidental in-transit disembarks.
A second design was produced by kimilil for CNR Aquileia Line, which depends on occupied carts having more momentum to go through a rail switch in time.
==Cable car==
Molster devised a cable car contraption that for a time was working at The Sky Raider Cable Car. The contraption consists of three components:
#Stacked minecarts i.e. one minecart riding the other. This has been known to provide perpetual self-propulsion without powered minecarts even up long upward slopes, albeit at slower speed. 
#Two mobs leashed to each other. To make this work in vanilla UUIDs must be used, and the mobs summoned simultaneously, which resulted in only 4 specially crafted commands.
#Mob invulnerability and permanent invisibility. This is applied to the mobs for aesthetics.
The resulting summon command consists of something like the following, the next riding the previous:
*Furnace cart
*Normal Cart
*Normal Cart
*Pig with invisibility and invulnerability
*Chicken as scaffold
*Pig with invisibility and invulnerability and a saddle
At spawn, the "scaffold" chicken is immediately killed and the pig with saddle now dangles below the minecarts which was placed on rails above air (placed on barrier blocks).
This specific mechanism was broken at some point after Minecraft fundamentally change mod stacking mechanics, switching from mobs "riding" another to mobs "carrying passangers".
==Self-building rail==
The self-building rail was a contraption devised by Molster, back when UMS have no WorldEdit and before the introduction of functions and looping command blocks in Minecraft. The system is a proof of concept and a critique of floating rails around the server built by MTM at the time. The resulting line became the Transcontinental South Line.
It is basically stacked command block minecarts (which is known to be self-propelling), each executes commands that each placed one part of the whole self-building system. The commands carry out the following things in order (each by one command minecart):
#Clear the path ahead (~5 blocks forward, 1 blocks above, 1 block below) by filling with air
#Place redstone block in a path ahead (same blocks ahead, 1 block below)
#Place activator rail on top of the redstone blocks (same blocks ahead)
#Replace activator rail right below the executing command block cart with powered rail
The result is a "machine" that bulldozes over everything in a straight line. The launch site was selected at the coordinate X:0 on the southern chunk border heading south. The system isn't perfect in that, to avoid added complexity, it doesn't detect and seal liquids around the cleared area, leading to tunnel flooding by both water and lava cave pockets. Stopping the contraption involves placing, way ahead of the advancing machine, normal rails ±1 blocks above/below the self-built rail level, and leading it away. This was no easy task considering Molster's legendary lag problem.
==Line concurrency & express service==
Note: this uses command blocks
kimilil and NerdieSanders implemented a system for Canabai National Railways that allows three services to partially share track and platform infrastructure.
more to follow.
==Track switching at cross platform interchanges==
kimilil devised a system at cross platform interchanges that, instead of alighting and embarking across the platform, one can push a button and the cart switches into the other track in the interchange. The tell tale indication of the system are the X shaped rail switches after the platforms.
The design is basically two of Molster's one-click switches working in parallel.
This system was first devised for the Northeast Railway's interchange station at Hareton, and the technology has been exported by kimilil elsewhere:
*Southville and Waldon Forest interchange complex for South and Templer Lines
*RT Fegelein station between East Line and Templer Line. Actually redundant as the East Line terminates here.
Read more at Wikipedia.
Category:Contraptions
Category:Infrastructure