I want to build a railroad from my iron mines to my main home. Any advice?
Right now my biggest issue is that I cannot figure out what to do with the stakes once they are sitting on the gravel road. Do I hit them with a mallet? That does not seem to do anything…and yes, I tried swiping from all directions with the mallet, too. What am I doing wrong?
for the stakes you have to swipe them onto the gravel.
the railroad is ment to be a one way line. so for going both direction you should build 2 tracks. think of it as more of a multi station circle line.
of course there is an end piece. but it is not ment to be used as end piece. the end piece is only there for bringing carts on the circle line.
corner pieces have 3 direction (left, straight, right). you can set it once, but can change it later on with a chisel.
there are 2 flags you can use. red is for stop. green is for sending carts on the way.
I recently finished my set of tracks, and let me tell you… it’s a struggle. I was planning to make a guide, but kind of abandoned it when i figured it out and got to work. The stakes on gravel are the most confusing thing and I think it’s some kind of glitch because the book does not notice it, but: you need to swipe the stakes on the gravel in order to hit them with the mallet! otherwise it will tell you to do so, but it wont work.
In case you’re interested:
Hey all, I’ve been trying to figure out how to build tracks and somehow there does not seem to be a comprehensive guide. In the game, many things can be learnt by trial and error and inspecting the book, but the tracks seem to be an issue. What i have so far:
To build a track, you will need to build a gravel path first. You get gravel from mining. Either start from a bear cave or a vein. You will also need loads of iron for the tracks, so it makes sense to use your tools wisely and not waste any material.
Build gravel paths by putting square floor stakes in the ground, dig out 1 basketful of dirt, then fill the hole with gravel (a basket is full when picking up 3 small gravel piles). The dirt will vanish after a while - so if you plan on using it for cobblestone-pavement, don’t wait to long. Also, don’t pre-dig the path when you don’t have the gravel yet: The holes will fill too. And you will not get the stakes back after putting the gravel down, so… you will need a lot of them.
Swipe the stakes on the gravel - It will look the same as simply dropping them on gravel, and the book cant differentiate either ( might be a bug @Christoffer ?), but otherwise you won’t be able to hit them with a mallet in the next step. Hit once for horizontal, twice for vertical stakes. There are also options for Track-ends, crossings and the turntable-thing, so make sure to double check it’s the right setup.
Swipe a track kit (wooden boards + steel blade) on the track stakes. They will turn into tracks, corresponding to the stakes you put. If you make a mistake, they can be removed by swiping a steel mining pick on them.
Track ends are rounded off on one side and can not be extended in that direction. You’re going to want to connect two opposite track-ends in a straight line. Make sure there are no gaps in between before you take the next step!
Take a track-cart kit (wooden boards + 4 wooden wheels + spring) and place it on a track end! It will start moving along the tracks once you tap it. The speed is two tiles per second or something, so for short distances they make no sense. Pack them by placing items inside the cart like you would into a basket. There are only 4? slots per kit i think! You can have multiple carts on one track, but they will only ever move in the same direction.
This is how far I’ve come. I also understand how to make flags, and seen a turntable, but all that is still confusing to me. Maybe you can expand this and share your knowledge 
This is all fabulous. Thank you!
@Maengish I remember when we did the first railroad together, after the new update came out. it was in Valhalla (RIP) and went from Smith place to bear cave and back.
I guess, filming it would be helpful. but also would be a looong video.
this nice advice 
. that you remember all that 
Ones i builded a railroad between Smith and bearcave mining which was IN ONE LINE. then you don’t need a railroad loop but just one way. as you can use the flags to lead the tracks to go backwards.
is then a bit tricky with the last/first track. but you will figure it out by trying to tap it.
as soon you have a “curve” /change of direction(turntable) in railroad it’s better to make it only one way and as circle/loop.
because the track can’t go back the “corner piece” without always undo the whole thing and place it again in the right direction. it’s possible tho-you need chisel for that. and… I think shovel or pickaxe to undo the turntable/corner track piece
I built mine in a single line too - it’s complicated enough lol. And i have a new problem, where i added a second cart and it blocked the first one in the end. Like, one is set to “up” and the other one to “down” apparently, and they cannot move now unless i make a green u-turn flag 
anybody know how to prevent that from happening or is it just always neccessary to make u-turn flags to add more than 1 cart?
yes you always need a green flag so the track move back the other direction
how does your s look like?
What I have planned out is a long straight section with loops at both ends, like a p and a b connected to each other by the straight part. So there would be no need to manually reverse the carts at the end, they would reverse naturally by going around the loop. Has anyone tried this?
It does require a three-way intersection, but I was planning on using a turntable for that.
Yes! My plan is two of these, with the End piece you have at the bottom left actually continuing, running to the second loop.
I kept forgetting to take screenshots but yeah basically the same layout. I made 2 flags and it went smoothly back and forth a few times, but now one of the carts is stuck again (probably for as long as the other is moving - and its almost a minute for one way lol). I had hoped the work would pay off more but well, still a nice “attraction” for the town.
Edit: The cart remains stuck and wont move with the flag. now i have a cart on either end
So on the cross sections the carts will automatically change direction? That sounds really interesting, maybe you can share your progress here :)) Also for the guide, how exactly do you make cross ones? do you still only need one track kit?
try to tap the last cart without flag.
the carts cant go the other way through a turntable. we tried.
they can go in only one way and go out the other three ways.
