How to Build a Switchback
When you are constructing tracks in a mountainous setting like the Andes or Great Lakes DLC’s, you might find that some direct paths to your destinations will be too expensive to construct a tunnel, too steep, or curves too tight to climb up or down a mountain side.
To fix that, I recommend a switchback, and if you don’t know what a switchback is, it’s a piece of track that trains use to climb up a steep grade by going backwards or forwards at the end of track via switch. Meaning if the train is going forward, the train will reverse up the switchback to gain height without expensive earthworks, steep grades, or tight curves.
Although the trains can’t reverse, but the switchback can help you out in a tight spot. Here’s a quick tutorial on how to construct one.
- Construct one warehouse far from a city or rural industry as a switchback base (Do not make it store anything!) If space permits, construct additional ones until you can connect the rural industry or towns to your network.
- Connect the warehouse(s) to the rural industry/towns and connect the entire thing to your rail network.
- When setting up a route, be sure to add the warehouse(s) one the trip down/up to your destination and add it/them again so the train can easily return back to it’s starting point.
Follow these steps, and your train can climb up or down a mountain without expensive earthworks halting track work. Hope you find this tutorial helpful!
Not a good explanation. My guess is that the train goes forward up, then stops at the end of the switchback. Then it backs its cars up the upper leg of the switchback. How do warehouses come in?