Freedonia Railway System

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Building Freedonia Railway System

Grand Freedonia Railway Station

About
Owner getplayerhead.sh?shypixel&16.png shypixel
Contributors getplayerhead.sh?chivalrousWeasel&16.png chivalrousWeasel, getplayerhead.sh?Krenath&16.png Krenath, getplayerhead.sh?Blobehh&16.png Blobehh, getplayerhead.sh?Jmancino2&16.png Jmancino2, getplayerhead.sh?Lothendal&16.png Lothendal, getplayerhead.sh?healthyuncle&16.png healthyuncle, getplayerhead.sh?AJStratton&16.png AJStratton, getplayerhead.sh?SlowRiot&16.png SlowRiot, getplayerhead.sh?thesprazzler&16.png thesprazzler, getplayerhead.sh?theschlozmeister&16.png theschlozmeister, getplayerhead.sh?14mRh4X0r&16.png 14mRh4X0r, getplayerhead.sh?gricer1326&16.png gricer1326, getplayerhead.sh?Alkarius_Endgame&16.png Alkarius_Endgame, getplayerhead.sh?LewisD95&16.png LewisD95 and Many More!
Category Infrastructure
Underground? Partly
Public? Conditionally
Started June 2011
Completed Constantly being expanded
Size north to south 36000m
Size west to east 36000m
Height 100m
Location
Coordinates X=-144
Y=80
Z=323
Dimension Overworld
Nearest warp Spawn
Map link

"I'll try to look excited." - getplayerhead.sh?lacrosse1991&16.png lacrosse1991

The Freedonia Rail System is a collection of rail lines intended to provide reliable, standardized, and easy to use rail transportation service across the far reaches of the map.

Lacrosse rides the rails near Pigchinko

Contents

Summary

Centered at the Grand Freedonia Railway Station overlooking Spawn, the Freedonia Railway System is a minecart rail transportation alternative to Warps and Project Anubis Nexus Transporters. The system was constructed from a combination of Craftbook magic and in-game redstone powered rail mechanics. Players purchase tickets for a nominal fee (5 cobble at the time of writing), select a station or stop from along one of four main rail lines, then board a self-launching minecart and are powered along their way. Carts will leave the main line towards the desired station automatically, so players can relax and enjoy the scenery.

Warning to Users

Some of the lines are broken in ways that will dump a rider from a high place, or possibly even trap them in a switching point that they cannot escape without griefing (but use the /home command instead!). It is quite possible that you will not be able to return from some destinations (relative to the Grand Central Station at Spawn) and advertised branch connections may have been removed. (based on the Travels of user:Bytebasher Dec 2018)

Philosophy

Krenath looking annoyed at the interruption

The FRS stands proud as the most Multiplayer Survival compatible transportation alternative. Powered primarily by in-game mechanics, the main lines were originally built completely by hand with self-harvested material. The four main lines serve not only as transportation along the four cardinal directions, but also as targets for other player built rail lines for connection/transfer. This will make easy to follow transportation to many smaller and/or remote player communities and homes a much more attainable goal. Any player with enough ambition, resources, time and redstone know-how can connect their personal line(s) to one fo the main lines and have front door rail service from Spawn.

Components

The FRS main lines are composed of several parts:

  • Hub Stations
  • Spur Stations
  • Branches
  • Stops
  • Tons and tons of Rails

Hub Stations

Grand Freedonia Railway Station
Lava Town station.
Lava Town station interior

Hub Stations, such as the Grand Freedonia Railway Station, are the heart of the system. They have multiple inbound and outbound lines, station/stop information, full ticket service, and cart dispensing, collecting and launching facilites. Main lines all begin and end in a Hub Station, which often lends its name to the adjoining rail line. All rail lines connected to a Hub Station are required to conform to a strict standardized layout to ensure compatability.

Spur Stations

Lothendal Manor subway station
Artville subway station

Spur Stations are similar to Hub Stations, but are optional lines that depart from the main lines. Spur stations only have service to and from the main line they are attached to. Spur Stations will have essential services like ticket dispensing, cart launching and basic station/stop directions. They may or may not have cart collection and dispensing. All rail lines connected to a Spur Station are required to conform to a loose set of minimal standards to qualify for connection to the main lines.

Branches

Branches are simple rail lines departing from the main or spur lines. These optional lines may or may not have any return service or ticket/cart services. They may even end suddenly or be unmaintained. Use at your own risk. All Branches connected to main lines must have at least return service and return ticket service. Owners/Managers of Spur Stations and lines may set their own criteria for connection.

Stops

Stops are simply that: stops. Your railcart will either move onto a short branch or simply stop moving and eject you. Stops along main lines will all have return ticket and cart launching services, but those along Spur or Branch lines are really a crapshoot. They are primarily a way to get you off the rails to follow a road or enter a nearby building. All stops are optional.

Tons and tons of Rails

getplayerhead.sh?shypixel&16.png shypixel cruises past the Spawn cactus on his way to Lava Town

As players speed along the rail line, they will be treated to a variety of stunning scenery and vistas unavailable in any other fashion. While substantially more time-consuming than Warps, they are far more organic to the Minecraft world, and allow more democratic and open access to rapid transportation.

Main Lines

Great Northern Line

The Great Northern Line goes West. This is because when the line was created the direction this line went in was North, until one minecraft update changed which direction north was. So now it goes West. This railway line uses white wool. You can take this line from the spawn station by holding sugar.

↔ The Domes Line → North Nexus
↔ New Venice - /st NewVenice
↔ Greenville → North West Nexus

Lava Town Line

The Lavatown line is the oldest mass transit railway line. It goes towards the east side of the Map. Like many other Lavatown related builds, this line uses the colour orange. You can take this line from spawn station by holding string.

↔ Kurai Cho - /st KuraiCho
↔ Fellowship of Cake United (FoCU) - /st FoCU
↔ Sigma Castle - /st SigmaCastle
→ Lavatown Rail Station
↔ Lothendal Manor
↔ Port Dhal
↔ Hotel Recluse
↔ Ravines Metro Loop
↔ Lothendal Wood & Stone Company
↔ Ravines Airport
↔ Ravines Stadium
↔ Ravines Overlook
↔ Arroyo - /st Arroyo

Occidental Line

The Occidental Express, originally heading west (until the directions in minecraft were switched around) goes to the south of the map and uses green wool. Holding wheat seeds in your hand will take you away from spawn on this line. The word "Occidental" can mean "West".

Acacia Rails South station
↔ Underworld - Hold String at DrumCity station
↔ Nexus East Branch - Hold String at Glenfiddich station
↔ Cacti Express - Hold Cactus at Forestberg station
↔ Reed Express - Hold Sugar Canes at Forestberg station
↔ Forttree Line - Hold Stick at Forestberg station
↔ Central Line - Hold Cobblestone at Forestberg station
↔ Station to Gardopolis

Branches

  • New Louisville Subway System

Oriental Line

The Oriental line uses blue wool and goes north. Holding a feather in your hand will take you on this line from spawn station.

↔ Hellview Castle - /st Hellview
↔ Lumen - /st Lumen
↔ Temple of Supreme Fishiness - /st Nosefish
↔ Ocean City - /st Ocean
↔ Station to Assassin's Fort

Map

London Style

This London Underground style route map is not geographically accurate, but demonstrates the relationship of the lines, stations and stops. This can be printed for easy navigation.

Legacy Map

Map last updated 8th April 2016 by getplayerhead.sh?thesprazzler&16.png thesprazzler and getplayerhead.sh?theschlozmeister&16.png theschlozmeister.

Bookmarklet Live Map overlay

There also is an overlay for the live map, not yet complete but mostly up to date. See FRS/gmap/code for the bookmarklet code and details.

Usage

Using the rails is a four stage process:

Choosing Line/Destination

Depending on where you wish to go, you must select the appropriate line and station/branch/stop. If your destination is the terminal station of a line, you can move to the next step. If you wish to use a spur, branch or stop, you simply type /st name, where name is the name of the desired station, branch or stop. You may type this command at any time, and it will persist until you disconnect or repeat the command.

Buying Tickets

Grand Freedonia Railway Station Ticket Counter

Standard ticket pice is five cobble blocks. In exchange, you will receive a common item, such as a string or feather. Tickets must be held in your hand to properly guide you along your route. Tickets help the rail system determine the correct direction of your travel. The /st command decides where you will stop, but your ticket tells the rails how to get you there. Tickets are required for return service on the main lines, and you will go different directions depending on which ticket you hold. Some stations, like Spawn Station, have a ticket associated with them, in this case, paper. Paper will always take you back to spawn.

Boarding Carts

How you board your cart will depend on where you are entering the system. In remote areas, it may be as primitive as placing a cart on the rails, nudging it, and hopping in before it rolls away. All stations will have Launcher Blocks, lime green wool blocks along the line. Placing a cart in these blocks will cause it to remain stationary until entered, when it will start automatically. Hub and major Spur Stations have cart dispensers that allow you to press a button to summon a cart to a launcher block. It is wise to hold your ticket in hand during all stages of boarding.

Exiting Carts

How you exit will depend on where you exit. If your destination is major station, you will be automatically ejected from your cart, which will be collected into a system chest. Smaller stations may merely stop your cart, requiring you to exit and destroy your cart manually. Branches and Stops may simply end. In places where a cart return is not provided, please return your cart to the nearest station at your convenience.

History

Kurai Cho railway station
The original end of the Oriental Line at the edge of the original border, before the 1.0.1 expansion

A brief overview of the genesis of the Freedonia Railway System.

Along Came a Muu

Shortly after learning about Craftbook rail blocks, getplayerhead.sh?shypixel&16.png shypixel found himself itching to build some rail lines. Unfortunately his home, Lava Town, was deep in the unsettled wilds at the time. Then getplayerhead.sh?AgentMuu&16.png AgentMuu showed up in the region and began to mark off what was to become the Isle of Muu, and Shy approached him with a plan. They would build a railway linking their two territories, deep beneath the ocean floor. After many hours of laborious mod-sticking, Shypixel emerged beneath the ice on Muu Island, placing rail as he went. This first line was primitive, with gold ore boosters and simple cart chests. You even had to nudge the cart to get it moving before boarding. But it was long, and it was proof that rail travel was viable over long distances.

Enter Lothendal

During the time that the intial rail tunnel was under construction, Lavatown got a new neighbor in the Caverns region, a little known architect named getplayerhead.sh?Lothendal&16.png Lothendal. Shypixel didn't know it at the time, but Lothendal was a master builder with an eye for detail and a penchant for perfection. It wasn't long before Lothendal happened upon the rail tunnel, and his curiosity was sparked. Working furiously, Lothendal quickly built a spur line to his Manor, followed by another to the sleepy coastal settlement of Port Dhal. Having multiple destinations required a more sophisticated system than Shy's simple dispenser, and Lothendal was more than up to the challenge. Lavatown station soon boasted auto-launching cart dispensers and ticket based track sorting, allowing visitors to shuttle between Shypixel's, AgentMuu's and Lothendal's new stations with ease and speed.

A Far Away Land

And so things sat for some time, Shypixel, Lothendal, and AgentMuu content with their stations. With the nearby Caverns warp, players could easily be directed into the rails, and get to where they needed to go. But unbeknownst to them, the three had another neighbor, far to the north, one who was not content with the long walks needed to visit his Island. getplayerhead.sh?rtkwe&16.png rtkwe decided that a spur line out of the Lavatown station was what he wanted, and he approached Shypixel with his plan. The two worked from opposite directions, Shy building ground rail from Lavatown, and Rtkwe building a raised rails along the skyroad from his island. A few days later, they met near the Lavatown coast, and the new line was complete. Dwarfing the length of those that came before it, the Island Spur with its raised rails would become the model for future lines. The atrractive new sky-rails generated a lot of interest with their stunning vistas and lack of obstacles. Many players expressed doubt that such a system would work on a large scale, that it would be susceptible to grief and decay, and even that it could be built without item spawning.

The Lavatown Line

Blinded by pride in the naescent rail system, Shypixel insisted that not only that it could work, but that it would. After retiring to his hidden vault, Shypixel fired up his furnaces and began crafting the mountains of materials that would be needed for such a large scale project. A few days later a conversation was sparked in chat about the rail system, and how close it had come to thw Twin Towers. After Shypixel expressed a plan to extend the lines as far as New Atlanta, ChivalrousWeasel pointed out how close that was to spawn. Shypixel took it as a challenge, and vowed that Friday afternoon that come Monday, there would be unbroken rail service from spawn to the Isle of Muu.

Again, Shypixel retreated to his vault, this time to gather his supplies. Driven by madness, he began to build. Following the sky-road, he labored away with half-blocks and rails for countless hours. The hours melted in to days as he worked up to the point of delerium. Assisted in his mad frenzy by AJStratton and Blobehh, he drove the rails towards spawn, block by painstaking block. Finally, late on Sunday night, the rails turned the corner and came to rest at their temporary station behind Flippeh. Wiping a tear from his large googly eyes, Shypixel boarded a minecart and took the inaugural trip on the Lavatown Line. Covering eight kilometers in around ten mintues, Shypixel rolled into Muu's Station just before midnight, having made good on his bragadoccio.

I, Krenath

The jubilation of having completed the line could not mask the fact that it suffered from some serious defects under heavy usage. The one-lane design resulted in numerous collisions and bounce-backs. Darker areas were haunted by zombies and skeletons. Discarded items, hourly gifts, and abandoned minecarts clogged the lines. Perhaps most of all, the temporary spawn station was hard to find and primitive. Shypixel's flurry of activity had attracted the attention of God Donor and Admin getplayerhead.sh?Krenath&16.png Krenath. Inspired by the successes of the Lavatown Line, Krenath decided to rectify its deficiencies. First, he found an abandoned structure at spawn, and handed the deed to Shypixel. Next, he used his godly powers to will into being a new style of rail, the double line slung under a skyroad with lightstone. Working as only he can, he followed the original line, building the now familiar skyrails in its place. As he toiled, Shypixel went Bob Vila on the old house at spawn. That evening, the symbolic Golden Spike was driven, completing the Existing Lavatown Line and commemorating the Grand Opening of the Grand Freedonia Railway Station.


View from Spawn Station.

Broncoskip's Tower at night.

Riding by the Satellite.

Skeleton Bay, deep in the wilds.

End of the Oriental Express line at the map border (before the opening up at 1.8)

Signs at the end of the Oriental Express line

One of the many sights that make long train rides more pleasant. Seen on the orange rail near Lava Town

Videos

A video posted by the user getplayerhead.sh?ScarClaw72&16.png ScarClaw72 that shows a speedup of a minecart ride from spawn to Mycelia Click Here

See also

Retrieved from "http://minecraftonline.com/wiki/Freedonia_Railway_System"

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