How to Get Started With Trains

During your Factorio playthrough, your factory will get larger and larger. You'll eventually need to transport fuel and materials over longer distances and Conveyor Belts aren't going to get the job done. Trains will become your new best friend and we're here to explain to basics of how to get started with them in Factorio.

• Building Railways in Factorio
• Locomotives
• Attaching Wagons
• How to Use Train Stops

Building Railways in Factorio

Before you can build a train, you're going to need to lay down some rails for the train to run on. Depending on the way you've built your factory, you may need to move some machinery around to now accommodate the width of the railroad running between things.

Railroads can be crafted using 1 Stone, 1 Steel Plate, and 1 Iron Stick.

Once you've crafted some rails all you need to do is drag and drop them where you want your train to go. You can hit right-click to dismantle any railroad you accidentally placed. If you click on an existing rail, you'll see a green arrow that emerges. Clicking this will allow you to build multiple rail sections at once and even curve them if you don't want to manually rotate each piece.

If you build perpendicular to an already existing track, it will create an intersection. As you begin to build intersections and other more complicated rail structures, you'll want to learn how Train Signals work, which you can read in our in-depth guide here.

Locomotives

The Locomotive is the head of the train and the piece that will allow the train to move either automatically or manually depending on how you want to operate it. A train without a Locomotive will not move. Locomotives also require fuel to move, which can be manually entered by clicking on the Locomotive and clicking the fuel tab, or it can be loaded in using an Inserter at a Train Stop.

Locomotives cost 30 Steel plate, 10 Electronic Circuits, and 20 Engine units to craft.

A Locomotive cannot carry anything outside of fuel, you will need to attach other components to the Locomotive such as a Cargo Wagon or Fluid Wagon to store objects.

Attaching Wagons

To attach a wagon to the Locomotive, simply place the object behind the Locomotive on the tracks. These objects will now be connected and wherever the Locomotive goes, so will the wagon. If you want your train to go back and forth on the same railway, you'll need a Locomotive on both ends.

How to Use Train Stops

Once you build a Train Stop, you can place it anywhere along your railroad to create a stop for the Locomotive. You then have to click on the Locomotive and select the option "Add Station."

From here, select the name of your Train Stop and the Locomotive will stop there. You can also add a wait condition in the same menu. When you select this option a drop-down menu will appear and you can select variables such as full cargo, empty cargo, time passed, etc. Select the one that you want, and your Locomotive will now wait at the Train Stop until the desired condition is met.

Looking for more Factorio guides? See:

• Beginner's Guide and Tips
• Helpful Keyboard Shortcuts
• Starter Base Guide
• Combat Basics

Up Next: How to Get Started With Circuits

PreviousHow to Take Out Biter NestsNextHow to Get Started With Circuits

Top Guide Sections

• Beginner's Guide and Tips
• Helpful Keyboard Shortcuts
• Starter Base
• Combat Basics

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Initial Release: Aug 14, 2020

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