looking for railroad opinions

[Thorin]

I'm building a railroad on Planet Bob from spawn to my mountain house, and then from there on the castle in the mountains and the village I've fenced off.  I'm looking for opinions on what would look nicer.  The total length is around 1,400 blocks.

I've been waffling back and forth between going underground, on ground, or in the sky.  I think I want to go on the ground, just because making a skytrain safe from falls makes it less exciting.

But what would look good underneath it?  Should I run on cobblestone?  Or build it out of various types of wood?  Stone is better because of the fireproof nature.

I don't want to encase it in fences like I did on Usamot.  On the one hand that made it safe from mobs, but on the other hand you couldn't see the surrounding countryside as well.  Maybe a single-high fence a couple of blocks away from the railway would be nice, though.

So, any suggestions?

[Mr. Analog]

Cobble blocks with cobble stairs on either side

Since 1.7.2 (or earlier) mobs won't spawn directly on the tracks, neither will they spawn on stairs or half blocks

They can still move onto the tracks, which is why I still prefer underground or elevated tracks

[Lazybones]

Ditch-stairs-track-stairs-ditch should be a low cost solution to all but spiders

[Thorin]

You think cobble will look good? I'm more worried about the aesthetics than the mobs...

I think there's new spawning rules about mobs not spawning within 24 blocks of a player or something, as well.

[Lazybones]

Neither brick? Smooth stone?  There are a few options. Smooth stone generators still work I believe

[Thorin]

I think I'm going to go with cobblestone, with a darker wood (spruce or dark oak) instead of the cobblestone block and stairs every four or five blocks so it's not so bland.

Also, I'm going to lay it out rough at first, then work on individual sections like water crossings or spans between hills, etc.  Hopefully eventually it'll look really good.

[Thorin]

So the basic railroad has been laid out, and I decided to build a little mansion at the end of it: http://ov.mc.tomasu.org/planetbob/#/285/64/-700/max/0/0.

I know you guys are all playing C:SL, and it's very lonely on the server nowadays, but I'm glad it's still up and running for me to build things

[Mr. Analog]

Now, that's a seriously long line!

[Thorin]

Yes, yes it is.  Takes a couple of minutes to ride.  Goes from my original base (the mountain-top house) to my new base of operations (the mansion / village / mountain-top castle area).  I plan on having it go all the way to Spawn City eventually.  And then I plan on prettifying it.  But I also want to build up the village more and get a bit of a farm going and I still want to build on that giant platform and eventually glass it in...  So many plans, and it's taking me so long to do.

[Mr. Analog]

Time for me to build a second line to converge with yours!

Code Select Expand

/gamemode c

[Thorin]

no cheatin'

And you might want to wait until I've made my line look a little better than just a one-block-wide cobble-with-rail-on-it layout.