Single Track Rail (STR) Neighbor Connection

[RobertLM78 1,597]

I looked for an answer to this question, honest I did

If I drag STR to a neighbor, it *appears* to connect, but does it really?  (I seem to recall the RHW uses special neighbor connector pieces, but I haven't found one in the Rail Menu - though it could be hiding somewhere). 

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

STR doesn't need a neighbor connector since it's already a bidirectional single-tile network.

In general, any override network that spans more than one tile needs a neighbor connector to work properly. If it's something like the RHW-4, MIS, or RHW-6S, which are single-tile but one direction, it needs a return route since a one-way connection isn't even possible. Since every rail network to date has been a two-way one-tile network, no NC pieces have ever been needed.

More details:

Spoiler

Neighbor connections must have outgoing and incoming traffic coming within the same connection; traffic cannot come in through one road and come in through another, even if they are next to each other. NC pieces literally and secretly bridge that gap so that multi-tile override networks can function properly without deconverting the network into a bunch of 2-way roads intersecting each other. The only time NC pieces are necessary is when both directions of traffic are separated into their own one-way networks, such as with RHW, or when a two-way override network spans multiple tiles (technically separating both directions of traffic into their own one way road "subnetworks"), such as with the NWM's RD-4, RD-6, and AVE-6.

 

[RobertLM78 1,597]

Thank you for the detailed explanation,  @Ganaram Inukshuk