Create: Dual Gauge Tracks

Create Dual Gauge Track

Create Dual Gauge Track is a NeoForge mod for Minecraft 1.21.1 that adds a single track carrying two gauges at once.

The core block, Dual Gauge Track, is one placeable track with three rails. Narrow-gauge and standard-gauge trains share the outer rail and each use their own inner rail, so one line serves both gauges instead of needing two parallel routes.

Features

• One track ridden by both narrow-gauge and standard-gauge bogies
• Three-rail models across every track shape: straights, diagonals, slopes, curves and all six junction types
• Narrow-gauge trains ride an offset centreline rather than the middle of the track
• Narrow bogies assembled the wrong way round derail, with their own status message
• 17 track variants sharing the Steam 'n' Rails look, including blackstone, ender, tieless and phantom
• Phantom variant hides until you hold it, matching Steam 'n' Rails behaviour
• Sequenced assembly recipes for every variant
• Live-tunable rail offsets in the config

Requirements

• Minecraft 1.21.1
• NeoForge 21.1.x
• Create 6.0.x
• Create: Steam 'n' Rails 0.3.0-alpha.2 or newer

Steam 'n' Rails is a hard requirement. The mod uses its narrow-gauge bogies and its track textures.

Block Overview

Dual Gauge Track

Primary behaviour:

1. Registers a dedicated dual_gauge track type on the Create track graph.
2. Accepts both standard-gauge and narrow-gauge bogies on the same graph edge.
3. Includes dual-gauge edges when pathfinding routes for either gauge.
4. Offsets narrow-gauge bogies laterally toward the shared rail while they travel.
5. Derails trains whose narrow bogies sit on the wrong side of the shared rail.

The track connects, curves and forms junctions exactly like ordinary Create track, and can be paved and girdered the same way.

Gauge Compatibility

Create normally gates each track to one gauge by comparing a single track type on the bogey against the one on the edge. Dual Gauge Track relaxes that check for its own track type only:

• Standard-gauge and narrow-gauge bogies are both treated as compatible
• Wide-gauge and monorail bogies remain incompatible
• Both gauges include dual-gauge track when searching for routes

Every variant shares one track type, so mixing wood variants along a line has no effect on which trains can use it.

Rail Geometry

The standard-gauge centreline sits on the track's own centreline, so standard trains behave exactly as they do on ordinary Create track. Only narrow-gauge trains carry an offset, moving them toward the shared rail.

Because the three-rail profile is asymmetric, the mod tracks which side the shared rail sits on:

• Straights and diagonals record their side when placed
• Curve endpoints take their side from the curve leaving them, not from where the player looked
• Junctions record a side for each of the two tracks meeting them, so each rail continues its own straight

Junctions

All six Create crossing shapes are supported. Orthogonal and diagonal crossings map onto themselves under a quarter turn, so they use one model at four rotations. The four mixed crossings pair an orthogonal track with a diagonal one and swap identity under a quarter turn, so they use a second model at two rotations instead.

Crafting

Every variant is made on a sequenced assembly line:

1. Start with the variant's base item, usually its slab.
2. Deploy three iron or zinc nuggets in sequence.
3. Finish with a mechanical press.

This mirrors the Steam 'n' Rails track recipes, with a third nugget for the third rail.

Known Limitations

• Narrow bogies must be assembled facing the same way as the track's shared rail. Mirrored assemblies derail on purpose rather than riding in mid-air

• Narrow bogies can be moved with the wrench to the wrong direction and will derail.