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I am building a roller coaster. How do I make powered rails work? I am having trouble riding my roller coaster. I have been annoyed working on it for a while and then not being able to use it!
If you ever wanted to make a rail system in Minecraft you know that the speed of regular minecart tracks are hardly worth the effort of building the railway in the first place. Luckily, you can also make powered rails in Minecraft that can boost you further. Powered rails will push your minecarts up to eight blocks a second. They can also push you uphill if you place enough of them.
- -6 Golden Ingots
- -1 Stick
- -1 Redstone Dust
- -1 Crafting table
Each time you complete this recipe you will make six powered rails. Each golden ingot will yield one powered rail, but you will need six total in order to make the rails to begin with.
The recipe calls for one stick so chop down a log and turn the resulting planks into sticks to have more than you need.
Redstone dust is required to make the powered rails. You will want extra as you need to power the rails with something like a redstone torch.
Finally, you will need the 3x3 crafting menu of a crafting table to make powered rails.
In a Nutshell:
To make Powered rails, open the crafting area made up of the 3x3 grid. Fill the entirety of the 1st and 3rd columns with 6 Gold Ingots, then place a wooden stick in the center of the crafting grid and 1 Redstone directly underneath it. Now simply click the rails and drag it into your inventory.
Here is the step-by-step pictorial guide you need to follow to make Powered Rails in Minecraft:
Step 1: Mine Gold
Start by finding some gold. You will need at least an iron pickaxe to mine the gold. Gold will spawn below “Y” level 16. Dig deep to find the gold. You can recognize it by its yellow flakes.
Step 2: Mine Redstone
While you are down there look for redstone. Redstone spawns below “Y” level 16. You can distinguish redstone by its red specks and how it will glow if you walk on it or strike the block.
Step 3: Smelt your Gold
Place your gold ore into a furnace and wait for it to smelt into gold ingots.
Step 4: Craft Powered Rails
Once your gold ingots are done smelting, take your ingredients into a crafting table to make the powered rails. Place the gold ingots in the left and right column, a stick in the middle, and a piece of redstone dust below the stick to make powered rails.
That’s it! You now know how to make powered rails.
Powered rails are different from regular rails. If they are not powered your minecart will grind to a halt. If they are powered your minecart will get a speed boost. To power your rails place a redstone torch next to the rails or a redstone torch just beneath the block the rail is on top of.
A redstone torch will power any adjacent rails up to nine rails.
To make a railway go quickly make sure you have no bends as this will slow your minecart down, and place powered rail all throughout your minecart track to ensure you can reach top velocity.
Credits: MCBasic
Q. How far can a Powered Rail push you uphill?
A. A powered rail cannot do much on its own. One powered rail going uphill will only push you about four or five blocks uphill. Combining many powered rails together at the bottom only seems to increase your speed additively. To really go uphill you will need to space your powered rails as you are going uphill.
Q. How do you make Powered Rails faster?
A. Powered rails will only speed you up as you are on top of them. If you have many rails placed in a row the top speed you can reach is eight blocks a second. It seems the only way to make powered rails faster is to place more of them. There used to be ways to create minecart boosters, but it has since been patched. Both the java and bedrock editions of Minecraft no longer support minecart boosters.
If you want a quick way up and down through your mine, powered rails are a must. They will make the trip much shorter and the effort of digging a railway down into your mine is worth it if you can supply the rails with many powered rails. While you may not go at light speed, eight blocks a second can save you time. Especially when going up.
All of your rail-magnate ambitions can come true in Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition, but everyone has to start somewhere. Learn the basics of building a railway with our handy guide to rails and minecarts.
This plain rail is the one you'll be using most. It can be placed on flat ground or on slopes. Six iron ingots and one stick produce 16 rails.
Powered rail
The powered rail, when attached to redstone, moves your minecart along the rail. If the powered rail isn't connected to redstone, it will stop your cart. Six gold ingots, one stick, and one redstone dust produces six powered rails.
Detector rail
Detector rails are generally used in redstone contraptions. When a minecart passes over a detector rail, it will either activate or deactivate any attached redstone. Six iron ingots, one stone pressure plate, and one redstone dust produces six detector rails.
Activator rail
Activator rails are quite useful when connected to redstone — if a minecart holding a player passes over, it will drop the player off. Likewise, a minecart filled with TNT will be lit when it passes over the activator rail. An activator rail not connected to redstone will act like a plain rail.
Plain minecarts can be ridden in by you, animals, and enemy mobs. You can control the minecart with whichever keys you use to go forward and backward. You can go up sloped rails, but progress will be slow.
Minecart with chest
Right-click a minecart with a chest in it and load up tools, resources, or whatever else you need transported. This is also super useful for when you're mining deep in the ground and want to keep your personal inventory empty.
Minecart with hopper
Minecarts with hoppers are quite useful for large mining operations. They will pick up any blocks or items lying on the track, and will also pick up any items on a block directly above the track. Hoppers can be turned on and off by passing over an activator rail powered with redstone.
Minecart with TNT
Minecarts with TNT in them are generally used for fast mining. The fuse will light after it passes over an activator rail powered with redstone, and will explode four seconds later. The faster the cart is moving at the time of the explosion, the larger the explosion will be. An exploding minecart with TNT will not destroy its rail or the block the rail is on.
How to create railways
With a rail in hand, right-click the ground to place it. If you make a mistake, just hit it with a pickaxe to pick it back up. Rails will automatically turn corners when you place a rail adjacent to another. Note, however, that you can't turn a corner when the track is on a slope.
Placing a block of cobblestone or something similar at each end of the track will stop your cart from going off the rails. If your cart does go off the rails, just hit it with a pickaxe to put it back in your inventory.
You can place rails in a diagonal pattern to create a diagonal track. They will look like a squiggly line on the ground, but your minecart will act as if the railway is straight.
How to create intersections
Creating intersections can be tricky when designing complex railways, but are usually necessary the longer you play.
To create a simple T-intersection that goes two ways, you'll need a lever. At the intersection, place the lever next to the T. Anytime you right-click the lever, the direction of the bend in the track will change.
How to ride a minecart
Right-click a rail with minecart in hand to place your minecart. Place it on level ground so that you have a chance to climb in! When you're ready to ride, just right-click the minecart.
When you're finished riding, hit spacebar or the corresponding jump key to exit the minecart.
How to use powered rails
If you'd like to create an automated railway system — essential for mining operations when you can't be there to drive a minecart — you have to use powered rails. Keep in mind that powered rails must be powered with a redstone item, like a lever or redstone torch.
A tip for powering sloped rails is to place a redstone torch beneath the block supporting the rail, as is shown in the picture above.
If you'd like a minecart to stop when it reaches the end of a powered track, you'll want to place a dip at each end, as is shown above.
Different types if minecarts act differently on powered rails:
- A plain minecart with you in it will travel at maximum speed for 38 blocks on flat ground after passing over three powered rails in a row. To maintain top speed, place one powered rail every 38 blocks. An empty plain minecart will only travel eight blocks at top speed after passing over three powered rails. If you'd like to save resources, you can space out your powered rails, but your minecarts will lose speed.
- Any minecart climbing a slope requires three powered rails in a row to reach top speed, and a powered rail every two blocks to maintain maximum speed.
- A minecart with a chest or hopper in it requires three powered rails in a row to reach top speed, and a powered rail every eight blocks to maintain maximum speed.
How to use detector rails
Detector rails are used to momentarily power redstone as the minecart passes over — place them like any other rail. They can be used to open doors, power pistons, or with any other complex redstone contraptions you create. In the image above, the cart is about to power the piston connected to the detector rail with redstone dust.
How to use activator rails
An activator rail powered by redstone will, if you're riding in a minecart, drop you off when you pass over it. It can also ignite a minecart filled with TNT. In the image above, an activator rail is set up at a base of operation to allow easy in and out access.