REDSTONEPEDIA › Circuits › Minecart stations

Minecart line: carries a chest's items to a chest far away, by itself (minecart item transport)

moves a double chest 128 blocks in 21 min · ~65 iron + 24 gold · the cart waits when there's nothing to carry

Carries the items you put in its supply chest to a storage chest 128 blocks away, by itself: one hopper minecart fills at the loader, rolls down the track, empties at the unloader and comes back for more. With nothing to carry, the cart waits at the loader.

2.75 items a second · fits in 143×4×6 · 363 blocks with its track

moves a double chest 128 blocks in 21 minMinecart line3D view loading (or not available in this browser)

Try it

The view shows the line as built, with its two double chests and no cart: the browser's simulator does not run it yet. In the game, put one hopper minecart on the track and items in the supply chest at the loader: the cart fills, carries them to the storage chest at the other end and comes back for more.

Build it

Download .litematic Download the design as text

The .litematic opens in Litematica (Minecraft 26.3): every block of the design in one region. The text file is the same build written as plain text, block by block.

After building it, put a double chest at each end, the supply chest at the loader and the storage chest at the unloader (where the view shows them), and one hopper minecart on the track: none of them is in the download or its block count. A cart stops in chunks the game is not running: with a server's default simulation distance this line keeps working while you stand at either end.

Blocks used: comparator detector rail glass hopper oak fence gate oak trapdoor powered rail rail redstone block redstone torch redstone wall torch redstone wire repeater stone

Its stations: Minecart loader: fills a hopper minecart from a chest, then sends it back · 44 blocks (the loader, which fills the cart at 16.87 items a second) and Minecart unloader: empties a hopper minecart into a chest, then sends it back · 31 blocks (the unloader, which empties the cart at 4.79 items a second), with 128 blocks of track between them, a powered rail every 8 blocks.

Details: how it works, measurements and properties

In depth

A hopper minecart pulls one item a tick, 20 items a second, from a chest right above its rail, and holds 320 items (5 stacks). At the loader it stops under the supply chest and fills; it leaves when it is full, or when the chest has run dry and it holds something. Empty, at an empty chest, it stays put, so an idle farm's cart does not shuttle back and forth. At the other end, the unloader holds it over hoppers that empty it into the storage chest, then sends it back.

A powered rail every 8 blocks, kept on by a redstone torch, keeps the cart at full speed both ways. A cart only moves in chunks the game is running: with a server's default simulation distance (10 chunks), a line of 128 blocks keeps both ends running while you stand at either one; a longer line works only while you stand near its middle.

How to try it

The view shows the line as built, with its two double chests: the supply chest at the loader's end and the storage chest at the unloader's. The browser's simulator does not run its cart yet. Drag to look around, pinch or scroll to zoom. In the game, put one hopper minecart on the track and items in the supply chest: the cart fills, carries them to the storage chest and comes back for more.

Measurements

Over a whole load: the supply double chest filled with 3,456 items, one empty hopper minecart on the track, every item counted until the last one is in the storage chest.

metric	value	what it means
minutes for a double chest	20.9 min	minutes from a full supply double chest (3,456 items) to the last item in the storage chest, one cart making every trip
items/s	2.75	items carried each second, over that whole run
trips	11	the cart's round trips for the double chest
by the quarter	5.3 min, 10.8 min, 16.3 min, 20.9 min	when a quarter, half, three quarters and all of the double chest had arrived: a steady line delivers at an even pace
bill	~65 iron, 24 gold, ~80 redstone, 3 quartz (track and cart included)	what its blocks and the cart cost to craft, the two chests aside: iron for the rails, hoppers and cart, gold for the powered rails, quartz for the comparators
trickle	300 items fed 5 at a time every 5 s: all delivered by 5.9 min, then the cart parked at the loader	a farm's slow output: a few items now and then, then nothing; every item must arrive, and then the cart must stay parked at the loader rather than shuttle back and forth empty
track	128 blocks, a powered rail every 8	the track between its two stations, and how often a powered rail keeps the cart at speed

Properties

Study	Minecart stations
Kind	Minecart line: carries a chest's items to a chest far away, by itself (minecart item transport)
Blocks placed	363 (not counting the two double chests the view adds)
Box	143×4×6 (3432 blocks of space)
Inputs / outputs	the supply double chest over the loader / the storage double chest at the unloader
Design file	`line-b`

The design file

on GitHub

Design file (62 lines)

# Minecart line: moves a double chest 128 blocks in 21 min · ~65 iron + 24 gold · the cart waits when there's nothing to carry
# https://vjeux.github.io/redstonepedia/circuits/rail/line-b.html
name: line-b
cart.dir: east
port cart: 117 0 0
port items: 133 2 0
port items.b: 133 2 -1
port output: -6 -1 0
port output.b: -6 -1 1
origin: -6 0 -3
palette:
  A minecraft:powered_rail[powered=true,shape=east_west,waterlogged=false]
  B minecraft:redstone_torch[lit=true]
  C minecraft:comparator[facing=north,mode=compare,powered=false]
  D minecraft:detector_rail[powered=false,shape=ascending_east,waterlogged=false]
  E minecraft:redstone_wall_torch[facing=east,lit=true]
  F minecraft:redstone_wire[east=none,north=none,power=0,south=none,west=none]
  G minecraft:glass
  H minecraft:hopper[enabled=true,facing=down]
  I minecraft:repeater[delay=1,facing=east,locked=false,powered=false]
  J minecraft:repeater[delay=1,facing=north,locked=false,powered=false]
  K minecraft:repeater[delay=1,facing=south,locked=false,powered=false]
  L minecraft:repeater[delay=1,facing=west,locked=false,powered=false]
  M minecraft:repeater[delay=2,facing=south,locked=false,powered=false]
  O minecraft:oak_fence_gate[facing=west,in_wall=false,open=false,powered=false]
  P minecraft:powered_rail[powered=false,shape=ascending_east,waterlogged=false]
  R minecraft:rail[shape=east_west,waterlogged=false]
  S minecraft:stone
  c minecraft:comparator[facing=south,mode=compare,powered=false]
  d minecraft:detector_rail[powered=false,shape=east_west,waterlogged=false]
  h minecraft:hopper[enabled=true,facing=west]
  o minecraft:oak_trapdoor[facing=west,half=bottom,open=true,powered=false,waterlogged=false]
  p minecraft:powered_rail[powered=false,shape=ascending_west,waterlogged=false]
  r minecraft:redstone_block
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