Hyde's Tower Rail Depot (Hyde Park)

Security patches to the Hyde's Tower perimeter and internal spawn points are underway, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to do another building write-up on another structure we use on a regular basis: the train station in Hyde's Tower.

Hyde's Tower Rail Depot

Opened: 3 March 2011

Structure Built By Bronzite 2-3 March 2011

Switching Computer Built by MikeXIV 12 March 2011

Connections: Government Center Station, South Station

North Annex Built By Bronzite 6 March 2011

Shortly after the switching computer at Government Center Station was completed, the rail line from Government Center to Hyde's Tower was built, but missed the town perimeter. Rather than attempt to run the line into the already over-crowded civic building, a new station was built east of the city on 2 March, and completed the next day. Until the 8th, the only safe means of access to the station was a tunnel connecting the subbasement to the the Spiral-Hyde tunnel. On 8 March the first expansion of Hyde's Tower's original wall encompassed the station's site, providing a safe land route to the station.

When originally built, the Rail Depot had a very primitive launcher capable of propelling a Minecart to Government Central Station. The original design was plagued by undershooting issues, resulting in the cart stopping halfway to its destination. MikeXIV, our resident rail engineer, was on vacation, and was unable to install a proper switching computer until his return. At the time the Y70 protocol was being discussed, so while the line to Government Center Station was (at the time) Y70 compliant, the line south was simply taken below the southern wall and connected to the existing rail line to the spawn. That bypass would remain in place until the Central Forest line replaced the Causeway Co-line on the 16th.

The station's tower is currently the second highest observation site in the city (the highest being the eponymous tower.) Although tools and materials have occasionally been stored there, the building has never served a secondary function. Much of the southern Undercity was initially built around the foundation of the Rail Depot. The tunnels originally constructed to allow access during the time the station was outside the city walls are still there, although rarely used. Although the station has been plagued by booster stalls, the redstone circuitry is almost completely in the same configuration it was when the computer was first built.

There are currently no plans to modify or demolish the station, although recently there have been questions of a major reconfiguration of the rail network within Hyde's Tower. The Rail Depot has become a fixture of life in Hyde's Tower, and is still the entry point for most travelers. It, or something like it, will likely be there as long as Hyde's Tower is inhabited.