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[Kestrel]

Happy to put up some pics.  I don't have any active saves right now so I put together this diagram which may or may not be useful.  I'm without my tablet so I did the thing right-handed with a mouse, so the result is rather MC Escheresque, but you should get the idea.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Take note: the track doesn't have to be long at all, even further decreasing setup times, but it can be extended across the floor as needed.

If your mineral scarcity is high enough, or you're mining a level with few minerals at all, then that would greatly diminish the usefulness of carts.  Likewise, if your ore supply is extremely close to your forges, then there's no reason to implement carts.  Obviously, scale is a major factor in usefulness, but I've still found it quicker to design even modest mining operations around this.  Ideally, the chute would be one straight-shot down across all levels of the fort, down to your forges, so every mining level could quickly carve some tracks out to enable their own dumping.

The biggest payoff comes when mining out flux layers.  There you've got the most to move, and carts have been a huge blessing for getting the job done.

[mdqp]

Happy to put up some pics.  I don't have any active saves right now so I put together this diagram which may or may not be useful.  I'm without my tablet so I did the thing right-handed with a mouse, so the result is rather MC Escheresque, but you should get the idea.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Take note: the track doesn't have to be long at all, even further decreasing setup times, but it can be extended across the floor as needed.

If your mineral scarcity is high enough, or you're mining a level with few minerals at all, then that would greatly diminish the usefulness of carts.  Likewise, if your ore supply is extremely close to your forges, then there's no reason to implement carts.  Obviously, scale is a major factor in usefulness, but I've still found it quicker to design even modest mining operations around this.  Ideally, the chute would be one straight-shot down across all levels of the fort, down to your forges, so every mining level could quickly carve some tracks out to enable their own dumping.

The biggest payoff comes when mining out flux layers.  There you've got the most to move, and carts have been a huge blessing for getting the job done.

Since you tried this system, can you tell me how much danger (if at all) does it pose for the dwarves? Did they ever get hit by stones that way?

[Kestrel]

Depends on positioning and track length, but I try to keep all my tracks walled on both ends.  If you leave it wide open you'll occasionally have a dwarf get run over (which is funny) but I've never seen one wander down a walled-in track.

Edit: Actually I'm guessing you're referring to the output end of the system.  Accidents do tend to happen once in a great while, but I move all my disposable migrants into the hauling/smelter caste for that reason.

I've been pondering a breaking system using hatch covers and pressure plates to prevent accidents while a dwarf is picking up the ore at the end of the chute, but haven't had time to really test anything along those lines.  In theory, a reliably safe system should be very doable.

[mdqp]

I was also wondering if the falling rocks would hurt them (don't falling items hurt them now?), did you see an increase in head injuries? 

Edit: ninja'd

[slink]

People keep talking about how we can free up Dwarves from hauling, to do more useful things.  I have a relatively new fortress, that has just barely reached the standard population limit.

Skilled Dwarves:

Construction: 11 Dwarves
Crafting: 14 Dwarves
Farming: 14 Dwarves
Forging: 7 Dwarves
Government: 3 Dwarves
Medical: 10 Dwarves

These are all the Dwarves I really need to supply and govern my fortress.  I might later add a couple more in the Farming class, as Brewers.

Here are the rest. 

Labor Dwarves:

Hauling: 84 Dwarves
These Dwarves also mine and cut wood, and operate pumps if needed.

What advantage would there be to having these Dwarves stand idle?  I admit that military would soak up some, if I had a military.  That's still a lot of labor pool left over, even if I recruited all of the males for the military.  I won't draft mothers.

[guitarxe]

Not everybody plays with 140+ dwarves. Whether by choice or not.

[osmo]

These are all the Dwarves I really need to supply and govern my fortress.  I might later add a couple more in the Farming class, as Brewers.

Ah, this may be what you need. But what is it that you want?

[SmileyMan]

I design my ore-dumping railway as a double helix around the central stairway.  This allows me to move the 'fill' stop to the current mining level.  The key to this is to mine upwards, so the sequence is:

1) Dig down to magma
2) Construct ore-dumping railway around staircase, up to first ore level
3) Clear out first level, then go up to next
4) Extend railway to new ore level
5) Repeat until inevitable catastrophic cave-ine
6) Also cartcannons

[gzoker]

Main level of my most recent fortress:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The dwarves dug/built this, and the magma smelting area in only one year. When the dwarven caravan arrived most of the ore was already smelted.
I had around 600 iron bars. (and no anvil, and i forgot to buy one too:D)
I have embarked with seven military dwarves with absolutely no useful skill. With the migrants the fort's population reached 34, 10 of them are children. The embark is 4*4 with 6 z levels of magnetite and hematite. I plan on mining them all out.

My point is, i found them absolutely useful for their stated purpose: delivering mined ores to smelters.

[snoopychicken]

Hmm it looks interesting, I might have to try this out! A couple of questions though.
Do you power the minecarts or just let the dwarves push? Are you using magma smelters? If so how did you handle the chute regarding caverns? Just find/build an enclosed chute all the way down? Or are you relying on your military to take out any beasties that might crawl/fly out?

[slink]

These are all the Dwarves I really need to supply and govern my fortress.  I might later add a couple more in the Farming class, as Brewers.

Ah, this may be what you need. But what is it that you want?

Since I assign the labors, yes, this is what I want.   

[gzoker]

No power, they are being pushed by dwarves. I use magma smelters and forges, the map doesn't have any coal. The chute has been dug down in the most convenient place i found, a few levels of it is built. I have only two cavern layers, and i looked for them right after i finished the dining hall. They are walled off for now.
The bottom part of the chute has locked doors, and i only open them when there are no more ore on the way, as i lost a dwarf because of the falling stones. The game crashed soon after (not related) , so i improved the chute with the doors.
Here is the smelting level:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[GhostDwemer]

Nice layouts! To my chagrin, I hadn't really cottoned on to the whole chute idea. Especially with the locked door element, this makes a lot more sense. I'm thinking each level with useful ore could have a large loop going around the outside, maybe 30 tiles from the edge on a 4x4 embark. Where I first encounter a vein on said loop, I'll build an intermediate transfer stockpile and another straight track to a drop chute. Wherever I encounter ore on or near the loop, I can build a stop. Carts go around the loop picking up ore and dropping it off at the transfer, where a cart goes back and forth to the drop chute.

Still, lazy players like me really don't have much incentive to use minecarts over wheelbarrows for mining, especially when magma is relatively close to the surface. I know Toady was trying to accommodate players with forts from previous non minecart versions when he added wheelbarrows, but I don't think they should be able to go up and down stairs with a full load. Stuff would fall out. Make them use ramps. This would at least give those of us who tend to play central staircase style forts some incentive to devise clever mining strategies.

[Kestrel]

Gzoker's system is very close to what I usually do, in case you couldn't tell from my whatthefuckawful sketch.

[slink]

Make them use ramps. This would at least give those of us who tend to play central staircase style forts some incentive to devise clever mining strategies.

Or we would build spiral ramps around our central staircases.