Minecart with Furnace

Minecarts with Furnace (also called Furnace Minecarts or Powered Minecarts) are a special type of minecart which accepts coal or charcoal as fuel for powered movement and can be used to push other minecarts, thus functioning as an engine.

Usage
A good usage for the "Powered Minecart" is to put it at the back of another minecart, so it's more like a train. A more important use of this is Rail movement in the Superflat world type on Survival Mode. Powered Rail is obtainable as of 1.3.1 but they are expensive, yet enough resources can be collected to create "Powered Minecarts".

To use the Minecart with Furnace, first place it on a track. Select your fuel (currently only Coal and Charcoal work) then use the "Use" control (normally right-click) on the Minecart. When right-clicking on the Minecart, face the direction you want it to travel. You can make the cart change direction by right-clicking the Minecart while facing the opposite direction of travel. Your coal will be consumed once used on the furnace.

A Minecart with Furnace can push other carts at 3.4 m/s. 1 coal or charcoal will cause the Minecart to run for 3 minutes or travel 612m.

In normal worlds, Powered Minecarts become obsolete as soon as you acquire sufficient numbers of Powered Rails. They have significant drawbacks as opposed to powered rails, being unable to effectively move players up hills, and consume a constant supply of coal or charcoal, a valuable resource. Because of this, most players do not even bother with them and instead wait until they have a sufficient supply of both iron and gold before creating a railroad.

Behavior

 * Breaking a Minecart with Furnace gives a plain cart and the furnace back (but any fuel inside will be lost).
 * Minecarts with Furnace cannot push other carts around 180-degree hairpin turns.
 * A player in a cart adds significant weight, requiring more power to push.
 * 1/1 slopes are too steep for a single Minecart with Furnace to push a single occupied cart uphill. 1/2 slopes (one flat-rail between each up-ramp) will allow you to push your train upwards, as it appears the Minecarts with Furnace have force applied in intervals.
 * Multiple Minecarts with Furnace yield more pushing power; 2 powered minecarts can push a player-occupied minecart up a 1/1 slope. (although very slowly). Three powered minecarts can push an occupied minecart up such a slope a very little bit faster but adding more powered carts doesn't have much effect on the speed.
 * A single Minecart with Furnace can push an occupied minecart up a 1/1 slope if there are additional minecarts being pushed (possibly due to bumping physics).
 * When a powered minecart runs out of fuel, it does not brake.
 * If too much stress is put on the Minecart with Furnace then it will stop. Right-click activates it again.
 * Each piece of coal powers a Minecart with Furnace for 3 minutes. Adding another piece of coal at any time increases the total range by another 3 minutes.
 * Minecarts with Furnaces on a level track will cover 200 meters per minute (about 3.33 m/s), or 600 meters per piece of coal. Pushing multiple Minecarts may decrease the range slightly, depending on collisions.
 * Minecarts with Furnaces are much less powerful than powered rails, making powered rails a far better option for long-distance travelling at speed.

History
The Powered Minecart (original name) was added in the 1.0.14 Seecret Friday Update 7.

As of 1.0.0, each piece of coal powers a Minecart with Furnace for 3 minutes. Adding another piece of coal at any time increases the total range by another 3 minutes. Previously, any fuel added before the Minecart stopped moving was wasted, as the duration would max out at three minutes regardless of how much coal was added.

As of 1.0.0, Minecarts with Furnaces on a level track will cover 204 meters per minute.

Bugs

 * As of Beta 1.8.1, Powered Minecarts do not produce the new lighting.
 * The orientation of the minecart and its furnace depends on the track only. As a result, the furnace may reverse front-to-back as the cart goes through a turn, and it will do so repeatedly when moving along a diagonal track.
 * Pickblocking a Minecart with Furnace will give the player Bedrock.

Trivia

 * Right clicking will cause the Powered Minecart to go forward a little bit, even if it is not loaded with fuel.
 * Powered minecarts share the furnace texture (the same as chest minecarts) so editing a furnace (in terrain.png) will edit a powered minecart's texture.
 * As of 12w16a Powered Minecarts can be powered without coal in Creative.