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Looking for a Layout Planner ?


Chrisjh

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I am new to OO and DCC so I am looking to design a Model Railway, I am not very good drawing. Is there a very simple way to do this?

 

Just tried the Hornby Planner but it was too complicated for me!

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Best Regards,

Chris EGBB UK

Birmingham

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I use the free trial of AnyRail (http://www.anyrail.com/index_en.html), which I have found to be really good. Nice and clear and simple, with libraries of all the major brands of track. Only problem is that the Free Trial only allows you to place 50 pieces of track and/or scenery. The full version costs about £35.

 

Other options would be WinRail (http://www.winrail.com/) or XtrkCAD (http://www.xtrkcad.org/Wikka/HomePage), but i've struggled with using both of these as they seem necessarily complex(and i'm a degree level computing student!)

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+1 on the AnyRail free trial. Great software, I would use it more but I tend to stay away simply because my mouse is appalling, but if and when I get a better mouse I'll use it in an instance. It's nice to use as it models exact versions of various real life track and scenary, i.e. Hornby Skaledale, Peco Settrack, etc.

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Other options would be ... XtrkCAD (http://www.xtrkcad.org/Wikka/HomePage), but i've struggled with using both of these as they seem necessarily complex(and i'm a degree level computing student!)

I'm a degree level computing Senior Lecturer and took me a little while to get into XtrkCad. You have to use it for some time before becoming comfortable with it. However I would use most drawing software for general outlines and then draw up full sized manually (I'm old like that) For building detail I draw up on graph paper, Much like Chubber does with his buildings, http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/topic/22368-a-welsh-warehouse/ and http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/topic/19929-a-harbour-office/

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Hi Chris

 

I have used various tools; including pen and paper, when playing with layout designs. XTrackCAD is OK, tried AnyRail free trial but did not upgrade to full version and also use Trax which I bought - see Trax Layout Planning Software.

 

I guess one question though is how big do you think your layout might be and will it be simple or complex? Initial answers to these question might help you decide whether to use pen and paper, free software or to purchase more feature full tools like AnyRail or Trax.

 

I do think that pen and paper is still a great way to put down lots of ideas very quickly and to help you evolve designs and bin others. Plus you do not have to learn how to use it as with software ;)

 

Do keep us informed of how you get on and also post your ideas as you will get lots of help and feedback here on RMWeb

 

Oh yes, welcome to the hobby, you will not look back!! :D

 

Regards

 

Paul

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I do think that pen and paper is still a great way to put down lots of ideas very quickly and to help you evolve designs and bin others.

Agreed.

 

Plus you do not have to learn how to use it as with software ;)

You do if you want the result to bear any resemblance to the track you'll actually lay. It's all too tempting to sketch arrangements that would require impossibly tight curves or cram far too many points into the space available. One advantage of software tools is that they make it easier to draw something that's at least approximately to scale.

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I believe you can download free templates of all the 00 track components made by Peco from their website.

If the proposed layout is not too large, print them out in the quantities required and lay them out manually, this can often be useful as you can try bits of stock to see "how it looks" in full size.

A cheap roll of lining paper or the back of any left over wallpaper makes a good base.

 

regards

Stewart

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Does the full version of Anyrail allow you to design multi level layouts with Helix's?

 

 

All the 'full' version does, compared to the 'trial' is allow you to have more than 50 pieces of track on a plan. It is fully functioning with simply a limit of 50 pieces of track or scenery etc.

 

If you do haver a lot of pieces, you can always do seperate plans for different parts of the layout though dry.gif

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