Track schematics software

A

Andrew_au

Registered
Country flag
I've seen a few varieties of track planning software. I have good experiences with RailModellerPro (Mac), but there are other options.

What I am looking for is something different.

I want some software that will help me draw up a quick schematic of my layout. It doesn't need to be "to scale" or use any particular track library. Instead, I want diagram showing how the various tracks and turnouts interact with each other.

I particularly want this because I'm trying to plan my accessory decoder locations and numbers. Using a full track layout diagram and shrinking it down to a single page to print / annotate doesn't work well for me - it ends rather cluttered.

The Roco z21 app does have the ability to create a schematic, but it's not quick and easy to use and I don't know how to print it off at the right zoom level. I'd rather figure out the diagram and then enter it into the app, than use the app for editing.

Any suggestions?
 
JMRI is free - however I would not call the drawing of track schematics 'easy'.

If you just want to generate a schematic, then maybe something like Inkscape? That is a free vector drawing program - which means that you can scale without the 'image distortion' you get from scaling a bitmap.
You could fairly easily draw up some set images to represent points / curves / straights and then cope, paste and scale to suit :)
 
I don't have a Mac but isn't there an equivalent of Microsoft Paint? Or maybe you have Office then you could use PowerPoint? Or the Google web equivalent which is free? Any of those would let you draw a schematic and print it out.
 
Ms used to have a simple system called paint in the Win 98 days (you see how far out of touch I am with Windows), it was pretty easy to use with lines available. You could also use the line facility in a Spreadsheet but curves would need to be angled straight lines joined to make them. In uk we would in the old days call them threepenny bit curves.
 
At least these answers convince me that I haven't failed to find something obvious!

I don't see much alternative other than using a drawing tool.

A drawing tool is good if I my goal is a particular finished product that I already know what it looks like. In contrast, when using track planning software I often build things up piecemeal, working on this bit or that bit and then moving them around and joining them together. Track planning software is "track aware", so the tool mostly "does the right thing". The drawing program just has lines (and maybe arcs if I can coerce it) so it doesn't auto-format and auto-layout based on any knowledge of what the lines mean.

Two particular pain points, in my experience, are curves and turnouts. Curves are a fundamental concept to track tools, but not to basic drawing programs. I can fudge them with a rounded connector or joined lines, but most drawing programs prefer their connectors to connect objects not other lines. Turnouts expect lines to connect to arbitrary points on other lines with fixed geometry; again not trivial with normal drawing programs.

I wonder whether I could fudge it more effectively with a circuit schematic tool? That's just lines connecting to other lines.
 
Ok so you do not (I think) say what type of computer you use. I have a Mac and use MacDraft PE for my track plans and working drawings for scratch build. Takes a little while to learn but once into it it is possible to build “track section” join them up for a plan and move things around. I would imagine any CAD package would do the same. As with many things there is often no simple easy answer, just something one need to get one’s head into. Below is an example of one of my Signal Panel drawings created using MacDraft. Though there are no curves on this it is quite possible to create them and I have done a drawing of my complete line using Macdraft. It is however somewhat compressed due to my garden being long and thin, plus I have a fair few stations and levels to contend with.
7287FC80-E922-46C6-8821-F3B0A5AF5F55.jpeg
 
Anyrail. The free downloadable trial version has a limit of 50? components, enough to draw out a complex junction. It has track libraries for most makers in most gauges. I don’t know how much the unrestricted version is.
You could draw out each area you want, with several files

Malcolm
 
I agree with Brixham.


Anyrail has 50 components on the free version.

Gizzy's top tip: for long sections of LGB straight track use 10600 4 ft lengths (1200 mm) rather than 4 x 10000 1 ft lengths (300 mm) and this will save you 3 peices in your planning....
 
Last edited:
Brixham said:
Anyrail. The free downloadable trial version has a limit of 50? components, enough to draw out a complex junction. It has track libraries for most makers in most gauges. I don’t know how much the unrestricted version is.
You could draw out each area you want, with several files

Malcolm
Click to expand...
The unrestricted version is £47.
 
Found two free things which may wortk on >Mac: XTrkCAD Model RR Track Planner

...which will wortk on aMac, it's web based: Home

No idea how easy or how suitabnle for your needs.
 
SCARM is good. I find it one of the most intuitive programs to use.
 
When I were a kid, I always wondered why train sets came with 12 curved pieces of track....... then I actually paid attention one day in Math class. Penny dropped, and I took an instant liking for (track) geometry. I still use nothing more than a 2H pencil, set square, and a few other bits, to do all my track planning, even in 1:1 scale.
 
I used Xtrak Cad to design my large garden layout quite a few years ago now.

It took a bit of getting used to (like all software I suspect), and I never became an expert but it has all the LGB set track in the library, allows flexible track, makes it obvious when you are trying to make things too tight, allows you to create large radius curves and what I found incredibly useful, gives gradients and profiles. This was invaluable in keeping the gradients down to a realistic level (1 in 50 in my case) and checking things like bridge clearances.

I am sure there are better and more intuitive options but for a freebie programme it did what I needed and had all the LGB geometry built in.

AC
 
Is it just me or do other people spend ages drawing up plans and then build something totally diffrent in the Garden :) I use autocad for track plans, way over the top but only becauese I use it for work.
 
Nope! Not just you..
The track will expand to fit the available space, or what you actually have, not what you thought you had.
:D

PhilP
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top