The Vice-President in charge of finance (wife) has given me the go ahead to rebuild part of the INDIANA RAILWAY operation area. I would like to know if anybody has any experience with any of the different layout design software? I know that there are several different programs out there. MODEL RAILROADER did a article on the programs some time ago, but I would like to have any user input in these programs. Which is easier to use, quicker to learn, and so on. Any opinions would be welcomed.
I use 3rd Planit and I love it. Takes at little to get used to though, but you should master it after 2-3 nights. Jesper
I tried to use the Abracadata stuff but found it very difficult to use. 3rdPlanit has a steep learing curve unless you have some CAD experience, but the tutorial gives you a good start. The demo is free and quite powerful - it can be dowloaded from www.trackplanning.com
I've tried the free Atlas Track Planning software. It works well if you plan on using sectional track mostly.
Unless you are planning on using sectional track, look into using generic CAD software, instead of specific MR software. I got a CD from Menards (REALLY!) for around $25 called QuickCAD. It's great for track diagrams, plus you can use it to make plans for buildings, benchwork, etc. PS - the Right Track software from Atlas is free, go to their website and download it. It's OK for sectional track, but flex is a pain in the ***. On a side note, I saw a website somewhere that was offering it for $9.95 - some deal, huh?
I've been using an older version of Autocad. Being able to turn on and off differet layers helps tremendouslywhen working on double-decker layouts, and you don't have to worry if you've got things lined up between layers when they're all on the same drawing. true, you can't "run" the train on the layout, but you can very accurately model stuff, right down to the finest detail you want. Now if I could model it as accurately as I can draw it..... Mark
I've used XTrkCad for several years now, and it works great. It takes a little bit to get used to the interface, but it's got a nice tutorial feature and lots of CAD power. The newest version allows you to set up a database of cars and engines, and run trains on your layout (top down view). While it doesn't have 3D capability, it's more than adequate for my purposes (printing out track diagrams at 1:1 scale for laying track). FWIW [ 07 February 2002, 13:23: Message edited by: Nathan Erwin ]
Is there any sort of freeware track designing software other than the Atlas? I downloaded a freeware CAD program called CadStd, but I can't seem to figure out how to use it, as the help file is awful sketchy. (no pun intended )
A cheaper non-cad way is to sort of do a combo benchwork/mainline (only) design. Then when the benchwork is up, you get out the butcher paper and create turn out templates from real turnouts you will be using, then plan from there. Thus you have a one to one ratio of planning, with less likely to go wrong.
