What Program do you use to draw track plans?

Paul,

You can do custom curves with Atlas RTS. Use the flex track tool. You can either adjust it by hand, or open a window to specify degrees of curvature or whatever.

It takes a bit (ok, sometimes a lot) of fiddling to get it right, but once you have created a few pieces of, for example, 40" radius curves, you can always cut and paste.

If you are willing to spend the $$$, I have heard a lot of good things about 3rd PlanIt.

Andrew

 

I use Atlas RTS and I use the flex track tools to create my custom curves. Has a bit of a learning curve, but it works like a charm once you figure it out.

I then save the image into Paint and make it pretty. It's not magazine quality or anything like that, but it gets the point across.

 

I've always enjoyed the extreme versatility of AutoCAD if you have access to it. Never intended for model railroad design, but it does well with anything if you know how to use it.

I'm a proffesional CADD operator/draftsman, so I know the program like the back of my hand and I have a company copy of it on my computer

I've always wondered about the track planning programs though, ones like 3dPlanIt and such always looked really cool to me. I used a trial version of Atlas RTS several years ago and wasn't impressed, I've always found it easiest to just open up AutoCAD.

 

I use Autocad, only because that's what we have at work.

 

Atlas can be downloaded from the site for free.
Colonel: Atlasrr.com i believe

To Derek: I have also used auto cad but find it to be somewhat tedius. Do you simply draw out the pieces and block them, then just paste them wherever or do you have another file downloaded?

 

I have 3rdPlanIt, though I don't use it much at present, except printing bits out, because I am actually building the plan I made (and so far it is working). Not the easiest program to get the hang of, but very powerful. Has several makes of track 'built in'.

It has good 3D viewing so you can get a better idea of how the thing will look. (The user site (Yahoo) has quite a lot of ready made buildings, etc, available (made by users) that you can download and plonk in your plan.)

You can even drive trains around with cab or other views, and do switching - bit of a gimmick I think, but it sometimes nice to have a little play when the physical construction is not yet working. The 3D stuff does need a reasonable computer system though; I had a 300MHz P2 equivalent a while back, and even with a good graphics card it was a dog in 3D.

There is a demo version available to download (max 100 objects and won't save).

This is a rather poor and small picture of a screen dump (the ties have gone moire )

 

I use both Autocad and 3dplan-it. I would not use 3d-planit if some one would make a good block library of buildings, switches, etc.. for autocad. By trade I am a Civil Engineer, so I own my own copy of Autocad.
--C. Alan

 

Paul ,you can do it either way! But I found that if you put in the outline first you can set your limits. You guy's with Auto-Cad, I got fired from a place using thier Auto -Cad for my layout!! (So what if it was on there time) no sense of priorities.

 

Wow pretty harsh....

I'm working remotely for a Civil Engineering (my major too) related company as a draftsman part-time while I'm away at school. They gave me a company copy...I use it quite a bit for myself hmmm

Because I deal only with flextrack I generally just draw the track centerlines, either using the polyline function in the program or laying out curves then connecting them with tangents. I should probably make a block for switches, lately I just kinda draw them in roughly till they look good.

Because I work for a Civil firm, I also have the Land Development Desktop (LDD) add-on which does a lot of fun things too. My track centerline is set up as an alignment, which makes it really easy to keep up with trackage distances etc... LDD is also incredibly powerful for doing terrain modeling, I started to lay out all my terrain on the plan but it got kinda time consuming, setting a bunch of point elevations manually...

AutoCAD is an enourmously versatile and powerful tool if you have access to it and the patience to learn it. I'd recommend only if you know it already really though, especially with all the specialty trackplan programs for a small fraction of the price of full blown AutoCAD.

One note though...

I ALWAYS start on paper. Its really hard to qualitatively analyze trackplans when you're trying to "sketch" it on a computer. Once I have a fairly substantial idea/drawing to work off of, I go into the computer mostly for better measurements and a prettier drawing. Nothing beats a pencil.

 

Well, I fiddled around over an hour trying to get this to fit so you don't
have to scroll back and forth!

Since I have my own system including a plotter, I draw the whole
layout in actual full scale 1"=1" then if I wish
a printout, I shrink the
drawing down to fit a 24" x 36" drawing,
8-1/2" x 11" typewriter paper,
or make a .gif file for the internet.

Rather than make a "Block" or "Fig" of a switch (turnout), I made a
"WBlock" of a #6 for HO.

In AutoCadd a "WBlock" can be used on any .dwg where a "Block" will
only be available on the drawing you are presently working on.

I now have a Library of switches, screws,
track cross-sections and
elevations, etc. to use for layouts.

.......

[ 18. March 2004, 15:12: Message edited by: watash ]

 

ak-milw,
When I was a Chief Engineer, my company allowed all computer operators a fifteen minute rest break half way between lunch and quitting time. It was not a coffee break, because we could have coffee anytime with the pots in the area.

If an employee had a pet project he wished to use the company's computer on, he was welcome to do so "IF" and ONLY IF, he asked for permission FIRST! I had to make the decision to allow it, or not.

I had sold this idea to the General Manager (originally for use by the Tool Room crew), by pointing out that when a man is working for himself on limited time, and budget, he looks for and perfects short cuts to save himself time and money! He would then be more willing to use those skills in his daily work. I instigated the same policy for the draftsmen and engineers, when I became the Chief Engineer.

I ran it for a year, (on the computers), and our output increased, re-draws, revisions, and wrong dimension parts dropped dramatically. Not only did I earn a bonus, I was allowed full use of the company's tool room equipment to make experimental prototypes in my spare time. I spent 13 years with a $750,000 tool room at my disposal. You can't beat that with a wet noodle!

I suspect that had you asked for permission before "stealing" the company's time and money, (the way a company looks at it), and only worked on your pet project during breaks and after work, you would have been ok.

It is always a terminal offense to expect a company to pay you for time or work not performed, regardless of how indispensable you are, (or think you are).

Yes, in my very young years, I found out a company got along without my skills just fine! My Dad pointed out that I was not the only fast spot welder operator available in the city!

Here I thought I was pretty good, but sure enough, Crow really does taste nasty!

 

It's free. Just go to www.atlasrr.com and download it. Paint, of course, pretty much comes on every computer.

 

Like I said, it has a bit of a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it then it's pretty easy to use. I'm no pro at it, but if you have any questions just let me know and I'd be glad to help.

Regarding your question, I drew my outline first. RTS gives a little tutorial thing when you first crank it up and if you just follow the directions it will guide you through the whole process. It has it's limitations of course, but it gets the job done. I think it's actually capable of doing a lot more than I actually did with it.

 

Paul,

I use Canvas on a Mac. RTS and other railplanning software isn't available on a Mac. As far as I can tell, it's the extension of the old MacDraw program. It's a bit like AutoCad--great features, but a little learning curve, especially when it comes to drawing bezier (complex) curves. I usually use Photoshop to finish up. I like the results.



Pete

 

Watash, That was back in my young and foolish years. Thats the one job I really should of kept!

 

out of curiosity... I have RTS, its got some annoyances but overall nice for the price. The one thing though I can't seem to figure out is how to make flex track work!!!
How on Earth do you do that?
Could someone do a quick tutorial on it? I always end up with something that has a kink in it.
-doc