Software for track plan?

[Glenn Nicol]

Hi folks,

I am interested in finding a software program that will let me draw a track plan for a 7.5 gauge railroad on my land. I own 1.7 acres with a small house on it. I have drawn my dreams on some paper with .25 squares but I have a tremor in my hands and handling a pencil, T-square and triangles gets to be a chore. Working with the computer is a better way for me.

Thanks for any suggestions you might have.

Glenn

[cbrew]

I know this is designed for Electric trains
but you should be able to make it work,, and the price is right
http://www.atlasrr.com/righttrack.htm

[makinsmoke]

Glenn,
The link below is for software for smaller (HO/O, etc) scale model railroads, but there is no reason they won't work for 1-1/2". The principles are the same. Just have to adjust for the scale.

I read that the Sandia stuff allows for grades, etc.

http://www.railsusa.com/links/Model_Rai ... more2.html

Brian

[Glenn Nicol]

Thanks fellows for the links to layout builder software. I have downloaded a trial version of Any Rail and have tried it a little bit. Will have to keep at it but seems to work for what I want. It cost $59 I believe.

I just downloaded the Right Track users manual and the program. I have not had a chance to use it yet. I will try it out later tonight. It is freeware.

I will post back here on some of my thoughts on these programs after I use them for a while.

I was hoping someone had tried a program and could recommend one from first hand experience.

Thanks again.

[pwcphoto]

Give XtrackCad a try. It is free, they have a good support group and it looks to be pretty powerful, especially at the price.

http://www.xtrkcad.org/Wikka/HomePage

You can download it and play with it. It will work directly with 1.5" scale or larger if needed.

Phil

[Glenn Nicol]

Well I had a little time to spend on the two programs I downloaded. The first was Any Rail. This program was used to create the attached picture. It was easy to work with and had enough features that I could draw up what I wanted. I hope the picture shows up.

The second one I tried was Right Track. This program may be able to do a lot of things I was not interested in and I had a hard time working with it. There is a 126 page PDF help file that must have all one would need to know for the program, but I didn't take the time to go through the whole thing. I started to design the track I wanted and found out it was not designed to easily work with an area as big as I wanted. The program just had too many options and made it hard to learn. I wanted simple!

I have tried three times to add an attachment of a .jpg file and haven't had any success. It seem simple enough but doesn't work for me. What am I doing wrong. The photo 114KB 601 X 732 pixels.

[Harold_V]

I have tried three times to add an attachment of a .jpg file and haven't had any success. It seem simple enough but doesn't work for me. What am I doing wrong. The photo 114KB 601 X 732 pixels.

It's too large. You are restricted to 800 x 600. Rotate the image 90° and reduce the 601 to 600, then it should post just fine. Put an "N" and an arrow at the appropriate place, so readers understand the orientation.

Harold

[Glenn Nicol]

Thanks Harold.
I resized the picture before you posted the info I needed. That one little pixel was the problem. I just missed it I guess. Next time I will watch that closer.

Glenn