I am looking to design a map of my railroad. I would like to make a overview map similar to the ones seen in GR Magazine. Is this something that can be done easily by a lay person? How expensive is it? Any websites that could be of help?
Wondered that myself as I flipped through it today.
The cover to cover analysis starts tomorrow.
If your not a computer graphics geek your probably best off to draw something out and scan it. I’m pretty good with basic CAD (MS Visio) but even with that I don’t think I could get a good drawing of what is.
Track planning software like RRTrack could be used, especially if you are using sectional track. It has the ability to add basic shapes and some representation of trees and bushes.
The closest I’ve ever come was for Ver. 1 of my indoor and that was done in RR Track then colored with highlighters.
For the current layout I’ve done schematics. Much easier as no scale is needed and generally curves are not shown.
I just use an anceint copy of Paint Shop Pro…Not to Scale…
I’ve used RRTrack to make a diagram of my layout. It’s not 100% accurate since I used Flex track instead of sectional, but it gives you a basic idea of what it looks like. One of these days I plan on doing just the towns individually, showing the different industries in each town. That’s more for any visitors who operate on the layout.
Because I used MasterCam during my “pre-retirement” work days, I still use it today to design my layout. It’s not easy to learn for a beginner and it is very expensive. I just draw my track, turnouts and crossings as individual components, with ties in place in various radii and merge them into my line drawing. I needed it to design my layout because of all the trees and bushes in my yard and close clearances to other objects. Made it a lot easier because I knew exactly what to order from Sunset Valley RR!
todd whittier said:
I am looking to design a map of my railroad. I would like to make a overview map similar to the ones seen in GR Magazine. Is this something that can be done easily by a lay person? How expensive is it? Any websites that could be of help?
Hi Todd,
I don’t know if this will work for you because a lot depends on how much tree canopy you have:
After reading your post, I downloaded free Google Earth, searched for my street address, and started zooming in on the results. A major irritant occured every time I got close to ground it automatically tipped over into “street level view” which is horizontal. I found a way to turn this off in the menus, so the view remained looking down.
Another feature I found very helpful is the ability to pick among the history of the dates when images of your yard were acquired. I could eliminate any dates before I had built important features. More important - among relevant dates, I could pick the one with the sharpest image (clean, clear air, well but evenly lit, etc). You don’t get to massage those parameters, but you’ll know the best image when it leaps out at you. The best for me is not the newest.
THE RESULTS ARE NOT PERFECT! I cannot see individual lines of track. But I get an enormous head start on the overview type of map you mentioned. The size and shape of my property, house, shed, driveway, fencelines, and major vegetation are already properly proportioned and oriented. So to are the major railroad features, raised planter boxes, return curves, freight yard, urban area, rock piles, and connecting main lines. Again no individual buildings or rails. And the printout, since it is a photo, will be grainy and have too much unwanted detail.
But you can use the prinouts as great starting points for making outline tracings on which you can draw in as many tracks and buildings as you wish. All the hardest parts of the survey work and buildings, boundaries, and hardscape placement will have been done for you. You are left with the fun of properly representing your rail empire.
“After reading your post, I downloaded free Google Earth, searched for my street address, and started zooming in on the results. A major irritant occured every time I got close to ground it automatically tipped over into “street level view” which is horizontal. I found a way to turn this off in the menus, so the view remained looking down.”
Thanks Ted for the heads-up on how to get rid of that automatic tip over to street view. That has always been an annoyance to me for a close-up of my property.
Todd,
I use Google Earth to help me with my drawing of my yard and my layout. One really neat feature is that you can see elevation changes in your yard. If your yard is fairly flat, then not so much help. But in my case, I have areas that change elevation as much as four feet in small areas. Was very helpful in figuring where I had grade problems and where to lay the line. Another feature I use is to set the “tape measure or ruler” to inches and measure walkways, steps, patios and walls that might have to be avoided on your layout.