That’s what the software is good at… “what if”… it helped me figure out improvements that were not really obvious from laying track down on the ground. In my case, it took a lot of work to maintain minimum curvature, and fit in #6 turnouts where I thought I could only get #4.
Greg
Greg Elmassian said:
Ken, did you mean your layout all sectional track, or RR Track all sectional?
Greg
RRTRack library is all sectional. My layout is all flex track
RRtrack is fun to play with, all I used it for was to see what size area I needed to build the modules.
I’ve also used it to design layouts for others.
I’ve used SCARM for a couple years now, it meets our needs. It’s fairly intuitive, meaning I haven’t had to go to the help screens too often. Curiously though it does not have a track library for USA Trains. We modeled our layout using the Aristocraft library and it worked out all right. I have NOT tried adding in scenery and buildings with SCARM. From the little bit of that area I’ve played with it didn’t seem that well designed.
Sophie B
Yea, but its free. I like that part. And if I play with it a bit more, I may just be able to come up with something close to what I want in the space I have.
I have used several packages and the ones that stand out of me are
RR-Track
SCRAM
Anyrail
RR-Track: is very good if all you are using is sectional track it does have a flex track feature if the track MFG has flex track you can buy. The flex track has very rudimentary features
SCARM: is good and has many features and libraries, but the learning curve is long.
Anyrail: Is a nice software package and works well with sectional and flex track. It dose not take long to learn.
I am designing a very large HO layout and looked at all available software packages and choose the Anyrail package as it was the fastest to learn using flex track.
I would recommend downloading the trail version of each package you are considering and try it for your self.
We all have different ways of learning and you have to find which one fits your style.
I use RR-Track and agree with what others have said. At one time I had the flex track capability figured out, but the last time I went to use it I couldn’t remember how to get it to work. My latest indoor build is all sectional track except for a few short custom cut/bent sections using Aristo track. I could not get what worked on paper to lay out in the real wold, and what I could do in the real world would not work on paper. I finally gave up on paper plans and just experimented with real track to get my final layout.
Technical Note: My original install of RR-Track was on Windows XP. My PC had both XP and Win 7 boot options. When I upgraded from 7 to 10 I left the XP partition in the dust, but still available as a data drive. I had to do a fresh install of RR-Track on W10 and it will open some, but not all of the designs I made with XP.
I use Anyrail. I have not used the others so can not compare. I started with Anyrail because they have a free trail version. Decent track library. Got the job done for me. The only difference between the free version and the paid version is the amount of pieces of track you can use and the free version will let you do only a modest layout. I paid the money for the full version and have no regrets in doing so.
Steve, is right, what you plan will not happen on the ground. I had to make some major adjustments. But with that said I am a huge advocate for using the software. You can build 1,10,100,1000 layouts for zero dollars and mistakes are a click a way from fixing. My track plan changed a 1000 times before it started going in. And when problems occurred after I started it made fixing them easier. So whatever one you get use it and play with all sorts of designs.
By the way, I have to comment on free vs. costs $100 … relate the cost of the software and the cost of mistakes vs. the cost of your track.
In my case, with 850 feet of stainless track and about 30 switches, worrying about $100 compared to the money I spent on track made no sense.
I’ve often said that the track is indeed the foundation of your railroad, screw it up, and you will never have fun, just chase derailments and poor operating.
Greg
Greg is right about trackwork being the foundation of the layout. Do it right the first time.
I was mistaken about SCARM having USATrains track library. What I thought was USAT is really Standard Gauge, 2 1/2 inch gauge, for the large tin plate toys.
Even though it primarily is for sectional track, there is a provision for flex track, you just have to tell the program what radius. Often, I don’t know the radius until I get on the ground. That is not SCARM’s fault, though. RR Track has the same feature.
I figured mine out just using graph paper. I put it into RRTrack many years later.
I remember when I was planning my second layout how important it seemed to get a good software planning tool. In retrospect, I found it only a little bit helpful. As a disclaimer, I used mostly flex track.
For my yard it was very difficult determining the exact size and location of my trees and bushes. Not only that, I thought my back yard was fairly level, but putting the track down in place quickly dissuaded me of that notion. Very uneven and not level at all. You need measurements that are very close if you’re going to go buy track based on the software.
My first outdoor layout I put the track down on the yard and used rubber bands to hold the pieces together - and then ran the train around to see how it would look. I ended up using bricks to level the track in spots.
For track planning, I would recommend going outside and laying a hose where you think it would look good. It’s much easier to move the hose around than redraw it on the computer. Alternatively, just sketch it out on some graph paper; it will be quicker. It doesn’t have to be totally accurate, you’re just trying to get an idea of how it will fit in your lot.
Once you get the basic “flow” of the track, then go ahead and put it into the software program. Consider getting some flex track for those sections where you need to fudge a curve or just add a very large radius piece of track.
Do you have a particular focus? Railfanning, operations, whatever? Having a focus can help you concentrate on ideas that are important to you.
Edit: put in some bigger paragraph breaks! Yikes!
I mostly use the software to get an idea of where to put the turnouts.
The software works well for the smaller gauges, but when it comes time to put it on the ground, there is always that damn cherry tree, right where the wye is supposed to go. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif)(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-innocent.gif)
Oh, the hose method. Forgot about that. Been there, done that…
Looked great, but when I went to actually build it a few years ago I discovered the grade was way to steep and ended up building only the left part as a industrial siding ending in a building. The part that crosses over may get built some day as a modified representation of the EBT Orbisonia coaling dock track.
Steve Featherkile said:
The software works well for the smaller gauges, but when it comes time to put it on the ground, there is always that damn cherry tree, right where the wye is supposed to go. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif)(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-innocent.gif)
I think this is the most sound sound piece of wisdom given yet. I am about half way through putting down the foundation of my railroad (combination of ladder and bench work) and it is much different what the computer says I can do and what is really happening. But I will agree that spending hours with your space and design ideas shows you what can be done and different ideas on how to best use the space. It works out the major details of the layout.
Ken, I don’t have RR Track installed at the moment, but I was pretty sure it had flex track capability… although I’ve never seen any program that made it easy.
Greg
Bruce Chandler said:
I remember when I was planning my second layout how important it seemed to get a good software planning tool. In retrospect, I found it only a little bit helpful. As a disclaimer, I used mostly flex track.
For my yard it was very difficult determining the exact size and location of my trees and bushes. Not only that, I thought my back yard was fairly level, but putting the track down in place quickly dissuaded me of that notion. Very uneven and not level at all. You need measurements that are very close if you’re going to go buy track based on the software.
My first outdoor layout I put the track down on the yard and used rubber bands to hold the pieces together - and then ran the train around to see how it would look. I ended up using bricks to level the track in spots.
For track planning, I would recommend going outside and laying a hose where you think it would look good. It’s much easier to move the hose around than redraw it on the computer. Alternatively, just sketch it out on some graph paper; it will be quicker. It doesn’t have to be totally accurate, you’re just trying to get an idea of how it will fit in your lot.
Once you get the basic “flow” of the track, then go ahead and put it into the software program. Consider getting some flex track for those sections where you need to fudge a curve or just add a very large radius piece of track.
Do you have a particular focus? Railfanning, operations, whatever? Having a focus can help you concentrate on ideas that are important to you.
Edit: put in some bigger paragraph breaks! Yikes!
Yes Bruce, I l had an old hose laying out in the backyard for a year before I built the railroad. Taking grade measurements from the hose, I discovered the grade was steeper then I thought it would be, so I adjusted the plan. Then I found the pass-through in the rock wall wasn’t angled right for the plan, so I adjusted the plan. Then I sat and watched imaginary trains run along the right of way, and tweaked it a bit more.
Then when I built the railroad, my mom said that she didn’t realize it was going to be that big. Ah…well, I guess I was the only one who could see that old garden hose.
I use AnyRail and found its flex track capability quite easy to use (almost intuitive) and accurate. My layout is all SVRR flex and it did not require any tweaking or adjustment from the completed AnyRail plan. I am quite satisfied with both the product and David Hoogvorst’s support. It was definitely worth the $60 that I spent for the full version back in 2010. I don’t think that it makes any difference that my RR is indoors.
I have used SCARM extensively and liked it. I am creating my layout with almost all USA Trains track only and was using the Aristo as an approximation. This works great, except their #6 switches have very different geometry. I have given measurements to the author of SCARM and he is working on adding a USA Trains library.
I wanted to try out RRTrack but they had no demo. I am not interested in buying software I cannot try first.
I have tried out 3rd Planit and I really liked it. It had USA trains track. I found it frustrating a bit at times selecting but otherwise it seemed pretty good.
I also tried out AnyRail but it didn’t have USA Trains track. If I am going to buy software, it needs to support the track I am using.
I am hopefully going to install my track within the next few weeks. I am waiting for the roadbed I ordered from SplitJaw. I will then find out just how close i was able to get from my plans to implementation.
With SCARM I drew up my yard in another free CAD app. I measured various things including fence lines, pavement etc… I exported this as an image and brought it into SCARM. I then scaled it up based on a line of predefined length in the drawing. This worked well for giving me an idea where track would be with respect to my yard.
I mostly didn’t spend money other software because most of the pay software I could try was so close to what SCARM could already do that it just wasn’t worth the money.
Greg Elmassian said:
Ken, I don’t have RR Track installed at the moment, but I was pretty sure it had flex track capability… although I’ve never seen any program that made it easy.
Greg
It might Greg, though for me it was easier just using the Aristo track library. All I was looking for at the time was how much track I could fit in a certain area, how big a module I needed for that, and get an idea of just what it would look like. What I ended up with by no means, looked like what I had designed, but it was a big help when I started to build it. It was that old saying “What looks good on paper doesn’t necessarily translate to reality”.
I did buy a CadRail program years ago, but that had such a high learning curve to it, I never did get used to using it.
I have tried out Anyrail and SCARM, but I was much more comfortable with RRTrack, since I’ve been using it for close to 20 years.
And it gave me something to play with over the winter once I decided to rebuild the layout…(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
By the way my entire layout, all 850’ is sectional and my experience using RR Track parallels yours. I had similar needs, mine specifically were a small backyard and I had to struggle to maintain 10’ minimum diameter.
Greg
