Recommendations for a planning program?


kbkchooch

kbkchooch

"retired" conductor
Gang,
Who can recommend a track planning program that is almost idiot proof??
I've got a basic track plan drawn out with colored pencils and a 1 inch = 1 foot drawing (big paper!). However with grades to be considered, sidings to plan, industries to place, etc, etc, I know its time to get out of the stone age!:eek:
Remember 1 thing though, I have a really slow learning curve, so its gotta be easy to use.
Is there such a beast out there??:confused:
 
Hi Karl -

The popular XTrackCAD has a bit of a learning curve, but it will do everything you could want, except for 3D rendering. The good news is that XTrackCAD is free, so there is no monetary investment required to give it a try. The Beginner's Tutorial gave me everything I needed to get started, and there are some additional tutorials online.

- Jeff
 
Pencil & paper may be old fashioned, but if it works, why change? CAD programs come and go, or have continuous revisions that do away with features you're familar with, and were easy to use, in favor of 'more powerful,' but complicated (which involves either/or both a longer, and or steaper learning curve), just to get be able to do what you used to be able to do, with no problems.

A correlary to Murphy's Law is Shaw's Law of Systems Engineering. It states:

"Design a system that any fool can use, and only a fool will use it."
 
I use Lionel Train Town Deluxe (mostly a game actually) to mock up sections and run trains on them.
It has helped me iron out a lot of bugs for switching manouvers and running scenarios.
I may have an extra disc here somewhere, I'll PM you if I can find it.
 
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