Trackplans what to use?


What stage of planning are you at? Do you have the space and know what it is? I'd say there's a lot of effort that goes into roughing things out before you get to the specifics of whether an Atlas or Peco #6 is a better fit.
 
Cheers gentlemen, much obliged!
As you say, just roughing it now, hone things, try ideas etc., etc..
Other than that, a big fan of Peco's tracks....


Thanks again!
 
For now, you're best roughing things out with squares on pencil and paper. But it's great to see any kind of real start! Why not scan your sketches and post them here?
 
Don't have a scanner...
But can always try to squeeze off a pic, unless I can find a halfdecent scanner somewhere..
Could a track template be a good thing to get, or? I've seen Kato's got one for HO...
 
The Kato would work only for Kato track. But again, that's really down the road. The thing to worry about now is doors, aisles, turning radius, etc. After that you can figure out where the switches etc go exactly.
 
jwb I like how you put that, well said! That is an outstanding book, maybe the best model railroad book! I am a "Mickey Mouse" modeler and I enjoy reading it over and over.

113 I like AnyRail https://www.anyrail.com/index_en.html but keep in mind as I said before, I am a "Mickey Mouse" modeler
 
The free XTrackCAD layout design program works well and includes track libraries for many different brands of track. Because its free, you can give it a try without spending anything other than your time.

XTrackCAD is very accurate in my experience. In addition, you can run trains on the layouts you create.

- Jeff
 
jwb said:
Well, the trouble with guys who write the ten commandments is they think they're -- well, you know. But you should definitely look at John Armstrong's Track Planning for Realistic Operation, by a very good layout designer who never claimed to be -- well, you know. http://www.amazon.com/Track-Planning-Realistic-Operation-Railroader/dp/0890242275
Click to expand...

I agree with what you're saying here. I also believe that he could/should have chosen a better title. I know of 2-3 exceptions to everything he says just in my state alone. I'm sure that he has caught flak from many people about it. While his advice is generally good, none of his stated "commandments" are real hard and fast rules for a yard design.

IMHO, John Armstrong's book is by far one of, if not the most important book related to layout planning, published to date. Most, if not all, subsequent books by other authors, are merely restatements of his ideas.

I also have to agree with Jeff and his statements about XtrackCad. I've used this program for planning layouts ever since it became freeware, over 10 years ago. I've designed hundreds of layouts using Armstrong's book and XtrackCad not just for myself, but many others as well. One of the best things about it, is being able to to actually "run trains" on the design to check on the operations possible. I believe that this is more important than seeing what the scenery may look like on any plan. To me, if a layout is boring to operate, there's a good chance it will never see any scenery.
 
Milwaukee-Road-113
There's already a gazillion layout plans on the internet. There's also plenty on this & other MR forums. Do a search thru those & also in Google. There you can put in whatever parameters you want like room/layout size, type of layout like train running or switching, prototype, freelance, etc, etc, etc. Find some plans that meet your needs & desires & post them here along w/ your givens & druthers to get our excellent opinions (LOL). You can even Google track planning systems that are free to use & already have plans to look at..
 
Plus you can also "cherry pick" ideas from these layouts and place them into your own plan. I've done this quite a bit when planning some layouts, and it works very well.
 
Much obliged gentlemen....
Oh, don't you worry, I plan to 'borrow' freely... ;)
Unfortunately, Milwaukee Road's shops, would take too much space... lol
 
Milwaukee Road 113 said:
Unfortunately, Milwaukee Road's shops, would take too much space... lol
Click to expand...
Of course, you do not have to recreate a scene in every detail. Select one or two distinctive features of the location you are modeling -- enough to give a viewer the flavor of the scene without reproducing the whole thing.

This "selective compression" is one of the keys to building a believable model railroad layout. Few of us have the space, time, or budget to reproduce a prototype scene in its entirety.

Anyway, have fun with whatever you decide to build!

- Jeff
 
MILW 113:

No scanner? No problem!

1.) Draw your track plan(s) out on paper.
2.) Shoot the plan(s) with your digital camera-you may have to use the macro mode if your camera has one.
3.) Download to your computer and post it here.

Photoman475
 
I like xtrackCAD because it is free and the program has libraries that work for what I'm doing. I don't know if the pay software is more accurate or what but for me this is all I need for my small layout.

Dave
 
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