App Training Examples, or just Inspiration Fodder?

Dear ???,

Are you looking for example XTrkCAD files to pull apart for the exercise of learning to tweak things in XTrkCAD,
(IE learning to drive the app)

or are you looking for example XTrkCAD files as a trackplanning inspiration shortcut to designing your own layout?

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

  im looking for layouts

im looking for layouts already done and downloadable in the xtrack format. it will be alot easier to start with a premade layout and edit it to my needs. i have found a few dozen online but nothing i am crazy about

Givens and Druthurs?

Dear ???,

OK, understood. Can I suggest that it might help to flesh out what you're actually looking for from a trackplan? (IE what was it about the files you found that "didn't work" for you?)

Generating an XtrkCad file is relatively easy. Creating/locating an RTR XtrkCad file which is near-to or matches your "Givens and Druthurs" without knowing what those criteria are (room size at the very least), is a recipe for frustration...

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

Start from scratch...

XTrkCAD is pretty easy to learn.  I'd start off from scratch, I can't imagine trying to modify an existing plan working out very well.  Its a little slow at first, but after a little while you'll get much faster.  Nothing beats running trains on your future layout to check on operational issues.  

Randy

...

One thing that really helps me is to quickly sketch it first, and then used Cad to plot everything out - that way I don't have to figure out where I want things, it's just a matter of seeing how it fits to scale.

very good points

i just thought it would be easier to find some already done layouts and modify them.. sounds easy enough. especially laying out switch yards etc

XTrkCAD files

gunfighterzero

Prof Klyzlr makes a good point about Givens and Druthers. How are we to know what you are "crazy about"? When you generalize looking for an XTrkCAD file you should at the least, say what size layout you are looking for. Perhaps even a few generalities as to what you want to do. How about what scale?  Which track system? Modifying a Z scale layout to fit your G scale plans wont work well. Doesn't the program already have a few (HO) plans included?

Why would this be important to someone trying to help you? Well they may not know of a "source" for a lot of files but they may have a few plans on their personal computers that they would be willing to share with you if they match what you want.

On the other hand, if you just want a start point, then start the program, something like Randy says, from scratch, select 1 (one) piece of straight track in which ever track you are using and place it on the screen that will give you a beginning to model something that suits your stated craziness. You can do a web image search for track plans and see many different configurations of layouts and go from there. You don't need an actual XTrkCAD file (from someone else) to make your layout. Once you have it designed, post it to the forum and ask for feedback which you can accept or reject. This allows you to run it like you want and the worst that can happen is you get a plan that suits your (immediate) needs.

Trackplan database

  There is a thread about t rackplans  here.   I know that they are not XtrackCad plans.  But it is a place to start.  I use Xtrack Cad for my planning, and you are welcome to my layout plans, but I work exclusively in N scale, and mainly do small shelf style and Free-Mo modular things.  

  You might try having a layout design "contest", as others have done here.  Begin with a description of your space, scale and the particulars of what you like.  Or if you have some inspirational layouts you have seen, makeup the pieces you like as small Xtrack drawings.  You can merge several "pieces" together (like Layout Design Elements) to fit you space.

  If you need some help creating your design, I'm sure any number of us can lend a hand, but feel free to message me in particular.

Toni

yahoo group

XTrkCAD has a Yahoo user group that has a files section with a bunch of files in it, not only track plans, but track parameter files, et al. It's a good resource, but you gotta join the group. 

http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/XTrkCad/info

Development Path

Do some XTrkCAD tutorials - this is a must.  Its not hard to use but it isn't intuitive.  You will start frustrated, then your capability goes up exponentially.

Then find a track plan (any) that is vaguely close to what you want.

Then reproduce it in XtrkCAD as a training exercise.

Then modify it to fit what you want.

Worked for me.............

Rob
Cornhill & Atherton

Easier to start from scratch

I've held off on responding to this, but I'd like to add my $.02 worth.  If you have enough skill with XTrkakCad to modify a plan to fit your needs, then you have enough skill to draw one from scratch.  In fact, I usually find that it is far easier to start from scratch than to modify something which doesn't fit.  When I am developing a track plan, I will often start over with a clean slate multiple times.  For one thing, it's faster to draw something right than to move or modify something which is wrong.  For another, I find that if I leave any parts which I don't like, they tend to influence the rest of the plan.  Sometimes, it's best to start over and let the creative juices flow.

ok well that is a lot of feed back

So i can see my idea is not vary popular with the veterans, i guess i will start from scratch.

to answer other questions. HO scale, pretty sure someone would mention it if it was Z or G, lets not be so dramatic

looking for a modified 10'x10' (or close to it) with a lift out or gate, 2' wide on the sides, 3' wide on the ends. walk around access on 3 sides  

with all the 1000s of layouts available online in different formats that people copy and modify every day. i really didnt think this would be such a big deal.

I have been in the construction business for 30 years and have done a lot of non-train related cad drawing and i have never had a problem taking an existing drawing and modifying it.  I guess Xrack isn't made that way.. My apoligies

XTrkCAD layouts

gunfighterzero

(Speaking of dramatics) Apologies for what? I don't see in your post/s where they are needed.

We now know though, what size (approximate) layout, what scale and that you have experience with CAD programs. Being in N scale, I do not have any personal HO scale plans to offer. You may find something like the track plan available here; http://hogrr.blogspot.com/ easily modifiable to your wants.

For layout planning software, I use SCARM which has a 3D view option and the track library (for what I use) is more accurate than the library used by XTrkCAD. However, I also use XTrkCAD because you can "run" your trains in the plans. Both have a slight learning curve.

Good luck.

Now that we know the space/scale

  Check out the "Heart of Georgia" track plan. Link here.

It's not drawn up in Xtrack, but it is a pretty cool layout.

Toni

that is pretty close

haha that is the same one  Robert_56 just posted. and that is fairly close to what i am after, accept a few changes in switch yard and i want to make the sides wider to squeeze in a turntable

thanks guys

here is my original inspiration but

It would be quite the job to take on


http://mrr.trains.com/-/media/import/files/pdf/a/1/8/mrr-h0607_red_rock_northern.pdf

Not attitude, just focussing the help...

recreating the HOGrr in XtrkCAD should go reasonably smoothly...

and would be pretty much unnecessary since it's just a generic oval with a coupe of sidings and a few spurs. 2 foot wide on the sides, 3 foot wide on the ends nails down the footprint, the length of rolling stock determines the radius ,after that the sidings and spurs can go where ever they look best and can fit and that's a lot easier to do in the train room full size than staring at a computer screen for hours trying to understand how to make a program do what you can do full size in a few minutes..DaveB

...

What is with you people who keep dumping on the idea that a computer screen is a waste of time?

Learning to draw a plan that could be laid out in a matter of minutes is what provides the training opportunities necessary to then make a huge plan possible.

Once you learn how to use a program, it becomes second nature, at which point it is a tool in your arsenal.

It does not take hours to learn how to use CAD and draw up a simple plan - an hour, maybe, but by the end of that hour, whilst following the tutorials, you'll have that simple layout knocked out in a matter of minutes.

It's a lot easier to expand on a layout in CAD than it is to do the same thing on just grid paper.  What more, you can print the track plan out and the use your pencil to add new ideas without having to redraft the whole plan each time you want to try something new.  Once you've made your changes, you go back to your CAD program where it keep you honest in regards to switch angles, track separations, and curve radii. 

This is 2013; a professional track plan presentation is drawn in a CAD program.

i agree benny

never hurts to learn a new skill and like you said more tool never hurt

"What is with you people"

Just trying to point out to folks that a fancy plan don't mean anything till it's cut from wood ( or foam or steel or whatever)and sitting there full size in the room.  You can draw all the lines you want  but that don't mean you'll end up with a great layout. Design is design and lines on a screen are still just lines. Studying a  copy of John Armstrong's "Track planning for realistic operation" is the best use of the design time. One doesn't need a lot of drafting to run some toy train track around a room and add some miniature scenery. Some folks spend too much time on the drawing and not enough time on the why's and how's of the project. If they want their hobby to be computer aided drawing that's fine but if they want to build a layout they better get in the train room and figure out what they want to see full size then get cutting. A professional layout designer uses cad because he has to show the client what he's come up with but we don't have to sell anyone so our plans can be much simpler especially since we all make changes as soon as we start laying the thing out full size.I say skip all the noise and get right to the point of the exercise....DaveB

Engineering on the fly? Receipe for mistakes.

Thank goodness civil engineers don't take the same approach!

I'm with Benny on this one. Simple layouts sure, you can wing it. More complex layouts benefit greatly from CAD. At the very least CAD keeps you honest. CAD, like pen and paper, is a tool. Paper is great for initial sketches but when it comes time to see if will actually work it is hard to beat the accuracy of CAD. Given the option why would someone not use the better tool? Civil engineers gave up pen and paper a long time ago. There is a reason for that.

As others have pointed out, it is doubtful an existing XTrkCAD layout will be of much use to you. Much better to design your own from scratch. Where I see an existing file being of help is copy/paste of particular trackwork section(s) to use as a starting point. Yard ladders for instance.

FWIW here is my XTrkCAD file.

...

I don't even know where to begin... 

A model railroad layout is no different than any other design project, and the best skill for design projects is drafting, drawing the plan to scale as it is meant to be reproduced in full scale.  If it won't work at 1:5, it will NOT work at 1:1.

Professionals use Computer Aided Drafting because it produces quality work in a fraction of the time PnPAD [pencil and paper aided drafting] takes, it's cleaner, and it communicates ideas better because it is already in a digital format.

I think you may be confusing the function with the form.  Obviously, if you do not have function, it does not matter what form the end result takes.  That being said, if your function does not also have form, or takes a form that poorly communicates the idea even to yourself as you build the thing, you'll never get to the functional state.

Can anybody answer

the question how they built up this great nation before computers were available?

The Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Building, the Grand Coolidge Dam, the Union Pacific Bigboy. How did the  US of A build those war ships and aircraft of WWII? Can you guys with CAD programs on the brain explain how they did it without computers? Could it be these individuals were smarter than this more modern generation of Computer Aided Design addicts?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Bernd