SCARM

Simple Computer Aided Model Railway Design... The most intuitive and easy to use I've found....and free to boot! IMO this is the only program out there that has a truly simple to use flex track tool!

Michael

Too Soon?

Software is a good way to turn a design into a scale drawing.  It can be problematic when attempting to use it as a substitute for a thorough design process.  See the "CAD too soon syndrome" topic on Byron Henderson's site  http://layoutvision.com/id40.html .  As Byron says:

Just some food for thought before we pile on the software recommendations

Great advice!

Byrons site

I can't argue with Robs advice either. I think it's best to do a lot of research and probably a good bit of doodling with old fashioned pencil and paper before using design software but I do really like SCARM though as far as the intuitiveness and ease of the learning curve for a beginner.

Speaking of Byron's site, it is a great resource.  His thoughts on layout design and operation are very helpful. IMO his comments about conventional 4X8 layouts should be required reading for anyone who wants to build a model railroad and the layout design gallery is a wonderful place for inspiration.  Be sure and check it out.

Michael

Just to be contrary

I'm afraid I have to disagree somewhat.  I have seen too many hand drawn track plans that, if converted into a layout as drawn, would have impossibly sharp curves, #2 or #3 turnouts, and all sorts of other technical fouls.  This is especially true of novice track planners, who are more often than not unfamiliar with some of the older techniques developed to keep a hand drawn plan legit.  The computer forces you to follow whatever rules you set for yourself.  It also allows a lot more flexibility when it comes to changing things, whereas changing a paper drawing is not always easy.

I like and use XtrkCAD, and I find that it is a very powerful tool for layout design.  it is NOT a layout simulator, like some, but for the price (free) it is a darn good drafting program.  Like any CAD package, it takes a little time to learn, and the quality of the finished plan is somewhat dependent on the skill of the user.  It also allows you to run trains on a plan, which is handy for figuring out if a given track plan will really work as intended, or whether there is a hidden bottleneck in the design.

One thing I will agree with, though, is that there is no substitute for taking the time to learn about effective track planning.  Whether you're working on paper or the computer, if you don't know what you're doing you're not likely to have superb results.

I said "rough", but not enough....

Thanks

XtrakCAD

I started with pencil and paper designing my layout. I went thru a lot of paper making changes and such. Then someone on here turned me on to XtrakCAD and I'm glad he did.

Now I can make changes as I need to and not go thru a bunch of paper. Plus it makes it a lot easier to post my design on here for inputs and criticism. That's kind of hard to do with paper. Also as others said, using a CAD program allows you to use the proper angles for turnouts and such. It didn't take long to learn how to use it. Plus it comes with a help menu that's good as well. 

Just my .02 cents, YMMV.

Free and Easy

As I'm modeling in N scale and using atlas code 55 components on a single deck I've never used anything but the Atlas "Right Track" software.

http://www.atlasrr.com/righttrack.htm

Free, relatively easy to use and it does a good job on the flex track end of things. As stated above, it helps keep the geometry right... especially with curved turnouts. I've transferred the plan to real life on 4 sections of my layout and the software is bang on. If you're not using Atlas components it would still be a very useful tool IMO.

What it doesn't do well is 3D and it has no running options... but for the price it does what I need it to do... keep my geometry right and show how things will fit.

NScale.net

Over on NScale.net, XTrkCAD seems to be very popular. We also have some sample track plans if you want some other ideas.

CAD too soon

I would like propose the following sequence:

1) Measure the room very carefully ... then go measure it again.

2) Draw the room exactly, in whatever CAD program you like.  Put in all the windows, doors and anything else that can't be covered up.

3) Draw some circles in the corners about 3-4" from the walls.  The radius is your carefully selected minimum radius.

4) Print out lots of copies.

5) Post a copy on this forum. 

6) Doodle in your spare time.  Hand them out at the office and get others to doodle. The doodles don;t need to be highly detailed.  Just roughly where the main line is, and vague blobs where towns, junctions, yards will be.  Post the doodles.

7) Don't rush, this is the fun part.

8) When you have the perfect doodle, you can start playing with CAD to work out the details. Hopefully the circles from step 3 will keep you from "cheating" too much in doodling stage.

Notice that nowhere in any of this did I mention drawing the benchwork!  Why not? If your read Byron's site you will see the answer explained much better than I could.

I am sure I missed a few steps ...

JR 

When I reffered to pencil and paper...

I was talking about for making rough sketches to flesh out ideas...not to create a final design.  By that point I would want to use some type of CAD program. As far as XtrackCad and RTS, I tried both.  I didn't give XtrackCad much effort, it seemed to have a steeper learning curve than I wanted to fool with at the time. I had pretty fair success using RTS with the sectional components but no luck ever figuring out the flex track tool. SCARM is the only program I've had any success with using the flex tool. Another program I've heard good things about, although it cost money, is Anyrail.

I might also suggest you look into joining the nscale.org site. Great place for beginners! Very friendly bunch over there who will help with track plans just for the asking  without giving you grief about it. Even one fellow over there who will consult with you about your space and givens and druthers and do up an N scale plan for you for free! Hard to find folks that do  that  these days....it's sort of a hobby within the hobby for him.

Michael

Track Design Computer Programs

If you have a Mac, try Empire Express by Haddon Software.  It is 2D, does not have a lot of bells and whistles but is very easy to learn and use. It produced accurate results for my layout. You can try it for free, and it is inexpensive to buy. Flex is very easy to use, by the way.

I agree with those who recommend starting with hand-drawn concept sketches.

Dante

I Went with Anyrail

I tried Xtrackcad and Right Track but found them both a little too challenging. Anyrail was easy to learn, and I liked the features. There is no 3D mode yet. The company's owner has a forum on the site and responds very quickly to questions and problems, as do the forum members. The software is free to try and not expensive for the full version. I can't say how accurate the track sizing is because I haven't begun laying track yet, but from the posts on their forum, it appears to be very accurate.

I'm a parallel tracks and transistion curves fan. . .

 . . . so I what I have been using what so far is a now a very old copy of 3rdPlanit.

It was a nearly $100 outlay a decade ago, but also prints the final full size track templates including those, impossible to draw with a compass,  large radius curves, that don't have a center any where handy on the base board, or sometimes even in the room.

And then of course there is TEMPLOT. . . . but that's a whole another story