track planning software

[Anonymous]

Its getting time again to start planning a new X-MASS layout for the home.
Last year I just pulled a layout of the air, kind of worked. I have the atlas
program, but I cant find anything for lionel tubular track (since its all I have)
Dose anyone know where I can find a liberay from the tubular track?

Thanks for your help.....

[lionelsoni]

I posted this recently. It's not a software library; but it is an approximate way of laying out standard tubular track pieces using only graph paper. There are two versions, one for O27 and one for O31.

For O27, each square of the graph paper represents 1 1/4 inch. You sketch the center-line of the track for each straight track section 7 squares long if the track is parallel to the graph-paper lines, or across the diagonal of a 5x5 square box otherwise. You sketch each curved section inside a 3x7 rectangular box, with the curve tangent to the long side of the box at one corner and at a 45-degree angle at the opposite corner. A switch is just a curved piece touching a straight piece, of course.

For O31, each square represents 1 inch. The straight sections are 10 squares (inches) long or across the diagonal of a 7x7 square box. A curve is in a 4x10 box.

This method is not exact; but it is very close. The worst error is about 1 percent. For example, it makes some O27 straight pieces 8 3/4 inches long, whereas they are actually 8.839.

[Anonymous]

I need layouts for 8 - 8 HO train

[mitchelr]

If you are a Mac user, I recommend:http://www.railmodeller.com/. It is easy to learn and use.


[8D]Mitch[8D]

[fwright]

The Atlas program does have 027 curves in its library, since Atlas makes that size. What it doesn't have are 027 switches. I haven't tried to see if the program would super-impose a straight and an 027 curve. As Bob Nelson alludes to, O31 is just about 1/8 larger than 027.

XTrakCad - also a free program if you register - may have Lionel tubular track libraries.

However, I don't think any of the tubular track libraries in any of the programs are perfect representations of the actual geometry - partcularly items like 1/2 curves. The track is probably not that uniform either, with some variation over the years of production. I use track planning programs as a guide to what will fit in the space and as a sanity check against my attempts to cram too much in. The programs also provide an easy way to share track plans on forums. But I don't expect the actual track to fit just the way the design says it will, and so cut fitter pices as necessary.

yours in tracking
Fred W

[RRCharlie]

I xeroxed pictures of the track from the Lionel catalog; made oodles of copies; then cut and laid out on the floor to see if I could fit what I wanted in the space available. Lot of cutting but it was worth the effort.

Mel Hazen
Jacksonville, FL

[Birds]

I've had good luck with the old green tin plate track template (has O and O-27 sections) and graph paper. Office supply stores sell large sheets of graph paper which make planning a layout eaiser than using 8.5x11 sheets.

Eventually something like RRTrack software would be nice, but for now the template and graph paper have worked out very well.

[dwiemer]

I Use the RRTrack 4.0 softwear. it is very good, but I prefer it with my desktop and a regular mouse instead of my laptop....it's faster. A good program and even has library for accesories.
Dennis