Design Software for a Garden Railroad

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know of a software program that would help plan a garden railroad layout? It doesn't have to be really fancy but, elaborate enough that one could input the basic garden demensions and play around with a few ideas.

thanks

briaN
An Engineer in Train-ing

[piercedan]

RRtrack is available and will do 3d displays.

Another is a visio template by I believe stan at:

http://www.stanstrains.com/Software.htm

[Puckdropper]

XtrakCad is a former shareware product that has gone open source. (That means that those who know how to program can modify the program to their desires. It also means free to the rest of us.)

The drawback to XtrakCad for garden scalers is that the track libraries are quite small. This is easy to fix, with a little simple math and a few dimensions, however. The program includes a section that will allow you to add your own track pieces quickly and easily (albiet somewhat tediously.)

http://www.sillub.com/

[RhB_HJ]

I highly recommend Cadrail http://www.cadrail.com, you can download a demo copy and give it a whirl.

The advantage of a CAD program is the universal usage you get out of it i.e. need to design a few structures - no problem! Same goes for rolling stock, accessories, full size furniture or anything else you can think of.

I don't get commission for recommendations, but I have been using it for the past 10 years and despite having a kick at the competition's cans I stick with CADrail.

PS A few weeks ago it was time to get the landscapers to extend the patio and put in some stairs. So the boss man showed up, the subject was discussed and we settled on a construction method. Since I had a track plan for the complete GRR it was relatively easy to add the patio/stair design and the landscapers were tickle pink. All the dimensions were there, including a side view of the project.





Naturally there are those who say: "Just slap the track down and get with it!" Good if that works for you!
Careful planning works better for me.

[Anonymous]

^There is room for both, most of my layout I did it by drawing a line in the dirt and just followed that with a good overview of what i hoped to achieve.

However when i did area 3, with all the constraints involved i drew it all up to scale on graph paper and it worked ok very well. I also used cardboard to make templates to make complex twisting components for the climbing ramp etc. and that worked out very well also. In fact one pattern was so hard to do i actually got a 3.7 m (12') length of club rail and bent that to shape to suit what i wanted to achieve and used that to make the template; then used the template to get the correct shape out of marine ply. Doreen transfered the pattern to the wood anbd I cut it out with my Jig (saber) saw.

So i guess there is room for everything in this pasttime.

Rgds Ian

[RhB_HJ]

@ Ian

I believe one can stretch pencil and paper to the infinite, it will never qualify as Design Software!

@ Brian,

Once you have the basic parameters of your garden in a CAD program, the stuff is really neat for doodling (actuall super-doodling), too.
But don't tell anyone!! up here in BC we are quite happy to sell more pulp and paper and then grow more trees. It keeps the economy going![;)][:)][;)]

"Doodling" = the process of sketching track plans with a pencil on paper.

"Super-doodling" = the process of sketching track plans with CADrail, using givens like minimum radii, maximum grades and accurate turnout dimensions. They are still just sketches, but there are very few gremlins hidden in the process!

[whiterab]

I used RR Track software extensively to get the grades right for the initial design of the layout. Our layout is designed to be built over many years and with the software I was able to break the building into several phases. Having a good base of design helps especially when it came to ordering track