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Drawing accurate track plans?
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I've found RTS to be highly accurate. And with little effort (certainly far less than it took me to learn XTrack or 3rdPlanit) you can use it for any sort of track. I use no sectional track, and have never had an issue. <br /> <br />So how do I use RTS without being limited to the Atlas sectional track. I simply use 2 fairly easy techniques: <br /> <br />A) You can create darn near any radius curve using the "parallel track" function. Set down a curve using the 18" or 22" Atlas track in the program, then create parallel tracks inside or outside, specifying the spacing between to achieve whatever radius you want. My layout uses mostly 30" and 32" radius, so I created a 30" and 32" half-circle, dragged it over to the edge, and did copy-paste for whatever I needed. <br /> <br />B) The flextrack function also allows tremendous flexibility in using "non-sectional" track as needed <br /> <br />Between these two, mechanisms, I've never felt overly constrained. <br /> <br />The one thing RTS definitely won't do is lay down eased curves... But when I've used other programs to do so, I've found it highly inaccurate and hard to control anyhow. That's certainly an area where I think it's easier to do it during tracklaying than to try and over-detail a plan. Just know that you need to leave some 'wiggle room' at start and finish of curves, and do the easing in whatever way you prefer (I used to calculate them, now just eyeball them). <br /> <br />I do use Atlas turnouts, and find the program to be extremely accurate in laying them out. But, I also use some walthers turnouts, and if you lay down a #6 atlas in the plan and use a #6 walthers in reality, there's no variation I can find... Can't speak to other turnout makes, as don't use them.
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