Hi all,
I'm finally just about to start designing my layout, which will be 19ft x 19ft or 6m x 6m. Back in the 90s a friend had a programme by Sonora Software which when he listed his industries, team track lengths and car fleet, would generate train consists and also leave cars at industries for a random amount of time. Because he had input the length of his team track the program wouldn't assign more cars than the track could handle. Does anyone know where I can buy or download a copy of this software.
My layout will be a shelf type, using shelves of varying widths, one side using the Walthers Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, and the opposite side being a main yard. On the other two sides will be mostly industries, switched from a branchline which will terminate at a barge/car float on each side. This branchline will interchange with the main line at the main yard. I would like quite interesting trackage around the layout, especially at the LAUPT, and leading into/out of the yard.
I would like to make this a double deck layout for running, with staging beneath the bottom deck. Obviously I will need to put in a helix to climb from one level to the next and also to descend again. I envisage at some point having a loop ala Tehachipi, where helpers have to be put on and then removed at the top of the loop.
I have seen ads for Xtrak, Cadrail and Any Rail but have no knowledge of how good these packages are. Does anyone have any recommendations? I would like one that has a full range of Walthers buildings included, allows me to specify a minimum mainline and branchline radius, and if it can also do the same sort of switching lists etc that the Sonora Software package did, that would be great.
If anyone could suggest a trackplan about the right size I could adapt, I would be grateful. My idea is to put scenes I like around the layout and then try and join them together (as everybody does). I would like lots of smaller industries that may only take a tank car or two, rather than large industries that take up a lot of space and need lots of the same sorts of cars to service them (ie coal hoppers). Having said that, I do want to put a power plant or similar and a coal mine joining through a hill so I can have loads in/empties out.
Thank you for taking the time to read through all this and any assistance would be appreciated.
Thank you,Neville Burgessnevilleb@es.co.nz
I have used XTRAKCAD and have been very happy with it. A bit of a learning curve but its free with a good help area including demo videos. It has layers that make differentiating different levels easy.
There are quite a number of different layout planning programs on the market, with some being free to download, like XtrkCad or SCARM. The only program that I know has a quite extensive library of structures built into it, is WinTrack, but nearly all of the buildings follow European prototype, which may not be what you are looking for.
I am quite fond of SCARM, which is free and lets you design your own buildings. There is a learning curve to that and it is also quite time consuming.
For the basic layout design, i.e. track plan, I recomment to start with paper and pencil (plus an eraser), before you venture into CAD!
I've personally designed the last three layouts with Anyrail and love it. It's easy to use and works well. I like that it gives you the specs too as far as the amount of track you have total as well as a grocery list of parts needed.
I know they have a free version you can download but it limits the amount of track pieces you can use but once you buy the full version it removes that limit. Just my .02 and what's worked for me!
Mike