This comes up fairly regularly in the forums. You might want to try the search function to read other comments and thoughts.
I've used RTS (free from Atlas, http://www.atlasrr.com/righttrack.htm) and XtrkCad (open source, free from http://www.xtrkcad.org/Wikka/HomePage). I'm not into spending the price of a locomotive on layout design software when I'm still faster with a pencil and graph paper, and my layout designs tend to be small.
RTS is easy to use. It's only drawback for my purposes is being limited to Atlas track, which means no curved turnouts. The flex track function is a little different, but it works fairly well for me. RTS has just been upgraded to 8.0, I used 7.0 and 5.0. Even though it's easier than the other packages, the tutorial was pretty necessary for me to use the package the first time.
XtrkCad is quite a step up from RTS. I could not even begin to use it without a couple of times through the tutorial with some experimenting in between. The Yahoo group for XtrkCad is also a big help. Libraries are available for almost every make of track, and are constantly being updated by a group of dedicated volunteers.
XtrkCad does not have 3D (neither does RTS), but both keep track of elevations. XtrkCad does allow you to run simulated trains. The only use I have for that feature is checking tail track lengths and spur clearances, and possibly guessing at uncoupler locations.
Both have the advantage of not letting me "cheat" as compared to drawing by hand, although I've gotten pretty good at not introducing jogs and kinks when hand drawing. And both let me easily share designs with others on-line for review and comment.
my thoughts, your choices
Fred W
It sounds like you are seeking MRR track planning software that incorporates the ease of a simple paint program with the features of a full blown CAD package. To my knowledge this doesn't exist.
I use XTRKCAD because it has nearly all the features of a retail MRR CAD program but is free to download and use. I was able to learn the program by following the tutorials included with it in the help section. Once through the tutorials, played with it for a week, then back through parts of the tutorials again to brush up on a few things. Overall it works pretty well for me and you can't beat the price. Opinions will vary however. Just my
Search Cad Software, etc. in the layouts forum and you will get plenty of past threads on the subject.
Hello everyone. I'm looking for some advice on what layout design software might be right for me. I'm pretty good at sitting down with pencil, paper and my track template to draw things out. But I'm always changing my mind, finding new ideas or inspiration. So i want to stop wasting 36" x 36" sheets of paper and just do it on my computer where making changes isn't such a bid deal. I've looked at trials of CADRAIL and a couple others I forget off the top of my head. Cadrail looks nice but trh online manual is a monster. I might like it better if i could print the whole thing easily and maybe read it on downtime at work. But from fooling around with it CADRAIL left me feeling like it was rocket science. People go to college to learn how do design on CAD systems for petes sake heh. The other programs I tried seemed either not well thought out or product line specific. I would like something that i could use to design a fairly large double deck layout that can give me all the versitility of pencil & paper. But yet not have a steep learning curve.
Any suggestions out there?
Brad B