track plan software

[amtraktrekker]

I'm not much of a track planner, and I have a house with a huge basement room I would like to fill up with trains.  Is there  a good track plan software available, and where is it available.  Thanks.

[Vail and Southwestern RR]

One is XTrkCad, http://www.XtrkCad.org  it is free.

Do the demo/tutorial before you try to use it.  Then work with it for a while, then do the tutorial again.

It won't design for you, but it does get the layout on paper!

[beegle55]

RTS 7.0 avaliable from Atlas is a pretty good freeware program. Not too complicated but I'm sure there are other programs with more bells and whistles that might be more suitable if your looking for an in-depth program.

 -beegle55

[jackn2mpu]

On the Mac there's Empire Express and that's it. It's okay, but I wish there was one like 3rd Planit or CadRail so I could do more with it. I run on an older Power PC Mac, not one of the new IntelMacs so I'm limited, darn it.

[jktrains]

3rdPlanIt has a free demo you can download.  The software is a bit more sophisticated than Atlas RTS and does have some learning curve, but once you climb up the curve a little it is easy to use.  Try the demo first.  If you like it, consider the purchase of it as an investment and first step towards building a layout.  Consider that the time you spend planning now will payoff during construction and avoid those "duh" moments when things don't quite fit.

[Greg H.]

While not specificaly for model railroad use Google SketchUp is a free 3D program that is very easy to learn how to use, and will let you build your layout on the computer, before, you start cutting any wood, and will let you see how it will go together layer by layer.

http://sketchup.google.com/product_suf.html

It's so easy to use, it can be adictive - once I got it, I spent 2 days doing nothing but just drawing things with it.