I did a search on the above topic and the search produced no results. I find this hard to believe as I recall seeing many thread dealing with CAD programs being used for designing layouts.
Anyway, I am considering tearing down my current HO Northern Pacific layout and starting over with an Sn3 layout. Are there any CAD programs that are cheaper than $50.00 for doing this. Free would even be better!
Thanking you in advance.
Mark
Have you tried using SCARM? It’s free and it has a large catalog of built-in track manufacturers, scales and types. Not sure if it’s what you’re looking for, but I figured I’d put it out there.
Mark,
CAD systems don´t design layouts, you do it. What they do is to draw a layout according to your design. They also help you to perform a kind of “sanity check”, i.e. grades, minimum radius, track spacing etc.
There are a number of freebies around:
AnyRail (the free version is limited to 50 pieces of track).
RTS from Atlas is unfortunately not available anymore.
All of these programs have quite a learning curve to them - you may find the use of paper and pencil much faster.
I am using WinRail (the paid version of RTS) to draw my track plans. I use the draw function of it to prepare fairly detailed drawings helping me visualize what I am about to build.
Here is a pic of my current layout project:
A Marklin HO tinplaqte layout I did for a friend:
… and my favorite plan:
I recently downloaded a free copy of SCARM and it is fairly easy to use. They have a library of most brands of track and turnouts. The user has control of flex track radius, lengths etc. It also allows you to draw your layout boundries and building shapes in 3D as well as roads. You can also view in 3D.
I am very good at drawing things out with pencil and paper. I guess I will go that way. However, I thought it would be fun to mess with a simple CAD program, do all the thinking and rearranging of stuff without using one piece of paper. I can and will go back to the old tried and true.
Again, thanks!
I’ve been using Anyrail, and for me its pretty easy to use. Best one I used so far. I even printed the design to a PDF and took it to a UPS store to have then print it out to full scale size 166 pages, now i just join the pages together on my table and i can see how everything is going to look. Also takes the guess work out of mesuring curves.
I liked the (free) XTrackCAD, but diddled with it over 3 winters before making the plunge. If you give it a shot, be sure to do the tutorial.
If you have a Mac, try Empire Express by Haddon software. It is easy to use and learn; it is inexpensive; it is 2D without a lot of bells and whistles but it does the job-after you do the basic design, as noted by others!
Dante
Nope, I have IBM and using Winows 8 which I think SUCKS![:'(]
When attempting to Downlaod XtrackCAD and SCARM, my McAfee Virus protection software tells me I’m attempting to download “spyware and viruses”! I guess I don’t need a free CAD program that includes all that crap! Only Anyrail downloaded without warnings!
I will give it a try, we’ll see how “Intuitive” this program is?
I really enjoy using SCARM. I worked on my layout for 6 months with 3 major redesigns before I actually started building my layout. I had the same download issues with XtrackCAD. But I none with SCARM.
If you do go the pencil paper route, I bought this pad of giant graph paper at Staples for $7.00. On this drawing each square represents 1 foot. In my down time at work I would roughly draw things out on a small peace of graph paper on a clip board and move it on to this big one later.
Please ignore the layout drawing in this photo as it is nothing like the one I ended up with. I had put in everything I wanted and then brought out the eraser when reality set in.
I like designing houses with a CAD program and think they are great, however for some reason and I don’t know why, I still like pencil and paper for designing layouts.
Brent, what size is that tablet? That looks like the perfect method of doing this!
Brent, thanks for the heads-up on that oversized pad of graph paper. I am gonna head over to my local Staples to pick up a pad. [Y]
Rich
The pad is 35 1/2"x 24". The squares are 1" and there are (were) 50 sheets on the pad. I made it so 1" represented 1’ in the plan. I first drew an outline of the room and if you look on the bottom of the plan in the photo you can see where I drew the fireplace and hearth as an example. Also doors at the top.
I used the high school geometry set for drawing, and for getting curve radius I used the squares as a guide to set the compass, ie; 2 squares is 24". I also made up a key on the bottom of the sheet to set my compass by for other radius measurements such as 30". I used millimetres as this made drawing curves much more accurate than trying to chop up inches.
Buy a new eraser when you go to Staples, a new eraser is much easier on the paper. When I erased right through the paper I just decided a bridge would go there.[swg]
Good luck.
The problem is that you’re using McAfee as your virus protection [(-D]
I’ve been using SCARM for 1 1/2 years now and I’ve never had any issues in regards to viruses so don’t let McAfee fool you.
I know this is off topic, but I would recommend switching to the Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes for your computer security. They’re both free and work great. Oh and I totally agree about Windows 8. [2c]
If you haven’t done so, upgrade to 8,1 so you get your start menu back, just liek WIn 7 (well, close enough to be completely usable). If you want it EXACTLY like WIn 7, there are some freeware Start Menu replacements that make it looka nd behave exactly the same. WIn 8 drives me nuts - 8,1, I am ready to go ahead and install now. Workign with servers, this is the same as Server 2012 R2, which I’m finding to be just fine. Server 2012, same as Win 8 - yuck.
DO agree switching AV. MSE is free AND it usually ranks pretty high. I’ve tried a few different free ones - MSE seems to have much less overhead than the others.
–Randy
On topic: Stick with pencil and paper. CAD is for those who have forgotten how to hold a pencil [(-D]. If you have to use a CAD proggy, personally I recommend the Atlas RTS ver 7. Its blatently easy to use and produces drawings equal to the photoshopped versions you see in MR magazine with a little help from MS Paint (which it directly will interact with, unknown if other CADs do this.).
Off topic: Switch back to Win7. For those who dont know, or even cared to know… Win8 is Win7. The only difference, Win8 is made for touch screens.
Win8’s core code is Win7, its GUI (GUI is the part that you the user interacts with) is different. Thats it thats all. So all youd lose is that stinking apple iphone looking desktop that NO ONE WANTS. Operationally, there is NOTHING 8 can do that 7 cant do just as fast, or just as good. Its the same!
And before you do it, DO NOT upgrade to 8.1. That is a mistake. Your just polishing the proverbial t**d by doing that, not fixing the problem.
As another user stated, switch to Malwarebytes Anti-malware. McAfee and Norton are such system hogs, they are as bad as a virus themselves! Also get yourself a copy of “Ad-Block”. Of all softwares ive come across since i started in programming (the 80’s) this is the best computer application ever made! BAR NONE!! Both are free, and both are for Windows!
Atlas-branded RightTrack CAD has been discontinued for some time. It was a stripped-down version of the commercial program WinRail.
http://www.winrail.com/
I use a pencil and a CAD program. No, I don’t write on my computer screen! That would be like the guy who marked his favourite fishing spot by putting an X in the bottom of his boat[(-D].
I use 3rdPlanIt and really like it, but I prefer to keep pencil notes of things like switch requirements and structure lists including the things that need to be done to them, i.e. cutting gaps in the turnout rails, adding lighting and details to a structure etc.
I’m an admitted computer dinosaur. At least with the pencilled lists I know that I am looking at the latest version every time. Also, I don’t have to scroll down the page to see all of the info!
Dave
Thats why I mentioned it as RTS. A stripped down version may possibly have a lesser learning curve than Winrail, and hopefully be a pinch easier to use. I keep hearing RTS has been discontinued. However, I just dloaded a copy of v7 to upgrade my earlier RTS version in the last 2 years from somewhere. Its still out there.
EDIT: heres a link for 4 versions of RTS…