Free track design website for ho scale??

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hi guy’s and gal’s. I am wanting to redo my old layout and start a new one. I have a 4x8 and I would like to stay with that due to space. Does anybody know of a website you can plan your layout, kinda like a blueprint? I know there has to be some.

Thanks

Robby

2

Robby,

Go to the Atlas web site and download their Right Track Freeware 7.0 track planning software. It’s FREE and less than 5 MB in size. It’s a little quirky. But if you are persistent and play around with it long enough, you can draw up some nice plans. I believe there’s also a tutorial that comes with it.

Hope that helps…

Tom

3

Thanks alot. I am downing it now.

4

TOO MANY TRACK PLANS are spaghetti bowls on a 4X8. (Sells track).

Joe is ‘a voice in the wilderness’ with thoughts to be considered for ANY layout - Ie: what works best, and what doesn’t. Not surprisingly, some have different ideas, and possesing less credentials.

EXAMPLE: He’s one of the few people with DCC that has owned more than one system.

5

XtrakCad from www.sillub.com is another free download. It’s got a bit more of a learning curve, but it’s also a more capable program. I designed my layout with Atlas RTS, by the way, and it did the job for me.

6

I used RTS and am happy with the results. The learning curve on XtrakCAD was too steep for me, but XTrakCAD does offer more of a variety when it comes to track manufacturers. A 4X8can be done, check out the St Louis NMRA site (the link to which escapes me at the moment), it has some pretty nifty 4 X 8’s that might give you some ideas, also Westcott’s 101 Track Plans, and any number of MR mag pubs.

7

HI there,

I have had much the same schematic, currently on a 4x8 but has been on a 5x10 HO and a 6x3 N scales based on a article in MR about 35 years ago… Yes I cannot lean as far now but if I were to rebuild it as a small shelf modular, I would probably still use a similar schematic as it has been a great theme for me at least. My website is www.xdford.digitalzones.com and I have a scanned and edited copy of the article on which it is based should you want to read it!

Regards

Trevor www.xdford.digitalzones.com