I would like to have both continuous running and loop to loop running. That is if I can come up with a way of doing it. I have an area that is 10’ x 24’ with the entrance door to the room 8’ from the southwest corner.
If anybody has any suggestions that would be great. When my daughter is no longer messing with my computer cables I will get a scetch of the room posted on here to help you all understand the problem that I have.
Thanks for any help that you give me in the mean time.
I’d get some layout software and start playing with it.
Atlas has some at;
http://www.atlasrr.com/righttrack.htm
Or there is the XTrkCad software at;
Both are free downloads.
There is a learning curve, but it’s not too bad.
I would also recommend track planning software. For your size room the free programs probably won’t work (I believe the XTrk free demo is capped at 4 x 8 layouts).
I bought CadRail and while it took a few hours to get the hang of, it was tremendously useful, especially if you are going to have elevation changes on your layout. While the cost if ~$100, this is small relative to the overall cost of your railroad and will probably pay for itself in terms of saved materials (e.g., wood that wasted on benchwork that didn’t quite work).
You go to about the middle of the page for xtrk and get the free registration number. Then you are not limited to 4 x 8 size. Gives you use of all the features of full version.
Also, it really helps to know what you want. A good read for helping determine your {i]givens and druthers is Track Planning for Realistic Operations by John Armstrong.
Another good book to look at is Mid-sized and Manageable Track Plans[/i] by Iain Rice. The second book has some good track plans, but the advice he gives in the beginning makes a lot of sense for a person planning a new layout.
I didn’t know that about the XTrk software. I just started playing with it. I know that I did a 9’x9’ room with the Atlas software and I could have gone larger. The only limitation there is that you can only use Atlas and Cornerstone templates as that is all thats provided.
It’s not limited. You just need to do the free registration. See novicerr’s message.
I recommend the Atlas RightTrack software that PC notes in his first link (see first replay above). It is really easy to use. I used it to design my layout. Once you get used to it, you can make changes easily and try out all kinds of ideas to see what fits in your room.
Also, like Chip says, it helps to know what you want. Once you have that narrowed down you can really zero in on a layout plan.
Trevor
Here’s the thing, I have been working with the Atlas right track software through the whole process, and nothing I do seems to work out very well. Maybe I am just wanting too much for what I have available. I think that I will try reading the Mid-sized and Manageable Track Plans book. I have read the track planning book by mister Armstrong. I have tried several things so far and nothing seems to work. I guess I will just have to keep trying things. I don’t want to get started on anything until I have a trackplan figured out.
The room for the layout is actually two rooms. One is 10’x17’ and the other is basically 10’x7’. I was hoping to put a hiden staging area in the smaller room as well as the return loop/s. I was also hoping to add the return loops together to save space, but so far that is no working out so well.
I guess I will go back and keep trying maybe something will magically occur.
Thanks for the advise so far.
IT will help if you tells us what you are trying–that will tell us what you are expecting. It is very easy to expect more than your space will hold. IT happens to all of us.
I highly recommend the XtraCAD over Right Track. It handles so many things so much better than the Right Track and RT is Atlas specific.
The more you know what you want, the easier it will be to make decisions in your track development.
You know, it’s easier to expand a layout to fit a space then it is to compress it’s size. Just for giggles you might try to expand a smaller layout that has the mainline you’re after, then do your own sidings to “taylor” it to your needs.
Thanks for the words of encouragement and advice Jerry. I have a couple of ideas that I am going to try and we will see what happens. I actually had a plan that was getting close to being done until I was able to successfully negotiate more land from the department of zoning (wife). That allowed me to do add some things that I wanted originally.
Time to see if any of my ideas will work at all.