Hello,
I would like to design my first layout and I would like to use some program to do it. Nowadays I have WinRail 9 (registered version, no trial version) but I haven´t the file (blb) with Micro Engineering code 83 rail. And I need the turnouts of Fast Tracks too.
I know that Right Track of Atlas RR is the same program.
Somebody have this files? Or, maybe somebody can tell me witch program I can do to design it?
Regards and my best Wishes for this 2010!!!
Alex.
Alex,
you are right - RTS is WinRail, but limited to Atlas track only. I am using WinRail 8.0, which unfortunately is not supported any longer - no updates available.
WinRail does not include a library for ME turnouts or Fast Track turnouts. You can try Xtrcad, which is also a free software.
RightTrack is basically version 8 of WinRail but without the extended libraries of track (Atlas only) and structures (Atlas, some Walthers, LifeLike). You can download it for free at: http://download.atlasrr.com/RTS8.zip; the manual is at: http://www.atlasrr.com/RTS8/RTS.pdf
As you have the registered version, you should upgrade to current versions of Version Nine (Winrail download page is: http://www.winrail.com/download.html). You will gain nothing (actually lose functionality) with RightTrack.
You could upgrade to the Deluxe version of 10 which includes a Parts Compiler so you can design and enter your own track segments.
Alan
hi Alex,
for a good design you do not need a CAD program. Most of my drawings are made on a sheet of paper. Drawing by the squares comes second. John Armstrong invented them; you will find an explanation in 102 Realistic Track Plans by Andy Sperandeo and in Track Planning for Realistic Operation of course. Both books are great investments.
A CAD-program is just a drawing machine but it will prevent overly optimistic designs. You do not need to know the precise dimensions of all the pieces of track. You always have to tinker a bit when laying down the tracks. When you put some leeway in your design you will come out OK. E.G. I draw my curve with a 25" radius but I am prepared to lay down my track with a 24" radius. Between the curve and the first switch I draw a straight. At least both tricks are making nice easements possible and if necessary it is giving space for a switch that is just a bit longer.
Paul
Alex
You have been provided technical answers. You can upgrade to WinRail10 and measure and create your own turnout library. You can switch to the open source (free) XtrkCad which has volunteers continuously updating and adding to the libraries. ME and Fast Tracks turnout libraries already exist in XtrkCad.
But I read your post a little more carefully. You said this is your first layout. ME turnouts, and especially Fast Tracks turnouts (built from kits of rail and ties and jigs), are not normally featured on a first layout. You further talk about not having an ME code 83 rail library, which makes me question even more the path you are heading down. Your program should not care in the least which make of flex track you use, except perhaps to get a final count of pieces needed - some makes are sold in meter lengths, some are sold in yard lengths. You can use whatever brand of flex track you choose while designing, and then use a different brand when actually building.
Now, if you were referring to ME turnouts, they only make a #6. Except for the length of the straight portions outside of the frog and points, there isn’t a hill of beans difference between different makes of #6 turnouts for design purposes. If you use Atlas instead of ME during the design, you can be assured that the ME will fit because the Atlas is longer than most makes in the straight sections outside the frog and points. This is especially true if you are willing to cut off some or all of the unneeded sections of turnou
Might also want to try “AnyRail EN”. I found it while surfing the web, downloaded the trial and was very impressed. I’m seriously thinking about buying the liscence key now, it’s quite an easy piece of software to use. Very easy and intuitive.
Hi from Belgium
I use the Fastrack turnouts for my Nscale layout www.handlaidtrack.com
Before I used exclusively Peco code 55 turnouts.
A n°6 fastrack turnouts is really like a Peco turnouts as the curved Peco is like a n°8 curved Fastrack turnout in Nscale.
So if you have a program with the Peco library may be it watch the Fastrack ones in Nscale. I don’t know in HO scale but if you have the possibility compare them.
Happy new year.
Marc
hi
the major drawback of RTS the the lack of different radii. You can draw an arc, but RTS does not see it as a track so you can’t connect it.
Sometimes you can beat the system. In “N-scale code 55” a wider range of radii is available. When you draw your 15 inch curve in N-scale on a 1 foot grid, it is a nice 30" HO curve on a 24" grid. And as long as the N-scale #5, 6 and 10 switches are replaced by #4, 6 and 8 in HO you will not encounter problems when laying down the tracks.
Paul
In Right Track, if you make a curved segment using sections (or instance 24" radius), the parallel track function will make a matching larger curve using flex track segments. For example, making a parallel track right or top 2.5 inches from a 24in radius 90 degree curve will result in a 26.5in radius 90 degree curve.
WinRail (about $65), the source for Right Tracks, will allow you to make curved flex sections directly (both do transition curves).
Alan
Fred - something to consider. I use 3rd Plan It and the lengths of the turnouts vary considerably based on the library you use. That has real world implications when you actually build the layout. Specifically, the Peco turnouts where 3" too short, which really screwed some things up for me when I set out to build the layout. I’ve since fixed my library and the lesson has been learned.
Alex - I’d recommending printing out 1:1 images of all turnouts and such to verify the CAD tool is accurate (if you have them).
-Tom
Tom
Agreed, having accurate libraries is important - to a point. How accurate the software has to be is determined by how you use it. Right now there is a discussion within the LDSIG Yahoo Group on how much of a layout should be planned in advance. Should you just plan the basic course of the main, and worry about spurs later on during construction? One of the points made is that very seldom do you know ultimate structure sizes during the planning phases. Which ends up changing spur and siding locations down the road.
In the translation from software to layout, the differences in overall length of turnouts in the software is unimportant if you are willing to cut off the extraneous portions of the turnout during implementation. Turnouts of different makes are pretty similar in the distance from beginning of points to end of frog for a given frog #.
I go a step further. I have both RTS and XtrkCad. I mainly use the RTS, because I can’t be bothered to spend the time learning XtrkCad enough to do everything I want easily. I even use RTS to lay out my HOn3 line, which has Shinohara and handlaid turnouts. But I know if it will fit with Atlas components, it will certainly fit with my HOn3 track. And that’s all I really care to come away with from using a track design program. Can my idea be built