Layout Software

Other track planning software products would cost more than $40 for the features you'd likely want or need.  IMHO, your best option is to buy the Atlas upgrade, since you are already familiar with that product -- no learning curve.

Mike Mottler    LCCA 12394

There are 3 pieces of software that are free to download, but 2 of them limit their free use to a set number of pieces.  Those 2 are SCARM and AnyRail.  The 3rd piece of software is XtrakCAD, and it is completely free and will run under Windows, MacOS and Linux, but it is the most difficult to learn.  All 3 of those come with multiple track libraries making them all very adaptable to what you want to do.

Chuck

@Daniel Meckstroth posted:

I am using an outdate Atlas track planning app that works, but has limitations. To update the app is $40.00, and my layout is basic and not rquring further uses. $40.00 seem quite a bit to pay for what I want. Are there any less expensive options or do we I simply bite the bullet?

This is what you want:

https://www.scarm.info/index.php

Thank you for your response. The cost is $44.90; is it easiter to use than the $40.00 Atlas planner?   Thanks again

I found AnyRail to be the easiest track planning software to come up to speed on.  I tried SCARM and RRTrack as well as the free XtrakCAD.  Like the previous comment, I found XtrakCAD's user interface to be quite cryptic, and RRRrack wasn't far behind in difficulty.  AnyRail was by far the easiest to come up to speed with, and I've used that ever since.

I view the comments about the cost of the application with some amusement.  When you're spending thousands of dollars on a layout, the difference between $40 and $70 for an application that's easier to use seems to be splitting hairs, I'd rather spend that extra time elsewhere.

@Daniel Meckstroth posted:

Thank you for your response. The cost is $44.90; is it easiter to use than the $40.00 Atlas planner?   Thanks again

I can't tell you if it's easier to use than the Atlas planner as I don't have Atlas track so never tried it.  I fine Scarm easy to use and the free version is mostly complete,  I think the only limitation is number of pieces at 100 (I think).  I used it a lot as I change my Christmas layout every year, so I did buy it to support.

But I agree with John, if you are happy with Atlas one and already know how to use it than you should probably buy it.