So what programs and/or software would anyone recommend for the planning/designing of a layout, just so you can have something more official and less prone to human error?
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RR-Track is probably the standard, been around a long time and has a ton of track systems and accessories available.
SCARM is a much newer program and is free. The author posts here on the forum. I don't think it has as many track systems or accessories as it's still fairly new. I can't describe the feature differences between the two, but there are some.
A few years ago when I got back in the hobby RR-Track is what everyone was recommending. SCARM was not available at the time, it was released a couple years later.
I just received RR-track last week. I started working on it yesterday. So far I am happy I bought it. I need to study it more so I can do more with it. As stated before there is a learning curve for it. But there is much info that comes with it to help you through the process. I especially like the "How do I..." link.
RR-Track is worth every dime it costs.
The RR-Track tutorial included with it helped me. I still don't know the full capabilities of it or use it to it's full potential. Some folks have posted some pretty impressive RR-Track drawings here, way above my current abilities.
You can see what I'm doing in RRTrack in my post below "Proposed new Layout - Help me Choose.
I'll be adding a picture of a new version later.
That's actually harder than making a new version - getting a picture I can post on the forum.
RR Track is a great program, and pretty intuitive to use. The only caution I would exercise is to save your work on a regular basis. The software seems to crash every once in a while, especially after doing a bunch of editing (place track, erase, move, etc), and for me at least, does so at the wrong time and I lose some work. It seems particularly sensitive to when you select some track for a grade, look at the grade, then reject the grade.
Otherwise, it works great and is quite powerful and accurate.
Tom
I use Anyrail and I'm very happy with it. Anyrail doesn't do 3D but it has never crashed on me and they have good track libraries that they update often. I know RR Track is the standard but, for me at least, it crashed all the time. That was 2 years ago so it might be better now.
I use both RR-Track and SCARM. RR-Track is well developed and will prevent you from making mistakes like leaving out completion pieces required. However, it does let you connect track that won't fit when building, so ignore those messages.
It has some nice tools when your layout building skill mature. The simulation is one feature I enjoy, because it let's you check the operational or fun factor.
The biggest downside is the 3D sucks. So, if you are visually oriented, it doesn't help much.
SCARM and ANYRAIL are a close second. SCARM is simpler to use. Takes less moves. The 3D is great. Some of the big boy tools will come soon as will the libraries.
Conclusion: get RRT to answer your question.
Originally Posted by willhi895:
I use Anyrail and I'm very happy with it. Anyrail doesn't do 3D but it has never crashed on me and they have good track libraries that they update often. I know RR Track is the standard but, for me at least, it crashed all the time. That was 2 years ago so it might be better now.
I also had problems with RR-Track crashing, but something has changed as I haven't crashed it in quite a while now. I don't know if it was one of the updates they released or something I am doing differently, but it's been several months since it's crashed here. Seems like it used to crash at least daily.
