Track planning software

I use RRTrack.

-Greg

I found the easiest track planning software to wrap your mind around was AnyRail.  I also have RRTrack, but I really didn't like it.

Hi Folks,

I just bought AnyRail.  Fully agree with Gunrunnerjohn - It was relatively intuitive to use without reading instructions etc.  I have not used many advanced features yet, but honestly easy to use.  Liked easy select and connect track, many available libraries and the full listing of parts.

No experience with other track planning programs.  You can always try the limited free versions and see how easy they are to use / if they have the features you need.

John

Thanks I will look at both of them tomorrow.

Henry

Another one to try out is SCARM.  It is downloadable off the internet and free to use up to a limited number of pieces.

Chuck

I am with gunrunnerjohn on Anyrail. I have had it for 10 years give or take. Very user friendly. I played around with a few other programs that mentioned often here but always go back to Anyrail.

Railware is the stripped-down version of RRTrack, so RW will give you a feel for the RRT user interface. SCARM and AnyRail allow a free try-before-you-buy download.  You can then pick your favorite among all three programs without spending a dime.

Having a technology disability myself, I found AnyRail to be very nice. There are some decent YouTube videos that you can reference.

If you're counting on getting any reasonable amount of technical support along with your purchase, stay away from RRTrack. There is a definite learning curve with it. When I bought it about 7 years ago, I had to just about beg Russ Becker for 15 minutes of his time on the phone to help me through a few steps where I was having trouble. He took more time telling me to just read the tutorials (I read all of them before asking him for help) and refusing to help than if he would've just spent the time on the phone with me in the first place. I like the product, but the customer support is about as bad as it gets.

I couldn't find any support, and I'm sorry I wasted my money on RRTrack.  Live and learn...

I have had RR-Track since 2005, and customer service back then was good.  Haven't needed customer service in years.

I like RR-Track but I am very familiar with it.  Does everything I need.

I just watched a couple videos on ANYRAIL and I think it will do what I want. I had to buy it because of the size of my layout will be more than 50 items. Thanks for all of your input

Henry

Henry, you can download it and tinker with it before you shell out the money, but I suspect once you do, you'll be happy to purchase it.

@CAPPilot posted:

I like RR-Track but I am very familiar with it.  Does everything I need.

I'm sure if the interface and options weren't so cryptic that it would have done my layout fine.  However, I don't have time to waste on lousy user interfaces with nonexistent customer support.

Another happy AnyRail user here. One thing I did do after a while is disable the upgrades. Most seem to be HO related. I got tired of the constant update of rev numbers associated with the upgrades.

John I just took it out of my Kids inheritance no big deal. Come to think of it all of this train stuff is out of my kids inheritance.

Here is what I have so far the room is 50x22 this is the current footprint

Any programs out there that work on a tablet or phone?

Nope, unless you count the ones that work through a webpage.

Chuck

I'm using Railmodeller Pro on my Mac.

After many years of using RRtrack and learning/accommodating the quirky UI and other issues with the program, I have changed from RRtrack to AnyRail.  RRtrack v4 was stable when building large complex track plans, but after upgrading to v5, the software has crashed and lost my work many times.  Enough.

I highly recommend  AnyRail Software.

This is what I got done today. This is my current layout lower level.My north yard has my longest trains 2 are 28 cars plus 2 engines each. the layout is split into 2 hafts. The u-turn is where the power split is. Anyrail gave me no problems the only problem was me learning the software and I still have a long way to go.

Henry

If I were to only have one comment, I'd consider having at least two mainlines that go the whole distance around the layout.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

If I were to only have one comment, I'd consider having at least two mainlines that go the whole distance around the layout.

I will play around with the program and see what I can come up with. The way it is now I can run 3 trains without the fear of them hitting each other. 1 in the u.p. yard area and 1 each on main line (north/south) with the u turn switched.  The easiest part is laying the track the wiring is a different story. The north has 1 TIU/AIU and the south has the other TIU/AIU

Thanks Henry

I have owned RR-Track for a long while now and am (mostly) used to its quirks.  As GRJ has commented, the user interface is less than ideal.  But even worse is the printing facility.  It went from passable in v4 to downright unworkable (cryptic) in v5.  The Help files tell you what the buttons do, not how to use them to achieve an outcome.  That's a pet peeve of mine - documentation has to be useful.

And yes, the developer has dropped off the radar.  Requests for help, suggestions for improvements - all go unanswered.

All that said, it's a powerful tool.  I may start a thread on "how to do things in RR-Track" just out of self-defense.

George

@G3750 posted:

And yes, the developer has dropped off the radar.  Requests for help, suggestions for improvements - all go unanswered.

All that said, it's a powerful tool.  I may start a thread on "how to do things in RR-Track" just out of self-defense.

George

As I mentioned earlier, he responded to my requests back in 2005/7 time frame when I was learning how to use it.  Talked to him at York too.  That is almost 20 years ago, and he may not even be alive.  I hope he is doing well.

@G3750 posted:

I may start a thread on "how to do things in RR-Track" just out of self-defense.

Self-defense?  What are you defending against.  If it works for you, great.  I found it a much more difficult interface than other track planning programs.