Track Planning software

[Carlosfandangobanjo]

I am coming back into the hobby and was looking to plan out a layout on 12 x 4 board set up in my garage but amazed there isnt anything simple to use....anyrail...£45, but easy 9 ish) to use..scram...$39 but clunky and not drag and drop....so its going to have to be a case of playing with anyrail and seeing if i can beat something out, is there anything Hornby have?

[Souty Train Guy]

I wasn't particularly aware of any Hornby version on the market. For my layout I use Scarm, the only downside being if you have too many track lengths, you have to split your layout into different files to avoid going over the freeware limit

[RDS]

I use AnyRail.

[96RAF]

Scarm 100 track pieces in the free version. And it has a built in train sim to try out your track to see if it has play value.

[walkingthedog]

Pencil and paper and real track.

[LCDR]

I hate to admit it but I prefer WTD's method. I do have a planning stencil I got from Hornby eons ago , and also a box of clip together track planning pieces, but squared paper and a pencil and an old fashioned school compass seems to do just as well if not better, a rubber eraser is handy too. I do use Microsoft Visio for drawing railway wagons to scale and therefore I have set up some track planning stencils in that program, but I still prefer (a) paper and pencil, or (b) getting the actual track pieces out on a board and trying to make them fit.

[LCDR]

By the way the Track Mat fits a 4' wide board so you will be OK with an oval of 3rd radius and you then need to extend it from the 5' by another 7'.

[Lyd 85B]

I came into the hobby about three years ago, with little knowledge and even fewer modelling or IT skills. I started planning a layout using a pencil and piece of grid paper, but very quickly tired of that. I then came across AnyRail and was surprised at how easy and intuitive it was to use. It was free initially because I was only using a limited number of components, though I eventually had to pay for it when my ambitions grew, but it only cost £28 - about the same as a Hornby brake van. When I came to laying track, everything fitted millimetre-perfect within the available baseboard area. I have since used it extensively, both to expand the existing layout and to play 'what if?' with other ideas.