Drawing trackplans on different levels

[Gixer]

hi all my layout that i am building is on 3 different levels,can anyone suggest a good way to draw a full schematic using railmaster.i notice in one of the folders inside it there are icons for inclines etc but they have not been implemented in the layout designer and i think when loco detection arrives i will need a full schematic for it to work properley with scale speeds and knowing where your loco is on the track

     thans gixer 

[96RAF]

You can just draw it as if it were all flat and label the different levels as such (e.g. high level, middle level and low level), but if you want tracks to say cross over each other then just leave a gap in the track. RM doesn't care about the straight line bits or corners - they are purely for show, it only knows about the points and signals and when it eventually comes it will know where the loco detection sensors are on the track. At present it knows about locos and what they are doing but not where they are.

[Fishmanoz]

Adding to what RAF has said, loco detection won't make any difference. With LD, the only places on the layout where RM will know where locos are is at the actual detectors. At those points, it will also know the direction they are travelling and their speed (RM always know speed as it is set on the throttle). Beyond that it will know nothing about locos' whereabouts. 

So your schematic can be as near as possible to the real thing, or not, entirely at your choice. The schematic is and will always be just a convenience for placing your points, signals, detectors and any other accessories in their approximate relative positions in a way that is meaningful to you. It could only ever be more than that if it were a true scale representation of your actual layout, and it never will be. 

[Graskie]

That's interesting. At one end of my layout I have a high level double track over a parallel lower one. This was purely to allow more space for the length of station platform I wanted to accommodate a tender loco with 5 coaches on the lower level. On my RM layout schematic I placed the bottom level as if it were actually inside the top one, so that I could see it, which doesn't look all that realistic a representaion of the real thing. So, if I just forget about showing the present or intended lower level where it disappears under the top one at each end, I would not need to show the lower level track beyond where it disappears under the top one? I have no points on either on those lengths of track, so that wouldn't be any problem.

[Fishmanoz]

Correct Graskie, your choice how you show it. As long as all your points and accessories are there, it meets all of the RM requirements for controlling everything, including LD when it comes.