Track Planning Fiend

It just sort of happened. There I was, minding my own business, when someone on the Railwire asked for help with their track plan. Never mind that it was a fully-functional yard for an ops-oriented layout, and here I was a roundy-rounder... I've nothing against ops, and while I'm no expert on yard design, with the help of some other Railwire regulars, I got up to speed in short order, and submitted some recommendations.

That was almost two years ago—and it was just the beginning. Over the coming months, more and more folks posted pleas for plans, and I'd respond with one. Or two. Or, in some cases, a dozen or more variations and revisions. No matter; the goal has always been to satisfy the modeler's need for a good-looking layout. Bear in mind, these requests were not directed at me; I simply volunteered myself, particularly as there was usually a dearth of responses.

Why me? I suspect that it's because I'm a graphic designer in addition to being model railroader. Thus I have an artist's eye combined with a modeler's sensibilities. I'm also pretty handy with a computer—I earn my living writing software, so it's no effort for me to push pixels around on a PC.

A frequently-asked question is, what track planning program do I use? Up until recently, I actually didn't use any; my preference has been CorelDraw. In general I've found track planning software to be unintuitive, buggy, and limited in rendering options. That is, until I found AnyRail. Written by a small software firm in the Netherlands, AnyRail is intuitive, stable and highly professional, with output options that suit my needs. It's also frequently updated with a comprehensive collection of track libraries that even includes T Gauge!

As great as AnyRail may be, it's only my starting point—but a critical one, since it verifies track geometry, and assembles parts lists as a bonus. Since I also produce track plans for publication, I'll export AnyRail plans into Corel for final rendering. Below is an example, which appears in the November/December issue of N Scale magazine (click for a full-sized version).



Unless someone expresses preferences to the contrary, I consider track planning ideas to be public domain, and so I'm building a growing library of plans, located on my White River and Northern website. Please feel free to contact me should you need some track planning help. I've not turned it into a business, so it's all free—I'm having too much fun doing it to charge money.