AutoCAD blocks of track?

Bryan Thatcher

Bryan Thatcher

Registered
Are there any other AutoCAD users who might have a library of track blocks? I have created good blocks of the track I own, but would love the complete catalog if one is available. Alternatively 'shop' drawings of points and the like so I can create what I need accurately. I've clicked around some of the track software demos/sites, I found them all to be clumsy. I draft for a living. Worth a shot, thanks.
 
There are few CAD type packages around. I use xtrkcad but anyrail is also good and if you want a 3d rendering try scarm. They all have LGB and PIKO track piece libraries. They are free except anyrail, but you can try anyrail with up to 50 track pieces for free. These are Windows software, there has been some debate on whether there is or isn't a Mac package, I wouldn't know and care less!
Cheers, Dave
 
idlemarvel said:
There are few CAD type packages around. I use xtrkcad but anyrail is also good and if you want a 3d rendering try scarm. They all have LGB and PIKO track piece libraries. They are free except anyrail, but you can try anyrail with up to 50 track pieces for free. These are Windows software, there has been some debate on whether there is or isn't a Mac package, I wouldn't know and care less!
Cheers, Dave
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I think AnyRail do a Mac version.
 
Thank you both for your replies. What I'm looking for is components to use in the drafting software i'm familiar with. I'll take a look at anyrail also. Thanks.
 
I Laid my track plan out in AutoCAD with simple CAD blocks I made, dims taken from LGB track and the web..although the layout works and you end up with the idea of what you need to build it, I found out in the real world that it didn't quite fit together as planned :D You don't seem to lay track as accurate as you draw it in CAD and I forgot about all the expansion gaps that you leave in real life.
 
LGB-Sid said:
I Laid my track plan out in AutoCAD with simple CAD blocks I made, dims taken from LGB track and the web..although the layout works and you end up with the idea of what you need to build it, I found out in the real world that it didn't quite fit together as planned :D You don't seem to lay track as accurate as you draw it in CAD and I forgot about all the expansion gaps that you leave in real life.
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Yea I tried scaling up some images as a background to create blocks, I wasn't delighted with the result. But that's what I'm looking for, just an good idea, track list. Thanks.
 
Back of an old envelope works pretty well in G
 
Back of envelope is ideal for the schematic, but unless you have an unlimited supply of track parts you will want a parts list to save endless trips to your local supplier. :-)
 
I just laid out the track, a couple of meters at a time and built the base to fit. When it came to getting back to the beginning I 'cut and shut' the gap.
 
playmofire said:
However much you plan, you can't beat putting track on the ground (or some other suitable hard surface).
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I did when contemplating making the track fit the trailer...
Track layout.JPG

In the end, I made the trailer fit track!
 
Yes, but the wife filled it with blooming horses!
 
If you can use AutoCAD whe don't you make your own blocks as if you have the catalogue sizes it will not take very long.
 
Hi Bryan,

I draw in Auto CAD 2D for my day job and have found it very useful over the almost ten years that I have been building a 1970s US outline railroad in the back garden; mostly using Aristocraft and LGB track. Drawing points and planning things like a cut and cover tunnel I found quite it useful, I have a plan of the whole garden based on OS data and my own survey. The most useful thing I have done is to print out 1 to 1 scale A1 sheets and join them together to make patterns for custom radius curves to bend rails by hand, very accurate and something you can do on winter evenings.

Measuring the originals you find out early on that Aristocraft's "5 foot radius" points are actually more like 4 feet 4 inches and so on!
 
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