How to draw a track plan.

granddad gnome

granddad gnome

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Hi all. it me again,
I would very much like to have a proper track plan of my railway. I have tried many times but always seam to get it in a mess. Can anyone help with ideas as to how to achieve a decent drawing of my large garden railway. Drawing the track plan in the shed does not seem to present a problem but than I get out side and find I keep drawing things out of prospective and end up with bits that don't match. This is not that important but as I am as it were laid up at the moment I thought it would keep me occupied for a few weeks until I can get out there and do some work on it development.

 
Peter

Why not get some graph paper to draw it on and then make up a full size square say about a foot to two foot, then you could place it roughly over the top of the current layout and draw what falls inside each square onto the graph paper you should then end up with a almost scale plan of the track plan :thumbup:
 
One option is to photograph it from an upstairs window, or camera on a long stick on timer, then use a photo program to correct the perspective to give a plan that can be used as a basis. Taking lots of photos pointing down vertically at a set height and then roughly putting them together either as prints or even in word are another option. If you insert pictures into Word and use the picture tools menu to put them 'in front of text' then resize them all smaller using one as the datum, they can be turned into a mosaic from which a plan can be drawn.
 
To me, Steve's idea of laying strings over the railway in a fixed grid size would be the simplest and most economical method.
 
Welcome Laminak, you have ARRIVED!
 
steve parberry said:
bigjack said:
tram47 said:
un système pas très cher :
a not very expensive:
http://www.anyrail.com/index_en.html
Click to expand...
You can try it free to start with.
Click to expand...
I think peters layout contains a lot of flexi track so will need a true surveying type option.
Click to expand...

8| Indeed. Try offsets from a stringline, or set out two points and do triangulation.... good enough for real railway, then it should be good enough for the garden. Tape measure, stingline, pencil, and paper, the old fashioned way.
 
I used the survey and file into the organic database method.
Infinitely editable and easily modified with little effort.
On a serious note I have a copy of "third planit" that works well.
 
Gnome, if you are uncomfortable with using a CAD program, the best suggestion is find an LGB track template and graph paper, its tedious work but at least you get a good idea of space required and amount of track sizes needed.
 
:onphone: Whoa. Let's clarify a point here.... are you 'designing' a layout, or trying to map an existing one. I understand it is the latter, but most of the thread seems to be drifting off into computer design. English is a funny language, is'nt it.
 
Gavin Sowry said:
Whoa. Let's clarify a point here.... are you 'designing' a layout, or trying to map an existing one. I understand it is the latter, but most of the thread seems to be drifting off into computer design. English is a funny language, is'nt it.
Click to expand...
Well said Gavin.
Post #2 is about the most useful suggestion for drawing an existing line.
I marked out my backyard on a 2m grid with small pegs, using the fenceline as a baseline and a 2m piece of wood. Then drew up a sheet of paper at scale (2cm=2m) and then marked where every bit of track crossed the grid lines for a starter. If there were major curves within the 2m square, I made some more measurements till I could freehand sketch in all the tracks. This is a small section as an example. While I was marking out the pegs I measured the height from an arbitrary datum (my highest track), so the figures like -2010 represent 2.01m below datum.
88ec09bde4c14824aa8ae9a22a0d56a8.jpg

After I did the freehand skectch. I scanned it to computer and redrew over it using MS Paint. You can see the whole result at this link....
http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/satr/plan.gif
 
ROSS said:
Has anyone used the booklet 101 Track Plans by Linn H Westcott (Kalmbach )?
Mainly for smaller scales up to "0" but a good guide and all based on grids with dimensions for each square for the choosen scale. Just uprate to G

Just a thought (its early in the day):rolf:
Click to expand...
Hi Ross, The San Juan Central RR is based on plan No 63 page 36 Rio Grande Southern in 101 Track Plans. http://www.gscalecentral.net/fb.ashx?m=237114 < Link To http://www.forum.gscalece.ral.net/fb.ashx?m=237114
But I left out the wye in the top left corner as I didn't have enough space :thumbdown::thumbdown: though I made a reversing loop in the bottom right :thumbup:
 
steve parberry said:
bigjack said:
tram47 said:
un système pas très cher :
a not very expensive:
http://www.anyrail.com/index_en.html
Click to expand...
You can try it free to start with.
Click to expand...
I think peters layout contains a lot of flexi track so will need a true surveying type option.
Click to expand...

No problem with Flexi track and anyrail. The darker sections on this plan are all flexitrack sections drawn using anyrail then the plan exported as a .jpg
21b0e4631f9c4aeb94f9dcda1a987448.jpg
 
Another couple of useful tips for using Anyrail without cost, as the freeby trial restricts you to 50 pieces of track.

1. Break down your overall track plan into small sections. Draw each section using Anyrail. Export them as a .jpg (to the same scale of course), then splice all the jpg "sections" together and save them as a single .jpg using MS paint, Gimp, Photoshop or similar..

2. When doing curves (Say LGB R3 semi-circle), draw them out first using the individual R3's, then overlay them with a flexi section and bend it to the same Radius. Then delete the R3's, hey presto only one section of track used instead of 6.

3. Same on the straights. If you know a section of your layout is 4 x 1200mm straights, draw them in, then overlay with a 3000mm flexi and stretch it to the length of your 4 x 1200's (Yes you can stretch and shrink the 3000mm flexi sections in Anyrail). Once you've stretched the 3000mm to the required length, delete the original 4 x 1200mm's - 1 piece of track instead of 4.

With a bit of careful flexi track substitution you can produce quite sizeable plans using only 50 pieces of track. That's how the plan in my previous post (#21) was done. Practically every section of track is a stretched, shrunk or curved flexi.
 
Gavin Sowry said:
:onphone: Whoa. Let's clarify a point here.... are you 'designing' a layout, or trying to map an existing one. I understand it is the latter, but most of the thread seems to be drifting off into computer design. English is a funny language, is'nt it.
Click to expand...

To clarify for Gavin and everyone else, the railway is built now and I would like a track plan of the existing so as to be able to attach to other threads on other sites. It will also be a useful tool now I have arrived at the stage of constructing the buildings and setting the scene.
 
3Valve said:
Another couple of useful tips for using Anyrail without cost, as the freeby trial restricts you to 50 pieces of track.

1. Break down your overall track plan into small sections. Draw each section using Anyrail. Export them as a .jpg (to the same scale of course), then splice all the jpg "sections" together and save them as a single .jpg using MS paint, Gimp, Photoshop or similar..

2. When doing curves (Say LGB R3 semi-circle), draw them out first using the individual R3's, then overlay them with a flexi section and bend it to the same Radius. Then delete the R3's, hey presto only one section of track used instead of 6.

3. Same on the straights. If you know a section of your layout is 4 x 1200mm straights, draw them in, then overlay with a 3000mm flexi and stretch it to the length of your 4 x 1200's (Yes you can stretch and shrink the 3000mm flexi sections in Anyrail). Once you've stretched the 3000mm to the required length, delete the original 4 x 1200mm's - 1 piece of track instead of 4.

With a bit of careful flexi track substitution you can produce quite sizeable plans using only 50 pieces of track. That's how the plan in my previous post (#21) was done. Practically every section of track is a stretched, shrunk or curved flexi.
Click to expand...


Will definitely have a go at this method and see what I can do. I have also found in the Boy Scout Handbook, (from when I was a wee lad) a section called "Plane Table Mapping". I remember have to do this one year when away at camp.(can't remember how it turned out).
 
ROSS said:
Has anyone used the booklet 101 Track Plans by Linn H Westcott (Kalmbach )?
Mainly for smaller scales up to "0" but a good guide and all based on grids with dimensions for each square for the choosen scale. Just uprate to G

Just a thought (its early in the day):rolf:
Click to expand...
Funny you mention that, I just bought it! Found it for $3.50 on the clearance table at a shop.

I adore this book, not so much only for the plans but for the old school way Westcott added hand drawn scenery and buildings, often in their own unique perspective angles, around the track plans. Its a really super cool way to show how it could look. I believe Wescott was the only one who did that, I would LOVE to try it on a couple of my plans and continue the tradition.
 
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