# Designing a layout from the prototype; AnyRail info



## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

I was asked a little while agao to show the stages of designing a layout from the prototype using AnyRail. I have a few pics showing the Kettle Falls area in Washington, but here I'll be using my current residence of Minot, North Dakota. I've also added a few tips for stuff you can use in AnyRail.

Edit: disregard this file, I grabbed the wrong one.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Here is the screenshot of Minot. You can see the railroad cutting through the middle with the yard on the right and Braodway down the center.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Here is the start of my layout. 

I used a 16'x16' shelf layout, originally with 3' depth, but extended to 4' at the ends for the return loop.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

I like using a loop layout so I can just run the trains, but with that means using a staging area for the trains not in use. Minot has a variety of freight trains and the Amtrak, so this will let me hold those in the background until needed.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

The switching yard is the largest thing in my layout, so I'll start with that to ensure I have room. Its always best to design the layout with the largest thing in mind and build around it. Then if you get carried away with something else (like I tend to do), you wont have to go back to square one to fix it.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

The yard. Not really big, but it'll work well with the size of this layout.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Just to the west of Broadway is the Amtrak station. I like variety so I will add this to the layout. Gives me more to do and allows me to add some interesting scenery the yard doesnt offer. The prototype actually has a seperate line runing parallel to teh freight line then joins up out of town, but here I added them together and just made a siding for the passenger terminal.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Here is what the final track layout will look like. Three basic parts: the switch yard, the passenger terminal, and the staging area. At this point we can run a train (yeah!) and start working the scenery.

I didnt use any elevation changes here since North Dakota is fairly flat. But since this area is at the bottom of a hill, I could raise the back tracks a little and scenic the hillside around it.

In my drawing I reference a wallboard. All this is, simply, is a vertical board roughly 4"-5" above the laid track cut to resemble rolling hils or buildings. It isnt enclosed like a tunnel so that you can look over the top and see the train. This way if you have a problem, its easy to access without removing any scenery or structures. I credit this gimmick to Model Railroading Magazine.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Here I start adding some scenery. I personally like starting with roads, but some folks like to start with structure and build the roads around them. Its really user preference.

The roads are easy to draw using the line tool in AnyRail. Be careful with how wde you make the lines, though. Its easy to cover up track and scenery and the only way to grab those later is to remove the thick line. Not the end of the world, but a pain nonetheless.

Anyways, you can see in the Minot screenshot, I used some of the streets that surround the yard and the passenger terminal. Where you see 1st Ave is the old business area of Minot. Along that hillboard could be store fronts backed by painted or photoed scenery. Maybe the hillboard can be cut to look like the low skyline for that part of town? Not a bad idea!


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

OOPS! Wrong file! Here is the right one. Maybe I need to quit naming these so similar to each other..............


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Again, whether you start with buildings or roads s entirely up to you. But here I started some buildings. Simple shapes work great for the layout drawing, but in the next post I'll show you some neat tricks for more realistic representations.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Here is how you can add better building shapes to your layout drawing. MS Paint is your freind and your enemy. I'm not really good at Paint, but I can fumble through a rough drawing for the purpose of illustration. I'm not sure how CAD drawings load into AnyRail, but I'll assume it can be done by exporting the CAD file as a JPEG and uploading that instead.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

The last thing I'll touch on here is ading the green stuff. Yep scenery. I dont usually ad much to my drawings as what you see on the computer screen will look completely different on the actual layout. But if you want to liven up your drawing, AnyRail has an assortment (albeit a limited one) of scenery. I use both HO and N scale for my HO layouts, but just to avoid having to resize the HO stuff.

If anyone has questions about any of this, feel free to ask and I'll answer what I can. I'm not a pro at AnyRail, but I do play with it alot. Here I just wanted folks to see the stages of design for a prototype area.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Dawg,

I like this thread ... nice presentation. I've never fiddled with AnyRail (I'm an AutoCAD guy), but I've always been curious about the step-wise sequence of the design process. Your screenshots offer a nice explanation. I also like how you're attempting to tie the layout into a real-world track run ... clever.

As you're adding info in AnyRail, I assume you can save the file at intermittent steps. Are there Undo and Redo commands? Can you assign objects to different "layers" ... tracks, roads, scenery, for example ... that you can turn on/off for selective viewing?

Thanks!

TJ


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Thanks for the compliments, TJ!

What I did was save the project as a new file whenever I added something. Since I do all my layouts using the same process described in this thread, it's easy for me do this step by step. But there is a Save button up top for quick saving of the current project.

There are undo and redo buttons, but I dont use them much. If I'm sizing up a track section, I'll utilize the undo option so I dont have to disconnect then move the track I just added.

As for the layers, there is an option for them, but I didnt want to swamp someone new to layout design. I use them occasionally when I'm trying to tie in scenery and buildings so if I need to tweak the track, I can remove everything else but the track. I'll touch up on other features later; this was just a starter to show some of the things most likely to be used. I'm working on another layout showing how to tie in multileveled shelf layouts with a helix, but that is proving a little more challenging so it's taking a while to make it ook right.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Here is a quick bit on layers.










This screenshot shows the Layers tab and what functions are available such as adding/deleting layers, renaming the layer, and which layer is current. You can unclick to remove any layer except the current one. Removing the layer doesnt delete that layer, it just doesnt show it on the drawing. To delete the layer, select the layer as the current and hit "Delete".










Using layers allows you to remove or add visual features to the drawing without having to delete or add them every time. Here I've taken away everything but the track and you can see it makes it a bit easier to see just the track.










Here you can see I also touched up on track sections. These are really helpful if you have a large layout or are trying to use an interchange between roadnames and want to show who owns what. In my illustration, I just sed the sections to show areas onmy layout such as the frieght yard and staging area.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Grouping objects can be used to "tie" things together. I use this to tie the buildings and the labels together so if I move one, the other goes with it. Not sure what else you could do with this, but its there if you want to use it.










I shrunk these down a bit too small, so I'll explain. I added a label to the passenger terminal I made earlier, but the text doesnt move with it.










If you highlight the objects you want grouped, you see a Selection tab in the Tools bar. Hit "Group" to tie the objects together. You can then assign which layer they will be in, and a brief description of what the group will be.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Dawg,

Nice ... very clear presentation ... thanks for the insider info!

TJ


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

Very cool thread....


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Well thank you!


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

Nicely done! :appl:
Keep it up!

I've never used this program. I've worked with Right track and it's limited.
I always end up going back to the old pencil and paper method.
I'm in the planning stages of my next layout so I'll give this a try.
Did you buy or are you on the trial? I'm sure I'll out do the size allowed for the trial version.
Sean


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

I went ahead and bought AnyRail. The only limitation in the trial version is the 50 piece limit. But its very easy to hit that because I think its track and objects together. I've been using it so much that I forked over the cash and got the full version. I wouldnt trade it for anything, but I also havent used an other design program, so I have nothing to compare.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Dawg,

I hope you don't mind, but I added "AnyRail info" to the thread title, so that it'll jump out more down the road for people interested in learning a bit about the software.

Very nicely detailed thread!

TJ


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Thanks. I thought about changing it since it went more into AnyRail usage than originally planned. At first I just wanted to show how a layout could look like from the prototype, but as I went along, I wanted to expain how I did certain things and next thing I knew, it was more program instruction that it was design instruction. 

If only my mind could stay on track half as good as my trains.............


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## Glenn A (Jan 10, 2011)

How long have you been using Anyrail? Layout looks real nice.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Just started this past summer. The kids got started in model railroading and I came across an article elsewhere that mentioned design software. AnyRail had a free version so I started with that and its been an addiction ever since =)


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