Toolbox

Everything you need to plan your layout

More than laying track. The plan carries heights, landscape, trains (soon) and, at the end, the shopping list.

Stretch the oval instead of relaying it

Select your oval and pull it longer by a stretch handle. Trackplanner fills the straights with matching catalogue pieces, so there is no rebuilding piece by piece.

Name stations, put trains on the rails (Soon)

Tell the app what runs on your layout. Usable lengths and radii are checked against those trains, not against a norm.

A train sits in the station track while the app compares its length against the usable length of that track.

2D and 3D show the same model

Every change appears in both views at once. Buildings, trees and vehicles come from the scenery library.

The same layout in the 3D view: the track runs through a tunnel in the hill and over a bridge across a stream, with the station, a road, houses and trees on the grass.

Shape terrain, place the landscape (Premium)

Raise, lower, flatten. Contours and relief follow along, hollows fill with water, tunnels are derived automatically.

Keep your train on the rails in an S-curve (Premium)

When a curve runs straight into a reverse curve with no straight between them, the couplers of long cars are pulled out of line and the train can derail. The plan check finds these spots before you build and, with one click, inserts a straight. Where a curve starts on a grade with no transition, it lays an easement of flex track there.

Learn more: Keep your train on the rails in an S-curve →

A second track alongside, no measuring (Premium)

By hand that means measuring the spacing, finding the radius in every curve, and it still doesn’t close up at the end. Select the line and pick inner or outer. The track sits at your system’s spacing, curves included. The preview is free.

A baseboard that fits your track

Too big and it eats up the room. Too small and track hangs over the edge. Draw it as a rectangle, an L-shape or free-form with curves and openings, or let it grow with your track: right-angled for building from modules, or organic along the curves.

An automatically shaped baseboard follows an oval with a branch line leading away; below it the “Automatic baseboard” card with the shapes rectangle, right-angled and organic.

Pay less for the same track

The same order costs different amounts depending on retailer and shipping, and a set is sometimes cheaper than the single pieces in it. The build plan finds the cheapest offer for track and scenery. For the track it ranks retailers by total price including shipping and tells you when a set pays off.

The build plan’s order section: at the top a note that two extension sets are cheaper, below it the cheapest retailer with the total price including shipping.

From an empty board to a finished layout

Four steps that stay connected inside the app. No switching to another program.

  1. Plan

    Track from your own manufacturer catalogue, with article numbers for the parts list and the basket.

  2. Check

    The plan check reports what will bite you once trains run.

  3. Buy

    The build plan turns into a parts list, with prices and pack sizes.

  4. Build

    Print at 1:1, lay it on the board, put the track on top.

The build plan in the editor: the parts list on the right with article numbers, quantities, retailer prices and a note that an extension set works out cheaper.
Build plan „Track & ballast“ · 6 items · ~€215.84
The plan check in the editor: the list of insights on the right, the plan on the left with a numbered marker at the turnout concerned.
Plan check

The plan tells you what will bite you later.

Anyone spots an open end. The expensive mistakes hide in radii, usable lengths (soon) and gradients. Every insight names the spot and the reason.

S-curve at the turnout
Two reverse curves without a straight between them derail long coaches.
Usable length too short (Soon)
Your train sticks out past the end of the siding.
Radius below the minimum (Soon)
The curve is tighter than your longest loco can take.
Gradient above 2.5 per cent
The ramp gets too steep for a long train.

Open what you have. Output what you need.

Old plans stay readable, and new ones leave the app in the format you keep working in.

Open

  • .traWinTrack
  • .anyAnyRail
  • .xtcXtrkCAD
  • .arfRaily
  • .3pi3rd PlanIt
  • .scarmSCARM
  • .glpTrackplanner 1.0

The import checks the geometry and reports whatever could not be matched unambiguously.

Show your layout: share an imported plan as a link →

Output

  • pdf1:1 building template, tiled across A4
  • pngImage to show and document
  • dxfBaseboards for the CNC router
  • linkShare link, opens without an account
  • embedEmbed for a forum or a club site

1:1 print, cutting file and high-resolution image export are part of Premium.

Already planning with WinTrack, AnyRail, SCARM or XTrackCAD? Trackplanner compared with these programs →

Lay your first piece of track.

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