New website with free track plans and layout designs

mixy Nov 5, 2013

  1. mixy

    mixy TrainBoard Member

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    Hello all :)

    There is a new website for collect together track plans and layouts in all scales and sizes, designed with SCARM planning software:

    Free Track Plans & Layout Designs

    Most of the content in the site is created by SCARM users and sent to me by e-mail. Some of the layouts are already presented in SCARM blog, but there are new projects and more will come soon. At the moment, I am editing and uploading all stuff, but in the near future I plan to add support for user registrations, so everybody to be able to create an account and to upload projects in the site.

    You can browse the projects in the site or search and filter the track plans by several criteria, such as “scale”, “size”, “trackage” and so on. In example, the following link will show all the railway layouts and track plans in N gauge, listed in the site at the moment.

    Every project has its own page, where it is presented with more pictures, described with many parameters (such as minimum radius, maximum grade, suitable traffic, etc.) and sometimes explained by me or by its author. All (or almost all) published layouts will have corresponding SCARM files ready to be downloaded from the links at bottom in the layout’s page. There is also an option for each project to be rated with rating stars from 1 to 5 – this is located below the description.

    The site is also optimized for smartphones and tables, so you can browse it almost anywhere and anytime. However, some pictures may not look very detailed on small phone screens, but in overall you can get a good impression even from 320×480 resolution displays.

    At the moment, there is no option for commenting below the layouts, but such feature may appear in the future. The site is now in beta state and needs to be used for some period in real environment to see how it performs, is it easy and useful, etc. So please, try it and comment here what do you think about it.

    And if you have some cool SCARM layout or track plan that you want to share with others, just send your .scarm project file to me at [​IMG].

    Hope you will like the site and will get many ideas from it even if you don’t use SCARM :)

    Mixy
     
    subwayaz likes this.
  2. Oblivion

    Oblivion TrainBoard Member

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    Looks good! I hope you get some 'critical mass' traffic there. I don't have anything to contribute at this time, but I'll keep it in mind. As a long-time linux user, I've only used XTrkCad over the years, but the lack of 3D visualization is a hindrance. I've been playing with SCARM running in WINE and I like it. The only bugs I've encountered are already documented in the Mac thread on your web site (running Debian, BTW). Keep up the good work.
     
  3. mixy

    mixy TrainBoard Member

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    December update

    Thank you, Mark :)

    The plans and layouts on the site are growing in number - there are more than 40 projects of all scales and sizes now. Here are the most popular categories so far:

    N scale track plans (all sizes)
    HO gauge layout designs (all sizes)
    Small track plans and layouts (all gauges)

    Most recent, top-rated plan in HO: Compact Railroad Layout in HO scale

    [​IMG]

    Most recent, top-rated plan in N: Ikea IVAR Shelftop Railway Layout in N Scale

    [​IMG]

    I hope that everybody will find something interesting and inspiring there :)

    Mixy
     
    Kurt Moose likes this.
  4. rsn48

    rsn48 TrainBoard Member

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    I would suggest you take your track plans out of inches and put them into feet, for example the first one is 75 by 41 inches, better to say 6 1/4 feet by 3 5/12 feet, just easier to conceptualize as that is how we are programmed to think.
     
  5. mhampton

    mhampton TrainBoard Member

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    I think the introduction of fractions only muddies the issue. To me 6 ft. 3 in. is much better if you have to convert from 75 inches.

    Sent from my KOCASO-M9100 using Tapatalk
     
  6. David K. Smith

    David K. Smith TrainBoard Supporter

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    Perhaps some of us are. I actually favor the all-inches measurements. Fractions of feet is perhaps least intuitive to me, since at some point you'll need to measure plans or materials in inches, unless you have a tape measure that displays feet in fractions...?
     
  7. rsn48

    rsn48 TrainBoard Member

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    Yeah, fractions was my bad, better feet and inches. The reason I suggest feet is that most know how much room they have or how big a layout they want and when they make these calculations they don't think, I need 111 inches by 200 inches layout plan. When is the last time you've seen a plan in a magazine that was advertised as 48 by 96 inches.
     
  8. David K. Smith

    David K. Smith TrainBoard Supporter

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    Not looked at mags in quite a while, but here's a website with lots of plans, all in inches...
     
  9. mixy

    mixy TrainBoard Member

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    This seems to be difficult, as there are many possible ways for dimensions to be displayed... I should consider some setting, that may be kept in a cookie, so everybody to be able to see the dimensions of the plans and layouts in most preferable format.

    Meanwhile, did you know, that you can search in the database by track plans, virtual layouts and real operational layouts?

    A track plan keyword means only a track route without any other elements or objects on the plot, which allows you to finish it by your choice with adding of scenery objects like roads, buildings, industries, etc. See here all model railroad track plans in the database.

    A virtual layout keyword is used to describe a partial or complete layout design which includes all or almost all objects needed for realistic look and operations. See here all model railway layouts in the database.

    A true operational layout keyword is used to mark all projects in the database that are already build in the reality, based on initial track plans and designs, created in SCARM. See these real model train layouts with the initial designs and the real pictures together.

    Hope that this will help you to find the right track plan or layout, just for you :)

    Mixy
     
  10. mixy

    mixy TrainBoard Member

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    Here I want to present the last added project to the SCARM database. It is a very detailed already build HO layout, entirely designed in SCARM, which became Featured operational layout for February.

    See it here: Warren's Layout in HO scale

    [​IMG]

    More photos are available in the above link. Hope you will like it :)

    Mixy
     
    Kurt Moose and subwayaz like this.
  11. mixy

    mixy TrainBoard Member

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  12. mixy

    mixy TrainBoard Member

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  13. mixy

    mixy TrainBoard Member

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  14. mixy

    mixy TrainBoard Member

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  15. mixy

    mixy TrainBoard Member

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  16. mixy

    mixy TrainBoard Member

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  17. MarkInLA

    MarkInLA Permanently dispatched

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    Retracted my reply.
     
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2015
  18. mixy

    mixy TrainBoard Member

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  19. mixy

    mixy TrainBoard Member

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    This is the new featured layout for January 2016, which construction already started:

    Garden State Central Model Railroad Club 25' x 50' Room Layout

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    It is one of the largest and most complex track plans ever designed in SCARM which is now turning into a real layout by the guys in Garden State Central Model Railroad Club. See some pics from the building process:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Read more about that huge layout and download the SCARM track plan from the link above. Hope you will like it :)

    Mixy
     
  20. mixy

    mixy TrainBoard Member

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