12-02-2009, 11:01 AM
I practiced medicine for thirty years. I have also worked construction and built structures. The learning curve in med school was easier than XtrakCad. Some people take to it - most don't. It's a CAD program designed to be used by folks with an affinity for that sort of thing.
The purpose of track planning software is to take the work out of planning, not to require learning a whole new difficult skill set. XtrakCad made track planning more work for me than just doing it the old fashioned way with a pencil and paper.
For roughing out a plan, I use one of the free downloads that uses sectional track libraries to give me a fast picture of what's possible and what isn't, and then fine tune the actual trackage as the layout is built. Lots of people have l;ots of reasons why that is a bad idea, but it works for me, especially since ideas and modifications occur to me as I work.
The purpose of track planning software is to take the work out of planning, not to require learning a whole new difficult skill set. XtrakCad made track planning more work for me than just doing it the old fashioned way with a pencil and paper.
For roughing out a plan, I use one of the free downloads that uses sectional track libraries to give me a fast picture of what's possible and what isn't, and then fine tune the actual trackage as the layout is built. Lots of people have l;ots of reasons why that is a bad idea, but it works for me, especially since ideas and modifications occur to me as I work.