"Milepost 15": Quotidian

First, the weather. Outside in the "real" world it's 30 and rainy. The meteorological station at Average, however reports the temperature is 52 with 90% humidity and a falling barometer. By a quirk of nature that I don't understand high humidity at low temperatures makes it feel colder, but high humidity at higher temperatures makes it feel warmer. Whatever, it's actually warm enough to work on the layout. Unfortunately we are replacing a a sink and disposal in the kitchen.

Previously I had used my XTracCAD software backwards. I would lay out the real trackwork and recreate it with the program as a kind of visual aid to this blog. I now try to use my track plan software to actually plan changes to the layout. While that seems to work well for track I still don't have a real sense of proportion for other aspects of the Average Eastern like buildings and scenery. Looking at it you may get an idea of how badly I estimated the size of the builings and streets in my sketch...

Quotidian: Track Plan

In order for me to grasp the overall look I have to see it full size. Fortunately, I can print out the plan full size. I used a full size print of Juniata on the previous version of the layout, the Allegheny Eastern. It was necessary to have it printed at Kinko's because it was 16' long. Rather than spend that kind of money again, this time I printed out the plan in 8.5" x 11" pieces. I printed the industrial area of Quotidian and layed it out on the family room floor...

Quotidian: Full Size

Some of the buildings shown in the sketch would be about a foot wide and two feet long. The industries and other buildings will actually be much smaller and the streets a lot wider than the sketch shows.

Almost simultaneously with all this I learned that I can use my XTrakCAD plan in 3rd Planit. It has all the features of XTrakCAD and more. You can even view your layout in three dimensions. The really cool thing about 3rd Planit is the standard library of manufacturers products. Various manufacturers of model railroad supplies create 3D images of their offerings that can be used in the software...

Quotidian Mock Up In 3rd Planit

Unfortunately, all these features come at a price. Although there is a free trial version it has limited capability. If you want a fully functional 3rd Planit you need to shell out about $125. The drawings you make can be VERY elaborate...

3rd Planit Trestle Detail

3rd Planit 3D View

Because the program can do so much it also has a longer learning curve than the free packages.

I used the trial version and added some N scale builduings to the industrial area. Although I still need to mock it up on the actual layout I now have a good idea of what I can actually accomplish. There are other buildings on the Average Eastern, but Quotidian is densely populated and the spacing critical to the track plan. A peek at some of the industrial layouts at Railwire will give you an idea of what I'm aspiring to...