Model Railroading > Laying flex track in XTrackCad

Hey, all

I'm playing around with designing a future layout in XTrackCAD (since Atlas no longer supports or offers their Right Track Software). I'm trying to lay a simple piece of flex track between two points, and it will not lay anything near realistic. If I select "Join two tracks" and then select the two pieces/ends I want to join, I get a huge balloon piece of flex track that does a massive loop. If I try to reduce the radius of the flex track curve, then it gives me a "Beyond End of 2nd Track" error message and won't connect.

The first picture shows the two points I want to connect. One is the main coming off the bridge. The second is a simple piece of 6" I laid out to practice. I've tried it in various positions and orientations. The two pieces of 6" on the left will be for a spur.

The second picture shows the best I could do that would "work." You can see how senseless this is.

Thanks in advance!

-Eric



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/13 17:39 by sou2601.

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If you extended the given tracks straight from their current terminating point they would not intersect, at least not on the side of the 6" track you want to connect to. Therefore you can't have a simple curve connecting the sections.

Adjust the angle of one or both segments so that they intersect. I often extend the tracks to a near intersection and then connect with flex track to avoid this problem. Hope this helps.

Steve

Posted from iPhone

spf Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you extended the given tracks straight from
> their current terminating point they would not
> intersect, at least not on the side of the 6"
> track you want to connect to. Therefore you can't
> have a simple curve connecting the sections.
>
> Adjust the angle of one or both segments so that
> they intersect. I often extend the tracks to a
> near intersection and then connect with flex track
> to avoid this problem. Hope this helps.
>
> Steve
>
> Posted from iPhone

Ditto! It would take a reverse ("S") curve to join these 2 points.

Bob

Yep, the angle of the 6" piece needs to be turned clockwise a bit or it needs to be moved down and right so the straight track's upper end point is below the curve track's end point. Then the ends of the two tracks can actually meet. In your first view you see the lines of the rails with no ties coming off of the curve. That is the angle and location the 6" track needs to be so the tracks can join.

XtrkCad is very accurate at laying track. I've been using it for some time now and it will definitely tell you want you can and can't do. If you get things like this, you're trying to do something that is impossible to do. It will also make you truly aware of what you can or can't do in a specific amount of space. Things you think will work, don't.

Lee Ryan - Rio Grande Fan
Denver, CO



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/13 10:35 by RioGrandeFan.

chuchubobnv Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> spf Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > If you extended the given tracks straight from
> > their current terminating point they would not
> > intersect, at least not on the side of the 6"
> > track you want to connect to. Therefore you
> can't
> > have a simple curve connecting the sections.
> >
> > Adjust the angle of one or both segments so
> that
> > they intersect. I often extend the tracks to a
> > near intersection and then connect with flex
> track
> > to avoid this problem. Hope this helps.
> >
> > Steve
> >
> > Posted from iPhone
>
> Ditto! It would take a reverse ("S") curve to join
> these 2 points.

I've had the same problem. OK, so why can't he (the OP) make an S-curve with the flex track to join the two non-intersecting tracks?

Arved Grass
Fleming Island, FL