If you’re struggling with the track plan for your railway, these 5 free track planning websites and resources are a great source of inspiration, ideas and of course entire plans for your layout.
Most gauges including N, OO (Hornby) and HO are catered for.
When planning a railway track plan, the choices and decisions to say nothing of the technical issues can often seem overwhelming. It’s a lot easier when starting to use an existing track plan but where to get them from?
Recently, while rethinking the layout for one of my planned layouts, I was looking for layout ideas to build and started browsing the web for inspiration and example layouts. There are of course many websites but having visited a LOT of them there are several that are far above the others in the number of plans shown, the details included or the ability to find plans by size, scale or feature.
These then are the best 5 free track plan websites and resources. Enjoy.
#1 Freetrackplans.com
A huge collection of plans, apparently 400 designs, categorised by size and type (oval, double oval, branch line etc) and location (for prototyping) although these plans are mainly focused on the London Midland region.
What I liked: Straightforward with plans broken out into common shapes and sizes. Includes a large library of Hornby track plans based on Hornby Track Plan manuals.
#2 Scarm.info
A track plan from SCARM; includes 3D pictures to help you visualise what the completed layout could look like.
Claims to be the most complete online database for free model train track plans and layouts of SCARM projects and designs. (SCARM stands for Simple Computer Aided Railway Modeller, an application for Microsoft Windows available to download from the same website).
What I liked: Lots of ways to find and filter track plans: by scale (including HO, N, Z, and OO), size, type, era, track make, and combinations. The 3D representation of the plans is also handy to visualise how the different layouts will look (saves me from drawing them later).
Note: Although the site promotes its application, which is free, the track plans are visible and there’s nothing to stop you from using them as a base for making a railway without having to get the software.
#3 Track-plans.Net
A very small collection of track plans but great for inspiration and ideas with lots of pictures.
What I liked: The pictures of layouts showing what each track plan could look like if built and breaking out the plans by setting – steel works, harbour, yard etc. is really useful if you’re looking for ideas around a theme. It’s N scale only but I really liked the photos of scenes on each layout. They fire up the imagination as to what yours might look like.
#4 Thor Trains (no longer available)
Thor Trains was a great selection of HO plans but now seems to have stopped. I’ll update this shortly.
#5 Model Railroad Hobbyist.com
Not a website about track plans specifically but a forum with a long thread of forum members’ track plans. Tends to be mainly American theme
What I liked: Many of the track plans include not just the plan but illustrations, details and construction notes so you get a better idea of the layout and the thinking behind it.
Alternatively, C. J Freezer — esteemed modeller and former editor of Railway Modeller magazine — published a compact guide to track plans. This popular book 60 Plans is worth a read for anyone thinking about their track plans. A particular strength of the plans in this book is their adaptability.
Picture via model-railroad-hobbyist.com
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https://www.traxeditor.com/ is a free web-based program. It works well to design a basic layout.
Hi Rob, is this the right URL? The site doesn’t work for me? Thanks. Andy
Hi Andy.
Just got restarted with my old Märklin from my childhood and will try to build something sensible for my kids. Your site is very helpful to get back into the game. Consideringer converting it to DCC some time, but I want to get the track and artwork done first. I very much appreciate this. Thank you.
Hi Oyvind, good to hear. Have subscribed to my free newsletter? You can sign up here All the latest tips and articles are sent to subscribers might save you some time looking. Best wishes, Andy
Hi Ken, the Scarm site (2nd link) has some O gauge plans. Thanks, Andy.
This looks like a very good resource page. However, my interest is O guage. Is there any similar resource for this scale? Many thanks, Ken
Good day! Thanks for all the useful advice.
Recently downloaded SCARM (edition 0.09.37) to compare with Any Rail. SCARM basically OK but when tried HELP, web site seems to be down: “This page isn’t working. http://www.scarm.info didn’t send any data”.
Any clues please?
Thanks
Hi Andrew, I can’t really help with issues on the Scarm website. There’s a contact button at the bottom of their webpage, might be worth dropping them a line and seeing if they can help. Andy