AnyRail has (a very limited) way of designing scenery, platform and lines. The usage is limmited because you can't resize, rotate and such.

If your team decides to work on this issue, I would like to point you to an other kind of useage. Electric design. This is just an other kind of lines. With some constraints :
- Rails needs some kind of anchor-point to connect both wires (blue and red, of brown and black, or whatever colors)
- A way to connect wires to electrical components on the track, turnouts, ....
- Some kind of library for decoders and such, S88-decoders, ......
- Your Central Station, IB, ECoS, ........
- A way to connect wires to a LocoNet line, a S88 line, a electric powersupply, ......
- Cables should move when components (rails, decoders, ....) are moved

Just an idea,

Sander.

David,

Although I haven't taken long time to make a setup, I can give you some ideas :

• For wires it should be possible to set the colour. (right-click menu)
• Question : Should te program prevent to connect different colours ?
• Wires should be able to connect while crossing or just cross without connecting
• Possibility to give a wire a name/number, which can correspond with labels you stick on the wire. A dialogbox to set name, description and such is very nice.
• In options a toggle to set wires visible yes/no
• Electronic components (decoders, switches, connectors, .....) can be drawn as a rectangle. Just like you do now with sections, a small dialogbox to set the type and a description. Maybe an extra field for brand and articlenumber.
• Like sections, present a list of components, which can be cut/past to Excell or whatever
• Like sections, in options a toggle to set components/names visible yes/no
• IMHO components should not be in a kind of catalog (like rails). Only a rectagle with plenty of anchorpoints to connect wires. (Any wire)

Kind Regards,

Sander

David,

For tracks, you have two ways to draw :
- A logical track, useally with strait lines and 45 degree corners. (Most often used near ticket-office and railway stations). In fact dimensions are not important.
- The other way is more physical related, rather close to reality. The track is in a scale and all dimensions are corresponding.

Anayrail is typically for designing a physical track. The library contains all parts in precise size and you make a layout to the tenth of a milimeter.
Thus I suggest (and hope) the wiring will be in the same way. For me, Anyrail plans acts as documentation of my train-table and 'instruction' how to build the track and the electrical wires. Besides the connections, you have information about dimensions. And -very important- you can give things (sections and wires) a name. Those names can correspond with labels you can attach to the cables.

A schematic picture is of course nice as additional documentation. But not my primairy target. If you can generate the schematic picture from the physical model would be great.

For me tubes, for guiding the cables, clamps, nails and such are less important.

Side-note : For documentation it would be nice to have 'names' for turnouts as well. I am using the Dutch program Koploper for my track. In this program you have to number/name all turnouts. Nice-to-have those names in the Anyrail plan/documentation too. (The export of the list of section-names was used to build the list in Koploper)

Sander