Working with flex track in AnyRail version 3

Tutorial for AnyRail version 3

In this tutorial, you'll learn a bit more about using flex track, that is track that can be bent and trimmed to fit your layout:

  • Shaping tracks using the mouse
  • Straight track
  • Specifying precise curves
  • Easements
  • Stretching track across a gap
  • About warnings

NOTE Please make sure you have the latest version of the software. (To check which version you have, select Help, About.)

First we need a piece of track to play with. (If AnyRail isn't running, start it now!)

  • From the Libraries menu, select the H0 Walthers Code 83 track library.
    The track library appears.

H0 Walthers Code 83 track library

This library contains a piece of flex track with part number 815. There are two ways to add this to the workspace:

  • Click - Just click on part 815 in the library, and the piece appears in the workspace.
  • Drag-and-drop - Most people know how to do this, but just in case... Position the mouse pointer on part 815, press down on the left mouse button. Keeping the button down, drag the part into the workspace. Now release the button.

Shaping tracks using the mouse

The simplest way to shape flex track is to use your mouse...

Looking at the piece of flex, you can see it has four crosses, called control points.

The flex control points

It also has two endpoints, which you can highlight by hovering the mouse over the very tip of the piece:

The flex endpoints

Don't worry about the endpoints for now - this tutorial is about the control points.

Now it's time to change the shape of the flex track:

  • Drag a control point and see how the track changes.

Dragging flex control points

Note that a thin line connects the control point to its track. This avoids confusion when you're using more than one piece of track. If the flex turns dark red, or light red lines appear on it, don't worry. We'll get to that soon.

If you press the SHIFT key while dragging a control point, it is restricted to move only in a straight line. This can be useful if you just want to shorten a straight piece of flex track.

Straight track

Sometimes you just need a piece of straight track of a given length. AnyRail has a special function for this purpose:

  1. Right-click the flex track. A menu pops up:

Straight flex menu

  1. Select Adjust flex, Straight flex. (This only works for unconnected pieces of track.)

A window appears, asking you for the desired length.

Straight flex dialog

  1. Enter "45".
  2. Click OK.

The flex is now a perfect straight with a length of 45 cm. (If you prefer to work in inches, jump back to Tutorial 1).

Specifying precise curves

Creating a precise curve (circular arc) is similar to straightening a piece of track:

  1. Right-click the track and select Adjust flex, Curve flex. A window appears, asking you for the required angle and radius:

Curve flex dialog

  1. Set the Angle to "30", and the Radius to "60".
  2. Click OK.

The track becomes a circular arc.

Easements

An easement provides a smooth transition between a straight and a curve. Real railways always use them to avoid wear and tear, and to allow higher speeds. They also increase passenger comfort.

In AnyRail it's easy to turn a flex track into an easement.

  1. Right-click the track and select Adjust flex, Easement flex. A window appears:

Easement flex dialog

Angle and radius define the easement. This is how they work together:

Easement flex explanation

Of course, you also need to point the easement left or right! So...

  1. Set the Angle to "30", the Radius to "100", and leave "Left" selected.
  2. Click OK.

The resulting flex looks like this:

Easement flex

Stretching track across a gap

Flex track is often used to fill an existing gap. This is very easy with AnyRail:

  1. Add two crossings to the workspace:

Flex line up 1

  1. Drag one of the track's end control points to one of the crossing's endpoints. (Make sure to grab a control point, not a purple endpoint!)

Flex line up 2

When you release the mouse button, the flex track automatically lines up:

Flex line up 3

  1. Repeat for the other endpoint.
  2. Move the two remaining control points to create a smooth curve:

Flex line up 4

About warnings

To make designing easy, AnyRail doesn't limit the way you bend and stretch flex track. However, it does warn you if you do something impossible in the real world. You can switch off the warnings, for example so you can brainstorm without distraction.

Red track: "too long"

Overstretched flex

If the entire piece of flex track goes red, this means you've stretched it beyond its real-world limits.

To switch off this warning:

  1. From the Tools menu, select Options and select the AnyRail Options window Flex tab:

Switch alert on flex too long off.

  1. Uncheck Alert on flex too long and click OK.

Red-lines curves: "too tight"

Too tightly curved flex

If a curve has a red line inside, this means it's so tight that some rolling stock might not be able to get around it.

To switch off this warning, or to tweak the minimum radius triggering the warning:

  1. From the Tools menu, select Options and select the AnyRail Options window Flex tab:

Change the alert for sharp flex curves.

  1. Do one of the following:
    - Uncheck Alert on too sharp curves.
    - Change the value for Minimum radius.
  2. Click OK

And that about wraps up this tutorial. You now know how to work with flex track - on screen, at least. The actual modeling is still down to you...