Has anyone made N Scale Rolling Stock & Locos?
I'm building a layout (AnyRail) on a 4' x 8' board & want to place rolling stock & locos on track to see how they look.
I'm attaching layout.
Thx,
David
BNSFrrFan
Look in User Objects and you will find a few.
poppy2201
I've spent time looking at all of the N scale user images but I can't seem to find any. I could only find a few automobiles, a tug boat, a bulldozer, and a few other non-train objects.
Thx,
David,
In my opinion, you would be better served to use TrainPlayer for this. Any AnyRail image you might find may represent a given car, but whether it was "accurate" in terms of having the correct dimensions would have to be determined. I have made some objects representing various cars (tanker, box, etc) just so I could have them on a layout to indicate which track had which car.
If accuracy in lengths is not an issue for you, then the following doesn't apply. But if it is ...
When I need to see how long a car is or how many could be put on a track segment (siding, for example), or an industry service track, I do it via TrainPlayer.
Why?
Because in Trainplayer, I can set the size of a car (length, width) as needed.
Why?
First, because, for example, a "40ft car" might not be 40 feet in the real world, it might be actually longer. For some cars the 'length' stated actually describes the interior length, and the actual total length of the frame, hence the total length of the car, would be longer.
Second, because when trying to use a 'car length' to measure items on a layout, one needs to actually add in the length of whatever coupler one has on the car; this is especially true when measuring the total length of a train with cars coupled together, such as when one wants to see if the train will fit on a siding. In TrainPlayer, I set the length of a car to include the additional length of the couplers; then when cars are coupled together, the visual in Trainplayer shows the 'correct' length of the coupled cars. (Actually, I set the lengths slightly higher so I have a slight overestimation of actual length to be sure I don't cut things "too short".)
If what you want is a visual to see what your layout looks like with cars placed at points on it, you can use the TrainPlayer function to produce an image of your layout with the populated cars.
But if all you want is some AnyRail "images" of a few 'simple' cars, I have a few N-scale ones I can make available: 40ft boxcar, tanker and flat car ... without couplers, unfortunately. I made them because I needed cars to place them around a few rail yards off the tracks for various purposes where my road used them for storage purposes.
Quote from: BNSFrrFan on June 12, 2019, 11:01:08 PM
poppy2201
I've spent time looking at all of the N scale user images but I can't seem to find any. I could only find a few automobiles, a tug boat, a bulldozer, and a few other non-train objects.
Thx,
In support of what Tom has said, the other great advantage of TrainPlayer is that you can run trains to make sure that your layout does what you think it does!
Nick the Nomad
Currently in wintry Tasmania
Hey Tom,
I appreciate your feedback. Years ago, I can't remember how many, I've used TrainPlayer. Probably 2 computers ago, so my old layout files are probably lost. I can't remember the *.XXX file extensions to search. I'll need to spend some time figuring it out. Good project for something todo.
My main reason for wanting rolling stock is to see if sidings will hold many cars. I want to start building the real railroad sometime later this year. I'm condo living, gave up my 2 car garage, and my wife says the 4x8 is pushing it but I'm pushing to get approval!
If you do have a few pieces of rolling stock I can place on my RR pretend they are extensions of your layout on a journey around the country! I'll use them a while & forward them either empty or full back to your RR later this year. ;D
Thx,
David
Hey Charles,
Nice rolling stock. I haven't tried making any images/rolling stock in AnyRail so not sure where to start. I'll start looking at youtube videos and see if anyone explained.
Thx,
David
Hey Nick,
Wintry Tasmania? Is that in Borneo? Long way from Sunny Florida where I've called home since '93!
TrainPlayer as I remember, was fun to operate. I'll have to rebuild my RR in that pgm. I guess I can save as a pdf file and kind of trace everything.
Thx for info,
David
David
Attached is a sample AnyRail file with 5 car images (tops of cars). Each "image" is simply an AnyRail 'surface' (rectangle box); you can use them by copying them directly or make them into your own User Objects. The are provided and usable for visualization (spacial references) of cars on a layout. I would NOT use these for any measurement purpose, including measuring car lengths to see how many fit on a track segment. Use TrainPlayer for that where you can set the actual car length for each car as you want it to be (with appropriate 'adjusted' length to allow for the couplers of your choice), reflecting the actual length of the model car you have.
Send your existing AnyRail layout to TrainPlayer simply by using the AnyRail Export As->TrainPlayer option; this generates an XML and JPG for Trainplayer to import. In TrainPlayer, use it's File->Import function to access the XML file that AnyRail created, then populate the cars of your choice.
@David
Tasmania is the southernmost State of Australia! It is an island about twice the size of Holland, with a population of just over 500,000. We are about as far south of the equator as Boston is north of it.
Nick
Thx Tom.
Down Under! My mistake Nick.
You can also create boxes of the appropriate size and give them a color. Group them together. Maybe create a separate layer and paste the cars on it - so you can show/hide separate from rest of layout.
Thx sax.
I did not know TP integrated with AnyRail! Over the weekend I upgraded my TP. Bruno said I purchased back in 2006! I upgraded to the new version. Then took your lead and saved my AR layout to compatible TP file. Then opened the new TP & imported file and Kazam I had a fully operating TP layout. So cool! I never knew. Thx to the developers!
I've been arm-chair operating ever since. Thx to all!
David