AnyRail Model Railroad Forum

General Category => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: David on July 14, 2020, 03:47:45 PM

Title: David
Post by: David on July 14, 2020, 03:47:45 PM
Hi everyone!

I thought it would be nice to introduce myself here too.
Me, in a random location:
Me.jpg

I am the founder and owner of AnyRail, where we want to provide model railway enthousiasts with a fun way to design a layout.

This stemmed from a frustration over 16 years ago that I could not find any software that I liked to design my own layout for the attic of the house we moved to at the time. I then worked at a software company in Arnhem, and developed the first version for my own use in the evenings.
I shared this first version (then called DRail) on the internet, and got a lot of positive reactions.

So I gave notice at my job and further professionalised the development of the software, and made sure the business side became viable as well.

A number of years ago, I was also in the founders team of Magnorail, a system to move cars and pedaling cyclists on a layout. We sold the product a couple of years ago to Maketis in France.

My interest in model trains started at age 4, as my grandfather (and later, two of his sons, my uncles) had a toy store with a complete storey dedicated to scale models and trains.
Every birthday I got a nice new locomotive and expanded my layout that was in a spare room.

I have built a few layouts over the years and currently, in our new home, I have new plans again! But first we need to renovate the attic!
Marklin layout:
Marklin1.JPG
Roco layout under construction:
Roco1.JPG
Renovating the attic:
verbouwingZolder.jpg