Track laying

[Ghost42]

I've been track laying since TRS10 but I still cannot get a decent looking layout, is there a good tutorial out there to follow?
Lousy looking turnouts, curves etc, track not the correct height, it bugs me.
If I add to someones work you can always see where I've been

 

[JCitron]

I've been track laying since TRS10 but I still cannot get a decent looking layout, is there a good tutorial out there to follow?
Lousy looking turnouts, curves etc, track not the correct height, it bugs me.
If I add to someones work you can always see where I've been

Welcome to the club. I've learned some by watching videos by Approach Medium. He's got nice looking track and as he does his live streams on building his routes, I've picked up little tips and tricks. One of them I learned was to use the grid. Hide the textures (Press F9) and use the grid to space out crossovers, and yard tracks.

I also use the CS Yard template (built-in I think) to layout by yards. It's easy to use by orientating the template how you want it and then laying the track over it. Wherever there's a small notch, that's where the spline points go. You may need to wiggle and adjust things afterwards, but that works as a start.

But even with this, my track is still meh!

 

[wilts747]

I have found to make a junction look correct it needs to be attached to the trailing end of a short length of straight track, on a curve, a very short length. Likewise if you can't get the exit angle to look right again use a short length of straight track a short distance from the junction. Realign this short length of track to control the curvature of the turnout. On single track use the straightening tool 'B', on multi-track short lengths look straight anyway. Peter

 

[Ghost42]

Thanks for that Peter, a smooth curved turnout is the one I struggle with most, I'll take on your advice.

 

[MasterTracklayer]

I have found to make a junction look correct it needs to be attached to the trailing end of a short length of straight track, on a curve, a very short length.

Hmm, this might have something to do with why I never had much luck creating nice-looking junctions in curved track years ago when I was running Trainz2004, Trainz2009, and/or Trainz2010. Thank you.

 

[frogpipe]

Junctions on a curve or grade are still a PITA to do. Very fiddly. Can be hard to work out which spline point needs nudging.

Watch the frog, you want to get the rails even.

Short "straightened" track is a must for proper curature of the diverging.

Some track assets are more forgiving than others of short lengths (paper thin sleepers between spline points), so shop around.