Start from a picture
Lay a plan from a book or magazine faded on the board, say how big it is, and draw your track over its lines.
Layout Designer
Plan it. Wire it. Run it.
Design a layout from the real pieces of the track you'll buy: Kato, Atlas, Peco, Märklin, Bachmann and 13 more makers, Z to G scale. Pieces click together as they do on the bench, and the rails show their polarity as you lay them. When you save, it's a layout you can drive.
32track systems
1,425real pieces, with part numbers
Z to GN, HO, OO and O between
Freein early access
By hand
Every piece the maker sells.
The Parts Catalog holds each system's pieces with their real geometry: straights, curves by radius, turnouts, and the awkward ones too.
- Curved turnouts, wyes and three-way turnouts
- Diamond crossings, single and double slips, single and double crossovers
- Bridges, viaducts, bumpers, feeder, uncoupler and rerailer tracks
- Drag a piece near an open end and it clicks on, turned to carry the track on
- Draw track: drag a line and real pieces are laid along it
- Copy, paste, rotate, mirror, and select a whole section with a box
With AI
Describe it, or show it a picture.
Tell the AI Editor what you want, “a shelf switching layout with a run-around and three spurs”, or give it a picture of a magazine plan. It lays the same real pieces you would, then checks gaps, clashes, grades and wiring.
- It keeps what you built by hand, and finishes what you started
- It reads a picture, sketches the plan over it for you to check, then builds it
- Point at a piece, turnout or spot it mentions and it's marked on the board
- It says what it compromised on, and every change can be undone
Levels
Helixes, ramps and bridges.
Give any run of track a height and the Designer works out the grade. Layout Objects drop in a helix, a ramp, or up, level and down over another track, built from real pieces with the clearance your trains need.
- Track settings: name a track, color it, set it level, a ramp, or up, level, down
- Grades over 2.5% get a note, over 3% a warning
- Track over track needs the scale's clearance (40 mm in N), or it's flagged
- Track Sections colors the plan by level, and hides one deck while you work on another
Wiring
Wired as you'd wire it.
Two-rail track shows red and black rails as you lay it, so a reverse loop's short is plain to see before you buy a thing.
- Feeders, insulated joiners and auto-reversers, dragged where you want them
- Feeders made with rail joiners or soldered wires
- Power routing turnouts, set one by one
- Whatever you leave is worked out when you save: every section fed, every reversing section isolated
3D Preview
See it on its table. Drive it.
Switch from 2D Build to 3D Preview and the design is the layout on its table, with every level, helix and bridge as it'll be. The preview is the simulator itself: pick up the throttle and run a train round what you just drew.
- It follows each change you make in 2D
- Top, Cab and Follow on the Camera card; drag to slide, right-drag to look around
- A crossing lets one train over at a time; turnouts throw as on the real thing
- Save, and the layout's in your list, wired and ready to operate
And the rest
From the first piece to the shopping list.
A parts list to buy from
Every piece by code and part number, with buffer stops, bridge sections, joiners, reversers and feeders. Copy it straight into an order.
Problems, found early
Gaps, clashes, track off the board, steep grades and missing clearance are listed as you go, each pointing at the piece.
Every step undoable
Undo, Redo and a History of every change, yours and AI's, by name. Go back to any point.
Share it
Export a layout as a file to keep or send; Import opens one. Your designs follow your account to any device.
Metric or imperial
Sizes, heights and grades in millimeters or inches. The makers' own codes, like Kato's R315, keep their sizes.
Track systems
32 systems, Z to G.
Geometry from the makers' catalogs, checked against XTrkCAD's parameter files. A piece whose numbers couldn't be confirmed says so in the catalog. Missing one you use? Tell us on the Ideas board.
Z
Märklin mini-club · Rokuhan
N
Kato Unitrack · Tomix Fine Track · Atlas Code 80 and Code 55 · Bachmann E-Z Track · Fleischmann Piccolo, with and without ballast bed · Minitrix · Peco Setrack · Arnold
HO
Märklin C, K and M · Trix C · Kato Unitrack HO · Atlas Code 83 and 100 · Atlas True-Track · Bachmann E-Z Track · Piko A · Roco Line · Roco geoLINE · Fleischmann Profi · Lionel HO
OO
Hornby Sectional Track · Peco Setrack OO
O
Lionel FasTrack · Atlas O · MTH RealTrax
G and large scale
LGB · Piko G · Bachmann Large Scale
Layout Designer
What can I build?
Any layout you could build on the bench from sectional track: 32 track systems from 18 makers, in Z, N, HO/OO, O and G scale, with their real geometry and part numbers. Straights, curves, turnouts, curved turnouts, wyes, three-ways, crossings, slips, crossovers, bridges and accessories. See the Layout Designer.
Do I have to use AI?
No. Building by hand is just as complete: drag pieces from the Parts Catalog, draw a line and let real pieces be laid along it, or draw over a picture of a plan. AI is there when you want it, and you can mix the two.
Can it build a helix, a ramp, or up and down over another track?
Yes, and you don't have to work out the pieces or the math. The Layout Objects card has three ready-made objects, each built from your system's real pieces: a helix (choose the radius and the turns, and it climbs with the clearance your trains need), a ramp from one height to another at the grade you set, and up, level, down over a bridge and back. Each shows its length, rise and grade as you change it. Drag it onto an open end and it's laid in one go, and afterwards it moves as one object. To shape any run of track yourself, right-click it › Track settings.
Can it do multiple levels?
Yes. Give any run of track a height, a ramp, or up, level and down at the grade you choose, or drop in a ready-made helix. Grades over 2.5% get a note and over 3% a warning, and track crossing track needs the scale's clearance. The 3D Preview shows it as it'll be.
Does it wire the layout?
Yes. Two-rail track shows its polarity as red and black rails. Place feeders, insulated joiners and auto-reversers yourself, or let the Designer work them out: a reverse loop gets its joiners and reverser, every section a feeder.
Can I run trains on what I build?
Straight away. Save, and the design opens in the simulator wired and ready to drive. The 3D Preview runs it right inside the Designer while you build.
Can I share a layout, or get a parts list?
Export saves a layout as a file to send to someone, and Import opens one. The Parts list card is a shopping list of every piece by part number, ready to copy.
AI
What does AI do in the Designer?
Describe a layout (“a 1600 × 800 oval with a passing siding and two spurs”) or show it a picture of a plan, and it lays real pieces with the same tools you have, checks gaps, grades and wiring, and tells you what it did. It keeps what you built by hand, and every change it makes can be undone.
Is there a limit on AI features?
Yes. Each account has a daily allowance: up to 150 AI requests a day, and a budget that bigger jobs use more of (higher effort in the AI Editor, long conversations, pictures). The bar under the AI Editor shows what's left. There's a daily cap for the whole site too. Building by hand, driving and the puzzles never count against it. The allowance resets at midnight UTC.
Your next layout starts here.
Create a free account, open the Layout Designer, and lay the first piece.