With
3rd PlanIt you can easily add turnouts to any location in your drawing. The
ToolKit offers a complete set of switching options, including straight turnouts,
curved turnouts, wyes, crossings, slip switches and 3-ways. These "Smart
Turnouts" can be drawn directly into existing track, and used to connect
existing track as well.
Designing with Turnouts
If
you have an existing tangent track, you can draw a turnout directly into it
using the Draw Turnout tool. The turnout
will align itself to the track, and can be moved along the track with the mouse.
As you move from side to side, the turnout exit follows your mouse. You may also
right-click while drawing to reverse the direction of the points. Click
for animation (337K)
You
can also connect two existing tangent tracks with a turnout with the Connect
Turnout tool. Depending on where you start and end the connection,
the turnout will be arranged to move traffic in the direction of your connection
guide line. This allows easy connection between main lines or branch lines. Click
for animation (149K)
The
Connect Turnout tool can also be used to
quickly generate yard trackwork. When used with the Parallel
tool, this yard drill lead was generated in just a few seconds starting from a
single tangent track. The Connect Turnout
tool automatically detects a yard situation based on the angle and spacing of
the tracks you are connecting. Click for animation
(289K)
The
same Connect Turnout tool can quickly
generate sidings from two parallel tracks. Shown here with the Parallel
tool, you can see how quickly you can make sidings of any length. Using the
Easements option in File / Settings / Turnouts, you can have these connections
made with automatically positioned easements. Click
for animation (158K)
Another
versatile tool is the Connect Crossover
tool. This tool places two turnouts on parallel tracks and aligns their
diverging routes perfectly. If you have already positioned a turnout on one of
the parallel tracks, you can connect directly to its diverging route. The second
turnout will be a duplicate of the first, properly positioned and inserted in
the parallel track. Click for animation
(122K)
