Does Bachman have any free layout design tools? I am building a fairly large M style layout and it would be nice to have an app where you can grab and drop track with different lengths a radius onto a drawing of the surface area of your layout.
Thanks.
Bachmann does not offer this software but you have a few options. Anyrail and SCARM have free demo versions you can use as long as you like, but they are limited in the number of pieces of track the free versions will allow. The paid versions are full featured. There is also Xtrackcad, which is a freeware layout planning software that looks and operates alot like SCARM. As freeware, you can build as big a layout as you'd like, but I don't think it has buildings for the railroad. I have used all three, and I personally prefer Anyrail.
Anyrail is the only one I have used but I really like it. I paid for the full version.
Among the commercial software there is RR-Track. You can get it as a buncle that included a number of HO track systems, including EZ-Track. This can be handy when figuring out situations, such as spanning a river, where you may need to use a bridge from another system. It also included an "operating" mode that allows running a simulated train on a layout plan, which is handy for identifying clearance issues.
The bundles are listed here: http://rrtrack.com/html/online_bundles.html
Len
I agree with Jeffery and Terry. I started out using the free version of Anyrail and used it for a few weeks to familiarize myself with the program. One of the things I really liked about it were all of the track libraries. Once I really got into it, I found myself limited by the track piece limitation in the free version (50 IIRC) and opted to pay for the full version. I've never looked back and consider it money well spent. Hope this helps.