Design Your Layout On A Personal Computer With WinRail

WinRail is a computer software product for designing and drawing model railway layouts.

WinRail can be used on any Personal Computer running Microsoft Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista, or Windows XP. These are the computers that are readily available in high-street stores and via mail order from a wide variety of sources.  Note that WinRail no longer runs on versions of Windows older than Windows XP.

WinRail is very easy to use and does not require any computer knowledge. Familiarity with the use of a keyboard and mouse is helpful, but even a first-time Windows user should be able to produce results within an hour or two.

WinRail provides a very full set of features for covering every aspect of layout design. Track work can be drawn in great detail, with or without roadbeds (or track underlay). Pointwork of all descriptions can be shown, and connections between track units can be easily made and unmade. With the DeLuxe version of WinRail, you can draw custom sections of track yourself, allowing very accurate definition of dimensions, angles and radii. You can even run a "Virtual vehicle" around the track of your layout, to check the clearance required for track-side structures, signals, catenary masts, etc.

A large array of commercial track products is built-in to WinRail, including ranges by Peco and Hornby, by European manufacturers such as LGB, Märklin, Fleischmann and Roco, and by various American producers, including Atlas, Lionel and Bachmann. All standard scales and gauges are catered for. Of course, if you want to draw in additional track sections, you can, using the design features included with WinRail DeLuxe. Here's a list of the commercial product ranges included.

You can download more libraries for additional manufacturers from this website. With the DeLuxe version of WinRail, your own custom designs of track can be drawn and saved. The Standard version of WinRail includes the facilities to design, draw and save your own custom designs of structures and buildings, including in 3D.

WinRail supports gradients and track and other elements at different altitudes. A layer concept allows viewing and drawing of elements at one or more levels. This effectively takes a horizontal slice through the layout to make a design with objects at different heights more easy to manage.

Buildings and other structures on the layout can also be drawn. A vast selection of commercial products is already defined, ranging from railway buildings such as stations and engine sheds, to houses and shops, and even fun fair models from the likes of Faller and Vollmer. The user's own scratch-built models can be drawn by means of lines, or, for more complex models, the features in the "Parts Compiler" included in WinRail Standard and Deluxe provide the ability to produce arcs, colour-filled areas, and so on, and to draw structures in 3D.

WinRail has a large range of libraries of many model railroad manufacturers' products. We are constantly adding new libraries and updating our existing ones. We also welcome libraries of new product ranges that may be submitted by WinRail users. Click here to see our current list.