TrainPlayer

This page is obsolete!  Please go to trainplayer.com instead.

TrainPlayer is a new program for running virtual model trains on preconfigured layouts.  It is specifically designed to work with the layouts from Linn H. Westcott's classic 101 Track Plans for Model Railroaders from Kalmbach Publishing Co.  First published in 1956, the book has sold over half a million copies worldwide and is still in print.  The track plans it contains are imaginatively designed, technically sound, and beautifully illustrated. 

I've spent hours admiring the layouts in this book, and always thought it would be more fun if they had moving parts, like little trains.  So I wrote this program, and now they do.

3 Apr 2003

The folks at Highlands Station (publisher of Model Railroading magazine) graciously provided this nice track plan from their January 2003 issue:

This layout is now ready for operation.  To download, click here.

The program is not ready for public release --- I'm in the process of negotiating a deal for the use of published layouts --- but it's ready for some field testing.  If you'd care to participate, help yourself, and let me hear from you.

Preview the manual -- same as what comes in the package, available from the Help menu

Download the program (2.7 MB) -- includes the user manual and two sample layouts.  This is version 0.95, 3 Mar 03.  Improved version coming soon.

Note: there is a problem with the posted version when you use the Open Layout dialog -- double-clicking an entry sometimes brings up a blank alert.  If this happens, use File Open to browse to a layout.  There are also problems with turntable rotation, to be fixed soon.

Download the additional layout package (9.2 MB) -- five more layouts:

Plan No. Name Size (HO)
33 Bayside & Southampton Ry. 4 X 8
43 Deadwood, Big Horn & Pacific RR 6 X 8
39 Denver & Northwestern RR 5 X 10
6 Switchman's Nightmare 6 X 2
40 Troy & Mohawk Valley RR 6 X 10

There is no installer: just unzip the contents into an empty folder, and double-click trainplayer.exe.

The program was developed to work on Windows XP/2000/ NT/98.  Not all platforms have been fully tested.

Contact me with questions, comments, bugs, etc.: jim@jimdill.net.

-- Jim, 3 Apr 2003