Kato Unitram Pieces on AnyRail Software

[brill27mcb]

I've been digging into the Kato Unitram track system lately. The Anyrail layout design software has a Unitram library, but unfortunately it only includes the "Track Plates" that actually have rails on them. All of the "Road Plates" that do not contain rails have been left out. This makes it hard to envision what a layout might really look like, and makes it possible to design a layout where the street scenery will not line up right. Even Kato has posted Unitram layouts on its website that don't really make sense scenically.

 

After some struggling and learning, I was able to create "user objects" in Anyrail for the Unitram Road Plates. It turns out that there are actually 12 different Track Plates and 10 different Road Plates offered in the Unitram product line. Some of these are just variations in crosswalk painting or other markings, but Kato has assigned a piece number code to each of them. After testing and using my drawn objects for a while, I have now uploaded them to Anyrail so that anyone can download them and use them to plan Unitram layouts.

 

To download them, go to "User Objects" in the menu bar and then to "Download new items." This process may take a while to start up and a longer while to download many, many user-created objects in various scales. The Road Plates will then appear under User Objects -> N -> General -> Kato Unitram. Click on that, and the 10-item Road Plate library will appear.

 

Anyrail does not have an option to have User Objects "snap" to a grid, so you have to carefully hand-locate them with your mouse. I have asked if the program author could add such an option for locating objects.

 

Here's a sample Unitram layout drawing with the Road Plates:

 

 

- Rich K.

[inobu]

I think this is the format that David needs.

 

https://www.anyrail.com/forum_en/index.php/topic,1637.msg12718.html#msg12718

 

Inobu

[brill27mcb]

Here's Anyrail author David's reply to me:

 

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Hi,

 

Thanks for the road plates.

We know these are missing from the library, but we focused on the track elements first.

Also, as you mention, there needs to be some way to connect the plates to the track. We don't have the functionality for that yet.

Finally, we need to work on the 3D representation to ensure these appear in the 3D view as well.

All in all: it's on the wish list and we will add this in a future version.

 

Best regards,

 

David.

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Rich K.