Things you should know about track planning.
Clicking on the image to the left will take you to a fine collection of model plans for Narrow Gauge Steam Engines.
You may be interested in looking at the construction of a shelf layout. Click on Make Shelf Layout
We have settled on Scarm as best to use. It is free and versatile. Read about it here. Scarm.
Tips and hints on track planning and layout planning with scenery and bench construction plans for your scale model layout.
http://www.carendt.com/articles/secrets-of-designing-micro-layouts/
To here are tools that you might find very helpful.
Sketchup
Sketchup to STL and DFX files
This is a free plugin for sketchup that is simple to install.
Convert Sketchup SKP files to DFX and STL
3rdPlanit
A paid system, but it is a CAD program as well and has a lot of capability.
3rdPlanit Forums
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/3rdPlanIt/info
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/small-layout-design/info?referrer=3rdPlanIt