Model Train Forum banner

HO Track Plans published by Atlas vs. SCARM vs. Atlas Track Planning Software

1 reading
13K views 37 replies 12 participants last post by  Conductorkev  
#1 ·
Has anyone built a track plan published by Atlas in one of their books like “Atlas HO Layouts for Every Space”? Did it fit together perfectly (or almost perfectly) using the products Atlas called out in their “ATLAS Track Products Required" list?

I ask because I’ve been trying to plan a published layout that I liked that did not have product list. I found sections hard to connect without using flex track. I also found it had grades from 3.1% to 4.3% so I stopped working on it.

I fell back to layout HO-15 in “Atlas HO Layouts for Every Space , Updated for 2021 ” and put it into SCARM using the Atlas product list from SCARM. I found there are sections that don’t connect in SCARM . See the yellow highlighted section below. I did the same thing with Atlas Track Planning Software, which appears to be a clone of SCARM, and found the same problem.

  • Has anyone built a track plan published by Atlas without a problem?
  • Are there bugs in SCARM/ATPS?
  • Some combination of the above?
I would think that as old as the published Atlas track plans are that the bugs/typos have been corrected.

Atlas track plan HO-15 in their “Atlas HO Layouts for Every Space , Updated for 2021”:
Image



HO-15 entered in SCARM:
Image



HO-15 entered into Atlas Track Planning Software:
Image