Glossary

The words that turn up in the manual and in the editor, briefly explained.

Track

• Ballast bed is the layer of stone the sleepers lie in. In the model it is the raised profile under the rails.
• Radius is the radius of the circle a curve is a piece of. The smaller the radius, the sharper the curve and the less can go round it.
• Flex track is a length of track with no fixed shape that you bend yourself. Useful where no stock piece fits.
• Frog is the point in a turnout or a crossing where the two tracks touch. The number beside it, a number 6 turnout for instance, says how gentle the divergence is: the higher, the gentler.
• Crossing lets two tracks cross without a train being able to change between them. A slip switch can do that.
• Loading gauge is the outline nothing may stand in because a train has to pass through. It decides how high a tunnel is and how much room belongs under a bridge.
• Gauge is the distance between the inner faces of the two rails.
• Turnout lets a train go from one track to another. Left or right says which way the diverging leg goes, seen from the point end.

The layout

• Baseboard or table is the board you build on. In TRAX every table has its own shape, height and terrain, and everything on it comes along when you move it.
• Grade is how much the track climbs over the distance covered, given as a percentage. Two per cent is already steep for a model train.
• Module is a piece of layout with a standardised end, so that it fits somebody else's.
• Reach is how far you can reach to get at something. About 600 mm from one side, 1200 if you can walk around it.
• Hidden station is a storage yard out of sight, usually under the visible layout.
• Run is a series of track pieces joined together. Double-click a piece and you select the whole run.

In the editor

• Connection is the little point at the end of a piece of track where the next piece clicks on.
• CAD look is the technical drawing: flat colours, dimensions and notes, no texture.
• Context tab is the tab in the ribbon that appears the moment you select something, with what you can do with exactly that object.
• Realistic look is the 3D world with light, shadow, texture and wind.
• Panel is a separate window over the workspace, with a list to choose from (track, buildings, trees, objects), a brush or the settings. You open it with a button on the ribbon.