September 2026
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Better
A buffer stop looks like a buffer stop
In the track list a buffer stop is drawn with its beam, its buffers and its frame, so you can tell it from a short straight at a glance.
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Better
Fleischmann piccolo: the curved turnouts fit
The curved turnouts 9168/9169, 9174 to 9177 now end exactly where the maker says, so a pair gives two parallel circles with level ends. The adjustable straight 9110 is in the library too, and takes the length of the gap it closes.
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New
Open a .trx file from TRAX2
A layout you downloaded from TRAX2 can be dropped straight into My Projects; the same file again replaces the copy instead of making a second one.
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New
A guide for your first layout
Open a new layout and a departure board offers a few short lines: looking around, your first track, the landscape, heights, the checks and sharing. Each station says where to look, what to click and what it gets you.
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Better
A ribbon that reads at a glance
The ribbon is redrawn in one weight and one set of icons, and Alt+Shift+T makes the whole interface half again as large.
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Better
The side panels are windows of their own
Every panel opens as a window you can drag where you want it, and more than one can stand open at a time.
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Better
Small pieces take their own click
A short piece of track can be selected again, and the arrow keys walk from piece to piece along the track you are looking at.
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Better
A layout opens as its own picture
Opening a shared layout puts you in the view its picture was taken from, instead of somewhere above the middle.
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Better
The landscape stops burying your track
Near a tunnel the ground used to climb over the plain track leading to the portal; it now rises away from the rails instead.
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Better
Old article numbers are found again
A library knows the numbers a maker used before, so a layout from years ago still finds its track.
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New
The layout checks itself
In CAD, TRAX3D checks the grade, the loading gauge, the smallest radius, the clearance under a bridge, the track spacing, whether you can reach every part of the table, reversing loops and the distance to the edge. Every sign says what it measured and what to do.
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New
Every layout keeps its history
The server keeps older versions of your layout: go back to how it was yesterday, or last week, with its own picture beside it.
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Better
Raising track no longer makes steps
Changing the height of a piece follows the grade round a loop and meets its neighbours again, instead of leaving a step in the rails.
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New
Bring your TRAX2 layouts along
Fetch the layouts from your old traxeditor.com account in one step; they open in 3D and keep their name.
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New
Two looks: realistic and CAD
The same layout as a lit world with shadows and wind, or as a clean drawing with outlines, labels and a grid.
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New
Water
Lakes, seas, rivers and canals, with waves that ride the surface, a current that carries its ripples, foam at the shore and bank protection on a canal.
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New
Roads, fences, hedges and walls
One line tool for all four: a road with its middle line, a fence with posts and rails, a hedge of foliage that rustles, and a wall that can hold back the ground.
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New
Platforms along your track
Draw a platform along a run of track: it follows the rails and the grade, takes a surface and an edge, and a side can be a ramp.
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New
Buildings and objects
Stations, sheds, houses and Western buildings, dragged from the list onto the table, plus stones, rubble and clutter to spray around them.
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New
Trees and bushes
Six species, 74 models, placed one at a time or sprayed over an area, and each one can be moved, turned and scaled on its own.
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New
Grass and flowers
Growth you plant with a brush: grass, tall grass, flowers, wheat, reed and heather, each tuft standing on the ground and bending in the wind.
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New
Ground textures
Nine layers of ground -- earth, gravel, rock, sand, snow -- painted automatically by slope and height, and by hand where you want them.
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New
The landscape builds itself
One button fills a table from the track that is on it: a cutting through a hill, an embankment across a dip, a valley under a bridge and a hill over a tunnel.
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New
Tables with real terrain
A table carries a landscape you sculpt with brushes: raise, lower, smooth, flatten, a trench, noise and a slope. One stroke is one undo step.
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New
127 track libraries
Every library carries a drawn picture of each piece, so you can see what you are laying before you drag it onto the table.
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New
A manual written for TRAX3D
Eight chapters with pictures taken from the editor itself, so what you read is what you see on your screen.
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New
The editor speaks your language
Every word in the editor is translated, so the ribbon, the panels and the messages come up in the language of your account.
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New
A new trax3d.com
The site is rebuilt from the ground up: the showcase, your own layouts, the forum, the manual and the donations, in English, Dutch and German.