I designed and built most of my B&M Eastern Route HO layout using pencil & paper. But when I wanted a track plan to publish on the net, I couldn't get good results from scanning my drawn/erased/redrawn plans. So in 2010 I redrew my layout (approximately) using the free Windows/Mac/Unix XtrkCAD software. My first plan is posted to page 3 of my layout thread.
Since then, I've used XtrkCAD for a couple of structure drawings, the circuit diagrams for my signal system, string charts for the NMRA AP Chief Dispatcher certificate and a few other projects. Tonight I started something new: Producing track overlays while working with 1:1 building designers to ensure the track involved can actually be built.
Looking over the sub-forums, I settled on Modeling Wizardry. Comments and contributions welcome. I can't post anything about the buildings I might be working on till the owners are ready to go public, either to potential donors or local government permitting. So here's an XtrkCAD string chart:
TT6SatAMGraph.jpeg