Layout drawing software

I'm using "Anyrail" at the moment, only had it a month or two but it meets my needs and it has a very easy learning curve. I don't do DCC but it does have the ability to add notes etc on th eplans so it will probably serve your purposes. Oh and there's a free try before you buy version.

XtrkCAD is free, runs on any operating system.

For layout design yes, but for a control panel I would do something more diagrammatic using something like GIMP

MBQ

xtrkcad does have available all of the bits and pieces to do a control panel.

If you are into a computer controlled layout (eg Chubb CMR/I), the Model Railroad System can do that.

Yes, I know. It also has quite a steep learning curve which is why I would not recommend it, unless the effort is useful to you for layout design as well.

MBQ

In many ways, GIMP has just as steep a learning curve (and GIMP is really horrible for CAD work anyway -- great for things like designing CD labels or website artwork). I figured that once the OP figured out laying track with xtrkcad, it would be fairly simple to move onto designing the control panel(s)...

Anyrail is fantastic. Highly recomended

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JMRI?

GIMP's mainly better for photo and bitmap work, for doing line art and diagrams Inkscape is worth a look.

GIMP is an attempt to clone Photoshop functionality. It's spectacularly successful in doing so, especially in the "steep learning curve", which is code for "this is a textbook example of how to design the most user-hostile interface possible".

Wolf K.

OTOH, a lot of what Photoshop is used for professionally can be pretty complex (probably much more than what we 'amatures' really need). I don't know if Photoshop has been suffering from the long term effects of 'creeping featurism' with the result being that it has 'the most user-hostile interface possible', which GIMP is trying its best to clone, warts and all.

Inkscape also has a somewhat user-hostile interface, probably because it is trying to clone Illustrator, which in turn probably suffers from 'creeping featurism' as well.