Raily 5 User Manual
en

Laying track faster

Dragging a piece of track from the quick-pick bar into the plan is the way from Getting started 1: it explains itself and is enough for a few pieces. You lay a whole section of track faster with the keyboard: the mouse stays put, and each piece first appears as a preview.

A selected track with the preview of the next piece at the free end. After A: the selected track is outlined in red, the preview of the next piece hangs off the free end. Nothing is placed yet.

The flow

  1. Click the track you want to build onto.
  2. A: the preview of the next piece appears, docked to a free end of the selection.
  3. If it doesn't fit, change it with the keys below.
  4. Enter places the piece and immediately arms the next one at the end that was just created.
  5. Esc ends it.

A section of track is built as A, Enter, Enter, Enter … Esc. Whichever piece is placed is always the one chosen in the quick-pick bar.

The keys

Key Effect
A next free end of the selection to build onto
S end of the new piece that docks there
W / Q next / previous track of the same kind
1 … 7 kind of track: Straight, Curve, Switch, Crossing, Crossing switch, Flex track, Special element
Enter or click place and keep building at the new end
Esc end

The right mouse button does the same as S, in case you're already at the mouse anyway.

A cycles in a circle

If your selection has several free ends — a station throat, say — A moves around their shared center. So the next key press is always the neighboring end, never one at the far end of the layout.

When nothing is selected

Then there is no end to keep building onto, and the piece hangs off the pointer. It docks as soon as you come near any free end in the plan, whichever one. The keys above apply unchanged: S chooses the docking end, W, Q and 1–7 change the piece, a click or Enter places it. After that the piece you just placed is selected, and the flow above continues.

Picking up a track from the plan

You don't have to look for the track you want to keep building with in the quick-pick bar: take it where it already lies. Alt + right mouse button on a track in the plan switches the quick-pick bar to exactly this track, kind and marking included. The next track you place is then the same one.

This is the fast way to keep building in the middle of a plan without knowing which element was used there. It also works while placing: you can continue a section of track at any of its elements without breaking the key sequence.

While moving a track

S also applies outside of placing: dragging a track, or a whole selection of tracks, through the plan, S chooses the free end the dragged piece hangs from. That decides which end docks when you let go, and therefore where the selection ends up.

See also