Track labels
Every piece of track in the plan can carry its name: R2, 24230, Turnout left 15°. That's
the label that turns a printed plan into a set of building instructions: you see which piece goes
where, without having to measure.
Turning it on
The label isn't a property of the plan, but is set per track piece, under Name in Rail display — which also lets you set it for the whole plan at once.
For printing, short is usually the right choice: the full name of an element isn't readable on a 30 mm piece of track.
Moving the label
Once a track piece shows its name, clicking it brings up two handles:
- the text anchor: it moves the label. On closely spaced track, this is how you pull overlapping texts apart.
- a rotation handle: it appears only when Text horizontal is off.
Reset text position and rotation restores the default.
The rotation handle snaps to 15°
While dragging, the angle jumps in 15° steps, snapping either to the world or to the track, whichever of the two is closer. That way a text ends up either exactly horizontal in the plan or exactly parallel to the track. Hold Shift or Ctrl while dragging to rotate freely.
Text horizontal is the simpler choice: the text stays level no matter how the track lies, so it stays readable in every view. A text that rotates with the track looks better on a printed plan, but is awkward to read on upside-down sections.
See also
- Rail display: override the label for the whole plan
- Element info: the catalog data behind the name
- Printing