RailMind Support
Help & answers
RailMind is a touch-first planner for Kato Unitrack. If something isn’t working or you have a question, this page should cover it — and if not, email me directly.
What you need
An iPad running iPadOS 18 or later. RailMind is iPad-only and designed for touch. No account and no companion hardware. The only network it uses is Apple’s: the App Store, which it checks at launch for your unlock and its price, and your own iCloud for plan backup.
Getting started
New to RailMind? Start with the guide.
Build your first Kato loop in two minutes, then find every button, board, layer and setting — step by step, with screenshots.
1 · Pick a board. Tap + and choose a tabletop sheet — 2 × 4 ft, a 30 × 80 in door, 4 × 8 ft — or a T-TRAK module board: Single, Double, Triple, Quad, Corner, Inside Corner, End Cap or Junction. For a whole module with its track, open one from the T-TRAK modules shelf of Example layouts. Or start on the open table and add a board later. A plan is one scale, N or HO, chosen in the Layout sheet before the first piece.
2 · Lay track. Drag real Kato pieces onto the pan-and-zoom table with your fingers, or tap a palette chip to grow the track from the open end. Joints land on real Unijoiner geometry, not wherever your finger stopped. Open ends are marked: cyan for the end you’re building from, amber for an end still to connect, green when two ends are close enough to join.
3 · Close it. When a gap is left, Close loop offers the run of Kato pieces that lands the joint — through turnouts and the wye, not just plain track. When nothing fits, RailMind says why.
4 · Raise it, see it. Give a piece a height and its grade shows as a live percentage; pick two points and RailMind sets the grade between them. The 3D view renders bridges, viaducts and grades from the same geometry as the flat plan. Up to ten named layers keep a large plan in order — show, hide and reorder them.
5 · Build it. Open the Parts List for a priced shopping list, checked against track you already own — a Kato or RailModeller stock CSV, or just the Kato set on your shelf. Print the plan 1:1 from Layout settings, tiled across Letter or A4, and lay the paper on the benchwork. Share the plan from the Plans sheet as a .railmind file or an image.
Tip: your plans save automatically on your device, and — if your iPad is signed in to iCloud — back up to your own iCloud too, so they survive a delete and reinstall. You can also export a copy of your whole library to Files from the Plans sheet at any time.
Frequently asked
What is RailMind?
A touch-first planner for Kato Unitrack sectional track. You lay real pieces on your iPad and RailMind checks the geometry closes, helps you close loops, shows the plan in 3D with grades, prints it 1:1, and prices a parts list.
What track does it support?
Kato Unitrack in both N and HO scale — every fixed-length piece in the catalog, with real part numbers. A plan is one scale — pieces never mix. You choose a plan’s scale in the Layout sheet before you lay track; it locks once the plan has track, so start a new plan to build in the other scale. Flex track and other track brands are not modeled.
Does it need the internet?
No. Drawing, snapping, saving, the parts list, imports, printing, sharing and 3D all work in airplane mode. RailMind uses the network for exactly two things, both Apple’s: the App Store — checked at launch for your unlock and its price, and again if you buy or restore — and backing your plans up to your own iCloud (which you can switch off in Layout settings).
Is it a subscription?
No. RailMind is free to build a starter layout — 16 straights and curves per plan in N, 20 in HO, plus 2 turnouts and 2 special pieces — and one in-app purchase of US$29.99 unlocks every piece forever. That unlock is the only purchase in the app — no subscription, no ads, ever.
What does the unlock include?
Unlimited pieces. RailMind Unlimited is a single one-time purchase of US$29.99, not a subscription, and lifts the per-plan piece limits; that is all it changes. The guide, the example layouts and everything else in the app work in the free version within the piece limits.
The plan says “Changed on an iPad with an older RailMind”.
An iPad that still runs an older RailMind saved this plan and replaced it, and the older version cannot keep T-TRAK modules. This iPad kept its own version aside. Tap Restore my version to bring it back, or Keep theirs to stay with the other iPad’s copy. Updating every iPad to the same RailMind avoids it.
Why 16 in N and 20 in HO?
Because that is the loop Kato sells in each scale. The N-scale M1 starter set is sixteen straights and curves, and the free tier closes it. In HO the everyday Kato curves (R370 to R790) are 22.5°, so an oval takes sixteen curves and two straights — twenty closes that too. The cap counts pieces you add to a plan; opening a larger example, moving, deleting, printing and pricing are never gated. The counter in the corner of the canvas follows the piece you have selected and counts down, and Close loop says plainly when a route needs more than the free tier.
I paid before but this iPad says free tier.
Open Layout settings and, under Purchases, tap Restore Purchases. Or place a piece past the free tier to bring up the unlock screen and choose Restore purchase there. Your unlock is tied to your Apple Account and restores on every iPad signed in to it. If it still doesn’t restore, make sure you’re signed in to the same Apple Account you bought it with, then email us.
Where are my plans stored?
On your iPad, and — unless you turn it off in Layout settings — in your own iCloud, so they come back after a delete and reinstall and follow you to another iPad. You can also export your whole library to Files from the Plans sheet, or share a single plan as a .railmind file. Nothing is ever sent to us; we have no servers.
How do I share a plan?
On the Plans sheet, tap the share button on any plan — or on the plan that is open — and choose Share plan file for a .railmind file or Share as image for a picture of the track. A .railmind file that arrives by Mail, Messages, AirDrop or Files opens straight into RailMind as its own editable plan. The parts list has its own share, as text or CSV.
Can I bring in plans I already have?
RailMind can’t open another planner’s project file — RailModeller 6.7 and later encrypt theirs — but it pastes in a parts list from any planner — AnyRail’s list of materials, RailModeller’s parts CSV, a printed list — and matches the rows to Kato pieces and prices them; and it imports Kato or RailModeller stock CSVs, or the Kato set you own, so the parts list shows only what you still need to buy.
Coming from RailModeller, AnyRail or SCARM?
Most of what you use has a counterpart. Their gap-closing wizards are Close loop and Auto-route, which search Kato’s catalog for a run that lands the joint and name the reason when none can. Their bill of materials is the Parts List, priced at US MSRP and checked against your stock — and you can paste their parts list straight in. Elevation and grades, a 3D view, layers and a 1:1 tiled print are all there. What is not: flex track, any track system other than Kato Unitrack, RailModeller, SCARM or AnyRail project files (paste their parts lists instead), and any platform other than iPad — there is no Windows, Mac or iPhone version. RailMind is deep on one system rather than broad across many.
Does it do T-TRAK?
Yes. Plans → Example layouts → T-TRAK modules has nineteen ready-made modules built to the NRail standard, grouped into straights, corners, crossovers, sidings and spurs, and the junction — two mains on the 33 mm center, 38 mm from the module front, rail ends standing just proud of the board edge so modules meet across the gap. The junction’s 597 mm main is built from fixed track rather than Kato’s 20-050 expansion piece. The board picker has the matching module boards on their own.
How do I print a plan 1:1?
Layout settings → Print layout (1:1). RailMind tiles the plan across US Letter or A4 pages with registration marks and an overlap for taping, piece labels optional. Page 1 carries the site address and a small QR code in a corner clear of the track. Print with AirPrint or save the PDF to Files.
Will it drive my trains?
No. RailMind plans the track; driving actual trains is a job for a DCC throttle app.
What changed in the latest version?
Every App Store release is listed, plainly, on the changelog. The version and build you have installed are in the footer of the Layout sheet.
Your data stays yours
RailMind collects nothing. Your plans live on your iPad and in your own iCloud — never ours.
Read the privacy policyRate RailMind
If RailMind has earned it, a rating on the App Store is the one thing that helps other Unitrack people find it. Layout settings has the same link.
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