This sounds essentially like a graph theory problem. Have a track segments be arcs and the places where they connect be nodes. I don't know exactly what the criteria are for a "connecting, valid layout", but I'll assume it's at least planarity (no tracks crossing one another) and that there always exists a non-zero-length path from a node to itself. The presence of cross-over bridges permit a special case of track-crossing, so graphs with a c.o.b. would be allowed to be non-planar only for the c.o.b. arcs. Switches are just two arcs going to/coming from the same node.

Once you've got the graph designed, you can start tackling the problem of laying it out spatially so that it fits with the pieces.

In reply to Re^2: If I had a Free Two Months... by Anonymous Monk
in thread If I had a Free Two Months... by samizdat

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