What is Railroad Automation?
Railroad Automation started out in 2002 as a project I gave myself to quickly get up to speed on what was, at the time, Microsoft’s new .NET platform. Combine that with my love for DCC (Digital Command Control) model railroads and the application grew to become a full featured toy box for model railroads based on Digitrax’s Loconet network. Over the years as the .NET feature set has evolved, I have been able to add many interesting features to the application both as a learning tool and because it made the application that much more fun to operate.

My goal was to create a powerfull, yet user friendly command and control solution, while providing a great deal of flexibility for third party developers and tinkerers. The latter was achieved by componentising the application into distinct layers so consumers can choose the level of usability vs. flexibility.
Features
  • Real time slot inspector with purging
  • Loconet packet traffic inspector
  • Full featured LocoIO programmer
  • DCC decoder programmer
  • Multiple throttle control
  • Editable vector based switchboard display
  • Supports virtual objects such as: Tracks, Turnouts, Blocks, Routes, Sensors, Signals, Accessories
  • Event binding and scripting
  • Sequence recording
  • Loconet communication and throttle control over TCP
  • Speech recognition control (Vista and above only)
Screenshot
Screenshot (Click for larger image)
Resources
Send questions and comments to Perecli@live.com.

This software is provided for free, but if you like it, and want to support its development, donation of any size are welcome.


Main Application/Server (v2.0.36.1) - Released 02/06/12
Install Simple on-line deployment. After install, the app will work off-line. Must be on-line for auto updates to occur.
Download Off-line installer package for those who have requested this.
Download Sample layout files.
View Version change log.


Remote Throttle (v1.0.0.5) - Released 01/17/12
Install Simple on-line deployment. After install, the app will work off-line. Must be on-line for auto updates to occur.
View Version change log.


Tutorial Videos
View Railroad Automation YouTube channel.
Send in your requests for tutorial topics you'd like to see.


Development
Download Standalone class library with VS2010 sample projects.
View Class library documentation.
Download Free copy of Visual Studio 2010 Express.


Other Projects
Loconet-Checker Application developed by Stefan Trachsler and powered by the Railroad Automation's API for management, configuration, and monitoring your Digitrax devices.
LoconetConfig Application developed by Jeff Law and powered by the Railroad Automation's API for programming LocoIO boards.