Train Brain

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hi All,
I was reading this months MR and saw an ad for the Train Brain. It allows you to control you railroad via a computer program. Anyone tried it out yet? What do you think about it? Personally I like controling the trains on my own.
Rap213

2

Think of that! You could turn on the computer, get the trains going and then go watch TV. Gee, that sounds like a lot of fun. Wow! [}:)]

3

I havn’t seen it or anything so i don’t know much about it, but it does seem like it could be a good idea. Especially if the company makes a control panel for it. In a sense it could be more realistic, to me it seems like it could have potential.

4

Nah, its not for me, I like to run my trains.

Besides my computer does enough for me already.[:D]

5

Can it rerail an errant car or perform switching?? [}:)][;)][:D]

6

it’s a hardware and software solution to train control , originally made for DC but nicely adapted to DCC . basically you wire up detectors , signals , turnout motors , your dcc system etc. to these control modules and write a program to run it all using their programming language .

you have hte option of the train brain controlling all your trains (if you’re a good enough programmer!) or having it run some trains while you run others . pretty nice for someone with a layout that needs several people to operate but it’s tuesday night and you’re all alone but want to run an op session . you can take control of a train at any point , so it’s not like you have to go watch tv after starting it up

with DC it can automatically switch the power blocks to keep your train going . since ‘running the track’ is one of the things some people don’t like about DC this makes it almost as good as DCC

disclaimer : i bought a train brain basic module for experimental purposes , but haven’t gotten around to using it at all yet , so have no practical experience with it .

edit website is http://www.cti-electronics.com/index.htm

7

Hi All,
I think the train brain is a pretty good idea for club and large layouts where multiple trains are running. I’ve noticed at shows there is always someone monitoring the track for derailments. I wonder if it can detect a derailment? Any clues? If not what happens then? Can a DCC system detect a derailment?
Rap213

8

i ahve no clue but i will ask my friend and get his opinion but it sounds cool.