Fishmanoz Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 If you have and like Anyrail, no need to look at SCARM, they are very similar and both have supporters/users here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGGVW Posted January 25, 2019 Author Share Posted January 25, 2019 @ RDS,@LGGVWPlease let us know how you get on with iTrain.I certainly will... Software is right up my street, as IT is my line of work [systems, Telecoms and Media engineering].I haven't bought the license yet, I am testing the software until March and doing my homework on the rest of the railway layout project, whilst the spare room gets refurbished. It is a spare big bedroom, but needs a fair amount of work done, including the dreaded chipwood wallpaper. I got someone to get it all done up.Anyway, iTrain... The technical backend of it is very clever, I already detected that! The comms side of it can handle and "talk" fluently with a huge pile of interfaces and rail DCC comms protocols, from all manufacturers, small and major players alike. It is well supported as well, the User's Manual is pretty good and complete.I'll post as I find out more... 😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJ_model_trains Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 @LGGVW 18mm Plywood is very sturdy, worth paying a little more for althougn many say 12mm works for them. 5mm cork is very thick, I use cork and apply a thin coat of brown, earthy emulsion, colour is personal choice. It looks like ballast, but I find 3mm more than enough. If you have 18mm plywood your boards are already sturdy, why us 5mm, to scale this is also very thick. A 10m x 1m roll cost me £60.50, and I stick it down with Copydex I notice you mention iTrain, I also notice Dave has asaked for feedback. I am using the 60 days Free trial myself, there is a lot of discussions on RMWeb forum, 'Train Controller good or not so good' is the title thread. Don't be put off by TrainController the discussion compares TC and iTrain, prices and customer service, well worth a read. If you go iTrain you can add Loco Detection feedback modules, for an average of just £3 per feedback! And you won't have a lot of modules, each module takes 16 feedbacks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 PJWhat type of feedback modules does it use.I have some experience of Rocrail where L88 modules seem to be almost standard fit For detection with a wide variety of sensors accepted.Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJ_model_trains Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 PJWhat type of feedback modules does it use.I have some experience of Rocrail where L88 modules seem to be almost standard fit For detection with a wide variety of sensors accepted.RobHi Rob Digikeijs modules, DR4088LN LocoNet Current drop detection per blockhttps://dcctrainautomation.co.uk/ then go to detection You don't have to use these there are other options, but they are very popular, tried and tested, all wiring underneath, not visible on top, to sensors through sleepers that could be obstructed by dust or other items, no tags to fit under locos, wagons and carriages, that have uneven bottoms. To me the price and the feedback from users makes sense. Under £150 for 48 feedback ports, I would need more but at an average of £3 it works out reasonable I think. Many would want less £100 for 32 feedbacks that is probably cheaper than the proposed price years ago for the start kit for LD. In many ways it is a shame Rob, but Hornby have not been fair to loyal customers who have been encouraged over and over again and waited patiently expecting as Hornby said... that... LD 'is coming' 'is coming soon'. Even early January many were hoping, expecting to hear LD is coming in 2019, but again nothing! How many customers are they going to lose? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGGVW Posted January 26, 2019 Author Share Posted January 26, 2019 @ PJ_model_trains,You have a good point there about 5mm not being exactly to scale. I would not be using it for ballast though, but simply to "carpet" the whole table surface. I wonder if 3mm is good enough to absorb the drum effect sound on the board when running kit on the track.iTrain is well designed and seems very stable. I don't yet know a lot about it, just started to explore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGGVW Posted January 26, 2019 Author Share Posted January 26, 2019 Typically, the software architecture is independent from the hardware and can read/write to/from any hardware compliant with the technical protocols the software supports.So, presumably iTrain should be able to read the feeds from detectors, if the detectors are compliant with one or more of the protocols the software supports. Thus if say, iTrain supports LocoNet [Digitrax] and the detection hardware is able to transmit data across via LocoNet, there should be no problem.I am not sure how detectors work per se... Do they sense rolling kit on the track and inform the DCC system? If so, what?... Just that that particular section of the track is currently occupied, I guess? They can't identify what kit, can they?Sometimes, relationships between one or more pieces of the puzzle get me confused, but I have been away from the hobby for so long, I have a lot to catch up 😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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