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Introduction

CTC completely reinvents the digital model railway from scratch. This puts us in the fortunate position of not having to take much account of compatibility and being able to cut off most “old habits”. What this specifically means for you if you already own a model railway, can be read in separate articles tailored to different scenarios on this website.

In this article, we want to explain the basic concept behind CTC and show you how you can get started with CTC.

Why reinvent the digital model railway?

The classic digital model railway is based on a central electronics system (digital command control), which communicates with the locomotives over the track.

The concept underlying the digital model railway only allows for a very narrow bandwidth. This means that only a few pieces of information can be transmitted and feedback is either not possible or very limited.

Any spark caused by the locomotive when drawing power can interfere with data transmission. The risk of a message not arriving is minimized, but not excluded, by repeating messages on the track regularly. This also means: the worse the condition of the tracks is, the higher the probability that the digital system is unreliable.

Starting from a model railway in the garden, the desire grew within us to move the communication away from the track, and the idea for CTC was born.

Origin of the Concept

The only real alternative to track-based communication was a radio technology option. In addition, we wanted to control our model railway from a tablet or smartphone without much fuss.

Thus, only Bluetooth and Wi-Fi remained as options for a direct connection between the app and the locomotive/turnout/signal. However, given Bluetooth’s unsuitability for numerous simultaneous connections and its low energy consumption being irrelevant to us, Wi-Fi was the obvious choice.

The only remaining tasks were to develop suitable Wi-Fi modules for locomotives, turnouts, signals, etc., and most importantly, to design the software to accompany them.

All the data for the locomotives, turnouts, and signals should be stored within their respective modules. Therefore, a locomotive should be able to store not only all its technical parameters (CVs in the digital model railway) but also details like its name, picture, or a detailed description. This desire led to a software concept that made a central component completely unnecessary. All we had left was the Wi-Fi, modules for locomotives, turnouts, signals, and the app.

The core of the software can now be found published under an open-source license on PI-Rail.org. This has particularly made the communication protocol public and opens the door to your own extensions.

So what do I need?

To get started with CTC, you only need:

  • A Wi-Fi Access Point. For starters, this can also be your home Wi-Fi.
  • A CTC locomotive module for each locomotive to be controlled. This corresponds to the locomotive decoder in the digital model railway.
  • CTC modules for the turnouts and signals to be controlled. This corresponds to the turnout decoder in the digital model railway. As you are used to from the digital model railway, several turnouts and signals can also be connected to one module.
  • The CTC App for PC (Linux, Mac or Windows), tablet or smartphone.
  • Power on the track. This could be DC or AC, or from the digital control the central unit or booster. The level of voltage depends on what your locomotives, turnouts, and signals can handle. The CTC modules are designed for up to 24V.

    And how do I get started most easily?

The easiest way is to get a starter set from us, to familiarize yourself first with the new world of CTC. Beyond the offered starter sets, we are happy to put together a starter set that suits you. If desired, we are also happy to take over the installation of the CTC modules into your locomotives and turnouts.

In addition, you will hopefully find one of the scenarios described on this website that fits your situation. If not, please describe your situation to us and we will add to our scenarios.

The three scenarios we consider most fundamental are:

The two articles on switching also cover the (initial) parallel operation with CTC.

Frequently asked questions, along with answers, can be found in our FAQ section.