The transition from digital control to CTC is especially worthwhile when the model railway is expected to grow further. Another reason for switching to CTC can be the IR-balises, which offer significant advantages in locomotive position detection and automatic control.

What do you need for CTC?

  • A power supply: Initially, this will be the digital central unit or the booster.
  • A WLAN Access Point: For the first trials, the private WLAN will suffice. Starting from around 20 modules, it is advisable to have a dedicated WLAN for the model railway.
  • A CTC locomotive module for each locomotive.
  • For the turnouts and signals, you will need either a CTC turnout module or a CTC Multi-I/O Board for up to 4 turnouts/signals.

Parallel operation of digital locomotives/turnouts/signals and CTC locomotives/turnouts/signals is possible at any time. However, control will be separate via the digital central unit and the CTC app. A connection of both worlds into a single control system will only be possible when model railway control programs can also incorporate CTC.

What happens to my digital decoders?

The digital decoders will be replaced by corresponding CTC modules.

For locomotives with sophisticated sound decoders, it is also possible to place the CTC locomotive module between the track and the sound decoder. However, this requires that the locomotive has enough space for both the digital decoder and the CTC locomotive module. This is often not the case, particularly in steam locomotives.

How do I get started?

The simplest way is to get a starter set from us to first familiarize yourself with the new world of CTC. You can start with either a turnout, a locomotive, or both.

In any case, you will receive a CTC router, the CTC modules, and the CTC app. You don’t need anything else, as the power supply will be taken care of by your existing digital central unit or the booster. The CTC locomotive can run on the same track simultaneously with digital locomotives. The turnouts can be powered by digital current or a separate power source.

And how does it continue?

There are various possibilities:

  • You gradually upgrade all locomotives, turnouts, and signals to CTC and eventually achieve a model railway controlled solely by CTC.
  • You only upgrade turnouts, signals, and feedback sensors to CTC and continue running your locomotives digitally.
  • You only upgrade your locomotives to CTC and possibly install CTC IR-balises in the track, but still switch digitally.

Support for CTC by model railway control software will come, enabling almost any combination of classic digital and CTC. But we will do everything we can to convince you of a model railway operated purely with CTC.

What happens to my feedback sensors?

This becomes much easier with CTC: The feedback bus is completely eliminated. Up to four sensors can be connected to the CTC Multi-I/O Board.

However, it is worth taking a look at the CTC IR-balises. Up to two of them can be connected to a CTC turnout module or CTC Multi-I/O Board. They enable the locomotive to determine its position and possibly receive a command (e.g., signal stop at 70cm distance). With the help of the CTC IR-balises, simple automation is possible without any intervention from the app.

In all cases, the mentioned feedback information is transmitted together with the status messages of the CTC modules via WLAN.

Learn more about automation in the article Automated Driving.