Traincontroller 10 Gold Video Series


RudyB

Active Member
Traincontroller 10 Gold 01 Install and Drive a Train

Traincontroller 10 was released September 2022. It seemed like a good moment to start a new series of videos.

Video 1 shows how to download and install TC, how to get a license code and activate it, how to connect your Digital System and how to control a train with a Train Window.

Link to video Traincontroller 10 Gold 01 Install and Drive a Train


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The Train Controller software is a great addition to any layout that is advanced in scenery, function and operations.
I'm using the TC Silver from about 9 years ago. A bit complicated to get started but with help from someone who has been through it, it gets easy.
One thing I found that doesn't play well with TC is the Barrett Hill turnout controller. He has a translator board that goes between the LED touch board and the SE8C board. The signals won't respond to the turnout settings when it's in the loop. When I just have momentary push buttons for the turnouts, the signals respond to the turnout settings.
 
Once ya go through the process the first time you'll realize how easy it is and then start experimenting with options.
A member on here, Frederick was involved with the development of that software and may be of help if ya get stuck.
 
Traincontroller 10 Gold 03 Blocks and Sensors for Train Detection

So far we can drive a train (video 1) and we can switch turnouts (video 2), all manually. To enable automatic train control we’ll need to create blocks. Similar to a real railway, trains drive from block to block and they’ll be halted by a red signal if the next block is occupied.

At the entry of a block a track sensor detects a passing train (reed switch) or the presence of a train (current detection). Each sensor has an address. Traincontroller continuously monitors the sensors, at all times it knows which train is in which block on the layout.

Link to video Traincontroller 10 Gold 03 Blocks and Sensors


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Traincontroller 10 Gold 04 Automatic Driving

There are a handful of different ways to drive trains around on a layout, whereby TC switches the turnouts and signals and accelerates and decelerates the trains fully automatically:
- Autotrain by Drag & Drop. Drive from A to B
- Spontaneous Run. TC decides randomly where the trains will go.
- Autotrain Toolbar. Drive from A to B with more options, among which to store the Schedule for later use
- Schedules. User-created paths that can have multiple departure- and destination blocks.

Link to video Traincontroller 10 Gold 04 Automatic Driving
 
There was a video on Youtube years ago illustrating the capacity of train controller. I don't recall what version train control was used however the person had a figure 8 track inside of a full oval and he had several trains running on it and none running into each other as well as taking different routes randomly. It was quite impressive.
 
Traincontroller 10 Gold 08 Classic User Interface

Standaard is de gebruikersinterface in 'ribbon' stijl. Het ribbon menu werd jaren geleden geïntroduceerd door Microsoft, in hun Office-suite. Hoewel het een veelheid aan klikbare links per ribbon biedt, vind ik het nadeel dat dingen moeilijker te vinden zijn en dat er vaker naar een ander ribbon moet worden overgeschakeld, waardoor juist meer muisklikken nodig zijn in plaats van minder.

Gelukkig is de UI 'oude stijl' nog steeds beschikbaar. Deze heeft de klassieke toolbars met klikbare iconen. Het grote voordeel is dat iconen uit verschillende menu's / ribbons kunnen worden gecombineerd in één werkbalk, wat leidt tot minder muisklikken. Het is mijn favoriete manier van werken.

De video laat zien hoe de klassieke UI kan worden ingeschakeld en hoe deze kan worden aangepast.

Link naar video Traincontroller 10 Gold 08 Classic User Interface


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Traincontroller 10 Gold 09 Schedules

Trains can be allocated to a specific trajectory, called a Schedule. To create a Schedule we have to select the blocks and the routes between the blocks that we want to be part of the Schedule. We also define the Departure and the Destination blocks and we can add planned waiting times at specific blocks, like at a station. Trains might stop at other blocks too, but that only happens if the route or block ahead is reserved by another train.

Link to video Traincontroller 10 Gold 09 Schedules


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Awesome Rudy. I jumped on your Train Controller videos from 7 years ago on YouTube and was using them to help me figure out how to use Train Controller. The interface is slightly different from the new version, but close enough to be able to figure it out. You do a super job on your videos and I can wait to use what I am learning on the new series and apply them to my trains and layout.
 
@gjohnston Thanks for your feedback, it's appreciated.
you can change the interface to the classic interface (see video 8) then there are no differences anymore.
 



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