This weekend I took a deep dive into JMRI.
Being familiar with its Wi Throttle/Engine Driver capabilities, it was time to take the next step. I figured out Panel Pro, created panels for each town on my layout, then created the turnout table, linking it to each of the panels, and presto, all operational.
Each turnout on the layout already has a Tortoise and NCE Switch it/Switch 8. Instead of manual control panels at each town, I want to use tablets utilising their touch screens, so next, I set up the JMRI web server and connected up a couple of tablets. That was easier than I thought. So now I have the JMRI Server computer in the despatcher’s office, a 7″ tablet for the yard master’s terminal, and a 10″ tablet for Kingman & Needles. In time I will accumulate a couple more tablets for Hackberry, Yucca & Nelson, so each town has a “digital” control panel.
Now all this is done, I will figure out Routes, and move into Operations.