Supported hardware
RailCommand talks to your command station and your detection bus directly. This page says exactly what we have run, and on what evidence, so you can tell a driver we have proven on a layout from one we have written and not yet put on your system.
How we rate a system
Five tiers, used the same way in every row below. Every badge in the table is one of these five. We do not call a system supported when nobody has run it on a layout.
Run on a real layout by us or by a beta partner, with the connection, detection, track power, and occupancy path all exercised.
The driver is complete and tested against protocol captures and conformance vectors; nobody has run it on the physical system yet. We say so, and we ask owners of that system to test with us.
The driver runs trains but does not yet read or drive layout devices over that bus.
Ships inside RailCommand and needs no hardware; for learning the app and testing without a layout.
Designed and approved for a later release; not in the shipped app. A row with this badge tells you what RailCommand will do, never what it does today.
What RailCommand runs today
Every driver that ships in RailCommand appears here. A system that is not on this list is not in the app.
| System | Connects over | Tier today | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digitrax LocoNet (PR3, PR4, LocoBuffer) | USB | Field-tested | Museum and owner layouts. BDL168 occupancy shows as flat LocoNet addresses (board 109 input 3 is 1731). |
| Digitrax BDL168 standalone detection | USB | Implemented, awaiting a layout | Detection-only bus for layouts without a LocoNet command station. Museum and owner layouts read BDL168 through the full LocoNet driver above. |
| NCE (Power Pro, Power Cab binary protocol) | USB | Implemented, awaiting a layout | AIU feedback. |
| Roco/Fleischmann Z21, Digikeijs DR5000 | Ethernet or WiFi | Implemented, awaiting a layout | CV programming, RailCom reporting. |
| Lenz XpressNet (LI101F, LIUSB) | USB | Implemented, awaiting a layout | Feedback modules, loco info. |
| ESU ECoS | Ethernet | Implemented, awaiting a layout | S88 feedback, loco discovery. |
| Märklin CS2/CS3 (CAN over Ethernet) | Ethernet | Implemented, awaiting a layout | mfx enumeration, S88. |
| DCC-EX | USB or TCP | Implemented, awaiting a layout | Native command set. |
| CVP EasyDCC | USB | Implemented, awaiting a layout | |
| MERG CBUS | TCP (CAN via GridConnect) | Implemented, awaiting a layout | |
| Selectrix SX1 | USB | Implemented, awaiting a layout | |
| SPROG (programming track) | USB | Implemented, awaiting a layout | Programming only. It writes CVs on the programming track. It does not run trains, throw turnouts, or read sensors. |
| BiDiB (Fichtelbahn) and BiDiB feedback | USB or TCP | Implemented, awaiting a layout | Detector modules. |
| NMRA LCC / OpenLCB (TCS CS-105, RR-CirKits nodes) | Ethernet (GridConnect), CAN via adapter | Train control only | Train search, controller assign and release, CV programming over LCC. Layout events (turnouts, sensors, signals as LCC events) are designed and accepted for a later release, and not yet built. |
| JMRI (bridge) | WebSocket | Implemented, awaiting a layout | For layouts that keep JMRI as the hardware layer. |
| WiThrottle phone throttles (Engine Driver, WiThrottle) | WiFi | Implemented, awaiting a layout | RailCommand hosts phone throttles directly (Engine Driver, WiThrottle) on port 12090; nobody has run it on a layout yet. |
| Littfinski HSI-88 (S88) | USB | Implemented, awaiting a layout | Detection-only bus. |
| MQTT sensor nodes (ESP32) | WiFi | Implemented, awaiting a layout | Detection-only bus. |
| Simulator | none | Built in | For learning the app and testing without hardware. |
Your hardware is found for you
Where the protocol allows it, RailCommand detects the hardware rather than asking you to describe it: USB vendor and product ids, an LCC port probe, a Z21 UDP probe, TCP probes for ECoS, Märklin and JMRI, and serial probes on an opened port. Anything it cannot name, you set by hand.
More than one connection at once
One RailCommand can run several connections together: a command station for the trains and a separate detection bus for occupancy is an ordinary setup, not a special case.
Own one of the systems we have not run on a layout yet? Test with us.
A session on your layout is what moves a row from "implemented, awaiting a layout" to "field-tested". We will work through the bring-up with you, and your system gets named on this page once it runs.
Already running RailCommand? The desktop download and the documentation are the place to start.