The New PistonBroke Line

[OBJack]

Beats the heck out of my wired throttle!

.........  A couple of years ago I looked (briefly) into computer control DCC systems.  It was primarily brief because of the number of shekels necessary - I didn't think my Commander-in-Chief would have understood the expenditure.  Then again, she's looking into tearing up our ceramic tiles and replacing with waterproof vinyl in the kitchen and she's willing to experience a little sticker shock to make that happen....

   

Todd, I used Xtrakcad to draw both PistonBroke RR iterations (design I suppose). I reckon stick with it if you can, because if the parameters are set correctly, it won't let you design a radius to tightly or mis-align turnouts, it correctly draws parallel tracks etc.
I did print the layout off and stuck all the million pages together (in sections) and then used a dressmaker's pin wheel to transfer the centre line onto the foam baseboard as seen in the photos at the beginning of this thread. 

I see that Iron Planet Hobbies are a great promoter of the Digikeijs system, which I use.    Digikeijs DR5000 ~ 18 Volt ~ Command Station ~ LocoNet, XpressNet, RailCom, WiFi, USB – Iron Planet Hobbies

The Gold version of Traincontroller costs US$699, so for me, add on another 30%. (That's probably a lot of waterproof vinyl. )
However, as I am retired, the War Office here thinks it was a good investment to keep me off the streets and out of the Pub.

I settled on the DR5000, which is the DCC controller as it plugs straight into the computer via a USB. it was relatively cheap, and no other modems or paraphernalia to buy or worry about.
You can also use it as an ordinary DCC control station and run trains with it as a loconet or xpressnet  system with the appropriate handsets.  I had (still have) a Lenz system and use the handset when I want to.
You can use it with its built in wi-fi to control trains via a phone or ipad. 
It seemed pretty versatile, and the rest of the Digikeijs stuff has held up so far as well.

The DR5000 also compatible with software such as itrains, Rocrail, and others I can't remember.
Wiring for computer control is no different from DCC.
Except more  ... but not a great deal if done right .......... because we need to have occupancy detection, and electrically controlled turnouts for the basics.

Pictures next time 'cause this keyboard stuff is tiring, I spend more time correcting than words than typing new ones. 

Jack