Märklin Digital for Dummies ^® Software

I hope that this short review will give you some ideas on how you can use a powerful software like Railroad & Co for operating your digital layout.

"...how fun is it to let the computer drive my trains?"

Well, using modern software, you can e.g. let the computer run a few trains automatically, and control one, two or even more trains yourself manually. As an option, the computer could manage signals to support you, which is close to reality (but still a hobby). You will find a lot of challenging alternatives using a computer!

Having a background in systems design and programming, initially, I planned to develop my own software for this purpose. Very soon, I understood that the already available software packages available are very professional. Implementing the same features by myself would take years even if having access to all Märklin Digital Interface Commands. Now, after selecting one of the packages, I don't have to do any coding myself, and I can really focus on the model railroad hobby.

Switchboard meeting point example

One objective with using a computer is to utilize its simultaneous capacity, logics and memory to provide automated monitoring and control of the layout. I want to optimize the operations, i.e. having a maximum of active trains on the layout, without experiencing that only one train is moving. However, I still want to be able to control some trains on the switchyard manually.

Note that this review is based on older versions of the software packages. There are several new and updated features in the current packages, and maybe my result would have been different today. However, I am still very satisfied with the development of Railroad & Co. I hope the documentation below still can serve as guide on what you can achieve using a software package.

When scanning the market for computer operation software, I finally focussed on two major packages available in English, and one freeware. They are all available for Microsoft Windows:

There is a Demo of Win-Digipet available that restricts your operation to 2 locomotives and 12 solenoid devices (turnouts, signals etc.). Win-Digipet is available in German, English, French, Dutch, Italian, Danish, Spanish, Catalan and Swedish. However, even if I'm Swedish, I always use the English version of software, having learned that it is easier to communicate with experts on the Internet etc., speaking the same language.

Also Railroad & Co is available as Demo. Here, the unregistered software closes the connection to your model railroad around 15 minutes after program start. After 30 days of use, changes cannot longer be saved in the layout file. There are no other functional restrictions. Railroad & Co is available in English, German and Dutch. Both software packages have a very strong market position.

Koploper is a freeware. It works great for manual operation of the locomotives and for designing a graphical switchboard. However, no information is available e.g. in English, only in Dutch. I found my limitation on this beautiful language after a while, and I never got into the more advanced features of Koploper, like having the computer operating the layout itself.

All software packages here provides e.g. acceleration and deceleration features that overrules any pre-settings in the locomotive decoders, which I think is good. Also, the computer can manage specific sounds etc. for each locomotive, i.e. you don't need these features to be managed by the Locomotive Decoders.

Read about how I selected Railroad & Co in the Selecting the Software section. In the  Implementing the Software section, you will find more specific information on how to use the software together with your digital layout.