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Ethernet For Model Trains?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the sun/nothing-new dept.

RiscIt writes: "This technology has been around for some time ... Ethernet-protocol-like networking for model trains. LocoNet was created by DigiTrax. It is meant to work with their DCC systems, which can control trains and most everything else on a layout without hundreds of toggle switches. DigiTrax has posted a basic description of the technology as well as the protocol spec in pdf format. Very cool. I'm not about to go buy a gigabit switch for that train under the Christmas tree, however." Not sure why everything is underlined on that site, but I'm sure the headache will fade. Considering the influence of model trains on early computers (as related in Hackers and other books), this is one of the coolest instances I've heard of turnabout-is-fair-play.

4 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Todays trains.. woah by bjb · · Score: 4
    I just want to throw my 2 in by saying that when I was younger I used to have a nice HO scale set (even bought some nice DB Marklin trains when I was in Germany). I was happy with the rows of switches and how I could control one train.

    Then I went to my family friend's house and saw the 7yr old's setup in their basement.

    If you haven't been in the model railroading scene for the last 15-20 years (like myself), you would not believe what they can do today. Not only can the powerpack control several trains at once, but they can all run at different speeds and NOT by the voltage of the track; they regulate their speed by themselves (radio controlled) on a full voltage track! In addition, the modern marvels of 16-bit sound chips has added a new realism to railroading that blows me away. Granted, when I was younger I had a plastic billboard model that actually was a whistle when you pressed a button, but these things you can press a button and have the clickety-clack of the tracks going on.

    There were a couple other things that amazed me, but I was impressed enough just by being able to run several trains at once without juggling different power packs.

    >sigh<

    --

    --
    Never hit your grandmother with a shovel, for it leaves a bad impression on her mind...
  2. I don't know... by mmmmbeer · · Score: 4

    Doesn't ethernet have a few too many collisions? I think token ring might be safer...

  3. The little blue engine that pinged by selan · · Score: 4
    Is this article talking about a train network architecture based on ethernet or do they actually have train cars with NIC cards and IP addresses that are part of a LAN? I think it's the former, but wouldn't the latter be cool?

    I can just see it now...

    Telnetting to the caboose to tell it to slow down.
    A web server, complete with webcam, running from the engine.
    ICANN introducing the .choo TLD.

    [from the mind of the geek wife of a model railroader]

  4. realaudio by gattaca · · Score: 5

    Do these ethernet installed trains play streaming audio - that way you could hear mobile phones ringing continuously, cries of 'I'm on the train', announcements describing in tortuous detail the entire contents of the buffet carriage, and the sounds of muffled screams as customers (who were quite happy being referred to merely as passengers) have their lives interrupted once again with an annoucement listing every station the train has ever been through. If you put your head in the right place you can even get all of this with astounding doppler-shift as the train careers past you at a scale 30mph on the verge of shattering another broken rail as it rounds that bend... What excitement.