EX-RAIL

Overview

Propeller Beanie Engineer Hat

Welcome to the home for DCC-EX Automation.

EX‑RAIL is an “EXtended Railroad Automation Instruction Language” that can easily be used to describe sequential command ‘sequences’ to automatically take place on your model layout.

These sequences are defined programmatically in a simple command script file, and uploaded to the Command Station once to configure it. EX-Rail will then run automatically on EX-CommandStation startup, trigger manually, or on occurrence of the specified events.

To begin, let’s define a few terms:

OBJECT - Things / devices on your layout that you want to interact with. these include: Your locos, Turnouts/Points, semaphores/Signals, Servo based Animations, Sensors and Signals (Lights).

COMMANDS - These can be various things like; drive a loco around, change a turnout/point or signal or LED. Or it could to be to wait for conditions to be met, like a sensor detecting a train, a button being pushed, or a period of time elapsing. The events in turn may trigger additional commands.

SEQUENCE - Simply a list of commnads to be done in order. There a also specific commands allow you to alter the order of the commands. Along with the generic SEQUENCE, there are some special types of sequence; ROUTE, AUTOMATION and ONevent that are discussed in the following pages.

Things You Can Do With EX-RAIL

  • Create ‘Routes’ which set multiple turnouts/points and signals at the press of a button in EX‑WebThrottle or Engine Driver, wiThrottle, or other WiThrottle-compatible throttles are available

  • Automatically drive multiple trains simultaneously, and manage complex interactions such as single line working and crossovers by setting up Automations ‘Sequences’

  • Drive trains manually, and hand a train over to an Automation

  • Animate accessories such as lights, crossings, or cranes

  • Intercept turnout/point changes to automatically adjust signals or other turnouts

  • Turn on the coffee pot when the train reaches the station

What You Don’t Need

While extra functionality may be attained by using additional tools and applications, to get the benefit of EX‑RAIL you don’t need anything more than a EX‑CommandStation, and the Arduino IDE used to configure it.

You DON’T need:

  • JMRI, or any additional utilities

  • Engine Driver, wiThrottle, or any other WiThrottle app

  • A separate computer living under your layout

  • Knowledge of C++ or Python/Jython programming

Next Steps - myAutomation.h

Click here or click the Next button to learn how to edit the file which will contain your automation sequences.