Kerrigan - Let's not get carried away, no need for hyperbole.
John - I've said this many times, there is an open invitation for forum members to visit. I know I'm a little off the beaten path for this group, but if you ever find yourself coming to the Twin Cities, you just have to drop me an email, and set up a time. Private showings are better anyway.
Doug - I'm not sure I would have even thought about computer control if I hadn't bought all of the equipment for enterTRAINment at Mall of America twenty five years ago. Most of the work was done back then, I just have to reconfigure it for this layout. C/MRI is a very powerful tool. It is also a fairly straight forward concept. It allows you to "talk and listen" to devices by turning them on and off.
Inputs talk to the computer, and convey layout conditions. The main function of inputs will be detecting train location.
Outputs tell devices on the layout to turn on and off. The main functions are throwing turnouts, and changing signals.
All of this is tied together with software. In my case, I'll be using JMRI. Once I can control devices, and know where the trains are, the real fun begins. The serial port on the TMCC base is then connected to the computer, and suddenly it is talking to the trains in real time. This is the main reason DCS is useless for me. The codes are not available to run the trains.
As for the NMRA Achievement Program certificates, there are very specific requirements involved to earn them. Some are quite easy, others take a lot more effort. You do get to pick your battles in many cases. So yes, building this layout will go a long way toward many of those tasks, but some take more work beyond what happens in the normal course of construction. A lot of the requirements have to be judged.
