TRAX Control

Questions about TRAX Control

What the program is, what it costs, what a licence does and does not do, and what happens when there is no internet.

Questions about TRAX Control

What is an "agent", and why is that what the editions count?

An agent is whatever drives a train. That can be a person with a throttle — a real one in the hand, one on a phone or one on a screen — or TRAX Control itself, driving that train automatically. Both are an agent, because for the railway it makes no difference who gives the orders: a train is under control or it is not. So the editions count trains under control at the same time, not locomotives you own. A locomotive standing in the shed costs nothing; a train somebody is driving, or one running its route by itself, is one agent.

And what is a controller, or a screen?

A controller is a place from which somebody drives: a phone, a tablet, a computer, or a monitor showing a throttle. A screen is a monitor that only SHOWS something — the layout, a station, a yard, the dispatcher, a departure board. A screen with a throttle on it counts as a controller as well, because somebody can drive from it. Every edition allows several people to drive at once, up to its number of controllers; who may do what is what the Club edition adds.

Do I need TRAX3D for this?

No. TRAX Control works on its own, and from the Run edition you draw the schematic in it yourself. But a layout you drew in TRAX3D already knows the track, the turnouts and the blocks, so importing it saves the whole drawing job — that is what the two programs are for. Importing a TRAX3D layout is in every edition, the free one included.

Does it need internet?

Not to run the railway. TRAX Control runs at home or on its own machine, and operating the layout never asks a server anything. Internet is wanted twice: once to activate your licence, and now and then to fetch fixes and content. Both can be done another way when the railway’s computer has no connection at all — see the question about activating.

Is this a subscription?

No. You buy a major version once and it keeps working, for good. There is no period that runs out and nothing switches itself off. The only thing paid for by the year is a club’s member licences, and that is the club’s choice, not a home user’s.

What about updates and a next version?

Fixes — faults and security — are free for everyone who owns the version, for as long as that version is looked after; there is no shorter, separate security period. New features go into the next major version. A next major version appears no sooner than two years after the one before it, and costs half for anyone who already owns one.

What does a licence do, and on how many computers?

A licence decides which FEATURES an installation has — never whether the railway can be operated. Whatever the state of a licence, a train that is running keeps running: a licence never stops a moving train. You activate an installation once; a licence allows a small number of active installations at the same time, and you can release one yourself, in the program or on this site, to move it to another computer.

The railway’s computer has no internet. Can I still activate?

Yes, three ways, in order of ease. The phone you operate the layout with usually has mobile data, and the page TRAX Control serves asks the licence service itself — you notice nothing. Otherwise TRAX Control shows a QR code you scan with any phone, and the answer comes back as a file, on a memory stick if need be. And as a last resort the answer can be typed in, in short groups with a check character, so a typing error is reported in its own line. It exists so that nobody is ever stuck.

What can the free edition really do?

Everything that makes a railway run: driving by hand from a phone, a tablet or a screen, automatic driving between two points and shuttling, automatic turnouts and signals, block protection, routes, and your TRAX3D layout imported and set up with its addresses, detectors and blocks. What it does not have is room — three trains under control, two controllers, one screen — and it does not draw a schematic of its own. The core is never taken out of it.

I need one or two trains more. Must I buy the next edition?

No. A Extension Pack buys room, once, like everything else: more trains under control and more controllers, in the edition you already have. It never adds a feature — whoever needs a function of a higher edition moves to that edition. One pack per installation.

How does it work for a club?

The club buys the software once and owns it. On top of that come member licences, by the year, at €20 per member, and always with the latest version. A member licence is the Pro edition, so a member can take their own rolling stock along to the clubhouse and home again. A member brings their own phone; the club links it to the installation and decides what that phone may do — which trains, which turnouts, which station or yard. When the club stops, or a member leaves, that member may take a permanent licence of their own at half price within three months.

Decoder data, rolling stock catalogues — do those cost extra?

No. Content — decoder definitions, the list of decoder makers, rolling stock catalogues and drawings — is free for everyone, customer or not, and needs no account. It comes as content packs, published separately from the program and more often, so new decoder data never waits for a new release. A layout without internet can import a pack as a file.

Which command station do I need?

Your own. Every protocol and system sits behind an adapter, so the rest of the program does not know what is underneath, and a command station can be reached over the network or by USB. It works on your ordinary home network — no separate network for the railway, and where the protocol allows it the command station is found by itself, so you need not know any addresses. Which systems are supported is announced at launch, and support for a new one comes with a program release, not as content: an adapter commands trains.

What happens when a licence with an end date runs out?

A bought licence has no end date. The ones that do — a club’s member licences, and test licences — warn four weeks ahead, in the program and on its licence page. At the end the installation becomes the free edition, and never during a session: the change takes effect at the next start, so nothing stops at an exhibition. Renewing online works at once, and the program fetches the renewal by itself the next time it has internet.

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