Io Layout Control System
Take Control of Your Layout
Railstars Io is a line of layout control devices that make controlling your layout easy. Each device serves a particular purpose—controlling turnouts, reading fascia buttons, block occupancy detection, and so forth—that work together using the cutting-edge NMRAnet communications protocol. Simply attach your layout elements, and plug in the NMRAnet cable.
What is NMRAnet?
NMRAnet—NMRA Standard 9.7—is a new layout control bus (LCB) that is designed to be open and forward-looking. A layout control bus is a common way for your layout control elements to talk to each other: hand-held cabs, turnout controllers, fascia panels, and so forth. NMRAnet is designed to be freely available to all, to ensure that all manufacturer’s products that use it will interoperate, and is designed to be forward-looking, so that it isn’t tethered to yesterday’s technologies, but can grow as other aspects of the hobby advance. You can read more about NMRAnet, and the OpenLCB project upon which it is based.
Current Io devices include:
Io
Io:duino
Io:turnout
Io:turnout
Control four turnout motors—snap switches, servos, or slow-motion machines, and program those turnouts into up to 32 routes. Io:turnout is perfect for small sidings or junctions, but powerful enough to give you total control over complex yard ladders or station throats.
Io:turnout is currently under development, and more details will be released soon.
Io:panel
Io:panel
Don’t let your control panels control you. Io:panel interfaces with up to 16 push buttons or toggle switches, and up 16 indicator lights. Perfect for controlling your yard, setting signals, or issuing commands to your special FX, Io:panel can even be used to set up multiple identical panels in different locations that perfectly mirror each other.
Io:panel is currently under development, and more details will be released soon.
