For quite a few (~40) years besides model railroading I also have an interest in electronics.

I'm more and more fascinated by the possibilities of the microcontrollers, whose programming gets simpler and simpler. With a few lines of codes you can convince an "Arduino" Board to do something useful.

And a model railroader seeks for some model railroad application, of course. What about a simple trottle to control a train .....?

Here is the hardware, a Arduino Duemilanove with 4 key (functions F0 ...F3), a variable resistor (speed) and a switch for direction:

The throttle is sending ASCII data (for ease of understanding/debugging) via USB (serial Port) to the PC, the PC sends command to the Lenz central station (via LI101F interface).

planned next steps:
1. get rid of cable and send data wireless (via Zigbee modul)
2. build more throttles
3. ....

here is the Arduino program

link to Arduino project page