Signal Cab Throttle

Turnouts, routes, and better roster support join the DCC throttle reimagined for iPhone and iPad.

Signal Cab is the model train DCC locomotive controller built the way iPhone and iPad were meant to be used — fast, intuitive, and beautifully designed for operators of every level, from a home loop to a club operating session. Whether you're running Lionel, Bachmann, Athearn, Kato, Atlas, or Broadway Limited hardware, Signal Cab is ready to level up your session.

THE THROTTLE

A smooth, precision throttle with 128 speed step resolution and haptic feedback on every notch. Run multiple locomotives with a swipeable carousel and quick-switch between active locos without missing a beat.

YOUR CONTROL SURFACE

On iPad and in landscape, drag, drop, and resize throttles, macros, turnouts, and routes onto custom grid pages — a "Yard" page, a "Main Line" page — that transpose when you rotate. On iPhone, the tabbed Actions grid keeps your most-used controls one tap away.

TURNOUTS & ROUTES

Your command station's turnouts and routes appear automatically when you connect — no setup, no re-typing addresses. Throw turnouts with a tap, fire routes to line a whole path, and watch live state update as the station reports back. What you see is what your layout really has.

YOUR FLEET

Build your entire roster with photos, names, and custom organization. Supports short (1–127) and long (128–10293) DCC addresses. Browse your layout's live roster and add just the locomotives you want — nothing is imported behind your back, and your edits are never overwritten by a later sync. Home Layout scoping keeps a club's roster out of your personal library, and DCC-EX Controller files (.dat/.json) import with a preview that flags duplicates and conflicts first.

FUNCTION CONTROL

Control F0 through F28 with momentary and latching modes. Guided setup with decoder defaults for SoundTraxx, Digitrax, and NMRA built in — or build your own with custom labels, icons, and colors.

MACROS & DANCE MODE

Chain commands into one button — stop everything, kill the lights, ramp down gently. Built-in favorites are ready to go, and Dance Mode fires lights, bells, and horns across every active loco before stopping itself.

CONSIST BUILDING

Create virtual and advanced consists with per-member direction control, speed trim, and automated decoder programming.

CV PROGRAMMING

Read and write CVs on the programming track — no separate programmer required. A visual speed curve editor covers CV2–6 and the full 28-point speed table to match your prototype.

KID MODE

Hand the throttle to the next generation — safely. Kid Mode strips the app to one locomotive and four big, friendly buttons (headlight, bell, horn, mute), caps the maximum speed, and gates the exit behind a password or Face ID.

PROTOCOL SUPPORT

DCC-EX Native. Full command set with programming and diagnostics. WiThrottle (Beta). Works with JMRI, MRC, and compatible command stations. Z21 / SRCP (Coming soon).

NO FRUSTRATION

Signal Cab finds your command station automatically — no IP addresses to enter — and recognizes DCC-EX hardware even when it advertises over WiThrottle, switching to the richer native protocol in one tap. Auto-reconnect recovers dropped links on its own, and address conflict detection keeps two locomotives from sharing an address at club sessions.

SAFETY YOU SET ONCE

Decide exactly what Emergency Stop does, what happens when you close the app, and how long a session can resume after an interruption. Manage main and programming track power right from the app.

BUILT FOR APPLE

Haptic feedback on every notch of the throttle. Siri, Spotlight, App Shortcuts, and iPhone Action Button support. Built with modern Apple design principles so it feels right from the first tap.