Signal Cab Throttle

Wireless Train Controller

Free · In‑App Purchases · Designed for iPad

1.4 brings virtual momentum and on-phone horn and bell to DC operators, Z21 support in beta, and iCloud backup for everything you've built. Signal Cab is the model train DCC locomotive controller for iPhone and iPad — built for operators of every level, from a home loop to a club operating session. Whether you run Lionel, Bachmann, Athearn, Kato, Atlas, or Broadway Limited, Signal Cab is ready for your session. THE THROTTLE A precision throttle with 128 speed step resolution and haptic feedback on every notch. Every step reaches your decoder, so the loco ramps as smoothly as the slider moves. A swipeable carousel runs multiple locomotives. YOUR CONTROL SURFACE On iPad, drag and resize throttles, macros, turnouts, and routes onto custom grid pages — a "Yard" page, a "Main Line" page — that rotate with you. 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. YOUR FLEET Build your roster with photos, names, and custom organization, on short (1–127) and long (128–10293) DCC addresses. Browse your layout's live roster, sort it, and add only the locomotives you want — 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 duplicate check. ICLOUD BACKUP Turn it on and your locomotives, consists, turnouts, routes, macros, and settings back up to your private iCloud, automatically or on demand. A new device becomes a restore, not a rebuild. FUNCTION CONTROL Control F0–F28 with momentary and latching modes. 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. Dance Mode fires lights, bells, and horns across every active loco, then stops itself. CONSIST BUILDING Create a consist and Signal Cab picks the mechanism your hardware supports — command-station consisting on DCC-EX, virtual consists everywhere else. Per-member direction and speed trim, plus per-function routing to the lead engine or the whole set. Command-station consists survive a station reboot. CV PROGRAMMING Read and write CVs on the programming track — no separate programmer needed — with a visual speed curve editor for CV2–6 and the full 28-point table. DC OPERATION On plain DC track, virtual momentum (Beta) eases a loco up to speed and back down like it has weight, with stop always immediate. Horn and bell play through your phone, since a DC loco has no decoder to sound them. KID MODE Hand the throttle to a kid with no frustration. Kid Mode strips the app to one locomotive and four big buttons (headlight, bell, horn, mute), caps top speed, and gates the exit. PROTOCOL SUPPORT DCC-EX Native. Full command set with programming and diagnostics. WiThrottle. Works with JMRI, MRC, and compatible command stations. Roco/Fleischmann Z21 (Beta). Throttle, turnouts, and CV programming. RELIABLE CONNECTIONS Signal Cab finds DCC-EX and WiThrottle stations automatically — no IP addresses to enter — and now identifies DCC-EX hardware correctly even when it advertises over WiThrottle. Auto-reconnect recovers dropped links, and address conflict detection catches duplicate addresses. SAFETY YOU SET ONCE Decide what Emergency Stop does, what happens when you close the app, and how long a session can resume. Manage track power from the app. BUILT FOR APPLE Haptic feedback on every notch. Siri, Spotlight, App Shortcuts, and iPhone Action Button support. Now in English and Swedish, following your device's language. EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://signalcab.com/privacy

  • 5.0
    out of 5
    3 Ratings

Z21 support, and your whole library backed up to iCloud. A third command station protocol joins DCC-EX and WiThrottle, consisting no longer asks you to pick a mechanism, and everything you've built can now live in iCloud. DC operators get momentum and sound. And the app now speaks Swedish. Z21 SUPPORT (BETA) Signal Cab now speaks the Roco/Fleischmann Z21 LAN protocol: speed, direction, functions, emergency stop, and track power, plus pulsed turnout control and CV programming on both the programming track and the main line. Add a Z21 by entering its address. Roster, routes, command-station consists, and per-track power aren't part of the Z21 protocol, so those stay unavailable on a Z21 connection. CONSISTS THAT SET THEMSELVES UP Creating a consist no longer asks you to choose a mechanism — Signal Cab picks it from your connection, using command-station consisting on DCC-EX and virtual consists everywhere else. Command-station consists write no CVs to your decoders, and re-register themselves if a station reboot drops them. Route each function to the lead engine or the whole set, drag to reorder members, and swap the lead engine from the editor. Please note: the advanced consist option has been removed. Advanced consists won't carry over after this update and can't be migrated — recreate them as regular consists. ICLOUD BACKUP Opt in and your locomotives, consists, turnouts and routes, macros, speed profiles, station profiles, and settings back up to your private iCloud — automatically as you work, or on demand. Setting up a new device becomes a restore instead of a rebuild, and if a backup already exists when you turn it on, Signal Cab offers to restore it rather than overwrite it. Off until you turn it on. DC OPERATION Virtual momentum (Beta) eases a plain DC locomotive up to speed and back down like it has weight, with Switcher, Road Diesel, and Heavy Freight presets per locomotive. Stop and Emergency Stop are always immediate and bypass the ramp. Horn and bell now play through your phone on DC, since a DC locomotive has no decoder to sound them. NOW IN SWEDISH The interface is available in Swedish alongside English, following your device's language automatically. CONNECTION FIXES • DCC-EX command stations are now identified correctly instead of being treated as WiThrottle-only — the manual "Switch to DCC-EX" step is gone • Fixed a JMRI connection that could silently time out against a loopback address • WiThrottle sessions now recover instead of stranding when a server restarts • Save a station you're connected to, so it stays in your list when it's off the network • WiThrottle is out of beta ALSO IN 1.4 • Smoother throttle — every speed step reaches your decoder instead of every fifth • Show All / Hide All and sorting (last used, name, address, run count) in the layout roster browser • A live command station log with a raw-commands filter, for when you need to report a problem • Configurable turnout state colors — keep Mint/Grey or switch to Green/Red • Hide unmapped functions on station-synced locomotives • The top-bar speed readout honors your Speed Display setting • Disconnect fits properly on iPhone

The developer, Cascade Made, LLC, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .

  • Data Not Linked to You

    The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:

    • Usage Data
    • Diagnostics

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More

Seller
  • Cascade Made, LLC
Size
  • 22.7 MB
Category
  • Utilities
Compatibility
Requires iOS 17.6 or later.
  • iPhone
    Requires iOS 17.6 or later.
  • iPad
    Requires iPadOS 17.6 or later.
  • Mac
    Requires macOS 26.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
Languages
  • English and Swedish
Age Rating
4+
In-App Purchases
Yes
  • Yearly Ticket $29.99
  • Lifetime Ticket $79.99
  • Monthly Ticket $4.99
Copyright
  • © 2025-2026 Cascade Made LLC