JMRI® is...

DecoderPro®

A better tool for programming decoders. DecoderPro simplifies the job of configuring complicated DCC decoders by providing screens on which you can select the various options and values you want.

PanelPro™

Designing and Operating CRT based CTC control panels that reflect the real-time state of your railroad and let you control it - almost like a Prototype dispatcher!

Cool Uses

People have used JMRI to do some great things. They've built incredible dispatcher panels, controlled impressive layouts, and built other tools for the model railroad community. Our Gallery page highlights some of these.

General Tools

JMRI provides powerful tools for working with your layout.

Layout Automation

JMRI can be used to automate parts of your layout, from simply controlling a crossing gate to running trains in the background.

Supported hardware

Supported computers

Donate to JMRI

What is JMRI?

The JMRI project is building tools for model railroad computer control. We want it to be usable to as many people as possible, so we're building it in Java to run anywhere, and we're trying to make it independent of specific hardware systems.

JMRI is intended as a jumping-off point for hobbyists who want to control their layouts from a computer without having to create an entire system from scratch.

You can manage your locomotive rosters and easily program your decoders using DecoderPro. You can build control panels, set up signaling, configure operations and control your layout using PanelPro. Going beyond the basics, you can use Logix to automate your layout's behavior, interface with X10 and Insteon systems to control your layout room's lights and write scripts to extend the capabilities of the system.

As an open source project, JMRI is evolving in many directions at once. You can get involved at many levels:

Whatever it is that you choose to do with JMRI, and however you get involved, welcome to our community!

JMRI 2.7.9 Development Version

Released on November 15, 2009.

This is the ninth in a sequence of test versions following after the 2.6.1 production release. This series will eventually result in a new JMRI 2.8 production release. This test release is (intended to be) the last set of changes and new features before the next JMRI 2.8 production release.

The key changes since development version 2.7.9 include:

  • Improved throttle customization possibilities
  • SE8c signal decoders can now be used with non-Digitrax DCC systems
  • S88 sensors on eCos systems can now be used
along with many other changes.

For more information, please read the JMRI 2.7.9 Release Notes, which also contain the download links.

JMRI 2.6.1 Production Version

Released on July 11, 2009.

JMRI 2.6.1 is recommended for new users. It's the most recent stable production version.

New features include:

  • Routes and Logix are both more powerful and simpler to configure.
  • Many improvements to the operations support.
  • The hardware support for Digitrax, NCE, Lenz, CTU Acela, C/MRI, and CBUS systems were all improved.
  • Greatly improved icon handling in the Panel Editor, making it much easier to use the specific images you want.
  • Many improvements to the help screens.
  • Many decoder definition updates.
  • Greatly improved Windows installer.
  • More options in the Dispatcher support.

For more information, please read the JMRI 2.6.1 Release Notes, which also contain the download links.

JMRI at NMRA Hartford Convention

NMRA convention logo
We're planning seven JMRI clinics at the NMRA 2009 convention in Hartford (July 5-11), along with our traditional user get-together. Two of the introductory clinics will be repeated.

For more information, please see the schedule page. Hope to see you there!

DecoderPro and Monday Night at the Movies

MRH and DecoderPro
Joe Fugate filmed some of the JMRI clinics at the NMRA 2008 Anaheim meeting for Model Railroad Hobbyist emagazine. They're now running the DecoderPro clinics as part of their "Monday Night at the Movies" series on the Model Railroad Hobbyist web site. It's a great way to see the clinics if you couldn't get to the NMRA convention!

Court Gives JMRI Important Victory In KAM Dispute

KAM JMRI dispute
JMRI is an informal open-source group. We do this for the joy of model railroading, and don't produce anything for profit.

One of our members is currently defending our right to continue against patent litigation, cybersquatting and copyright infringement by a wealthy individual who has far outspent us. While we believe we can succeed with substantially less than than the $1 million he could afford to spend, we still need your help to prevail. Please donate -- $1, $5, $10, $25, $50, $100 or more -- to help us in this fight.

Donate to JMRI

The most recent event: The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Washington, DC, USA) upheld JMRI's copyright in what's been called an "important ruling for open source". More information is available on our updates page, and links to a lot of articles and commentary can be found on our "Articles by Others" page.

For more information on the legal dispute between Bob Jacobsen and Matt Katzer et al, including information on allegations that JMRI infringes Matt Katzer's patents and evidence that Katzer has misused the JMRI decoder definitions, please see here.

XTrkCad and JMRI

XtrkCad and JMRI
XTrkCad is a great, free tool for designing your layout that's being developed by a group of model railroaders.

XtrkCadReader is a new JMRI tool built by Giorgio Terdina to take layout information created by XTrkCad (XTC files) and convert it to a form that JMRI can read (XML files).

This tool lets you import your physical layout design from XTrkCad directly into JMRI so you can easily set up controls for the layout you've built.

Finding Fellow JMRI Users

Frapper logo
The best way to learn about JMRI is often from somebody in your own area. There's a lot about it that's just easier to demonstrate than to describe over email. JMRI users (and model railroaders in general) tend to be helpful, interesting people, and are often amazingly helpful. But how to find somebody local?

We've set up a "Frappr" web site that lets JMRI users mark where they're located so others can get in touch. People can add themselves to it pretty easily. If enough people do that, it'll be a useful tool when looking for somebody in your local area. More here..

KAM Dispute

KAM JMRI dispute
JMRI is an informal open-source group. We do this for the joy of model railroading, and don't produce anything for profit. One of our members is currently defending our right to continue against patent litigation, cybersquatting and copyright infringement from a wealthy individual who has far outspent us. While we believe we can succeed with substantially less than than the $1 million he could afford to spend, we still need your help to prevail. Please donate -- $1, $5, $10, $25, $50, $100 or more -- to help us in this fight.

Donate to JMRI

For more information on the legal dispute between Bob Jacobsen and Matt Katzer et al, including information on allegations that JMRI infringes Matt Katzer's patents and evidence that Katzer has misused the JMRI decoder definitions, please see here.

Help Pages Online

JMRI Help System
The JMRI applications have a built-in help system. It has lots of information, including overviews and window-specific information. The pages are simple HTML, and users are encouraged to add missing information. The help information is available online via either the index or table of contents.

CATS

CATS
The Crandic Automated Traffic System (CATS) is a JMRI-based application by Rodney Black for controlling and operating a model railroad. There's more information on the CATS web site.

JMRI wins Duke's Choice award from Sun Microsystems

Dukes Choice
Sun Microsystems has awarded JMRI a 2006 Duke's Choice award. Also called a "Dukie", this award is given annually to "some of the most clever, practical, and inspirational Java technology applications on the planet". The award was presented at the annual JavaOne conference on May 14th by James Gosling.

JMRI won for it's community, it's use of Java technology to empower people all over the world to contribute, and for the impact it's had.

(Press release)

New Wiki provides additional information

JMRI Wiki
A Wiki is an online tool for gathering, organizing and presenting information. The best known is Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. JMRI now has a Wiki of it's own where users can add their own hints and tips, look up information they need, and build an ever-increasing set of documentation for each other.

You can start at the top page.

Check out the new "clinics" page!

JMRI clinics
Several users have contributed their clinics for our new clinics page. There are both conventional handouts and slides, and also some neat interactive clinics for DecoderPro® and PanelPro™.

Decoder ID pages

Decoder ID pages
A new "Decoder ID" page has been added to the web. Automagically created from the current DecoderPro definitions, it provides easy access to all sorts of information about decoders.

Contribute more information to our decoder definitions, and help these pages become even more useful!


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