Nice work Ron! Well done Sir
Yes, the orange handrails look better.
Question; how does this system compare to the BlueRail installs you've done? ie, ease of installation, functionality, sound quality, functions? overall impressions? What you do this again or would you go back to BlueRail?
I don't have enough time under my belt with RailPro to make that decision yet. I do still very much like BlueRail and I'm not ready to toss it aside. If I could have found an IOS MFI bluetooth game controller that had a rotating dial, I'm not sure I would have ever looked at RailPro. All these gaming controllers have buttons and sticks, no dials.
Installation: I'd say it was a tie if you consider that with BlueRail, you are also adding a Sound Decoder for lights and speakers. You still have 2 wires for power, 2 wires for Motors, 2 wires for speakers and various wires depending on how many lights you have.
Functionality: Still too close to call. I just don't have enough usage yet. I do like the tactile dial throttle offered by RailPro. After that, using the RailPro Handheld or a Cell Phone for BlueRail is the same. A touch screen.
Sound: I think this is one of those areas that anyone could make a case for the system they like best and they would all be correct. With BlueRail you can use any Sound Decoder brand you want. There are a bunch of them from very generic to very sophisticated. The RailPro sounds are from their web site. They seem to have a lot of Diesel choices as well as horns and bells. Steam choices are limited, but they are saying, more are coming. The thing that does sound neat is you can create and add your own sounds with RailPro. They even have a users forum where they share sound files which are just wav files. One fella recorded train wheels going over a crack and looped it. So it's like the Clicky Clack function in MTH DCS... very very cool and realistic sounding unlike the MTH clicky clack. More to come in this area. I hope to play with this a little.
Quality: Can't really address that fairly. I have four BlueRail trains. I had one board issue with an early version of software with a known bug. They updated it and paid for shipping. I had one Soundcard issue and Soundtraxx sent me a new one no questions asked. I have not had a problem since. Knock wood, no problems with RailPro. I have received timely emails from Ring Engineering when I had a question about speakers and both RCSofNE (Don Sweet) and GScaleInstallations (Bob Buck) have been very helpful.
Price wise, I guess you have to decide how many of these upgrades will you be doing and how many handheld controllers or iphones do you want, in order to make a fair comparison. Assuming you have an iphone or ipad, buying 1 BlueRail board and 1 SoundCard is going to be less expensive than buying a RailPro Handhold Controller and RailPro board. But for upgrade, 2, 3, 4, etc, one RailPro board is less expensive than one BlueRail board and one SoundCard. So you have to evaluate what it is you want and what functions/sounds you want.
Would I do it again? Well yes, I purchased two RailPro boards, so I have another engine to upgrade. It's a MTH PS1 Chessie GP38 that I stripped. This engine will be consisted with the SD40. Based on size, I'm estimating this 2nd install will be a little easier, although there are more lights, so we'll see. I can also fit a bigger speaker in the MTH fuel tank. But again, I'm not ready to toss out the other system. I can and have run both depending on how I feel and which engine I feel like running. No different than people who run both Legacy and DCS. And if I have company, I'll have plenty to share.
I'll tell you one thing I am 100% +++ sold on and that is battery power. I will NEVER (Bold, Underline Italic) own for myself an engine that will run on track power. It will most certainly be converted to battery. However since my Son, Daughter and Brother-In-Law have not yet seen the light, my layout will always have track power, DCS and Legacy.
Thanks for asking and I hope this helps. Sorry if it was long winded.
Have Fun!
Ron