As a new member to the forum, I would like to explain how I became involved with this forum. I have a son who has cerebral palsy. Michael is considered a quadriplegic; therefore he has no use of his hands. He loves model trains and would like to be able to run them by himself. A couple of years ago I called MTH to see if they were planning to make the DCS system compatible with computers. They said they had no plans at this time. I was hoping for a different answer since my son uses a Windows based computer called a Dynavox which he uses for communication. His only means of control is a switch for his knee to hit and a quadrant scanning program to choose the items on screen.
About six months ago I was at a train store in Mercer, PA (Mercer Junction) and asked the owner Dave if MTH had come up with a system to run trains by computer. He said that at this time it was not in the works. He did however show me a video made by Mike Hewett (SKYLAR on the OGR forum who had previously posted a lengthy thread titled PCS Control of MTH Trains) which did exactly what we needed for my son. I contacted Mike by email and in a couple of days I received a phone call from him. He asked me about Michael and his computer. He told me about his program and his method. He said to give him some time and he would get back to me. Well over the past few months, Mike worked with my son’s system by downloading a trial version of his scanning software. After phone calls and emails with my wife and me and some trial and error, Mike finally got everything to work. My son now is able to run his trains independently. His world has opened up a little more because of the hard work and dedication of Mike Hewett.
What a wonderful gift Mike has given my son and others with disabilities. There is a smile on Michael’s face when he is running his MTH trains thanks to Mike Hewett. We are forever grateful to him and his hard work and perseverance.
Take a look at the attached pictures of Mike and his system.
