--- title: Train Simulator Controller | daily.dev description: A progress update on a multi-year personal project to build a physical train simulator modeled on the UK Class 800 passenger train. The author covers four... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/train-simulator-controller-xkboh0wlk twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Train Simulator Controller | daily.dev og:description: A progress update on a multi-year personal project to build a physical train simulator modeled on the UK Class 800 passenger train. The author covers four... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/train-simulator-controller-xkboh0wlk og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/XkBoh0WLK.png og:image:alt: Train Simulator Controller og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Train Simulator Controller **[Hacker News](https://daily.dev/sources/hn)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A progress update on a multi-year personal project to build a physical train simulator modeled on the UK Class 800 passenger train. The author covers four areas of recent work: designing a custom headlight control PCB with surface-mount LEDs and a custom six-position selector switch; replacing fragile hardboard dashboard panels with laser-cut, powder-coated steel panels; discovering challenges with labeling matte powder-coated panels using white acrylic paint; and experimenting with miniature AWS sunflower instruments that produce real warning horn and bell sounds, requiring modifications to support high-side switching on the CAN bus transceiver board. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community take How the wider developer community reacted, aggregated from 1 discussion and 8 comments across hackernews (as of 2026-08-04). **TL;DR:** The Hacker News community is broadly enthusiastic about this custom train simulator controller build, with commenters admiring the clean design and sparking tangential conversations about similar physical control panel projects and MIDI interfaces for UIs. **Sentiment:** 75% positive · 20% mixed · 5% skeptical **The case for** - Commenters found the design impressively clean and were surprised original hardware could be sourced. - The project sparked interest in a potential commercial market, given the large global train enthusiast community. - A commenter pointed to an existing train controller database and affordable alternatives, suggesting genuine community engagement with the space. **The pushback** - Sourcing electro-mechanical parts (e.g., latching push/pull buttons) remains a real challenge even with modern supply chains. - The dashboard-per-train-type variation makes scaling or commercializing such a controller difficult. **By community** - hackernews (positive): Commenters are enthusiastic and curious, with discussion branching into related DIY control panel projects, MIDI interfaces, and the commercial potential for train sim hardware. **Open questions** - Is there a viable commercial market for physical train simulator controllers given the variety of train dashboards across different models? - How feasible is it to source authentic electro-mechanical parts for replica control panels? **Highlights** > I love this stuff. Seems like a massive untapped market if you get in partnership with a manufacturer. There are enough train buffs around the world, although I guess the tricky bit is that the dashboards are all different. I found it surprising that despite having amazing international supply chains, it can still be hard to source electro-mechanical parts. I wondered about knocking up an NX signalling panel as a nice to have to my layout but sourcing those latching push/pull buttons is equally difficult although maybe they were only really used on the real thing and the demand has disappeared along with the supply. > — [lbriner on hackernews · 1 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49154188) > Wow, really clean design. I'm surprised that you could get hold of original hardware. Not sure how much of it is commodity industrial equipment Vs bespoke buttons, etc. > — [Liftyee on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49156311) > It’s not really as complete of controller as it’s mostly just one lever and some standard controller buttons, but the Zuiki Mascon is reasonably decent for Japanese market sims and the game Running Train on Steam. It’s also very affordable and compact which is a plus. Train controller database: https://traincontrollerdb.marcriera.cat/index.html > — [Grombobulous on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49161218) **Source threads** - [hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49115935) · 84 points · 8 comments ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Train Simulator Controller: July 2026 Progress Roundup](https://daily.dev/posts/train-simulator-controller-july-2026-progress-roundup-tnrj774j0) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [This Photorealistic UE5-Powered Train Sim Receives Updates](https://daily.dev/posts/this-photorealistic-ue5-powered-train-sim-receives-updates-yuq7wn5hn) · 80 LEVEL · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Live LED Maps](https://daily.dev/posts/live-led-maps-wurzbnkxo) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [You, too, can build this live train departures board with a Raspberry Pi](https://daily.dev/posts/you-too-can-build-this-live-train-departures-board-with-a-raspberry-pi-pdfz8sbwx) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [A Train Departure Board For The Home](https://daily.dev/posts/a-train-departure-board-for-the-home-vjzj6hdaq) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#hardware](https://daily.dev/tags/hardware), [#embedded](https://daily.dev/tags/embedded) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/train-simulator-controller-xkboh0wlk) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Train Simulator Controller","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/train-simulator-controller-xkboh0wlk","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/train-simulator-controller-xkboh0wlk"},"datePublished":"2026-08-03T14:15:52.696Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T03:16:25.113Z","description":"A progress update on a multi-year personal project to build a physical train simulator modeled on the UK Class 800 passenger train. 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