I understand that in JMRI, you can use the Virtual Sound Decoder (From JMRI web site - The Virtual Sound Decoder provides a way for those who do not have sound-equipped locomotives to enjoy throttle-controlled locomotive sounds from their computer speakers).

I just want to share this story in case somebody else runs into the same problem.  It involves a rather common annoyance of trying to select a loco on system, and finding that the headlights and direction toggle respond - but not the motor. I'll put the details in the first reply so the intro doesn't repeatedly use up a large amount of page space...

Brass Tracked Turnouts in Modern NS Layout
 

This may just be a hypothetical concept, but the thought came up today as I explored some of my numerous inventory of turnouts collected over the years. There are a number of nice quality, and like new condition brass turnouts of various varieties in that collection. Are they all destined to the trash heap, or can some of them be utilized??

I was able to get my Starter kit set up in about 1 hour. I was able to get an input from a magnetic sensor and control the output using a .tcl program. Really nice and easy.

Also, when I ordered the CTI Starter kit, I also ordered the software. The folks at CTI did not charge for the software as the software is included as part of the CTI starter kit. Really nice folks. Thanks CTI