ESU Announces Software/Hardware update for Marklin Central Station!

Things are getting very interesting in the competition for digital control stations. Marklin announced the Central Station 2 a few weeks ago and then this past weekend saw ESU announce a major update for their ECoS Digital Controller.

ESU has just announced the ESU-59990 "Central Station Reloaded" update package for owners of the original Marklin Central Station! The highlights include a new 90VA power supply with adjustable output voltage (increasing the output to 4A), a stylus for the touch screen and most of all a major software update that enables a host of new features including full DCC support, turntable control and more. ESU will take over the warranty and support for the upgraded Central Station from Marklin.

• The update will be coded to the serial number of your Central Station.
• Output voltage of the new power pack can be adjusted from 15V to 21V so it may be used with most scales.
• The software update can be installed yourself using the network interface.
• ESU plans to continue to add features through later software updates - you will only pay once for the initial upgrade package
• Will be compatible with all ESU ECoS accessories (see system layout below) including ECoS Boost and wireless controllers.
• Full software details will be added on this page as they are available from ESU!

Click here to download a German language PDF of the Central Station Reloaded update

Our take: It seems this update essentially adds to your Central Station to the full feature set of the ECoS including the newly announced 3.0 update (both systems share very similar hardware as the Central Station was developed by ESU for Marklin). This will be a MUST HAVE update for Central Station Owners who do not want to purchase the new CS2. Even if you are planning on buying a CS2 this update increases the value of your original central station by adding a host of new features and the ability to use it with all scales and 2-Rail DCC or Marklin AC with MFX. MSRP for Europe is 150 Euros so we expect our price to be in the $175 to $225 range.

More information to come shortly! Pricing and North American availability to be announced.

* We are translating some features from German - details are subject to change as full text is provided in English for the North American market.