How To Upload Custom Icons To The Central Station 2
The Märklin Central Station 2 allows you to upload your own customized locomotive icons. This is particular handy when you have a model from another manufacturer or where you simply do not have a suitable icon. In this article I will show you how to upload a custom icon.
A customized icon of the 110 487, "The Mouse Show Train".
Customized icons can be a fun addition to the models you store in the Central Station 2. I like to make icons for every model that I have - including the ones that are from other manufacturers than Trix. Normally you can find an icon in the CS2 that looks like your model, but I think it is more fun if the icon represents the actual class and paint scheme of my model.
You have two options for adding icons to the Central Station 2:
- Via an USB stick
- Via the Central Station 2 website
Using An USB Stick
- On the USB stick, you put your new icons in the "CS2\import\icons" folder.
- Plug the USB stick into the Central Station 2.
- Go to the Setup-page and hit the Network button.
- A standard check for updates is now performed. During this process the icons will be imported.
Using The Central Station 2 Website
You can find the IP address on the IP page in the CS2 Configuration Section.
When you have the IP address in place, open up your favourite internet browser and type in the address in the location bar and browse to the Märklin Central Station 2 web interface. Here you select the "icons" tab.
On the icons page you scroll, past all the pre-installed icons, to the very bottom of the screen. Here you will find the upload section. Click on the "Browse..." button to pick a file and upload it to the CS2.
Clicking the browse button will let you upload icons to the CS2 icon folder.
That's it! You're ready to use your newly uploaded custom icon.
Note: The icon file may not be larger than 6 KB. I use PNG 8 bit with a transparency colour set. That way I can create beautiful icons that looks awesome on the CS. I normally use the manufacturer's picture of the model instead of my own. The manufacturers normally take pictures of each model from the same angle and distance. Using their pictures I get a consistent look of my icons.
Tip! Icons must be 128 x 48 pixles. If you scale and crop the manufacturer's promotional photos of the model, you can usually create a great looking icon.
I use Adobe Photoshop for my icon-work, but lesser expensive products will also get the job done. If you are unsure about bit rates, transparency colours and so on, simply just crop and scale the manufacturers photo.
I think custom icons adds to the overall finish of the digital setup and if you give it a try, I think you will be happy with the result.
Happy modelling!