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1 About brickrail
The Brickrail project enables you to automate your LEGO Train layout. It aims to be as easy to setup as possible while allowing a lot of complexity in your train layout. Except for a BLE-capable PC you don't need any non-LEGO hardware to automate your trains!
The Brickrail project spans a GUI Software running on your PC as well as micropython programs running on your trains and stationary LEGO hubs. This is possible due to the pybricks firmware running on the LEGO hubs, unlocking a lot of processing and communication capabilities of these devices.
The Brickrail GUI is developed in the Godot game engine. The automation principles and track geometry are inspired by the model train automation software Rocrail.
The GUI enables you to create and run your layout virtually, so you can test your train operations before even needing a single LEGO train. Once you want to control your layout, you can install the pybricks firmware on your hubs and add them to your Brickrail project. The GUI runs a Python server in parallel, which connects to the Hubs via Bluetooth Low Energy. The Server talks to the GUI using websockets.
Currently, Brickrail is in the alpha stage for its first stable release. This means, a lot of aspects are untested and you'll have to expect some bugs not yet fixed. If you still want to give it a shot, help out the project by reporting any issues here on Github. If you're not sure if something is working as expected, open up a thread in Discussions!
MattzoBricks is a large knowledgebase and collection of software for microcrontrollers to enable automation on a large scale using the model train automation software Rocrail. It is very comprehensive with a large amount of documentation and videos, but you need to source a lot of 3rd party hardware and be willing to tinker with electronics as well as programming/configuring microcontrollers to start automating your layout. Since these tools use WIFI as the main means of communication, it scales better than a BLE-operated layout.
On the other side of the spectrum, this project aims to enable some amount of automation using only official LEGO Hardware as well as official LEGO firmware. It does not feature a virtual layout and limits you to simple pre-programmed behavior of your trains and switches. It is not actively maintained anymore.
See also the Brick Automation Project page on lgauge.