I am planning to add occupancy detection to my layout and am at the point where I am dropping feeders from my flex track trying to anticipate where I need to cut gaps in my rail. I have decided to adopt a red and black wire feeder, with black to the back of the layout which will also be the rail I gap. I am planning to use a Digitrax BDL168 for detection. Do I gap the rail close to each turnout, so that each turnout is itself a dectected block? This creates more and very short blocks, but I figure for future signaling I need to know that. The section of track after or before would also be its own block. I am also planning that both turnouts in a crossover would be one block. I'm just looking for some desigin philosophy so of you other modelers might be using. Thanks!
I would make as many track blocks as you think you might ever need, including making each turnout a mini-block. It is then easy enough to 'add' blocks together under the layout. So, for example, a turnout's wiring could be connected along with an adjacent block (or blocks) to a single detector. Then, when experience dictates, you can just move the wires around to have a different setup
I would include turnouts in detection blocks or make the turnout a block itself. You could also use plastic rail joiners instead of cutting gaps in the rails. Either way results in the same effect. With a gap you'll have to fillthe space with a non conducting medium. Have fun.... Stay cool and run steam......
Generally you do want to have the turnout as a seperate block. WHY? Because to allow for remote dispatching, the dispatcher (or at least the software doing the dispatching) needs to know if there is a train on top of the switch. We all know what happens when a switch is thrown under a train. Paul
