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Ok guys... I have been modeling for WAY to long, and want that perfect prototype railroad. It's a given that I am using DCC now, but have never fully appreciated signaling, etc... My turnouts are all manual controll (for now,) Peco turnouts. So, I am wanting to begin this block detection and signalling thing without including the turnout position, etc... My real dilemma is the same as a large club layout in my area. My new N Scale layout is actually too large for me, so I have to watch the budget when moving to new technology. I want to know more about this optical sensor stuff... Can we use optical sensors and attach them to our BD162 type block units instead of trying to get voltage drop? It would be great to use the technology to avoid having to modify all of my rolling stock (diesel era, no caboose.) But I cannot find reliable information on why people are choosing optical vs. transponding vs. voltage drop. I do not want to track locomotives, nor do I want to spend a great deal of time and money on each piece of rolling stock. It seems to me that if each block had three optical sensors hidden in the track bed, you should logically get direction of travel, occupancy, etc.. to feed a signalling system. It also would seem logical that this setup could be connected to the DCC stuff to convince Loco Net that the block is occupied, or level of occupation. Please give me your feedback and ideas. I see the little sensors everywhere now, but cannot find information on what voltage they use, wiring schematics, how they interact with block detection / signalling systems, etc...
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