East Wall Layout Design

After a bit of overanalysis, I've finally settled on the benchwork for phase 2 of my layout build. The first phase, as I covered in previous articles, encompassed the upper staging yards in the north end of the basement, as well as a combination lower staging yard/industrial area. Phase 1 also served as a testbed to try out construction techniques, etc.

The next phase of construction has a total of 12 sections of benchwork - 6 on each deck. For ease of construction, I'm installing the upper deck sections first. The sections to be built are:

• U3/L3: 2' long x 1' wide connection between staging yard and sump pump room. 
• U4/L4: narrow roadbed mounted on shelving brackets in the sump pump room to connect the north and east walls. This double track section will also be used to let engines run around their trains. There is also a lift out section that can be removed in front of the circuit breaker panel. 
• U5: 18" wide / 8' long section that will have a small interchange yard to be used during operations. 
• U6: 18" wide / 8' long section that will have some sort of industrial/switching area. 
• U7-U9: 12" wide / 8' long sections that are just mainline track. These sections are above the main switch yard. By having just mainline track, it eliminates engineers trying to reach over the main yard. 

The lower deck sections are:

• L5: 24" industry/switching area
• L6: 12" mainline section that connects to the main yard throat
• L7-L8: 30" main yard
• L9: 30" main yard, engine facility, mainline curves to the south end of the basement.

Most of the industry and yard modules will have plywood and Homasote tops, but the mainline modules (U7-U9) will be open grids with plywood pieces to hold the roadbed. After the first two modules (U5-U6) the track will transition to single track to add some operational variety. 

There is a lot of work to be done on these new modules, as well as the old ones:

• Backdrops need to be painted
• Homasote tops need to be painted to seal them for dust control
• Wire bus holes need to be cut through the cross pieces
• 1/4" Homasote shims are needed under the crosspieces 
• As the modules are mounted on the wall, they'll be connected to each other and I'll drill holes between the modules.
• Bus wires need to be run down to the main panel area

Once the modules are secured to the shelving brackets, I can start putting down track at long last. It'll be nice to be able to run trains, even if it's just back and forth on the top deck. Once the bottom deck gets going, I'll have some actual operational possibilities, moving trains between the main yard, the industrial areas, and the staging yards. 

Trimming the Fleet

One of the benefits of having a software solution to keep track of the car and locomotive fleet is that it gives you a better idea of what you have. In planning out trains for the layout, I realized a few things:

• Trains on the layout are less than 12' long
• I have 12 Amtrak Superliner cars.
• I have 16 Amtrak single-deck passenger cars. 
• I have 5 miscellaneous Amtrak freight cars - material handling cars (MHCs) and boxcars. 

Each Amtrak car is about a foot long, which means I had enough Amtrak equipment for more than 3 full trains. While I enjoy passenger trains, that's a lot of Amtrak traffic. In addition, I have an 8-car VIA Rail LRC consist that will be traveling the rails too.

The result? It's time to trim the fleet down. For the Superliners, I found a site that showed the typical Empire Builder consist, which includes 3 sleepers, a transition sleeper, a diner, a lounge, and four coaches. I don't have the lead baggage car that the consist typically includes, but that's something I can get later. This means that two of the excess coaches I had purchased are off to the sales floor.

In terms of the single deck Amfleet and Horizon cars, I decided to keep 6 Amfleet and 4 Horizon cars. This gives me some flexibility in running two short trains or one long train. Typical single-deck Amtrak trains are 4-5 cars long, but some are longer than that. Unfortunately, I don't have any of the Viewliner sleeper cars, which would work nicely with the short cars. I'll keep those on the watchlist.

As far as the freight cars, I decided to sell the MHCs and keep the two boxcars. While Amtrak has since gotten rid of these cars, I like them since they can provide some operational variety to running passenger trains.

From now on, unless I'm upgrading a car or adding missing cars (like a baggage car), I won't be buying any more Amtrak equipment. By making simple decisions like this, it's easier to look at for sale groups and not go crazy with purchases that you don't need.

Maintaining the Fleet

As I've mentioned in other posts, I have been collecting my trains since I was a student at Purdue starting in 1988. At the same time, the real railroads have continued to change. A few examples based on my current locomotive fleet:

• CP has changed its name from CP Rail to CP Rail System to Canadian Pacific Railway. Currently, I have six different paint schemes in my fleet.
• British Columbia Railway merged into Canadian National.
• Soo Line was always part of CPR but finally retired its own paint scheme.
• Burlington Northern purchased Santa Fe and was then purchased by Berkshire Hathaway. I own four different paint schemes and there are three newer paint schemes involving orange paint that I really, really don't like.
• Some of the locomotive models I own have been retired in real life. The venerable Amtrak F40PH has been retired in the US, but Canada has rebuilt them and they're still in use. 
• CP had two ultra-modern "green goat" locomotives that they decided not to keep. I think the engines are very nice and am keeping them anyway.
• In the most annoying case, Amtrak has five paint schemes but due to a stupid licensing scheme, you cannot get car decals for the current scheme. Locomotives, yes, but not the cars.
• I have many freight cars that are road names that no longer exist -- Western Pacific, Cotton Belt, etc.

The next decision is what to do with the items in the fleet. The easiest thing is to simply ignore the changes in real life. You can almost do this since you can find current examples of every paint scheme still on the rails. It's likely how I will start out, after getting the cars and engines ready to run on the railroad. Some cars and locomotives might not be worth putting much effort into, based on the value of the item.

Basic Maintenance

Every car and engine will need to have basic maintenance and simple "upgrades" done in order to keep them rolling reliably. These are the tasks I'm planning to perform for the entire fleet:

• Kadee couplers - some of my engines and cars have non-Kadee couplers installed. My personal experience has been that non-Kadee couplers do not work nearly as smoothly and as a result, I won't keep using them. Kadee also offers a kit with the entire line of couplers so that you can pick the right coupler for each car to get the height correct without having to rebuild the car, scrape down the engine mounting piece, etc. 
• Standards verification - this involves checking the weight on cars, making sure coupler heights are correct, etc. 
• Engine maintenance - this involves cleaning the wheels on a regular basis, lubricating the motor with the appropriate compounds, and so on. 
• Metal wheels (cars) - metal wheels eliminate many of the issues that people have with rolling stock. As time and funds allow, all plastic wheels will be swapped out for metal wheels of the correct diameter. 
• Resistor wheels (cars) - as I discussed in a previous article, I am planning for detection and eventual signaling on the railroad. In order to do that, I need to know that the track is occupied. While the engine will be detected, cars are not unless you install resistor wheelsets. This causes a small amount of current to be passed through a resistor on the wheel, which tells the detection system that a car is in the block. I'm planning to add one resistor axle to each car as time and funds allow. 

The rest of this article covers the more extensive maintenance I would like to do to keep the fleet current with the practices being followed in real life. 

Freight Cars

For freight cars, one of the common approaches taken by the real railroads is to patch over the old reporting marks with the new ones, as shown in this photo.

Because taking a car out of service to be painted means that it's not making money, railroads are unlikely to do this until the car has to be completely overhauled or if it's damaged. The patching can be done by either airbrushing a patch area, or decals are available to act as the patch. You then get decals with the new numbers to put onto the patch to match the new railroad owner's reporting marks. 

Another thing that you can do is to add visibility striping to freight cars. This regulation was passed in 2005 to make freight cars stand out more because people were driving into them in the middle of the night through unprotected crossings. Here's an example of the striping and a number patch together:

Tank cars are striped vertically, but other cars may be striped horizontally or vertically. The best approach is to go take photos of real trains to get ideas on how to detail the cars. If you don't have a good selection of railroads near you, you can go to YouTube and check out these two channels:

• Big Trains TV
• Virtual Railfan
• RailStream

The stripes are not always perfectly even, they just have to be on the cars at a regular interval. This is something you can do to quickly bring the car into the modern era.

A final bit of reality is the amount of graffiti on railroad cars. I fully understand that it's a part of the real world. The taggers have no respect for private property and are trespassing when they tag these cars. The paint they put on frequently covers the reporting marks, making it difficult for the train crews to see the information. While it happens in the real world, this is one thing that I refuse to "promote" by adding it to my railroad. If you do choose to add graffiti, there are lots of ways to do it, whether by buying decals of the graffiti or by doing your own with paint markers. 

Locomotives

Engines are patched, as well, as shown in this photo. You can see the old Burlington Northern logo on the nose, but a new BNSF logo is under the cab window. 

As I said, if I go through the effort to repaint a locomotive, I will probably add some key details to the locomotive at the same time. The locomotive is really the "star" of the train, so I want them to look good. The cars are making the money for the railroad, but they just don't get the love that the engines do. 

Another thing I want to keep in mind is to make sure I'm focusing on the primary railroads on the layout, which are CP and BNSF. However, that doesn't mean I can't have cars and engines from other railroads. Engines frequently interchange onto other railroads and the railroads simply settle up with each other for the time the power was in use. In addition, railroads have trackage rights on each other's railroads. On my favorite railfanning spot in Chesterton, Indiana, it is very common to see every locomotives from every class 1 railroad on these tracks owned by Norfolk Southern. While I focus on CP and BNSF, I'll still have a handful of engines from the rest of the railroads that are interchanging with my railroad. 

Detailing an engine can also help bring it into the modern era. While ditch lights were common on Canadian engines, they were not required in the US until later. The 4-axle BN GP40 and GP50 locomotives I have all predate the ditch light requirement. There are also extra details, like GPS domes, safety markings, etc. that may be missing. Air conditioning units are also frequently added to locomotive cabs that are normally left off of models. 

Some of the older engines, such as the SD40-2 that was so popular, are now being rebuilt. Canadian Pacific is rebuilding these locomotives into SD30C-ECO engines. You can see the differences below:

And the new:

While I may build (or eventually buy) one of these models, I don't want to put the money and effort into this type of conversion of my old Athearn blue box locomotives. I would prefer to put a new coat of paint on them, a few key details, and simply lean on the fact that CP continues to run these locomotives today, as they actually do as of 2017. 

Conclusion

As with everything, everything takes time and money. Patching a railroad car is much faster than stripping down an engine, detailing it and then repainting it. These patch projects can be done in a short period of time, in between doing benchwork, wiring, scenery, and all the other things that need to be done for a layout. The best idea is to have a toolbox of options for your fleet and to choose the right tool based on the situation. 

Locomotive Electronic Upgrades

As I start building my layout, getting the locomotive and rolling stock fleet up to standards is an important step. In terms of motive power, I have a total of 41 locomotives. Most of them are Athearn blue box engines that I've been moving with me for the past 30 years. In recent years, I have been buying higher end brands like Kato, Intermountain, MTH, and Athearn Genesis.

In order to use the fleet on the layout, several things need to be done to each engine:

• Properly gauging the couplers, replacing the existing ones if necessary
• Installing a DCC decoder in each locomotive
• Adding lighting - basic headlights vs. more elaborate lighting
• Considering extra features like sound and keep-alive capability

As with everything in model railroading, you can spend a little or spend a lot. In my case, I need to look at the original cost of the engine and the likelihood that it gets replaced in the future. My prioritization is covered in the rest of the article and your wallet may make you choose differently than I did. 

DCC Decoder

In order to run a locomotive on a DCC layout, you need to put in a DCC decoder. While you can run an engine on some DCC layouts (Digitrax supports it) without a decoder, there are some drawbacks:

• The engine will emit a high-pitched hum when the engine is idle on the track. The hum decreases as the throttle is turned up. 
• Any analog locomotive on the layout will respond at the same time when you have locomotive 0000 selected in DCC. 

I have enough decoders available for most of the fleet, but I've got a few additional engines that I don't have decoders for yet. Because I've had good luck with them and they have a great warranty service department, I plan to stick with Digitrax for my non-sound decoders. 

When choosing a decoder, you need to determine the form factor (overall size) and how many function outputs you need. You can also look at the power output, which will vary between 1-1.5 amps for HO and N scale decoders. Large scale decoders push out more power, of course.

Each function output is used to control a function on the locomotive, which for conversions like I'm doing is lighting. Based on my plan for installing lights, I will need these function outputs:

• Headlight (forward and reverse) - uses one output, since the decoder handles the forward and reverse on its own. This is normally labeled as F0F (function zero - forward). 
• Marker lights - these essentially are just additional headlights that turn on when the engine is going in reverse. They will get wired into the F0R (function zero - reverse) circuit.  
• Ditch lights - These can be installed as additional headlights on F0, or you can separate them into a separate function if you want to control them independently. Since I have the available function output, I will put them on F1. 

Digitrax offers these decoders:

• DH126D (1.5 amp output with 2 function outputs)
• DH166D (1.5 amp output with 4 function outputs)

The DH166D supports Back EMF, which helps stabilize the locomotive's speed. For more details, read this article. For the two switch engines I have, the DN136 (3 function outputs) is a smaller decoder to fit into cramped spaces. I'll explain the need for function outputs in the next section covering lighting. 

Lighting

Lights on a locomotive are the next priority. Lights can quickly tell you if you have successfully acquired the locomotive on your throttle. If directional lighting is set up, you can easily tell which way the engine is going to go when you turn up the throttle. There are four types of lights that can be added to a locomotive. 

For starters, locomotives have headlights in both the front and the rear. The decoder can automatically switch between the front and rear lights based on the direction of the locomotive.

Ditch lights are the lower lights in the front (and maybe in the rear) down at approximately car level. They were added to make the train more visible at crossings. In some locomotives, the ditch lights alternate when the horn is sounded or when the bell is ringing, adding to their visibility. Some of these ditch lights are mounted above the front walkway, others are mounted below. If you want to be accurate, use a site like RailPictures.net to research the railroad or the engine type you are modeling.

Marker lights are colored lights on the front of the locomotive. The most common use of these lights today is on passenger trains when the engine is running at the end of the train, the red lights are used to indicate the engine is the end of the train. In the past, marker lights were used for describing what type of train was coming. Older Canadian locomotives had three marker lights over each number board, as shown in this picture:

However, the most recent builds of Canadian locomotives omit these lights. 

For my fleet, these are the rules I'm going to follow:

• Headlights in all locomotives
• Taillights will be reserved for higher quality locomotives (Kato, Genesis)
• Ditch lights will be added to the Canadian locomotives (BC Rail, CP, CN) and the higher quality locomotives
• Red marker lights will be installed in Amtrak/VIA Rail P42 to support push/pull operations

Based on research, the best place to get headlight upgrades is the MONSTER LED package on eBay, which includes 9 headlight-sized LEDs and 6 ditch light surface-mount LEDs for $32.25 including shipping. Here's the math:

• 2 headlights, 2 taillights, 2 ditchlights: $13.50
• 2 headlights only: $4.50
• 2 headlights and 2 ditch lights: $9.00
• Red marker lights: $1.25 each

The majority of locomotives I own cost  between $30-$50 to purchase and may get replaced in the future. For my better quality Athearn Genesis and Kato locomotives, I am more willing to put some money into them.

Certain locomotives, such as switch engines, might have rotating beacons on the top. Older engines had Mars lights, which created a figure eight pattern in front of the locomotive. Some decoders will support this blinking or strobing effect. Canadian Pacific and BNSF do not use these any longer, although some newer SD40-3 rebuilds from Canadian Pacific do have them for remote control warning purposes.  

Sound

Until I got my first sound-equipped locomotive, I never saw the point of putting sound into a locomotive. However, with the major improvements in sound quality and the ease of installation, I've changed my mind. That said, adding sound to a locomotive, either as part of the initial purchase or as an add-on, is still a non-trivial purchase if you're on a budget. As an example, the newest Rapido F40PH-2D rebuild costs $199.99 without sound and $279.99 with sound. (ModelTrainStuff prices)

Since I'm a Digitrax user, I included their products along with ESU LokSound and Soundtraxx, which were recommended by people who do lots of these installations.

ESU offers the LokSound Select product in three form factors for about 87.99. You need to add a speaker (available for 7.99) and can add the optional PowerPack capacitor (available for 7.99) to keep the sound going between track power dead spots. They have a higher end product called LokSound 4.0, but from my research, it's got way more sounds than I could ever use. ESU also has the LokSound Programmer product (143.99), which is used to change the sounds and features of its decoders. This is not something I would buy unless I got to the point of adding lots of sound decoders. Most basic settings can be changed using configuration variables. One other note: a number of manufacturers (including Rapido and Intermountain) are using LokSound decoders in their sound-equipped locomotives.  

Soundtraxx has two product lines: Econami and Tsunami 2. The Econami line, as the name suggests, is the lower priced brand. There are three products in this line:

• ECO-100: 1 watt amplifier, 4 decoder functions
• ECO-200: 2 watt amplifier, 6 decoder functions
• ECO-PNP: 2 watt amplifier, 6 decoder functions - plug-and-play board replacement

The pricing I found on eBay was odd. The ECO-100 was 71.96, the ECO-200 was 67.96, and the ECO-PNP was 63.96. Given that the ECO-200 is a better product, the pricing seems out of whack to me. The Tsunami products range in price from 87.96 to 103.96 and include a better processor than the Econami line. 

Digitrax has an 8 bit sound decoder (SDH166D, 44.49) and a 16 bit sound decoder (SDXH166D, 62.95). In watching YouTube videos of these installed in locomotives, the sound quality had a very "tinny" quality to it, but it's entirely possible that the quality of the sound was based on the recording and not the device itself.  For $62.95, it might be worth experimenting with to hear the quality first hand. 

There are also products available from TCS in the WOWSound line, but I did not find many people using these products, besides the TCS Keep-Alive product. The pricing on these decoders is also at the high level, around $100 per decoder.

For my fleet, I will not be installing sound in any Athearn blue box locomotive. It's simply not worth the money. The only one I might add sound to is a GP38-2 that was my first detailing project. In general, the sound will be restricted to the better quality locomotives. In addition, I typically buy locomotives in pairs with the eventual goal of having all mainline trains pulled by two locomotives faced back-to-back to remove the need to turn the locomotives. When I do this, I will add sound to one of the locomotives in the pair.

When I get further along in the upgrade process, I will probably purchase one of each of the Digitrax, Econami, and LokSound Select decoders to be able to give them an apples-to-apples comparison, which I have not really found in my research so far. 

Keep-Alive Capability

One of the newer features that you can put into a locomotive, especially one with sound, is a keep alive enhancement. They all consist of a capacitor that automatically charges while the locomotive is on the track. If the power drops out, the capacitor's power is used to keep the sound, lights, and even the engine moving. If you have particularly dirty or bad track, these are helpful devices to add. One of the main reasons to keep the power to the decoder is to avoid the engine going through its "startup sound" that happens as soon as the engine gets power (or gets acquired through DCC).

The keep alive components I found were:

• Digitrax Power Extender - only works with Digitrax sound decoders - around $20-$23
• ESU Power Pack - $7.99 for two capacitors
• TCS Keep Alive - works with all decoders - around $25-$31

Given the low relative cost of the keep alive function to the sound board itself, this seems like an easy choice to smooth out locomotive operation.

Early 2016-2017 Construction Journal

Note: I've combined a number of early posts into a single post for "record-keeping" purposes. 

July 16, 2016

I'm starting the empire with four modules: 2 that are 36" x 96", and 2 that are 20" x 96". They will be built using 1/2" plywood and 1/2" Homasote on top, on a box of 1 x 4 pine. After determining layout heights and deck spacing, these four modules will make up the lower and upper staging yards. The lower staging yard will also have an 18" industrial area towards the aisle.

July 18, 2016

I finished assembling module U1 tonight. This will eventually be the first part of the upper staging yard. I used 1x4 lumber for the framework, 1/2" 4-ply plywood for the top, and 1.625" drywall screws to put it all together. I haven't attached the Homasote yet. From what I can tell, the best approach is to to paint the Homasote to help contain the dust. People then recommend both adhesive and screws to hold it down. For now, I can just sit the Homasote on top for prototyping on the shelving brackets, once I get those hung. For now, it's got a piece of track on it and a locomotive, so it's a layout, right?

July 20, 2016

Module L1 has now been assembled. It is the first part of the lower deck staging yard/industrial district I'm planning. I got a bunch of turnouts in the mail so I tried laying them out in a possible yard configuration. The yard includes a double-track main, two arrival/departure tracks, and 8 classification tracks, plus a run around track at the bottom. The mains are at the bottom of the photo and will be up against the wall. The main yard won't be this wide, but this module worked well for a test layout.

Note: After this post was published, my wife decided that the basement needed to be repainted before I put up more of the layout. A number of other things happened in the meantime and the next work on the layout didn't happen for almost a year. 

May 8, 2017

Using a laser level, I got the first batch of Closetmaid vertical standards on the north wall and determined where the actual shelf brackets will go.

The next step is to paint the modules I built with an earth color, which will seal the Homasote and cut down the amount of dust they generate. I'll also add the masonite backdrop on each module, painted a light blue sky color.

In order to mount the module on the shelving brackets, each module then gets a 1x4x8' crosspiece on the bottom to secure it to the shelf brackets. The modules on the bottom (which are 36" deep) will also get 2x2 legs and pockets added for additional support.

These are the ClosetMaid brackets that I'm using on the wall. I am using 30" vertical brackets on the wall, since I am placing my decks at approximately 36" and 54" high. There will be a few places, such as near the electrical center, where I will get the longer brackets to provide shelves under the layout at that location. These cost $5.90 each and I put one on every stud for the large heavy modules.

These are the ClosetMaid brackets that I'm using on the wall. This is a 16.7" bracket, costs $6.98 at Home Depot. For the wider sections, I use the 21.75" bracket, which costs $9.98.

After that's done, the next task will be to go through the sump room around the corner and head down the east wall.

May 9, 2017

Using the ClosetMaid shelving brackets works well, but it does require additional support under the layout blocks. As you can see in the photo below, this is the arrangement of the upper deck bracket under the 20" wide staging yard module U1.

The crosspiece is 1x4 lumber and there is a screw hole in the bracket, which I'll secure to the module once I'm ready to lock it in place. The crosspiece to the right is offset back from the edge of the module, because the bracket has a small hook in it, shown below.

Once the module was placed on the shelving brackets, I found that the module was not level front-to-back.

I thought it might have been from the construction, but given that the module itself is level on flat ground, I discovered it's actually a bit of sag in the shelving bracket itself. Based on some feedback on my Facebook post, a number of people have run into the same issue with this particular product.

The solution is to add a little bit of shim material between the shelving bracket and the 1x4 crosspiece. For permanent mounting, I believe that a piece of Masonite hardboard will be the right thickness for the permanent shim. Once that's done, the module levels up nicely.

This is not necessary on the larger modules that have front legs on them, since the front legs have leveling glides on them. This allows for a near perfect level of the module. I don't want to introduce any hills that aren't supposed to be there.

May 11, 2017

More progress tonight, I got module L1 on the shelving brackets and got the front legs cut for it. This section is 36" deep, but the back half will be an 8 track staging yard. The front will be an industrial/switching district.

I made pockets for the legs out of 2x2 and 1x4 lumber. The legs have leveling pads in them to make sure everything stays square.

The inaugural train ran back and forth a bit, too. The next steps are to paint the surface and install a backdrop, which also needs to be painted. I'll then repeat the process for module L2 on the space to the right.

Block Detection Hardware Comparisons

I frequently act as dispatcher when I do operating sessions and one of the things that makes it so much easier for both the dispatcher and the crews is to have functional block detection. Signaling is also a very nice touch; however, signals are relatively expensive to install. The expense is both in the signals themselves and the signaling hardware. In order to do signals in the future, I have to at least design the layout for block detection upfront.

Depending on who you listen to, mainline turnouts may need to be isolated from their surrounding blocks. Leaving out mainline turnouts, I estimate that I will have around 42 blocks. This assumes a few things:

• Trains will be no more than 10' long. Longer than this will cause the train to go through multiple scenes at the same time. 
• Block will be roughly 12-15' long, but shorter blocks are better
• Lower level will be mostly double-track main
• Helix will be double-track
• Upper level will be mostly single-track main with passing sidings
• Mainline passing sidings will be detected
• Industrial areas and sidings will not be detected
• Staging yards will not be detected

Any track that is not detected will be isolated but then connected to a common track bus. 

I'm quite happy with the Digitrax command station and throttles, including the duplex wireless features. However, for detection, I've got several options since everything is compatible. The three vendors that I've identified are Digitrax, RR-CirKits, and Team Digital. Each one of them has different wiring requirements in order to support block detection because each one does block detection differently. I realize there are places that explain how to build your own circuits and that NCE also sells these products, but these were the companies that were recommended to me.

Assumptions

A few assumptions go into this discussion. I'm using a 14 gauge bus wire and 20 gauge feeder wires, using Scotchlok 905 suitcase connectors. The layout will be broken into 4 or 5 power districts to help control short circuits. I will also be controlling/monitoring the layout by way of JMRI through a LocoBuffer-USB connected to the LocoNet network. 

Product prices are based on ModelTrainStuff.com and TrainWorld.com published prices. 

Digitrax Block Detection

Note: The full list of Digitrax detection/signaling products is available here. 

The BDL168 occupancy detector ($119) is the primary product for block detection. It requires a separate power adapter (PS14 - $9.97) This unit will manage 16 detection sections using the schematic below, located in the BDL168 instruction guide. 

Since a detection section will likely be 12-15' of track, the feeders from each piece of track need to be combined and then, using heavy gauge wire, run all the way back to the input port on the BDL168. The heavy gauge wire is required for the detection to work using the Digitrax product. This translates into a lot of wire going between blocks and the BDL168s.

Digitrax does offer a supplemental product called the RD2, which is a remote sensing diode. Using this product (which can detect two blocks), you can then use small gauge wire (think network cable) to transmit the detection information back to the BDL168. See the diagram below from the instruction sheet. 

Since a single CAT5 network cable actually has 4 pairs of wires, you can consolidate this detection wiring down nicely. However, this requires buying an RD2 for every two blocks. Each RD2 is listed at $7.65 at Tony's Train Xchange. The RD2 is powered through the track bus and does not require a separate power supply. 

Digitrax is well supported and is one of the major systems used for DCC control. The documentation is clear and they do offer e-mail and web-based support. Their warranty support is also outstanding. 

Pricing this out, you have these items to purchase for 16 detection blocks:

• BDL168 - 119.00
• PS14 - 9.97
• RD2 x 8 - 61.20

Total: 190.17, or 11.88 per block

RR-CirKits Block Detection

RR-CirKits is probably best known for the LocoBuffer product, as well as the new Layout Command Control (LCC) systems. The product prices are based on the RR-CirKits "4+" prices. They give this discount for NMRA members, as well as bulk discounts. 

The controller product is the TC Mark II product ($114.22), which supports 64 input/output lines. For block detection, you add a BOD-8 ($35.40) and a CT-Coil-Set-8 ($13.60) for each 8 detection sections you want to manage. The detection wire passes through the center of the coil. The coil is then connected using twisted pair wire back to the BOD-8 board. The detection coils can be placed near the actual track being detected, minimizing the amount of wire required. In addition, no special wire design is required. As long as the detection wires pass through the coil, they can then connect directly to the track bus wire. The diagram below includes a lot of extraneous items, but the basic block detection is easy to see on here. 

The TC Mark II connects to the LocoNet, but requires a separate power plug. 

While some of the documentation is a bit hard to understand, one bonus is that the owner of the company was more than happy to answer my beginner questions and provide some recommendations. 

Pricing this out, you have these items to purchase for 16 detection blocks:

• TC Mark II - 114.22
• BOD-8 - 35.40
• CT-Coil-Set-8 - 13.60
• PS-S-12-800 power supply - 9.30

Total: 7.90 per block, based on the TC Mark II + power supply supporting 64 blocks

Team Digital Block Detection

The BlocD8 product provides block detection using a system similar to both of the other systems. The DBD22 product can detect two blocks of track and the BlocD8 can detect eight blocks of track. However, the DBD22 product does not work on its own, while the BlocD8 includes LocoNet connections. It is powered via the track bus. Similar to RR-CirKits, the detection section wires go through the center of the coil. 

Tony's DCC Exchange has the BlocD8 product available for 84.95, which translates to 10.61 per block. 

Summary

Based on this research, the RR-CirKits product appears to be the best price-per-block for detection capabilities. A single TC Mark II will be able to provide all the detection needs for the entire layout as well as provide signaling capability down the road. 

Overall Design

This is the rough overall design for the layout. It will be double-decked and each grid square is 1 foot. The main yard will be in the upper right hand corner of the room instead of along the wall. The peninsula will be "smoothed out" but the general layout is roughly correct.

The basic premise is that you are going from Minneapolis/St. Paul into the Dakotas on a "combined" main line for Canadian Pacific and BNSF Railroads. In reality, the tracks are separate, but I'm combining them for purposes of this layout. You leave the lower staging yard (lower left of picture) and work your way around the room and into the helix (lower right corner) to go to the upper level. 

There will be a combination of run-through freight trains, Amtrak and VIA Rail passenger trains, as well as lots of operations with locals originating from the main yard (lower deck, top of picture) and 1 or 2 smaller yards along the mainline.