Roger-that, Tracker John. And Bill, I don't know much about Lionel's track system nor IR sensors...so I'll take another hike down to Nicholas Smith and see what they look like and if they can be adapted to Atlas track system (which I already started to buy).
Trains running in circles gets boring very fast for me, no matter how nice the scenery or the layout is. Factor in my living room has limited 2-dimensional space in the depth area and that made me think point to point. There's a nice 23' run along the wall, and if I was to do a helix I would need to have at least 36" depth, which I theoretically could do under the wall-mounted TV. The helix would be the change in elevation that is needed. I am building two to three mini-islands that will feature various Dept. 56 structures, with a different theme on each island. A track with multiple bridges will "bridge" the islands and my thought was a neat little train running point to point with timed station stops would be a nice relaxing component of the little world. I had been thinking of two Doodlebugs back to back making the run, but they're not Legacy so I'll either need to find something else that qualifies or explore DCS. Slow speed operation is another key criteria...I don't like fast moving trolleys, etc. and frankly the bumper trolleys are close to junk (from my experience).
If all else fails in the point to point ops, I'll likely have to do turn-arounds via whatever track diameters I can make work...I guess O-36 would be the maximum unless I really get crazy with the island designs. I am about 50% done on the first island - it'll feature 5 levels of buildings when done.
