I had weak TMCC signals in a couple of areas where I have a parallel elevated track. The train headlights would start to blink but the train would usually not stop. Laying a wire tied to earth ground next to the track solved this problem. I had thought about placing grounded foil under the carpet on my table but testing showed that placing a ground wire above the train closer to the antenna worked much better. I then thought, I have many street lamps all over the layout that are connected to a seperate transformer why not tie one side to earth ground. In fact the elevated track is only running conventional and it is connected to a seperate transformer why not also tie one side to earth ground. This worked very well, no more blinking headlights.
Now for the most interesting part. I placed a TMCC engine on the elevated track that had the outside rail tied to earth ground and it ran in TMCC mode getting its signal from the nearby tracks that were connected to the command base.
If I was building a layout with parallel loops like many modular layouts I would consider isolating one loop (seperate transformer) and connect the outside rail to earth ground.
