No worries John. Thank you very much for your real world input.
I find it very interesting that you had some drop outs on a smaller layout. One might expect problems on a gigantic layout like the NJ Hi-Railers but I would have thought the system would be bulletproof on smaller layouts. Correct me if I am wrong but you were using the Lionel system right? and not the Bluetooth system mentioned in the article? Or do they use the same technology?