Big Boy, I like reinventing the wheel, being doing it for years. As for JMRI it seems to have it's origin and lingo in the DCC and Linux world, not the Lionel TMCC and Legacy world - correct me if I'm wrong. Can off-the-shelf JMRI talk directly to a Lionel TMCC controller via RS-232? Anyway I wanted to use the Arduino, not a computer, to automate an existing layout with difficult track access for using isolated sections of outside rail to signal occupancy. We are running Lionel TMCC which puts a control signal on the outer rails so both of our outer rails are continuous with no breaks. The center "hot" feeds come back to a common control area and each wire takes a couple of loops through the Hall-effect detector before going to it's power source. I think that's pretty neat technology. It was very easy and relatively inexpensive to buy the detector modules which provides an SPDT relay to send a positive occupancy signal to the Arduino micro-controller. I also want this control to run without any computer needed, just the Arduino Windows-based IDE for programming. I'm fairly proficient in C programming so it was a hoot to program it, also for RFID train detection and registration, speed calculation and control, and output to an LCD panel, plus other custom goodies. Sorry my method doesn't fit into your standard paradigm of computer-based, DCC type control - I'm happy with my new wheel!
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