Okay, dead rail is often mentioned like it’s some kind of model railroading silver bullet. Rather than be so romantic about dead rail, let’s talk about the REAL pros and cons.

What is it about dead rail that is seen as such a benefit? And let’s get beyond the hype ... can you really never attach any feeders ever to a dead rail layout? And let’s hear from more than the dead rail wanna-bees, let’s hear from actual dead rail users! Is less wiring really the only advantage?

Hi, I hope someone can help me out.  I have a couple of fine HO Atlas Geeps (GP38-2 Atlas Master Series and GP39-2 Atlas Trainman), both with factory installed DCC and sound.  I would like to install a couple of No Halt Insurance units since both cut out over a few problem areas on my layout.  The instructions say to solder the blue wire of the No Halt to the Common + voltage of the decoder and the negative wire to the negative supply of the decoder.  I think I have successfully soldered the blue wire to the hole on the decoder marked COM + but I can't identify where

Protothrottle Boys,
I know that the Protothrottle isn't using Bluetooth to communicate with the DCC receiver, but a recent development from a fellow large scale hobbyist had me wondering if the Protothrottle would work and communicate with this guys development.
It looks like his is also using the Xbee radio system to communicate between a phone and the DCC board. My question is, if you worked together could it be possible to make an even more low cost dead rail setup with the Protothrottle?
http://blueridgeengineering.net/index.php/wiki/overview/

I often run my layout alone but wondered a couple of things if I ask someone to join me to take a throttle. 

1) If a throttle is set to the same loco address, do they both control it or is it stolen? 

2) If the above is true then is it possible to have an Arduino send a global command to all engines? For example, an emergency stop. 

My concern is that a novice may be running a train and makes a mistake. It would be nice to take control or have a trigger to safeguard tail tracks that go into the oblivion.