About to start wiring my Staging deck...and back when I was laying my turnouts down, I isolated them from the connecting tracks so their occupancy could also be detected (for future proofing)...I'm just not sure whether they should be at all.

Presuming use of JMRI at the beginning, while at some point in the future Staging would be fully automated and under computer control, I'm looking for some kind of a "best practice" whether turnout occupancy is necessary or not.

I'm doing some background research on my railroad and came across some old photos from back in the day. Things really haven't changed that much ... Enjoy!

     Last year my wife and I moved from our large home of 28 years in Newberg, Oregon to a much smaller rental in Garibaldi Oregon. Our new coastal house is only 2 bedroom , our old house was much larger with a 13 foot by 35 foot train room in the basement. My current available layout space is 13 feet by 13 feet and must be shared with a substantial collection of historical research and previously built models built for my old layout(s).