The Home Machinist!

I like John Haslers idea, yes the LED's may get dirty, but because these are infrared I think they have a certain amount of "penetration" and everything doesn't need to be perfectly clean. Our garage door sensors are buried in cobwebs for instance, and still work. Wire as many of them as you need to control the section of track, add a relay to control a 2 aspect signal and you're there.
As for the LED layout, if you arranged them in a long angle back and forth across the track as many times as needed, nothing is going to slip by.

Why not just set up a block signal with claim and release on both ends. Claim it when you enter the curve (following trains will see amber)
release the block when you leave the curve. Next train sees green. If you see Red you got a problem. Works the same from the other direction.

JB

FLSTEAM wrote: ↑Wed Feb 20, 2019 12:35 pmWhy not just set up a block signal with claim and release on both ends. Claim it when you enter the curve (following trains will see amber) release the block when you leave the curve. Next train sees green. If you see Red you got a problem. Works the same from the other direction.

That all works fine until an absent-minded engineer forgets to claim the block upon entry.