If I'd known how serious I was about to become, I would have come up with a very different platform design. I designed something I thought would be solid, but that I could somehow take apart and reassemble later.
I did have a good idea how I would build the control console into the platform, though my notion of how to design and build the actual circuits was a lot simpler than it ended up being.
I initially only knew that I definitely wanted lighted push-button controls, and I deffinitely wanted LEDs to indicator switch positions. Little did I know, using locking DPDT switches (to route and lock the LED indicators, would require a whole shyt-fit of circuitry to send a corresponding charge to the switich, not continuously like the indicator lights, but for only one second, so as not to burn out the coils in the switch machines. Hey, I was a kid with big old Lionel toys the last time I dealt with this stuff!
I relied on a lot of dated serial interface standards to connect the console to the layout wiring. The stuff can be worked on with simple tools, is inexpensize and readily available on eBay
The console graphic is a pdf generated from a screen capture of the layout, as render by RailModeller Pro, the software I used to design the layout (I'm )not sure if there is a Windows version...). I printed 11" x 17" copies on 80lb. paper at Kinkos. One sheet served to align and drill the holes for the LEDs. Then a top sheet, with holes only for the DPTP push buttons, covers everything. The sheet underneath also keeps the LED light from bleeding outside the indicator circles on the grapghic.
