Bob, I knew as soon as I read the title of this thread where you were going, even though I always heard it as 'Scope Creep' instead of 'Mission Creep'. Even on a new layout that was built by a 'neat-nik' as my brother called me growing up, there has been creep for sure, and it keeps getting harder to keep it neat. Here it is when the 'creep' started. I was checking out AIUs I purchased last summer. I had no intention of using AIUs when I laid out this panel last spring.
What started out as a fairly neat project...
Ballooned into this.
Reverse side of the original panel. It's not quite what I wanted, but electrons don't know the difference.
Original side of panel.
Also, I have pushbutton controls for the turnouts temporarily wired until I put in a proper fascia and decide how to arrange the buttons.
I managed to find 4 AIUs (1 spare), a spare TIU, a spare Remote, and 2 Remote commanders for GunrunnerJohn's watchdog circuits.
Also a note on utility wiring. I worked approximately half my 43 years for power companies and half for a telecom company. The relay panel wiring at the power company were works of art, on par with the server farm cabling above. Wiring on the backs of panels from the '50s and '60s was perfectly spaced #14 wire tied with waxed string. The wires from panel to panel and switchyard devices was #10 wire fed from overhead cable trays in a perfectly vertical upside down tree. Each wire fanning to the terminal blocks as perfectly horizontal. The electricians would actually use torpedo levels to assure this. By the time I was working, plastic cable ties were used instead of waxed string...usually. When I got to the telecom company, even the best of wiring looked sub-par after being exposed to 'perfect' wiring for 20 years. Today, no one wants to pay anyone to take the time for such works of art. Electrons flow any which way. 
