@gunrunnerjohn posted:Well, if you're only going to do a couple simple electronic projects a year, then buying as needed will probably work for you. I need to have components available, and the cost is not that great, so I have them available.
Oh, I fully agree, John. However, the alternative 'solution' I've found works for me so far is to avoid mixing toy trains and electronics to the extent practicable, if at all possible! 
It's not that I'm a Luddite in general -- I greatly appreciate and sometimes envy what progress has been made in our mutual hobby since we were kids (less so the price tag that usually attaches!), but I and a number of our like-minded fellow hobbyists have decided to employ "old school" solutions whenever practicable, but with the flexibility to employ modern gear when the spirit moves us. For instance, after first adding a pair of legacy Marx crossing gates and then a pair of Marx crossing warning flashers to my layout in the traditional fashion, I decided I wanted crossing bell sounds, too (to be honest, trying to impress the grandkids! 
). So, I found a guy who puts together track voltage-powered train sound modules, and got him to do a custom pair of such modules with a crossing bell clip, powered in parallel to the crossing gate isolated rail. The mini-speakers I mounted under the layout in a couple of toilet paper tube section mini-enclosures, and the overall effect was just what I hoped for without appearing radically different from a typical layout 'back in the day'.
