Me, I spent 20 years in the NAVY, over half as an E7 (CPO) Aviation Electricians Mate. Just before I retired (1978) I picked up my first microprocessor (1802) and figured out how to build it and program it with little more than an 8 page data sheet. That got me a job for a few years and then I was on my own as a 3rd party consulting engineer. I gave in and retired again 10 years ago. I’d still be loafing around if a friend of mine hadn’t taken me into that hobby shop!
Actually, I’ve always enjoyed working with microprocessors and now that I don’t have to it’s even more fun. I don’t know that much about model railroading, but there seems to be a bunch of things that can be done with micro’s and it doesn’t have to be all that expensive. If anyone has ideas along this line I’d love to hear from you. Maybe we can work together on it and come up with something that everyone could use.