That is the future. Hopefully the very near future, although I have been predicting dead rail Lionel as imminent for two decades, and so far have been wrong.
I use a Variac, a step-down transformer, a Radio Shack brifge rectifier, several switches and circuit breakers, and two meters. Under $20 last time I did one, but all the surplus shops went away. Haven't checked eBay yet for transformers.