When you say you want to continue with that vintage, does that mean you only want to purchase post-war locos and rolling stock? You can also run MPC era locos, and you may want to look into Williams for newer affordable and reliable locos to run conventional.
If you try modern equip with electronics you need to be careful if using post-war ZW so that you don't damage the electronics in the event of a short, derailment, etc.
Good advice on the Doyle book to show you what's available, and also tandem associates (https://www.tandem-associates.com/lionel_index.htm).
Don
