Just curious here. ( small back story to set up my question.) I have been running all my engines lately and I take realy take meticulous care of all my locomotives. Dispalying them and maintaing them too running them. Some locomotives get run a lot others very little. I have over 60 + now. Not often, but every once in a while I will pull an engine off the shelf that has seen very little run time and has been bought new by me and run it. Once I got a lionel sd60e first responders engine and rarely used it much. Took it down off my shelf to run it and the main rcmc pcb board when out that day.
That issue leads me to this post and question. Do our new electronics such as pcb control boards and various other electronic boards that control things in our engines have a shelf life so to speak? Are there elctronic componets on those various boards that go bad over time? I know mth ps2 have componets that go bad over time. With new engines always being released with newly designed eletronics. some very older models that still have parts available from say lionel for example. Is it worth getting the parts?
Are our trains especially locomitives a dont spend the money on parts unless it breaks kind of deal? I realize this is a broad subject that has many variables,but I wanted some thoughts and opinions anyway.
