I applaud people that take the time and have the skill to ensure that the tiniest detail is accurate. That's an art. Like Simon, I'm not going to take that plunge to the extreme but I'm certainly not going to tell people that it's a waste of time or that it isn't noticeable. For some people, like the 3RS crowd, tons of train detail is the goal until it gets to the wheels, at which point the pizza cutters are acceptable as is a 3rd rail. I personally don't understand it but again, my opinion doesn't matter as long as they are happy. It's just a hobby.
I like reliability but I also do like detail. I'm also a track person so you'd think that I'd favor P48. I love the detail of it. I love that people have even used self guarding frogs. In order to continue the realism, you need large radiuses. I have a 12 x 16 foot room. Unless I only want a couple of sidings at an industry, I need to make some big compromises. That means tighter curves. Tighter curves mean a slightly wider gauge in those curves. That requires a wider tread that what is true to scale. There are functional limits to what I can do and not have a layout prone to nothing but constant derailments. I also like some rough track and without sprung and equalized trucks is already difficult on it's own. Add in small flanges and narrow wheels and it gets even harder to pull off.
I have friends with layouts that suffer from derailments and when they happen it makes me want to sacrifice some realism to get the reliability. Sometimes the concept of hi-rail 2 rail, which is essentially large 3 rail wheel flanges but on 2 rail track, seems highly appealing. I know the look would bother me though so it's all about finding the middle ground.
