I am also impressed with your patience and calm. These are great traits in general. You have set some kind of record for bad luck with a manufacturer's product line. I've bought fewer and not as high end products, mostly from Lionel (but also MTH, Atlas and previously from K-Line, occasionally from 3rd Rail and Weaver). I can count on one hand the number of failures out of the box, and I think my experience is pretty typical in the hobby. Perhaps it's because I don't use my trains heavily, they mostly sit on the shelf after some test running, but this would account for early death of products. Still that's a failure rate of perhaps 1% over 25 years, which is about what one expects.
Unlike others, while I'm inclined to think I wouldn't put up with your experiences, if your dealers and Lionel make the product right or exchange/refund, and you enjoy the hobby, don't let anyone give you advice, which, of course, I am doing 
. Follow your own heart and mind in these matters. May better luck come to you in future purchases. Your experience is wildly different from the people I know, and my own purchases, so you are almost certain to do better in the future as the statistics even out. You are purchasing from reputable dealers so they will make good on any problems.
