For what it is worth, we ran Lion Chief and Lion Chief plus 5-7 hours a day for three days last week, and had over 300 kids take a turn at running a train around the layout. No failures, no wrecks, no controller issues. 300 happy kids.
I'm a big fan. Can't wait for the new big diesels to come out this year, one already on reserve.
See "Elementary School Reports, Day 1, 2, and 3" over on the 3-rail board.