I see a lot of "unopened in factory shipper" or otherwise never run TMCC / Legacy engines for sale and often the price is tempting to buy new vs used. With all the electronics in these, particularly the electrolytic capacitors, should I be concerned about these engines being defective from NOT being used? Persons with electrical experience or NOS purchasing experience please let us know so we can make educated decisions.
While electrolytic capacitors can degrade with time, it's not been that much of an issue to me. I have some 25 or 30 years old. Sometimes they will draw a little current until they reform, but work ok.
As to the unopened, it has to be quite a bargain since Lionel quality control issues are so prevalent. A warranty is desirable until the kinks if any get sorted out and the value of that should be considered when purchasing. Some of the sellers have an unreasonable idea of what their stuff is worth and I don't value the unopened condition. It may have been true in the pre-post war Lionel days, but is no longer true in my estimation. In fact having the item run a bit may well be desirable as opposed to not tested.
