Well I may be the last person to give advice as I generally like the prewar stuff, no sounds and lots of noise!. I do recall an article however in "Classic Toy Trains" by Lou Palumbo of Underground Trains where he compares the ease of repairing the old pre/postwar Lionel with the difficulty of modern trains. Primarily his concern is that the older "electronic" trains have circuit boards that are no longer available and that no one builds spares for and of course like all printed circuits they are difficult if not impossible to repair. So if you take the plunge, make sure all of the features that you are looking for work before you buy. However, I have had sound effects disappear after one loop around the track under my ZW power. Luckily in my case, the loco still functioned so it was OK with me, but you may really want sound. All in all, from my perspective I tend to agree with those who say...if the price is modest, you like it, and it appears to operate - go for it. If it ultimately proves unsatisfactory, you can normally move it on to someone else who can use it or put it on a shelf (that's why the investment has to be reasonable, if the worst happens you don't have too much in it).
Don
