Several of my engines are over fifteen years old without rot. I've never seen it myself. And all work fine with some repairs done.
In the meantime -
I threw away a useless $900 VCR plus tapes.
I' m on my third generation of home computer and third generation of cell phone.
Third car too.
and discarded several CRT TVs.
But my Lionel and MTH engines are still a joy to run.