I'm 50-50 on this one I agree with Fiat Fan and Allegeny, I agree that today the items we buy are lightyears ahead of what we used to have and I for one am glad that Track is better,Ground Foam is plentiful in all shades,colors and textures,DPM and Cornerstone offer great structers and the RTR Rolling stock now comes weathered and with Graffitti if you want,Metal wheels and nicer couplers,and the engines On board sound,able to run on DC or DCC all the hard wireing is done for us and painted and detailed to the 9's, all great stuff and makes it easier to model for all of us.
On the other Hand I agree if your benchwork is not done correctly,Cork not correctly laid to the centerline and track not tacked and correct Radii used on the corners all the goof proof stuff in the world will not make your layout operate and be enjoyable,matter of fact it will ruin all enjoyment of your layout and future of staying with this hobby ,so for me it's 50-50 buy the easy stuff but do the old tried and true hard to do stuff as well.
Mike.
