Tom died in 2006. He would be spinning in his grave if he knew that Communist Chinese reproductions (paid for with his money) were being run at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento rather than his original trains. Luckily he was in dementia when the gift was made. On a properly designed layout, one could put can motors in original equipment and run it for hundreds of years. Tom ran with original motors for 40 years and never had any damage. I was there at the worst when a 408E split a switch and the whole consist hit the floor (Tom wired passenger car sets together so their lights wouldn't flicker  -- the engine pulled the cars down like a snake). Persian rugs, so no damage.

An operating museum layout need not have any switches with working frogs. Derailments wouldn't happen since if blown up to scale, standard gauge wheel flanges are a foot high! When was the last time you saw a derailment (at reasonable speed) on a closed loop of track? Tom also used fine wire to ensure couplers would not separate.