Joseph, That has been my experience also. I am an operator and with my gang we bang up a lot of stuff. (The grandchildren's favorite yell - "Train Wreck!!!") Lionel is very good at finding the information, ordering and quickly shipping. 98% of my relationship with them is over the internet, however I once needed a part I could not find and called them. A real person answered the phone and solved my problem quickly and shipped the very same day.
The only caveat is these are parts for equipment from the last ~15 years any earlier then that you have to go to www.nltrainworks.com which, for me has been a nightmare site. However, they are rebuilding the site and it hopefully will be better.