My dad bought my first train set, Triang, no doubt price / value influenced this. For my part though, although Dublo metal bodies looked good I had never seen a three rail railway in real life and I never understood why anyone would want one. I progressed with Triang very happily and ended up with 8x4 TT gauge layout, which I came to regard as the ideal scale.
In my second phase of railway modelling, in retirement, I now realise that 009 is the real deal!