Funny you should ask.  Early Sunshine (or maybe even late ones) always included at least two triple valves along with the other small parts.  I have always saved them and used them on kits like Intermountain where the supplied triple valve just looks like a cube.  In my early days of building resin kits, the most common plastic AB brake set that I could find at the hobby shop was the DA, I believe, and I recall they were hard to come by (or maybe they weren't stocked) so I used the resin ones.  Now I use the Tichy brake set, mostly, which is the one that's included in a lot of more recent resin kits, but I also keep an inventory of them.  I'd rather use a plastic brakewheel if there's one that matches the prototype.  And a few of my builds with deep fishbelly sides have no brake gear at all under the car.

Same goes for ladders, I would rather use a plastic ladder if it matches closely enough.  Many of my builds of postwar cars get Branchline ladders.

Speaking of which, I need to call Atlas to see if I can get a couple dozen sets of end and side details.  Those parts aren't on Atlas' on-line parts list, or I haven't found them.

Ron Merrick