I get where your coming from, sort of. Unfortunately, in Australia, from which foreign place the product originates, we don't have a choice of a local product, and have to pay full price, (in foreign American dollars!) and accept that 'a bunch of foreign assets' will clog us up.
Across every Trainz release I have rarely been interested in, and haven't run, ANY of, the supplied routes. But our railway heritage in Australia has influences from both the UK and the US, hence I feel I have to buy the full product. I would like to see a base product, offered on first release (not 12 months down the track), at some sort of discount,and which contains NO included routes. Keep ALL the payware assets out (I can't use them in my route anyway. They are just a nuisance because I can't be sure everyone has them). We can download the DLS freeware content matching our regional interest, as required.