02-06-2010, 01:15 PM
Well, there are lots of options, an attractive to me is the use of Central Valley's tie strips, with rail glued on. But for true handlaying I still like my old tried and true spikes in a wooden tie. What do you need? Ties, lots of ties. Ballast, rail and spikes. For tools, needlenose pliers that will grasp the spike head well, a file and rail cutter of your choice. Track gauges! I use 4. I attach feeders to each piece of rail. Perhaps being a bit anal, I use a drill press to drill clearance holes in the bottom of the rail for 22 gauge wire and solder feeders to the rail prior to laying (passed thru a hole in the roadbed) This is both easy and yields invisible feeders.
For turnouts there is fast tracks, quite the rage it seems. I saw the results at their display, which were wonderful. But the jigs are pricey, and what made their display great was the complexity of the diorama. God knows how many different jigs they used to build it! If you just need a # 6 it would make sense if you needed a bunch. They certainly do make it easier to get perfect results, without much of a learning curve. But long before this (and other similar items) were available, I was laying turnouts and I had chosen an article by Tony Koester. You should be able to find it in the MR forum somewhere, perhaps. Building the turnouts in place on the layout lets you get creative, using one length of rail to run from the frog on thru the next turnout, for instance. Like this:
For turnouts there is fast tracks, quite the rage it seems. I saw the results at their display, which were wonderful. But the jigs are pricey, and what made their display great was the complexity of the diorama. God knows how many different jigs they used to build it! If you just need a # 6 it would make sense if you needed a bunch. They certainly do make it easier to get perfect results, without much of a learning curve. But long before this (and other similar items) were available, I was laying turnouts and I had chosen an article by Tony Koester. You should be able to find it in the MR forum somewhere, perhaps. Building the turnouts in place on the layout lets you get creative, using one length of rail to run from the frog on thru the next turnout, for instance. Like this: