Laying Track By Hand

I've built several layouts in the past using kits for structures and flex track and pre-made turnouts to run the trains on.  For this layout I'm planning to build things from scratch as much as possible.  I have a good start with structures for the engine service terminal and the turntable already completed.  It's time now to start laying some track.

For rail I'm using Micro-Engineering O scale code 70 rail and white pine On30 ties from Mt Albert.  The dead rail layout uses 17 #5 turnouts (10 left and 7 right), 14 #6 30-21 curved turnouts (6 left and 8 right) and 1 #5 wye.  The 30-21 refers to the curve radius for the two legs of the curved turnouts.  The test track/switching puzzle in the shop uses 5 #5 straight and 3 #5 wye turnouts.  I'm using assembly fixtures to build the turnouts.  When I went to order them from Fast Tracks (click here) my original track plan called for a variety of turnouts, six different styles, and had a minimum curve radius of 18".  The assembly fixtures (jigs) are not inexpensive and this caused me to re-think my layout plan.  The 18" radius is pretty tight for some of the larger engines so I re-drew it using a minimum radius of 21".  I also re-drew the turnouts to reduce the variety as much as possible.  With a total of 44 turnouts to build using just three styles (#5 straight, #5 wye and #6 curved)  I'm saving several hundred dollars by building my own rather than buying them ready-made.  Building your own straight and curved track is more expensive than using flex track (about $3 versus $2.50 per foot) but it looks sooooo much better.  I think the total cost for track, including turnouts, is less expensive if you lay your own.  My layout uses about 210' of track with 36 turnouts.  The puzzle track uses 8 turnouts and about 35' of track.  Using ready-made track would have cost me about $1680, plus shipping.  I've spent $985 in materials, tools and jigs from Fast Tracks.  Yikes!  That alone makes it worthwhile to lay your own track but the finished product is way better too, in both looks and operation.