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I haven't handlaid track on any of my layouts to this point, but I have often considered it and might do so on my next layout. So, like you I have often given much consideration to the pros and cons of doing so. I think Joe hit the spike on the head - ultimately the pros and cons wash, except for maybe one or two pros or cons (and which ones those are will be different from one person to the next.) Those one or two are the tiebreakers that will be the deciding factor for you. Just a few more comments I've heard that you might want to weigh in your decision making. One club in northern California (in transition between layouts) made a comment in a mid 1990's MR article about their layout - their past layouts all involved handlaid track, but their future layout won't. Their reasoning is that the flex track and switches available these days are so well done, they don't want to spend the time handlaying anymore. They'd rather devote that time to other aspects of the hobby. A friend of mine who belongs to a club here in the LA area that is right now in transition between layouts (they just got booted from the place they were leasing and have come to terms on leasing a different place) made an identicle comment. Ironically, my inclinations are just the opposite. My layouts up until this point have all used flex track and Atlas, Walthers, and ME switches because of the time factor. My next layout I'm inclined to go handlaid because I really like the looks of real wood, stained, handlaid ties - nevermind the amount of time involved. One very large and well known club layout changed to a kind of mix in the philosophies about track - they hand lay the switches but use flextrack for everything else. This applies to their more recent, current, and future tracklaying. Much of the layout had already been built with handlaid track in all regards. Like Joe said, it's a very individual decision. Good luck with yours!! Greg
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