dude, all you need is the stuff Andy Reichert sells at his Proto87 stores
http://www.proto87.com/
Basically, he sells packages that use Micro Engineering rail with the Central Valley tie-strips. Also, he sells turnout kits that come with all the rail you need to make the turnout, as well as these sweet cast frogs from Details West and 3-way-planed points that don't require notching of stock rails, although I still personally prefer continuous point/closure rails ala Joe Fugate's method, found here: http://siskiyou-railfan.net/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?5125
The good thing about the Central Valley tie-strips is that you A) get molded-in tie-plate detail on every tie B) can join them together to form loooong sections of track C) can use their centering guides to make sure that the ties are properly aligned on your track center lines, and last, but certainly not least, D) THE TIE-STRIPS GUAGE THE TRACK FOR YOU.
you just put the rail in, and they hold it in guage. Granted, you should still use a track guage anyway, especially if you go with anything smaller than code 70 rail.
Also, you can simply glue the rail to the tie-strips if you want to, instead of having to spike it. I personally love spiking and love the look of spikes, so thats what I do.
The other neat thing about the Central Valley strips is that they come in different tie-spacings for mainline and branchline track, something that you can't get with flextrack. Plus, plastic won't expand or contract like wooden ties, which isn't an issue if you have a climate-controlled layout room, which most of us don't.
so yeah. there you go. haha
Kappler Lumber Co.
http://www.kapplerusa.com/
All sorts of ties in a variety of lengths and scales.
Dave H.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com