The Colorado & Wyoming Railway Scale & Track

The track work of this layout is done in O scale, 1/48th or 1/4", with the distance between the rails of 2 1/2 scale feet or 30" gauge much narrower that the North American standard of 4' 8-1/2". This combines to be referred to as On30 in the model railroad circles. The track is all handlaid using individual rails, ties, spikes and cork roadbed. The turnouts or switches are built using templates, jigs and printed circuit railway ties from Fast Tracks. These allow for consistency in quality and sizing for all of the turnouts built. The rail itself is a nickel-silver steel alloy with a dimensional height of 83 thousands of an inch more commonly known as code 83. Here are some images showing these materials.

The tools used for track laying and turnout building involves a number of items. As seen in the following images the items include;