Best Model Railroad Track (2026): Code Is Rail Height, and It Shows

Code, which is the decision you make first

The code number is the rail height in thousandths of an inch. Code 100 rail is 0.100 inches tall. Code 83 is 0.083 inches.

That sounds trivial and it is the most visible choice on a layout, because Code 100 is oversized for HO scale. Scaled up, it represents rail heavier than anything American prototype railroads actually laid. Code 83 is very close to correct for mainline rail, which is why it has become the standard for anyone who cares how the layout looks.

So why does Code 100 still exist and still sell?

• It is cheaper, and on a big layout the difference adds up
• It is tougher, which matters if the layout gets handled, moved, or used by children
• Older and cheaper locomotives sometimes have deep wheel flanges that bump along the tie detail on Code 83 track. Code 100's taller rail gives them clearance

The two can be joined with transition joiners or by shimming, so a Code 100 loop is not a dead end. Mixing them within a visible scene looks wrong, though.

Nickel silver is not optional. Track is sold in nickel silver, brass and steel. Steel rusts and stops conducting. Brass oxidises to a non-conductive film and needs constant cleaning. Nickel silver oxidises to a coating that still conducts, which is why every serious layout uses it. All three products here are nickel silver, and it is worth checking on anything second-hand.

Sectional, flex, and the real cost of a layout

Sectional track comes in fixed lengths and fixed-radius curves that clip together. It is fast, it needs no tools, and the geometry is predictable because the pieces are designed to make standard shapes. The cost is that your curves are whatever radii the manufacturer offers, and the joints are frequent.

Flex track is a flexible yard-long length you bend to the curve you want and cut to fit. Smoother curves, far fewer joints, and much better-looking easements into and out of a bend. It needs rail nippers, a bit of practice, and you have to hold the curve while you fix it down.

Most layouts use both: flex for the main runs, sectional where geometry has to be exact.

Then the thing that surprises everyone: turnouts are the budget. A turnout, the piece that lets a train take one route or another, costs several times a comparable length of plain track. The Code 83 turnout here costs more than three times the pack of curves. A layout with a yard and a passing loop can easily have a dozen, and that is the real expense of track planning.

Turnout number is the frog angle, and bigger is gentler. A #4 diverges sharply and suits yards and tight spaces. A #8, like the one here, diverges gradually, looks far better on a main line and lets long equipment through without derailing. It also eats much more length.

Minimum radius decides what you can run. An 18-inch radius is the HO sectional standard and it is tight: short locomotives and 40-foot cars are fine, long passenger cars and big articulated steam will fight it or derail. Check your longest piece of rolling stock before you commit to a radius.

Laying it so trains actually run

Clean the railheads. New track has oil on it from manufacture and oxidises in storage. A track rubber or isopropyl alcohol on a cloth before the first run prevents a lot of mysterious stalling.

Solder your joiners on permanent track. Rail joiners conduct adequately when new and get worse as they loosen with temperature changes. Soldered joints are the difference between a layout that works for years and one that develops dead spots.

Feed power in several places. Relying on current travelling through dozens of joiners from one connection is how far-side stalling happens. Drop feeders every few feet.

Lay it on a roadbed. Cork or foam roadbed under the track quietens the noise substantially and gives the ballast the correct profile. Track nailed straight to plywood is remarkably loud.

Do not over-nail. Driving track pins hard distorts the gauge, which causes derailments that are very hard to diagnose. Pins should locate the track, not clamp it.

Check gauge at every turnout. A track gauge is cheap and turnouts are where gauge problems bite. Most persistent derailments are a gauge or a slightly lifted point rail.

Ease into curves. Even with sectional track, a short length of larger radius between straight and tight curve dramatically reduces lurching and derailments.