There are a few types of N-scale track, and there are several brands as well.
Types of Track
1. Roadbed Track
This type of track comes in short, rigid sections with ties and plastic roadbed permanently attached to each piece of track. The most popular brand of roadbed track is Kato Unitrack, which has been around for many years. Another brand is Bachmann E-Z Track. Newer to the roadbed track market is Atlas True Track. For all brands of roadbed track, available track pieces include straight sections in various lengths, curved pieces in different radiuses, and turnouts in a few different sizes. Roadbed track snaps together easily and tends to be reliable and trouble free. On the downside, roadbed track is not particularly realistic in appearance. Roadbed track can be considered a subset of ....
2. Sectional Track
Like roadbed track, sectional track is also sold in short, rigid pieces of various sizes. Sectional track has ties that are permanently attached to the track, but it does not have any roadbed attached. Turnouts of various sizes are also available. Typically, you lay down a roadbed of some sort, traditionally made of cork but nowadays often of other materials, then affix the pieces of sectional track to the roadbed. You connect together the pieces of sectional track with rail joiners that slip over the rails. Popular brands of sectional track are Atlas and Peco. Sectional track typically looks more realistic than roadbed track.
3. Flex Track
As the name implies, flex track is flexible instead of rigid. Ties are attached, but the track is constructed such that you can bend it into straights and curves of any shape. Flex track is sold in pieces that are either 30 or 36 inches long. It's up to you to cut the flex track to the length you need and form it into the shapes your track plan requires. The same turnouts used with sectional track are used with flex track. A big advantage of flex track is that you are not limited to the curve radiuses available with sectional track. And because pieces of flex track are longer than pieces of sectional track, a layout made with flex track will have fewer but longer pieces of track as opposed to more but shorter pieces of sectional track. This means fewer rail joints and thus fewer points of possible unreliability. Popular brands of N-scale flex track are Atlas, Peco, and Micro Engineering.
4. Hand Laid Track
For the ultimate in realism, you can lay your track much as full-size railroads do it. You install individual ties on your roadbed one by one, then attach lengths of rail to the ties. It is time consuming and precise work, but if done well, the results are quite reaistic. Relatively few modelers hand lay their track, but those who do it are much admired by the rest of us!
Track Code
In model railroading the height of the rails is known as the "code" and is measured in thousandths of an inch. Code 55 rail is 55-thousandths of an inch tall, or 0.055 inch. Code 80 rail is 80-thousandths of an inch tall, or 0.080 inch. The N-scale rail size that most accurately matches the real thing is Code 40 (0.040 inches tall). That works out to between 6 and 7 inches of scale height, about the height of real railroad rails. Code 40 rail is available, but the majority of N-scale modelers use Code 55 or Code 80, finding Code 40 to be too delicate for their liking. There is nothing to prevent you from using a mix of codes, such as Code 55 for the mainline and Code 40 for yards and spurs.
Track Material
Nearly all model railroads today are made with so-called "nickel silver" track. Nickel silver is an alloy of copper, nickel and often zinc. All of the major brands of track mentioned above are nickel silver. Brass is seldom used for track these days.
I hope this information is helpful.
- Jeff
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