If you don't mind me throwing my hat in the ring here....................
In N scale there are indeed many choices of track available.
If you are running older equipment (with larger flanges) your selection will be limited a little. Running DCC will cut the field a little more.
Basically it breaks down like this (or so I understand);
Atlas code 80 - the old standby. It's bullet proof, cheap, easy to find, and DCC friendly. It just doesn't look the greatest (tall rail, oversize ties and tie spacing and so forth). If you don't mind the looks, it is OK. Good ballasting work, painting and weathering the rails can help a lot with the looks. Great stuff for beginners or any hidden track because of it's durability and price.
Atlas code 55 - Looks good, pretty easy to find, decent price, DCC friendly. They offer wye turnouts, # 10 turnouts, curved turnouts, and various crossings. Problem is, older equipment has larger flanges on the wheels and they hit the ties on this track. This may not work for you. If you're buying currently available equipment this will be less of an issue for you, except with Micro-Trains cars. You'll have to get low profile wheelsets for those.
Atlas code 65 track - It's one of those that has the roadbed attached to it, so it has those limitations. Also, there's no flex track that I know of in that code. It's new enough that there aren't many options available yet, but who knows. Atlas made it because they wanted a track / roadbed combo, and they made it code 65 so they could avoid the flange issue while still being somewhat close to a prototype rail height.
Peco code 80 and code 55 - Great stuff, lots of track choices (curved turnouts, Stub turnouts, slip switches, and all kinds of stuff), solid and reliable. The code 55 is really code 80 track with a double flange on the lower portions of the rail and it's just buried in the ties further on the outsides of the ties. It doesn't have any flange issues so you can run older and large flanged equipment without worry. Problems - wide tie spacing (European tie spacing), expensive, tough to find in some areas, and some say it's DCC friendly while others say no. I think proper guaging of the wheels of your loco are quite important with this track, as the spring mecanism on the turnouts can cause shorts if the wrong wheels touch the wrong point rail. The spring in them snaps the points of the turnout closed and holds them to the rails. I've been told one solution is that you must remove the spring and make a new throwbar in order to use DCC with no issues. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong on any of this.
Micro Engineering - Awesome looking track. Problems - turnouts have a spring like the Peco ones so it has those same issues, can be hard to find, very expensive. Great track available in weathered or non-weathered in code 70, 55 & 40. They also offer bridge track or the rails and ties seperately if you want to spike your own. Turnouts are only offered in #6 though.
Kato - easy to use, easy to find. Problems - not much flexability (no flex tack), expensive. This stuff is DCC friendly.
Bachmann EZ Track - about the same as Kato, but has a high track profile and it's not the best constructed stuff in my experience.
Model Power - Don't bother with it as it falls out of gauge easily. Great source of headaches if you're looking for one.
Shinohara - Code 70 turnouts and other code 70 products. I have a code 70 3 way turnout and I've seen a code 70 double crossover (works of art!). I could be wrong, but I think Walthers is selling this track under their own name.
Arnold - Not worth the time or money if you ask me. Expensive and not realistic looking.
BK Enterprises - Makes parts for handlaying track and offers some assembled turnouts (curved, stub, wye, and regular) and crossings. Offers a code 70 #12 turnout and code 55 #12 turnouts. Offers code 40 products. I have no experience with this product so I'll refrain from comment.
Life Like - Much the same story as the Bachmann track.
Roco - Extremely limited selection and not very realistic looking IMHO.
That's all I know of. I looked at almost all of these when beginning construction on my new layout, and personally, I chose to use Atlas code 80 for all my hidden track and Atlas code 55 with some Micro Engineering code 55 bridge track thrown in for good measure on the bridges of the layout. I've since added some Kato turnouts to my hidden staging yard.
Now since Micro Engineering just came out with a DCC friendly version of their HO stuff a little while ago, N scale might be comming soon.
Check out this link for more info as to DCC issues. The main subject is HO scale, but most of it also applies to N as well.
http://www.wiringfordcc.com/
As to how to control those turnouts.......
If you went with the Atlas code 55 like I did, you could use the Caboose Industries ground throws that are power routing. The frogs on the code 55 turnouts have a lug to wire to on the side of the turnout that makes a live frog setup very easy. I chose to bend the lugs 90 degrees to hide them in the roadbed, then wired them and placed them on the layout. Be careful bending those as they can snap off easily.....don't ask me how I know. As for the ground throws, a friend of mine wrote
this article and I'm finding that it does a nice job of making those oversize throws look less intrusive. I was going to go with tortises originally, till I saw the projected bill, and that was the end of that. Then I looked at the old rod system, but not only did I not like the looks of those on the front of the layout, but they don't hold the point rails closed tightly. That could lead to derailments. I found
this slick little setup by Dan Crowley, but it doesn't power route, so I passed on it. The one that I almost went with, and may still for harder to reach turnouts that can be seen on the layout, is the slide switch method. There are several methods of doing this, from the
more visible, to the more subtle, like in the top part of
this article. The beauty of those is that they look good and they power route. I would mount those in small cutout boxes in the fascia to keep up a nice clean look.
Just my thoughts................
P.S. - When it comes to track plans, let us know and maybe we can help. I've had the help of several folks in the past, and I've been able to help a few in return. If I might suggest something, give this site a few minutes of your time:
http://www.chipengelmann.com/Train.html Particularly this section:
http://www.chipengelmann.com/Trains/Beginner/BeginnersGuide01.html
Also, splicing two different track sizes together isn't too tough. If you slip a rail joiner halfway onto one track, then flatten the end sticking out, you can bend it to where the second rail of another code can sit on top of the flattened section. Now just solder the whole thing up and you're good! Just make sure the rail tops line up. It should look something like this when it's done:
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Autumns Ridge/7-17-0710.jpg (I know, it ain't all pretty and whatnot. It's going to be in a hidden area, so I didn't care about that. I just cared that it worked, and it does!)
, which will be under the layout. It'll be a little bit of a headache, but better than the price of tortoise motors and DCC controls for each turnout! A moderate staging yard, and all that expense... eeek!
