In 1990, the Club adopted a Recommended Practice that Peco Streamline Finescale track products become the products of choice. I will attempt to explain some of the reasons behind this recommendation.

Peco's traditional line is called Streamline. The turnouts and flex track that make up this product line are labeled in turquoise with a red band. Most Streamline turnouts can be had in 'Electrofrog' as well as 'Insulfrog' configuration - look for the white sticker on the box. The rail is Code 80 and is compatible with other brands of track.

Peco also makes a few items in their "Settrack" line, which is similar in construction to Streamline, but is 100% Insulfrog and is designed around tight-radius turnouts (suitable for small layouts and trolley tracks) and sectional track.

The third Peco line is Streamline Finescale. Turnouts are packaged in bright yellow boxes with blue trim and all are Electrofrog (although 10-degree crossovers as well as single- and double-slip switches are available in Insulfrog versions). Finescale is a unique product in that the rail is Code 80 in height, but 0.025" of it is 'buried' in the tie strip resulting in a track that appears to be Code 55. The benefit (besides a more scale appearance) is that this track is very strong since it does not depend on the molded-on spike heads to hold the rail to the tie strip. Also, the spike heads on the inside of the rail are molded in low relief allowing adequate clearance for wheel flanges on all but the most primitive equipment.

You may also know that Peco turnouts all have a snapping 'center over' mechanism that allows you to install them without switch machines and throw them with a flick of your finger. The turnouts also have the additional feature of power routing. In this way, a turnout thrown against a siding will have the additional benefit of cutting track power to the turnout. This can be somewhat confusing until one understands the internal wiring of the turnout, especially on Electrofrog versions. The typical complaint is a rash of short circuits requiring insulating joiners or gaps at critical points.

Purists complain that the Peco tie spacing is too wide for most US railroads (but so are the ties on Atlas, Bachmann, and the rest). If this is an issue for you, the only RTR product with 'correct' tie spacing is Railcraft/Micro Engineering Code 55, but as of this writing stock availability is problematic, the variety of turnouts is small, and the rail-to-tie connection is very fragile.

In short, I recommend the Peco Finescale as the best all around choice unless you really want to get into handlaying turnouts to make up for all the styles that Railcraft does not yet produce.