Here's some prototype photos I took last March when visiting the inlaws: 

Where can I find these ? I like the way that looks. Now that would make my code 83 look great.

http://www.proto87.com/

Looks Real Good!!!

I walked a little more than a mile from downtown Hillsboro to Mahan (OR, USA) paying attention to where the joints landed.  There are stretches where they all land on ties and lots that don't.  I would say maybe a quarter land on ties.  I also noticed two different tie lengths, maybe 8 and 9 feet, about 6" different on each side of the track.  The rail weight was 110, mostly 112, 113, 130 and 132 lb with a siding laid with 75 lb rolled by Carnegie in 1905.  Tie spacing ranged from slightly over a shoe width to almost 3 shoe lengths (size 11.5).  I didn't see any joints directly across from each other.

So I guess on an old line that sees about 5-10 trains a week you can see a lot of history.  It is much more interesting than a main with concrete and ribbon rail.

Paul Mack

The track is great but the ballast is even nicer  :-) It looks like real ballast thats been scaled down. What ballast are you using?

I've used Woodlands ballast, medium buff and fine.  I use carpenters white glue with water.  I will airbrush the track with thinned earth, rust and usually a fine black line in the middle of the track.

Wolfgang