I know the focus of this thread has been on hand-laid track, but the discussion of easements and superelevation applies equally to flexible track. In other words, you
don't have to hand lay the track in order to incorporate these elements.
I hand laid all the track on my first layout (a rite of passage?) but the second time around I used Micro Engineering code 148 flexible track and I'm very happy with the results (the track has tie plates and very small spikes molded in). I glued the track down with a product called Weld Bond and, once ballasted, it became very solid: absolutely no movement of the track in 10 years.
