All - Thank you so much for the responses. I understand more after reading through this thread than I did after all the reading and videos over the past months.
@SteveH - Thank you for the multiple, detailed responses and in particular reworking the track plan to include the insulated pieces. You guessed correctly it's Fastrack and that also that I wanted to leave my options open for larger engines. Just to pull the edge of the layout in an inch or two, I purposely used 048. But you're right, there are engines that are 054 min and the 060 would allow me to consider those and be able to park them on the siding. I was going to attach the SCARM file to my upcoming post in the layout section but see it would have added some value here. As I've seen in other threads .. Rule #1 .. attach your files!!! I'm going to rework my track plan and will share it.
@Mellow Hudson Mike - Your post is a mini-Wikipedia. The break down of the difference pieces is fantastic. Thank you!
@rtr12 Going for the big guns ZW might not be a bad idea. It might be a little overkill for this layout, but I would grow into when I can build my future layout. Thank you for the link to the manual.
The hobby has changed so much in the past 10 years. I have a lot to learn.
I appreciate all the responses and will take everything into consideration for my next steps. I'm going to rework the track plan, reconsider my wants and priorities for this "temporary layout" (2 - 3 years), and take a stab at choosing some equipment - which I'll post here before I do anything. 
- Vin
