John,
Um.. Not sure what happened to your last post with Menards O36 substituted on the outer loop, but here is my reply to it and a picture of file you had posted.
To answer you questions, my thinking was to minimize the number of Fastrack transition pieces required adjacent to the GG switches, plus the original plan had all Fastrack except for the switches. Also there's simply no room for Fastrack transitions in between the switches on the crossovers. Using the Gargraves straight track cut to length would eliminate the need for transitions in those places.
Based on comments from others, I suppose maybe you could substitute cut pieces of Menards or other tubular straight track in place of the straight GG track.
Also, you might want to revisit the clearance again on the right side of the layout, something seems to be different between the Menards O36 and the FasTrack O36 that closed the gap again between the inner and outer loops. You could remedy this by lengthening the cut 10" Menards straights at the top and bottom by about an inch or so.
Does this help?
