someone familiar with TRS2006, CMP, and fixing items
Well, I've only got a few weeks more experience than you do, so I can't claim to be
familiar with TRS 2006. But I am working my way through this stuff. I suspect it might be profitable for all of us, and for the community as a whole, if you can make your questions as concrete as possible, and post them here. We can fight our way through to competence together.
You don't say you've done so, and if you have, ignore this, but if you haven't done so, I'd advise that you download and install the TRS 2k6 SP1. I understand there are enough significant issues to make this a valuable exercise before you go any further.
I need to fly someone in and have them show me how to lay track
I don't fly, but here's a possbility. Create a one board route, perhaps called "testbed", decide what track you want to lay, and try it on that route. When the track doesn't meet your expectations, put your expectations in words, post the board on the web, linked to from a message on one of these forums, say what it is you don't like, and ask what you need to do to get the results you want. Someone with more "whiskers" (an old-time U.S. colloquial term for a person who had a lot of experience on the railroad) can download the route, and show you what to do to get the results you desire.
ns