Railworks America

Any suggestions from our experienced route builders as to the best order of construction elements?
1. track
2. etc.

Terrain
Track Mainline
Track Yards
Track Branches
Signals
Road Bed
Rivers, streams, ponds and lakes
Rail Bridge abutments - Bridging
Tunnels
Road Network
Road Embankments, Under/overpass - Bridges
First Pass - Terrain Panting
Near Buildings
Far Buildings
Second Pass - Terrain Painting
Large Forests
Utility - Telegraph Poles
Trees
Brush
Grass
Third Pass - Terrain Painting
Detail Work
*Throughout - always test your track and scenery by driving it.
CRITICAL: working in 3 to 5 mile sections repeat these steps as you progress on your route.

The pre-construction planning is one of the most crucial phases in my opinion.

If its a prototypical route that you are building, make a list of the 'signature' buildings along the route, and what assets/DLC you are going to use to represent them. Do the same for trackside structures, signals, vegetation, etc. Make a 'sandbox'/test route and lay out all of the assets from a specific DLC to familiarize yourself with what is in each. Many first time route builders improvise with this, and then end up with a colossal amount of DLC dependencies, sometimes just for a handful of assets.

Next would be setting up a custom route blueprint, with your choice of terrain textures to best represent the area you are modeling. You can save yourself hundreds of hours of terrain painting by doing this step right. Make the sim do as much of this for you as you can.

After that, Terrain, Track Laying, and so forth as noted below.

And if you plan on using Super Elevated track, learn how the tool works and what you can and can't do. Its a very touchy tool for a beginning route builder.

definitely following this as i am keen on route building but often unsure where to start

Thanks for your help...

Really a great question/request, Harry. Thanks for the builders that shared the order/items that are necessary to build a route properly, and maybe eliminate some of the pitfalls the builders have experienced.

Important:
Do not lay too much track at the beginning. This will become frustrating as you see how much time is necessary to complete the scenery.
Look at minerman146's Bergen:
He's set new track only when the next section has been completed. I remember the election when we had the possibility to choose between Port Jervis, the Main Line and other lines. His first reaction according to Port Jervis was: "That's hard". Now he has done it !!!