So what do you think of Kato Unitrack?

[TaeOH]

I was thinking of picking some up so I could set up and pull down track easily to run trains on.  My basement area needs some preparation time before I can start building a permanent layout.  I have some EZ track that allowed me to run some oval's, but after trying 2 switches, I will not invest in any more of it.  Some people seem to really like Unitrack and I have seen the JJJR railroad in which the owner used Unitrack in his main layout.

 

It is so expensive that if I invested in it I would want to be able to use in in the main layout.

 

What do you think about it?

[CaptOblivious]

I think that we universally love it here. Indeed, I think the only bad thing that can be said about it is that it doesn't have the largest variety of track (That distinction belongs to Tomix FineTrack). Unitrack is reliable, looks good…and it isn't too hard to integrate into a permanent layout (ballasting works a bit differently).

[C62]

I have used Kato N scale Unitrack before I changed scale to HO/OO. When I came back to N scale my first reaction was to order Kato Unitrack for my test layout. As I wanted to reuse it on a permanent layout I had a look at Tomix Finetrack. I tried Finetrack and now stick to it. There is more variety with points and track, more variety with signals and all the electric control equipement. I think that the points look much better than the Kato ones, there are even detail parts supplied with them.

In Austria neither track is readily available at local stores so I have to mailorder the track from Japan - it usually takes 5 days to arrive and postage is cheap so there is no significant difference in price betwenn Unitrack and Kato.

However in some countries Kato Unitrack is more popular and if your local shop stocks it it could be cheaper and easier to obtain. However sometimes ordering from Japan is cheaper despite postage cost. You should check first.

While I think Finetrack looks better both tracks can look very good when ballasted and weathered and offer impacable performance so I would not hesitate to use Unitrack or Finetrack on a permanent layout. On a not permanent layout the decision for one of these is even easier - these are the best imho.

 

Thomas

[Bernard]

TaeOH - Are you talking about the JJJ&E? If so, Bob the owner of it and a few other members over at that forum, swear by Unitrack. In my layout most of my bridges and viaducts are Unitrack combined with flex track. I find that Unitrack stays cleaner longer than any of the other brands of track I've used plus it's got a great reputation since it's been around for some time now. Unlike flex track you won't have to put down a cork roadbed but turnouts are going to cost you a bit more.  The way Bob ballasted the JJJ$E, you would never know it was Unitrack. Another good thing about Unitrack, it's easy to reuse. Bob's moving and he will have an easier time reusing pieces than if he had used flex track.

 

Here is a photo of Unitrack Bridges w/flex track leading into it and out:

[TaeOH]

TaeOH - Are you talking about the JJJ&E? If so, Bob the owner of it and a few other members over at that forum, swear by Unitrack. In my layout most of my bridges and viaducts are Unitrack combined with flex track. I find that Unitrack stays cleaner longer than any of the other brands of track I've used plus it's got a great reputation since it's been around for some time now. Unlike flex track you won't have to put down a cork roadbed but turnouts are going to cost you a bit more.  The way Bob ballasted the JJJ$E, you would never know it was Unitrack. Another good thing about Unitrack, it's easy to reuse. Bob's moving and he will have an easier time reusing pieces than if he had used flex track.

 

Here is a photo of Unitrack Bridges w/flex track leading into it and out:

 

Yes...the JJJ&E is what I meant.  He was the one that made me start taking a serious look at Unitrack and a local hobby shop does carry a nice selection of it, so if I needed a piece in a pinch I would have a chance of getting it locally. I asked about combining Unitrack and Flextrack in another thread over there and Bob showed me his site.  I figured I would ask here since I suspected most of you have had experience with it. I did not know anything about Finetrack before I posted this.

[Guest ___]

Love Unitrack, you couldn't get me to ruse anything else.

[Martijn Meerts]

Don't like the looks of ballast of the unitrack, looks a but too plastic really. I prefer Finetrack. Well.. I really prefer track that doesn't have some plastic ballast imitation, but the Finetrack can be made to look good ;)

 

That said, Unitrack is hands-down the most stable and reliable system for temporary carpet layouts.

[SubwayHypes]

i use kato unitrack because its common and relatively cheap.  However my only complaint is that sometimes on my v11 set, the double track that is slanted sometimes doesnt match up 100% with the straight track, and i have had several cars become derailed or lose power because of this.

[railzilla]

Here s a link to the JJJ&E. It is really great work and the website is a must to read for all Unitrack users.

 

http://www.powersteamguy1790.com/5.html

[to2leo]

Hey SubwayHypes,

I had that problem before with my V11 or V12 Variation sets.  To solve the problem, make sure to install your transitional bend track, the one with one end flat and one end superelevated, first before you connect the all superelevated track.

 

http://www.katousa.com/images/unitrack/n-ctground2.jpg

[Guest Powersteamguy1790]

Bernard told me about this post, so I thought I would register in your forum and discuss Unitrack.

 

First of all let me say that I mainly model US railroads. The JJJ&E is a steam-transition era layout in N scale. The layout is a permanent layout and has been for nine years.

 

I've been in model railroading for almost sixty years and have built many layouts in O Scale and HO scale before starting in N scale in 1999.

 

I chose Unitrack because it's bullet proof. Trains can run on the JJJ&E for hours without any derailments. The JJJ&E is 10x15' feet on several levels. There is no level track on the 130' mainline. Unitrack can be easily weathered and ballasted if you follow a  few easy steps. I have written an article on "The Weathering and Ballasting Unitrack" which can be seen on my new website. The link to the site is:

 

www.powersteamguy1790.com

 

There are also some interesting articles on the Kato Mikado that have been published in N Scale Magazine.

 

Unfortunately I'm moving to Texas at the end of February and the  JJJ&E has been completely dismantled. All the steam and diesel loco's have been packed as well as all the buildings, most of the trees and foliage and last of all, the Unitrack.

 

I'm working on a new layout plan for my new train room in my new house. The room is 20x12' and the "new" JJJ&E will be around the room layout except for the doorway into the room. The layout will be an inverted "U" shape. There will be two 48" turnarounds. The rest of the bench work will be 30" wide. of course I'll be using Unitrack. There will be 28 1/2 " radii except in the two turnaround areas where the radii will between 19 and 21".

 

I do have a fair amount of Kato Japanese locomotives on the roster of the JJ&E  and about a dozen Micro Ace steam locomotives including six MA 0-6-6-0's. Most still have to be converted to DCC.

 

I also have over 50 Kato Mikado's on the roster of the JJJ&E.

 

Try Unitrack... you'll be pleasantly surprised with the results.

 

 

Stay cool and run steam..... 8) 8)

[TaeOH]

I like the idea of it being bulletproof.  How does it handle expansion?  Do people end up soldering the pieces together like it is recommend for Atlas track?

[Guest Powersteamguy1790]

TaeOH:

 

There are no problems with expansion or contraction. The track stays remarkably clean. You don't solder the Unitrack together. The Unijoiners are extremely strong. However I do drop feeders from each  rail to common bus lines. The feeders are solder to the sides of the rails using 22 gauge wire. Each section of Unitrack has a pair of feeders. I use DCC and by adding feeders to each section, I have a constant voltage throughout the layout. I use three sets of feeders for turnouts and four sets of feeders for double crossovers.

 

Stay cool and run steam..... 8) 8)

[TaeOH]

Wow...I did not expect every track section to be wired.

[railzilla]

You do not need to wire every track section. Thanks to the unijoiners there is a good electrical connection betwen the trackpieces. I started to build T-Trak modules and i cab build small module layout with only one feeder per track. One round on my modules is about 4.3 meters and it works with DC as well as DCC. T-Trak completly relies on Unitrack for electrical and mechanical connection between modules. All other module types use screws or clamps to provide  mechanical connection and extra cables for the electrical connection. It speaks for Unitrack that T-Trak can rely comletly on unitrack and the unijoiners as a module interface. No other typeof track can do that.

Many Japanese layouts also have only on feeder per track and they work well. Of course more feeders are better and its good practise to add feeders before and after switches the best is you make a test and find out by yourself how many feeders *you* need. With terminal unijoiners you can add feeders to any track you want.

[Guest Powersteamguy1790]

Wow...I did not expect every track section to be wired.

 

TaeOH:

 

I wire every section of Unitrack because I want optimum electrical conductivity. After running the JJJ&E for nine years, I can say I achieved my objective. I can run the JJJ&E for hours  at a time without problems.

 

Dropping feeders isn't difficult at all. I can only make a suggestion based on the success I've had over the years.

 

You can wire a small layout with a pair of feeders in two places.

 

I couldn't feel comfortable with that based on the size and extent of my layout. I run three 28 car trains at one time pulled by steam locomotives or diesel units such as F-3's in an "ABBA" configurations.

 

Have fun whatever you decide to do...

 

Stay cool and run steam..... 8) 8)

[bill937ca]

It speaks for Unitrack that T-Trak can rely comletly on unitrack and the unijoiners as a module interface. No other typeof track can do that.

 

I've seen Japanese modules with Tomix 1522 extendable 70-90mm pieces between modules.

 

 

Many Japanese layouts also have only on feeder per track and they work well. Of course more feeders are better and its good practise to add feeders before and after switches the best is you make a test and find out by yourself how many feeders *you* need. With terminal unijoiners you can add feeders to any track you want.

 

 

I have only one feeder per track with Tomix track on a large layout.

[Guest ___]

Wow...I did not expect every track section to be wired.

 

I haven't had to do this with any of my T-Trak modules, or my layout in general. To day I have a 3'x6' and have placed power to only the ends of the layout. Probably didn't need to do that, but to each their own I suppose.

[Guest ___]

Don't like the looks of ballast of the unitrack, looks a but too plastic really. I prefer Finetrack. Well.. I really prefer track that doesn't have some plastic ballast imitation, but the Finetrack can be made to look good ;)

 

That said, Unitrack is hands-down the most stable and reliable system for temporary carpet layouts.

 

That's why you can buy fine powder ballast to match your unitrack :P It matches the road bed perfectly.

[Guest Powersteamguy1790]

Wow...I did not expect every track section to be wired.

 

I haven't had to do this with any of my T-Trak modules, or my layout in general. To day I have a 3'x6' and have placed power to only the ends of the layout. Probably didn't need to do that, but to each their own I suppose.

 

With a 10x15' layout on multiple levels, feeders placed at both ends of the layout wouldn't cut it. There are over fifty turnouts, 12 blocks with signaling and three full sized trains running all the time, with another 45 loco's parked at various points on the layout.

 

Stay cool and run steam..... 8) 8)

[Martijn Meerts]

Personally, I'm going for the whole each track having a feeder dropping down for my modules. Not because I don't think the track joiners can't handle it by themselves, but rather because I want optimal electrical reliability. I've seen many situation where a layout will start seeing dropped voltages in certain area of the layouts, and this happened overnight. The problem was that the rail joiners are affected by a variety of things, and they can loosen up after a time.

 

I'm planning on building my modules so I can use them for a long time, so in my case it's "better safe than sorry" ;)

 

 

Btw, for digital it's recommended to have a feeder every 2 meters of track at most.

[Guest Powersteamguy1790]

For ballast, I recommend a very fine natural rock ballast such as ballast from Arizona Rock & Mineral or from Color Canyon Materials.

 

Natural rock ballast works best with Unitrack.

 

 

Stay cool and run steam...... 8) 8)

[railzilla]

Here a picture to demonstrate the quality and strength of unitrack. Those are two double length T-Trak modules which are held together only by the unijoiner connection of the unitrack. No other N gauge track can do this trick. Even HO-ers are impressed when they see it.

 

 

I use water based white wood glue to glue the tracks to the module. Once i made a mistake but wamted to reuse the track. So i ripped the tracks off the module, soaked them overnigth in water cleaned them and there were like brand new.

[Guest Powersteamguy1790]

Here a picture to demonstrate the quality and strength of unitrack. Those are two double length T-Trak modules which are held together only by the unijoiner connection of the unitrack. No other N gauge track can do this trick. Even HO-ers are impressed when they see it.

 

 

I use water based white wood glue to glue the tracks to the module. Once i made a mistake but wamted to reuse the track. So i ripped the tracks off the module, soaked them overnigth in water cleaned them and there were like brand new.

 

Railzilla:

 

Unitrack is also available in HO.

 

 

Stay cool and run steam..... 8) 8)

[Guest Powersteamguy1790]

You do not need to wire every track section. Thanks to the unijoiners there is a good electrical connection betwen the trackpieces.

 

 

I've found that Unitrack unijoiners can loosen especially after a long period of time(nine years), hence the need for dropping feeders from each section of track.

 

A little extra time soldering feeders to each section of track ensures perfect electrical conductivity. Three sets of feeders are necessary for turnouts and four sets of feeders are necessary for crossovers and double crossovers.

 

Have fun soldering feeders...

 

Stay cool and run steam.... 8) 8)