Just inherited 400-500 pieces of Kato Unitrack and about 50 turnouts…was wondering about DCC compatibilty…and advice or guidance will be appreciated
I had no trouble with mine so far. There are a number of videos on my site that shows the unitrack being used with DCC from Digitrax Super Chief and a Power supply, also from digtrax 2012.
In fact, Im exploring equippting the Kato switches I do have with a Digitrax stationary decoder and that is going to be my next project.
In fact, Im working on a yard out of Kato along with the Food District as well.
I believe MR did a project railroad called the Black River Junction that used Kato Track recently.
If your track and switches are in good shape you will be saving alot of money. The only issue I found with these tracks are two. Noisy. I plan to test out the WS Rubber roadbed with these. And the switches are sometimes too tight in gauge on the first tie past the frog plate next to the gap on the Diverging rail side.
Another person said there is alot of voltage drop with these tracks, I have huge power and laugh at these voltage drops. Now having said that, I do notice a little bit of a load on these rails.
Advice ? Send me half your turnouts [:D]
You won’t have any problems with unitrack turnouts and dcc.
Here we go:
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x173/fallsvalleyrr/?action=view¤t=KatoYardworkFinal.flv
These are the Kato Number 4’s one right hand and one left hand.
They are not dcc friendly and are power routing. That means if I put the switcher on one of the tracks and throw the switch for something else, the switcher will lose all power.
It is a little noisy at times and was shooting in between fireworks from the neighbors who are busy blowing up the last of thier years savings before the local laws kick in again banning them.
I managed to shoot two different ones in total but the first one needs alot of work before it can be uploaded.
I did not really have any trouble running these two switches tonight Speeds were kept low and did alot manual coupling/uncoupling in between takes.
The second video will feature a pair of Atlas RS-1’s in analog mode using address 00 and you will be able to get an idea of how “Clickety” that trackwork can be where there is no sound to cover it.
If the tracks you speak of is an inheritance, you might want to consider that 50 switches at 40 each will run about 1800 dollars or so and the 500 peices of track divided in bundles of 4 each for 9.00 each give or take a few dollars probably works out to another thousand dollars in value. You might want to check with your tax preparer to ensure that you are free and clear on this inheritance.
This track is extremely expensive but is pretty bullet proof, but not indestructable. The rail joiners will need replacing from time to time and the switches need TLC or they go out of gauge at the frogs.
I may or may not weather the rails… all that shine hurts the eyes. That’s a project for another day.
Oh, one other thing. I used an hour for just this one video. Shot about 20 minutes worth and had too much fun running cars
you will have no problems, I have a Unitrack layout with 16 switches, #6’s on the main an #4’s in the yard and service areas.
All are driven by Digitrax DS 64 or DS52 decoders, you will be able to switch up to 4 units from one output!
Lucky man, have fun with your layout.
Bill
[quote user=“Safety Valve”]
Here we go:
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x173/fallsvalleyrr/?action=view¤t=KatoYardworkFinal.flv
These are the Kato Number 4’s one right hand and one left hand.
They are not dcc friendly and are power routing. That means if I put the switcher on one of the tracks and throw the switch for something else, the switcher will lose all power.
It is a little noisy at times and was shooting in between fireworks from the neighbors who are busy blowing up the last of thier years savings before the local laws kick in again banning them.
I managed to shoot two different ones in total but the first one needs alot of work before it can be uploaded.
I did not really have any trouble running these two switches tonight Speeds were kept low and did alot manual coupling/uncoupling in between takes.
The second video will feature a pair of Atlas RS-1’s in analog mode using address 00 and you will be able to get an idea of how “Clickety” that trackwork can be where there is no sound to cover it.
If the tracks you speak of is an inheritance, you might want to consider that 50 switches at 40 each will run about 1800 dollars or so and the 500 peices of track divided in bundles of 4 each for 9.00 each give or take a few dollars probably works out to another thousand dollars in value. You might want to check with your tax preparer to ensure that you are free and clear on this inheritance.
This track is extremely expensive but is pretty bullet proof, but not indestructable. The rail joiners will need replacing from time to time and the switches need TLC or they go out of gauge at the frogs.
I may or may not weather the rails… all that shine hurts the eyes. That’s a project for another day.
Oh, one other thing. I used an hour for just this one video. Shot about 20 minutes worth and h
That is the price that is at the LHS for these, the number 6’s are more expensive.
I figure it this way… I can wait 3 years for Walthers to finish the back order of Shinohara DCC friendly switches that are NEVER availible when I need or am ready for them, buy Torquoistes (Spelling), cork, ballast, glue, wiring etc… for almost what I would spend on a single Kato Switch that only needs a 12 dollar Digitrax decoder to run em.
There is too much controversary over the Pecos and the Dollar has fallen against the Euro, making these switches pretty expensive, Atlas is too fragile to be worth the dollar they want for them (Too bad too, they make great cars and engines) and Bachmann is something I would rather not deal with.
I also consider that I am extremely mobile at this time, almost like a trainset track while the layout is under construction. The only worry is replacing joiners and with my budget, those are not even noticed.
Yes switches are expensive and I have about 12 planned so far, each one for a precise part of the trackplanning with nothing wasted. Against the cost of rolling stock and locomotives, the Katos are CHEEP.
I dont have much of a budget, I am happy to buy these switches and track. They get to be used quite a bit after a initial gauge check and any necessary trimming if any.
Finally One considers that I put three total hours on that set of tracks alone this week and I only had one derailment and that one was because one of the kaydee couplers did not have enough graphite inside it’s box and too much sideways force was generated.
That car got sent to the workbench to be stripped of it’s old and wore out number 5’s and replaced with Whiskers and graphite next month.
That is the top of my list at the end of the day, trouble free operation within reasonable limits.
Here is the second video fresh from the editing shops…
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x173/fallsvalleyrr/?action=view¤t=YardworkOneFinal.flv
It was difficult to get a 2.7 gigabyte file down to less than 50 megabyte limit. It was also a 13 minute long file that needed to be cut down really good to less than 5 minutes. I chopped out as much as I needed to and gave each scene a transition.
The story is simple. The yard needs to ship a special train with one loaded heavy duty flatcar. First the assigned caboose is placed on the departure track. The flat car was buried behind other cars on track two. The switcher removed those cars and put them onto track one which will later be moved to departure as a local train. The special load is then retrieved and placed onto the Departure track.
Later the switcher moves into the clear on track two and the road power is brought in and it takes the load out of the yard and down the main to the customer.
I expected that heavy duty RTR flatcar from Athearn to derail just by being looked at. I always have track power turned off whenever I rail that particular car. If anything is going to derail, it will be that one car if it encounters a problem with the track.
Apologies in advance for the noisy background.
When comparing prices of Unitrack, remember that HO Unitrack is more expensive than N Unitrack. Some Unitrack turnouts are power routing and some are selectable as power routing or non-power routing. If you have the #4 N-scale turnouts, they are labeled backwards on the bottom as far as setting them for power routing or non-power routing. You should not have any problems using them with DCC. I’ve used the N-scale #4 and #6 turnouts with DCC with no problems at all.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m a big fan of Unitrack myself. Just surprised at that price for HO
Mailman,
I dont know the pricing for N scale swithes, sorry for any confusing.
I am interested to learn of any internet vendors of Kato switches, bypassing the local sales tax of 10% is worth the oppertunity to me with a internet only transaction.
That is, until our esteemed Congress quits wining and dining Election Suitors and passes some kind of Law imposing Taxes on Internet sales.
Nah, any confusion is my fault, not yours.
As to online vendors, many, many handle them. Couple of the top of my head. No sales tax, but of course shipping comes into play…