I’ve search around the forum, but I haven’t seen anyone specifically answer this question.
Can you mix Kato Unitrack and switches with Atlas Flex-track? If you can, what are the tricks to matching the track joints and transitions?
Thanks
Brian
Short answer, yes, you can.
Slightly longer answer - it is a royal PITA!
If I was going to mix track on roadbed (Kato Unitrack being one example) with flex, I would first determine exactly how much ballast former is needed to raise the top of the flex track rails to the height of the top of the Unitrack rails. (If it is exactly the height of some standard material, such as cork roadbed, count your blessings and press on.)
Next, figure out how you are going to join the rail ends, since standard Atlas joiners won’t connect to Unitrack without surgery. If insulating gaps are necessary, the problem becomes moot, but I would use Atlas insulating joiners cut off to leave the divider in place on the flex track side. Others have used everything up to epoxy for insulated joints. One possibility for a conductive joint is to solder short pieces of straight wire bridging the joint. Keep them just below the railhead to avoid overheating the plastic on both sides.
Now that I’ve described it, I think I’ll use this technique to build a first layout for my grandson. I have a fair amount of train set track, but not enough or of the right kind for a decent track plan. My own layout is flex and hand-laid.
Chuck
I believe Kato makes an adaptor track to join Unitrack with Atlas, at least in N scale.
I don’t know about HO scale.
In N scale the Kato rail joiner is a plastic clip with a metal rail joiner attached to it. It is easy to remove (snaps out). Once this is done the other brand can be attached using a standard rail joiner. No adapter needed.
Both Kato and Atlas make adapters to mate to regular track or a to a different type track - i.e. Kato Unitrack to Backmann EZ-Track. They are available at Walthers.com.
Jeffrey Wimberly, Leesville, La.
I’m out of my mind, but leave a message anyway.
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