It’s going to be a couple of years before I can build a layout and I’d like to put something together on a temporary basis to test some locomotives, do speed matching etc. I’ve never seen Unitrack in person, we don’t have any stores within driving distance that carry it. It seems like it might meet my needs but I have some questions before ordering some. If I was to make an oval using their 31 1/8" radius curves and a couple of straight sections in between would I need to add a jumper to every section of track to have it work well with DCC? Also I’d be setting it up every two or three weeks and only leaving it up for a few days at a time. Does Unitrack hold up well if it’s put together and taken apart on a regular basis?
Thanks for any info you can provide.
When I moved into our new house in 2006 for a while all I had was a “test track” of 22"R Unitrack with some straights for an oval, which I set up on the floor in the frontroom. I still use it once in a while to break in new engines…as of now my layout in the basement is a switching layout so I can’t do continuous running yet. I’ve been using that same track for almost five years and it’s never had a problem. I find with one track connected to power it does slow down a bit on the far side so I added another on the other side too.
I ended up liking it so much that I’m using it on my new layout. The rail has a very narrow “semi scale” look - mubh narrower than Atlas or even Walthers code 83 track. I use DCC on the switching layout, and I have connections to the power maybe every 4-5 sections and it works great. I like the fact you can test things out “full size”, in my layout I’ve already been able to make some changes thru trial-and-error that have made it much better than it would have been otherwise.
p.s. I’ve been in the hobby about 40 years, so I know how to do flextrack and all that. Some folks say the Kato track is only for ‘newbies’ but I find the Kato track is much easier and more reliable than other methods I’ve tried.
Thanks for the info so far. Is it best to use their feeder track sections or solder leads directly to the rails for jumpers? It sounds like the Unitrack will work for what I want to do. I was considering building a temporary 5x9 layout in my garage and laying flex on it to test stuff on until I finish the room where my new permanent layout will be but all of the temps down in the teens this winter have made me decide against that so setting up some Unitrack in the house from time to time will be my only other option at this point.
I have buildt two HO, one N and an O scale layout in the last 27 years using the scale track and ballast method. This time for my 6 by 22 walk around I am going with the Unitrack. I for the life of me cannot find a reason not to. It looks like code 83, the plastic road bed looks ballasted enough for me and if your benchwork is smooth you cannot see the gaps in the track unless you are less than 6 inches away.
After testing it for about three months the electrical conductivity of the joints is as good as soldered flex. You will still have to run some jumpers I would still add jumpers about every 8 feet or so. The other big complaint people have is the cost but I just do not see how iti s that much more expensive compared to scale stuff like Walthers Code 83. By the time you add cork or foam plus the ballast and glue you are only saving about 10 to 20 percent. I am only 51 but I can tell you my time is worth way more than that.
One more thing there seems to be a bad batch of manual #6 turnouts out there. I just tried one and the points will not switch. If you get one of these, I just found out the solution.
Take the 6 screws off the the backing plate. Open it up. Take the small screw out of the small plate that holds the switching mechanism . Take off the plate. Take out the T shaped lever mechanism with the spring and rod attached. Pry off the black bottom plate from the top plate that holds the points.
With the back of a number 11 xacto blade scrape the sides of the oval in the switch roadbed.
This oval area has become tight enough over the years of molding that it binds the mechanism.
One of my club members built his entire layout with Kato track and it works very well and looks ok. I always thought it was to “toy like” for me but once I saw it with scenery I was really surprised by it. If your going to be taking it apart like you said it is a great way to go. Atlas sells packages of track as well to make a small oval so that might be another option for you.
Unitrack has two ways to connect power to the track. One are the 9" straight sections with wires attached, the other are railjoiners with wires attached. I’ve used both, if there’s a difference I’d say maybe the powered railjoiners work a little better. I’ve never had to solder wire to the rail, would be a little hard to do with the ballast there.
BTW I “paint” the sides of the rails with “Neo-Lube” from Micro-Mark’s catalogue, to get a nice flat dark gray. Then I paint some of the ties with dark brown and dark gray to mix up the “all black” look. Once I have the track permanently in place I’ll probably add some ballast along the sides of the attached ballast to break up the uniformity a little, and apply some weathering (perhaps a wash of alcohol and india ink).