Returning to the World's Greatest Hobby and I need a little advice, please. :)

Hi, everybody!

My name is Robert and this will be my 4th return to the World’s Greatest Hobby!

A little bit of a background, if you don’t mind (you may skip and get right to the request for help, if you’d like). :slight_smile:

I originally modeled in HO scale, but as with most people, space became an issue and I converted to N scale. Sadly, this conversion did not bode too well. I quickly learned N is not as forgiving as HO and much more costly when mistakes were made.

One of the lessons I’ve learned is I’m not ready to work with Atlas track. Despite the helpful articles I’ve read, I couldn’t master the skill necessary to create level roadbed, which lead to track misalignment, electrical problems, and derailments. Of course, this was after learning the fact one doesn’t “tack” down N rails for design purposes. Ugh, the amount of track lost. :frowning:

So, with that, I’ve decided to stick to KATO’s Unitrack system. In addition, my layout will not be larger than 3’ x 5’. However, this is where my dilemna begins.

I’ve been to KATO’s website and thought I found the perfect beginning layout: Amherst 2005. Small and perfect, so I thought. As I looked and looked, I realized this design won’t suit my needs because it’s… well, boring. For a beginner, I’m sure it’s perfect, but I have to have a little more “beef” to my layout.

That’s when I found this:
http://www.trainplayer.com/Site2/User%20Track%20Plans.html
(scroll down to view Bill Koehn’s 3’x5’ N-Gauge Coffee Table Layout)

PERFECT!!! It’s exactly what I’m looking for! It’s made entirely of UT and it fits my required space limitation! There’s only one problem: I can’t figure out how to get the parts listing.

I downloaded the file (which I thought was a self-extracting zip file) but it turns out to be a module for a CAD program, for which I don’t own.

So, this brings me to my request for assistan

[#welcome] Robert. You might try the Yahoo group dedicated to Kato UniTrack.

http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query=kato+unitrack

Good luck.

in response to your first dilemma - the software program you need is “Trainplayer”. you can get it free from the same site you found your 3’x5’ layout (click the downloads link at the top of the page). They have a demo of the program, that i believe is 14-day full-capabilities (i.e. it’s not “broken” like other demo’s for software).

for your second thing - it doesn’t matter. XP has a rudimentary Java VM (though the REAL Java from Sun is much better).

Twinrova… as in the Spirit Temple boss from Zelda:Ocarina of Time?

Been there. :slight_smile: It’s bookmarked and I’m still wading through all the useful info.
Thanks for your help!

LOL! I saw that last night after I wrote this post. Still haven’t download it yet because I couldn’t get the info on whether or not it listed parts. One way to find out, though. :slight_smile:

Yes, Twinrova as in the Spirit Temple. [;)] She was one awesome boss.

XTraCad has libraries for Kato Unitrack, but it also has a steep learning curve.

I can’t find this program anywhere. The main website says “page not found” and mirror sites don’t have it either.

I just need it so I can generate a quick parts list for the layout above to get me started.

I bought the K2 kit today, so that’s another step for me. [:)]

www.sillub.com

appears that sillub’s link to the *.exe (WIN XP) download is broken. Hopefully it’ll be a minor issue and a quick fix. (good thing i’m running linux… lol)

though Sourceforge might have it, as it is opensource.

Apparently this Kato Unitrack - Yahoo group is a little picky about who they let in, I thought it might be a good source of info (since I am seriously considering Unitrack for my next layout) but guess I’m not good enough…got this message back today from Yahoo:

"Hello,

Your request to join the KatoUnitrack group was not approved.
The moderator of each Yahoo! group chooses whether to restrict
membership in the group. Moderators who choose to restrict
membership also choose whom to admit.

Please note that this decision is final and that Yahoo! Groups
does not control group membership."[:slight_smile:]

BTW I already belong to about 8-10 different Yahoo groups, I’ve always been admitted immediately in previous applications.