What is Unitrack?This page contains my own personal information and tips about Kato's Unitrack - how to buy it, use it and improve it. This page reflects my own opinion only. It is NOT an official site for Unitrack. I am in no way related with Kato. Just a happy Unitrack user, putting some info on the net to help others on their way to happiness with Unitrack.
What is Unitrack?Basically, Unitrack consists of two (code 83?) rails, attahed onto a plastic roadbed, held there by tiny tabs. The roadbed is painted gray (darker in older versions, lighter today), with a color variety sprinkled on. The ties are molded on the roadbed and painted black. Unitrack pieces are held together by means of Unijoiners, which are railjoiners in a plastic housing that acts as a snap to hold onto the roadbed. When you examine those joiners, the snaps look very weak. Yet, the whole assembly is surprisingly strong.
Switches are available as #4 L/R, #6 L/R and #6 double crossover in N scale and (I think) #4 L/R in HO. They are remotely controlled, via a two-wire cable interface. That cable fits into Kato's switch controllers, but there is no reason why you couldn't operate them independently: Basically, DC (or rectified AC) voltage in one polarity throws the switch one way, and in the opposite polarity the other way. The switches also allow manual control. Their action is smooth, although they movable rails are not held as positively as in Peco switches. The switch mechanism is hidden in the roadbed - a nice touch!
Why Pre-Ballasted Track and Why
Specifically Unitrack?
Unitrack allows temporary layouts to
be built. If you are into building a layout to test an idea, or if
you have no space for a permanent layout, you can use this type of track
to assemble your layout, operate it and tear it down when done.
The snapping action between pieces provides for a strong connection
that is not likely to fall apart.
Unitrack will survive nicely through the frequent snap/unsnap actions,
if you follow some key steps, outlined below.
Unitrack is already ballasted.
Ballasting track requires carefull application of the gluing
agent, especially near switches. If you don't care for the mess, this
type of track is for you. The ballast is actually well molded and
appears multicolored, which enhances the realism. I don't care
much for the looks of the joiners, but they provide great
stability, so I live with them. If you are like me, you care more about operating and researching the prototype, and have less time for dealing with gloppy messes. Unitrack is for you.
Unitrack allows quick built-up. With
it, you can set up your (permanent) layout quickly and easily, and
you will have track that looks great soon after you start building it.
Unitrack is reliable. It has very good
running characteristics (see below). After starting several layouts
with flextrack and never achieving trouble free operation, Unitrack
represented a very dramatic improvement for me. Just within hours
after starting to lay the track, I had a good looking and smoothly
running layout!
Unitrack switches hide the
switch machine in the trackbed. That means no unsightly "structures"
next to the track and holes in the
baseboard. In short: Ease of installation. By the way, the reliability
of Unitrack switches is exceptional (see tips).
Are there any negatives? Sure. Read on.
Unitrack is expensive. I struggled
for a long time with the idea of spending $2 for 9" of straight
track, or $30 for a switch! Could I stretch by budget
- already spread among many hobbies - to allow this expenditure?
There is only one answer to that: You get (only) what you pay for!
Some $300 worth of track later, I can say that spending that money was
well worth it! I have some tips on buying Unitrack.
Unitrack layouts don't look like
the ones in N scale magazine. Realism is in the eye of the beholder.
For some of us, the number of rust spots on the track nails
is critical. For
others, if it looks good, it is good. To me, Unitrack is above average in
realism, and looks better than my own ballasted track. You can also
do things to improve its looks.
Unitrack has no flextrack. This
has been a complain of many Unitrack users [Kato, are you listening?].
I have been able to live without flextrack for my mainline (I used
Atlas for one of my stations - cheaper). If you must use
flextrack, use Atlas. It interfaces with Kato very nicely (see tips
below).
How Does Unitrack Compare to Other Brands?
European track: Roco and Fleischmann. These two
manufacturers make pre-ballasted track, Roco for HO only, and
Fleischmann for HO and N (piccolo) scales. I have never
user either brand, but they both strike me a very expensive.
Roco's track has a very nice feature: The trackbed comes off
so you can paint/weather it as you wish.
The thing I also miss by going with N scale Unitrack is the flextrack that Fleischmann has. Oh, well...
Atlas makes pre-ballasted
track in HO scale and they may be considering N scale. They simply
placed their regular sectional track onto a plastic roadbed piece.
They still use their regular rail joiners, and the roadbed has pins
that help keep the track together. I have used it for a limited
time and find that the connection between track pieces may not be
as reliable as with Unitrack. The price is right, though.
Bachman also makes HO
pre-ballasted track, in two versions: steel track (black ballast)
and nickel-silver track (gray ballast). The steel track is very
unreliable. There are corrosion(?) problems and the switches cause
derailments. The black ballast doesn't look too nice either. The
nickel/silver track should be much more reliable, and, although I
have not used it, I would recommend it over steel. The N/S version is
harder to find, though (more popular?). In terms of price, you can't
beat it!
The connection mechanism is bulky but works fairly well. I still prefer Unitrack's locking style, though.
Now Bachman has pre-ballasted track for N scale also. I have not tried it, so I don't know how good it is.
Life-Like is making HO scale preballasted track. I am not sure how good it is, as I have never tried it.
Questions? Contact me.
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