pusscakesMost derailments are caused by junk cars and junk trucks and wheels.
Actually this is exactly what people kept telling me my problems were and I absolutely disagree with it! In my personal case this was just plain wrong. My cars had no problems whatsoever. I never had a single issue on any other brand of track. I will admit that there may be times when out of gauge wheelsets is correct though. Just not over n-scale Kato #4 turnouts. They are literally a 50/50 gamble. If it was my wheels that were the issue, why would I only have a problem on certain turnouts and not others and it was consistently the exact same ones each time? It would have meant that 100% of my rolling stock was crap as that was the failure rate over those units. That makes no sense. At the very least it is highly unlikely.
After looking at them really close I began seeing what the problems were and in each case they had nothing to do with the cars but rather with shoddy workmanship during turnout construction. They were all easy to fix but I clearly didn't "get what I paid for". I thought I was getting the most reliable system out there and if it weren't for those pesky #4's I would have. I have a friend here in town that also had a problem with the #4 turnouts. I just don't know what it is about those things. Half are good. Half aren't. Their #6's are as reliable as can be. Too bad you have a wide spacing with them if using parallel tracks. If they fix their issues with these things then I'll agree that it's a very nice system that is easy to setup and works great.
Don't be afraid to use it as a result. Just be prepared to work on some of the #4 turnouts as I'd be completely shocked if you didn't have at least one or two that have issues. I had 9 that had problems and I have a total of 16 of them. With some fiddling, they all work fine now.
Unitrack is worth every penny! I've used it on several N-Scale layouts and have never had any problems with it. I have Friends that use it in H-O scale with the same results. Most derailments are caused by junk cars and junk trucks and wheels.
I would think that when you spend a little more money on Unitrack, you would do the same with the equipment you run on it.
It's like they always said; "You get what you pay for."
pc
I've used some and have never had any problem with it, though I don't have #4 turnouts. Ballasting isn't too bad, but takes a little getting-used-to, I guess. In about 3 years, I've only had to clean the rails once (following moving the layout), and I've not had any electrical connection problems, though I used conventional solder with feeder wires.
Probably the only issue I've had is with elevating the track--there transition to grade and back to level tends to be a bit tricky--there is no give except at the rail connections, so transitions can be more abrupt than they should be.
I've used Unitrack in both HO and N scale, and I think it's worth every penny. I have never heard of any problem with the track Kato uses with the Unitrack, other than the ties not being prototypical of US railroads. I have not used the Tru-Track, but based on what I've seen I'm not terribly impressed, given that it still depends on the standard joiners to keep the rails together and the power flowing. The Unitrack connectors are extremely reliable and robust.
Juan
Although I've seen some people say they love Unitrak, my N-scale layout uses it and I wish I hadn't. The issue really is centered around their #4 turnouts. About half of them have had issues that caused derailing. It wasn't the gauge on my wheels either. I've heard all kinds of excuses to defend them but at the end of the day it was the same turnouts and the problems existed no matter what ran across them. For the most part any issues that need to be resolved can be done quickly. Usually with nothing more than some fine tipped pliers. The occassional one will need some grinding. It's hard to describe what the issue is through words. If it weren't for the #4 turnouts, I probably wouldn't have had any problems.
The #6's seem just fine. Their crossovers seem fine. Their track pieces seem fine. Easily snap together. Power lock ons can be done 2 different ways. One was is a small length of track that has the connector on the bottom. The other way is to use the track pins between sections that has wires coming out of them. Everything has connectors on it so if you use exclusively Kato products you don't even need to do any custom wiring. Just plug it all in.
Since I am more concerned with scenery than I was when I first started building, the track has proven to be a hassle for me. It's very difficult to make look real (in n-scale) with ballast but it's not impossible. Just very time consuming. If I could go back and do it all again, I'd use Atlas Code 55 and take my time.
Is it really worth getting Unitrack? I would rather have Atlas tru-track as it's code 65, but there's only 2 straight length options, 2 curved options, and 1 turn out option. All Atlas says is 12.5" turnout. Yeah, like that's real helpful. If I did go with the Unitrack where would I place the feeder tracks. I'm at a stand still anyways with track placement but this might help a little. Plus I'm lost because I've heard that Kato is pretty good product yet supposedly the track isn't the best, but it's better than Bachmann. Oh, it's N scale by the by, with an MRC Tech 2 power pack and there won't be any elevated track. Well except for the coal trestle at the coal dealer but that's something else to figure out.