From what I can tell, there is only couple pennies difference per inch of track between flex and kato's unitrack. The unitrack switches are about double the cost of normal switches. I know it is much easier to get track up and running with the unitrack, but with flex track, you can make any curve you like. Is there any other things that make one better than the other?
Thanks, Fred
In N scale, Kato makes a pretty large selection - straights, curves, double track, single track, superelevated curves, bridges and viaducts, etc. It's unlikely you wouldn't be able to do what you want with the Kato track. Plus with flextrack you have to put down something like cork roadbed.
The smaller the scale, the easier it is to have a problem with the track, like changes in weather causing buckles in the track. With Unitrack, you don't get that.
If you're using flat-top construction (like plywood), you can lay out the Unitrack the way you want it, and then raise it couple of inches with Woodland Scenic's risers (and create grades if you wish). That allows you to have track go over rivers or roads or another rail line without needing to saw up the plywood.
wjstix In N scale, Kato makes a pretty large selection - straights, curves, double track, single track, superelevated curves, bridges and viaducts, etc. It's unlikely you wouldn't be able to do what you want with the Kato track. Plus with flextrack you have to put down something like cork roadbed. The smaller the scale, the easier it is to have a problem with the track, like changes in weather causing buckles in the track. With Unitrack, you don't get that. If you're using flat-top construction (like plywood), you can lay out the Unitrack the way you want it, and then raise it couple of inches with Woodland Scenic's risers (and create grades if you wish). That allows you to have track go over rivers or roads or another rail line without needing to saw up the plywood.
Rich
Alton Junction
Wow, and I didn't even mention the Unitram streetcar system, or the buildings, or the turntable!
derfFrom what I can tell, there is only couple pennies difference per inch of track between flex and kato's unitrack.
I've checked several companies I order from, and I believe it amounts to more than a few pennies. The cost for an entire layout is what prompted me to use Atlas flex track instead of Kato flex track or Kato Unitrack. The cost of cork roadbed was not nearly high enough to make a major difference.
Disclaimer: I did not check every company or store. It's very likely you've been able to find a source that makes the Kato track prices competitive.
York1 John
Reading it again, I think the OP may have been comparing Kato N flextrack to Kato N Unitrack, rather than comparing Unitrack to Atlas or some other flextrack.
The Kato to Kato comparison would be pretty close. Going by list price, a 31-13/16" piece of Kato flextrack and a 35-7/16" strip of Kato cork roadbed each sell for $6.00, so a total of $12. A pack of four Unitrack 9-3/4" straights (39" total) with attached roadbed also costs $12. So it's like 38 cents vs. 30 cents per inch.
wjstixReading it again, I think the OP may have been comparing Kato N flextrack to Kato N Unitrack, rather than comparing Unitrack to Atlas or some other flextrack.
Derf, sorry about that. I misread your original post.
I would argue from my experience in HO, that the ease of construction and reliability with Unitrack makes it worth the extra cost. The last layout I built with flextrack required me to twice a year fix track that had buckled or otherwise moved due to the change in seasons. Also, seems like I was regularly soldering on new feeders because some section of track was losing power. Neither is an issue with Unitrack.
wjstix I would argue from my experience in HO, that the ease of construction and reliability with Unitrack makes it worth the extra cost. The last layout I built with flextrack required me to twice a year fix track that had buckled or otherwise moved due to the change in seasons. Also, seems like I was regularly soldering on new feeders because some section of track was losing power. Neither is an issue with Unitrack.
No problem. I'm thinking about switching to N from HO due to space and have been watching several videos and comparing prices to see if there was a clear winner in one system over another. I like the ease of the unitrack Everyone I've seen say that the unitrack is very reliable. I have about a 10 x 9 spare room and like seeing trains run versus just switching.
What are the most reliable brands of freight cars and engines in N scale?
Flex track allows, wel, flexibility. With Unitrak you get the switch alignments and track alignments that Kato provides.
With flex track and non-ballasted track components, you have much more flexibility.
The big difference is in yards. Yards laid with non-ballasted switches and flex track look much different tha yards laid with Unitrack, the non-Unitrack yards have tracks closer together and look more prototypical.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
I'm looking to possibly build the Housatonic Valley from the August 2008 issue of MRR or possibly a door size layout. The Housatonic is within inches, the same size as what I have built for my shelf layout. All I would need to do is add depth where the curved track is on the ends.
dehusman Flex track allows, wel, flexibility. With Unitrak you get the switch alignments and track alignments that Kato provides. With flex track and non-ballasted track components, you have much more flexibility. The big difference is in yards. Yards laid with non-ballasted switches and flex track look much different tha yards laid with Unitrack, the non-Unitrack yards have tracks closer together and look more prototypical.
Well a pretty good chunk of my HO layout is a 5-track yard that serves my ore dock. I used No.6 switches so my large articulated engines have no trouble moving around. So far it works well; it hasn't been scenicked yet but I suspect it will look OK.
In HO, Kato Unitrack pieces are set up to use 2-3/8" between tracks. I know most HOers use 2", so yes the tracks of my yard are a little farther apart than they might have been had I used some other type of track. But I don't know if visually it makes that much difference - guess to some people it could.
p.s. re appearance, don't know about N, but Kato's HO Unitrack has code 83 track that is much thinner than Walthers or Atlas rail - I've been using 'semi-scale' metal wheelsets as replacements on some of the old plastic-wheeled cars I still have, and they work great on the Unitrack.
I also don't find Atlas HO flextrack with the big nailhead in the middle of every 7th or 8th tie all that realistic looking.
derfWhat are the most reliable brands of freight cars and engines in N scale?
For locomotives in N, I have found Kato to be the best. They run great and they pull well.
wjstix I also don't find Atlas HO flextrack with the big nailhead in the middle of every 7th or 8th tie all that realistic looking.
I don't find ANY brand of sectional track with molded on roadbed all that realistic looking, but I'm not criticizing anyone who feels it is best for their needs.
These days most people are not attaching Atlas (or any flex track) with track nails in the center of the ties.
Look mom, its magic, no track nails.
Most people these days are gluing flex track down.
This track is glued down with clear PolySeamSeal adhesive caulk. And once painted and ballasted will look pretty realistic.
Sheldon
ATLANTIC CENTRAL wjstix I also don't find Atlas HO flextrack with the big nailhead in the middle of every 7th or 8th tie all that realistic looking. I don't find ANY brand of sectional track with molded on roadbed all that realistic looking, but I'm not criticizing anyone who feels it is best for their needs. These days most people are not attaching Atlas (or any flex track) with track nails in the center of the ties. [Photos omitted] Most people these days are gluing flex track down. This track is glued down with clear PolySeamSeal adhesive caulk. And once painted and ballasted will look pretty realistic. Sheldon
[Photos omitted]
With my Unitrack, I paint about half the ties brown or dark gray, and paint the sides of the rails with Neo-Lube which dries to a flat dark gray. When the track is in it's final place, I add some ballast along the sides and then add some weathering over it all. (My layout is set in early winter, so it's white; if it were summer I would do a black wash.)
It's kinda like an Atlas signal tower or water tower. We've seen so many built right out of the box - shiny green plastic etc. - that it's hard to accept that when properly painted and weathered, they're actually quite nice.
wjstix With my Unitrack, I paint about half the ties brown or dark gray, and paint the sides of the rails with Neo-Lube which dries to a flat dark gray. When the track is in it's final place, I add some ballast along the sides and then add some weathering over it all. (My layout is set in early winter, so it's white; if it were summer I would do a black wash.) It's kinda like an Atlas signal tower or water tower. We've seen so many built right out of the box - shiny green plastic etc. - that it's hard to accept that when properly painted and weathered, they're actually quite nice.
My objection to products like Unitrack, beyond the overly uniform look of the roadbed portion, is the inability to make natural flowing trackwork, smooth, true spiral easements, broad curves that are actually two easements back to back, etc.
Evening
Unitrack, Schmooze attack.
Perhaps that could get pretty serious. Wish Orson Welles was here to do another radio show.
Have always loved flex track. "The land of Do Whatever you Please". Summed up in two words, (Curves & Swerves). Works best in given parameters.
One must go out on a tangent here. But just as long as your longest passenger car fits with a little extra splash in length, It'l go along way in-between curves.
We're all good here.
My Vote is Flex Track all the way my Brothers.
TF
ATLANTIC CENTRAL My objection to products like Unitrack, beyond the overly uniform look of the roadbed portion, is the inability to make natural flowing trackwork, smooth, true spiral easements, broad curves that are actually two easements back to back, etc. Sheldon
There is a way to give Unitrack a kinda pseudo-easement going into and coming out of curves . . .
Suppose you want a curve with a 19" N-SCALE radius (approx 35" equivalent HO scale radius). You can begin and end the curve using one or more 28.25" N-SCALE radius (approx 52" equivalent HO scale radius) pieces.
Both the 19" and 28.25" radius curves would qualify as kinda like a broad radius curve in the N SCALE world.
LINK to SNSR Blog
Flextrack does allow you to do larger more free-flowing curves, but it also allows you to lay out inaccurate curves of varying radius, sometimes causing derailments because a section of the curve is sharper than you intended.
Unitrack is nice, my locomotives and rolling stock like it too. But i agree, there is a "uniform" or almost "toy train" look to it. I like the more "organic" look you can get from flex track, or you know, laying your own. But I like my unitrack, it is almost flawless.
As it happens my latest Train World order came with the new Kato HO/N Unitrack catalogue. 22 pages of N scale track - single pieces, double track, turnouts, bridges, straight and curved viaducts, tram/streetcar trackage (Unitram) etc. N scale Unitrack largest curve pieces are 718mm or about 28-1/4" radius, so I'd think that would be plenty broad for N scale cosmetic curves.
As to appearance, I'll say again, it depends on how you use it. If you take flextrack and nail it to cork roadbed and don't do anything else, it's not going to look very realistic. You need to paint the ties and rail, add ballast and weathering. Same with Unitrack. If you paint the ties (especially if you use two or three colors) and the rails, add ballast to the outside, give it a wash of alcohol-water-black paint (or India ink), it looks a lot more realistic.
Outside of the unitrack, what Nscale track and turnouts are the most reliable?