Ballasting Unitrack


K

kylewoody

Member
Hey guys,

I'm working on my layout right now which is mostly a brewery - I am using Kato unitrack, and all is well. Except, for in the brewery/yard itself, the track is already sitting up on a high right-of-way.

Any ideas with how to fill in the areas between tracks, so it will look like all the track is built into the dirt?

Thanks!
Kyle
 
You'd be surprised with what a 8 dollar roll of plaster cloth will do. You could do a couple of things. Build up the area around the track with plaster cloth. you could also transfer from the unitrack to standard track for the area you want flush.
 
You could fill with foam, plaster or wood. You could also remove the UniTrack from there' and lay foam, wood or cork to the level needed, and lay regular sectional or flex (non-roadbed) track.

I'd do the latter, if it were me.

Rotor
 
I believe Kato sells ballast that matches the unitrak bed.
I'd guess you could fill the space between tracks as suggested and dust it with the ballast?
Along Rotor's idea, I'd look at regular track for the low area, or remove the Kato track from the roadbed. (I think it comes out?)
 
hamltnblue said:
you could also transfer from the unitrack to standard track for the area you want flush.
Click to expand...

I like this idea. My main lines are Unitrack, and I have flextrack & Peco turnouts I want to use in yards, sidings, etc.

What are some suggestions for making this transition, e.g., some sort of "ramp" from Unitrack level to, say, flextrack-not-on-cork level?
 
Rico said:
remove the Kato track from the roadbed. (I think it comes out?)
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about N scale Unitrack, but the HO version is all one piece - roadbed, ties, rails, the works.

It's curious that Kato makes a transition section for N scale from Unitrack to Atlas, but not in HO.
 
It's easy to make a transition ramp using foam. Just cut it to shape and about 6 inches long. Use a rasp or file to form it into a wedge shape and run the standard track up the ramp to the Unitrack. I did this with Bachmann E-Z track and it worked fine.
 
Thanks guys,

Yeah, I was looking - you can easily use the Kato unijoiners already on the track, and just hook up whatever standard track you want.

I have some Micro-Engineering flextrack and turnouts. Nice stuff, but it's code 70- which sucks, because the Kato is 80 (like all others). So I have to file it, or solder it together with a spacer.

Kyle
 
Thanks again guys - I know they make a ballast to match, but I was going to fill in the space between two parallel tracks with something.

However, I am going with Micro Engineering track now,which I can put straight on the foam.

Kyle
 
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