The N scale Pennsy Juniata Division 2.0 - TTrak!

[Point353]

Bachmann K4's show up on eBay from time to time and can be had for under $200. 

Under $200 for a new item, or only as used/pre-owned?

[nscaler711]

I appreciate all the links to the K4, but it's been on the back burner for a few years now, and even more so with the Z scale.
I suppose I'm holding out for them to drop some with the FoM cars, if not a T1 maybe needed.

@Dave V yeah I was excited when I saw that announcement too. After I bought the HO cars.  granted I picked up the S2 Turbine from BLI so there's that. 

[mu26aeh]

I have a Bachmann K4 currently on the consignment rack where I work, am asking $200 for it.  I only ran it once for about 5 minutes after I got it.  I don't think it was run much by the previous owner.  It has a jewel case but incorrect K4 insert.  PM me if interested.  I work this weekend so I can grab it and ship off to you.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

If you grab it, I have a couple other things to send you too.

[Dave V]

Well sh!t, back to paralysis.

I have N scale Pennsy goodness rolling in almost daily, and I have 3D printed versions of very typical central PA rowhouses and businesses. And a perfect replica (thanks @John ) of HUNT tower. All of it is begging for me to do a more realistic depiction of Huntingdon and the Middle Division than I can do with T-TRAK.

But more importantly, I'm stuck on Unitrack. Not because it doesn't look good (although yeah, that's still an issue for me), but because I don't know how I should use it. Here's what I mean.

1) I was planning on just painting rails and ties only and then ballasting the shoulder with a close match. I've already started this on many of the pieces I have.

2) However, I intend to use the Kato crossovers for the interlocking at Jacks, and the tie-spacing on the crossovers is so much better than on regular Unitrack.

3) Hand-painting the concrete ties on the crossovers to make them look like wood was such a pain in the a$$.

4) Mixing and matching the regular Kato track and the concrete tie track looks pretty weird.

5) I could switch everything to the Kato concrete tie track and it'll look much better than standard Kato track, but painting all those ties may literally kill me. But if I do the broader curve corners (which my M1s and heavyweight trains prefer), I would almost certainly use the concrete tie plate curve tracks.

6) Or, I could spray-bomb all the track with the good ol' trustworthy Rustoleum cammo brown, but then I have to ballast in the tie web. Which is even harder than ballasting the regular tie track because of the depressed section in the senter of each concrete tie.

7) So then I come back to doing it the original way I'd planned. And the cycle of indecision begins anew.

...8 ) and oh by the way, there are no single turnouts with the concrete tie spacing so I still have to use the traditional Unitrack turnouts or splice in somehow something else.

So crap.

So then I think about using Peco 55. Bad tie spacing, great rail profile. Or ME code 70. Rare and expensive. Atlas 55 shat the bed on me when I used it last so I cannot and will not be convinced it's safe to use ever again. Maybe ME code 55, but still expensive and hard to find.

If only standard Unitrack had the same tie spacing as the concrete stuff...this'd be a slam dunk.

[Dave V]

Eh, f**k it. Just gonna do it straight. If it’s unsatisfactory to me and someday I make a permanent switch back to N scale exclusively I can scrap ‘em and do something permanent with better-looking trackage. But for now I want maximum portability, so that means T-Trak, and maximum simplicity, which means Unitrack. Weathering will help the transition between the different tie spacing. And I’ll just suck up the jeers from the few people here who’ll care.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Eh, f**k it. Just gonna do it straight. If it’s unsatisfactory to me and someday I make a permanent switch back to N scale exclusively I can scrap ‘em and do something permanent with better-looking trackage. But for now I want maximum portability, so that means T-Trak, and maximum simplicity, which means Unitrack. Weathering will help the transition between the different tie spacing. And I’ll just suck up the jeers from the few people here who’ll care.

This is the way.

[davefoxx]

How hard would it be to spray bomb the Unitrack and then, at whatever pace you’re comfortable with, use a small brush to paint full strength (or ever-so-slightly diluted) white glue between the ties and just dump ballast on until it dries.  Pour off and reuse the excess ballast.  This way you don’t have to try to manicure the ballast around those low-profile ties.  Do just a foot or so at a time to stay sane.  Maybe?  Admittedly, I haven’t tried this, so I’m ducking for cover! 

DFF

[Dave V]

How hard would it be to spray bomb the Unitrack and then, at whatever pace you’re comfortable with, use a small brush to paint full strength (or ever-so-slightly diluted) white glue between the ties and just dump ballast on until it dries.  Pour off and reuse the excess ballast.  This way you don’t have to try to manicure the ballast around those low-profile ties.  Do just a foot or so at a time to stay sane.  Maybe?  Admittedly, I haven’t tried this, so I’m ducking for cover! 

DFF

That's one option for sure... But I feel like I have more patience with painting than ballasting that every-so-shallow tie web...

[davefoxx]

That's one option for sure... But I feel like I have more patience with painting than ballasting that every-so-shallow tie web...

Which is why it occurred to me that I would prefer “paint” that white glue between the ties and dump on the ballast rather than to try and meticulously get each ballast of grain in the right place.  Ballasting Unitrack and OCD don’t mix.

DFF

[Dave V]

Which is why it occurred to me that I would prefer “paint” that white glue between the ties and dump on the ballast rather than to try and meticulously get each ballast of grain in the right place.  Ballasting Unitrack and OCD don’t mix.

DFF

Is this what @chicken45 did on his MG Tower module? I recall him describing some pain and suffering...

Maybe the right answer is to just sacrifice a test piece and give it a shot, huh?

[chessie system fan]

I used that method.  It wasn't too painful... but it was also just a single.

[Dave V]

I sometimes have to remind myself that there can be a difference between what I can do and what I want to do.

I wrote an article for a magazine on making Hon3 commercial track look better. I demonstrated that Peco code 55 N scale track can be made to look like turn-of-the-last-century standard gauge trackage. So I could go to heroic lengths to use finer scale track on Unitrack layouts and solve complicated issues ensuring total compatibility with the T-Trak standard. But I don't think I want to. No, I don't think I want to do that. I think I want to snap together the fun play track and then try to make it look good enough.

I know @robert3985 will be disappointed in me and my results for sure. And Bob, believe me when I say I have deep respect for you both as a technical expert and as an exceptional modeler. But in the end, I'm doing this for me, and I want a break from the self-imposed pressure that's governed my modeling of late. Model railroading is starting to actually become stressful for me, especially when I worry too much about the opinions of others.

Again, if'n I don't like it, I can tear it down, reuse all the structures on some other layout, and then sell the used Unitrack for a buck or two.

I also think maybe I need to quit "socializing" every idea and giving others veto power over my own desires. Better modeling through peer pressure for sure, but if someone doesn't like my T-Trak Pennsy because of the Unitrack, I'll refer them to my two Colorado-themed layouts.

[robert3985]

I sometimes have to remind myself that there can be a difference between what I can do and what I want to do.

I wrote an article for a magazine on making Hon3 commercial track look better. I demonstrated that Peco code 55 N scale track can be made to look like turn-of-the-last-century standard gauge trackage. So I could go to heroic lengths to use finer scale track on Unitrack layouts and solve complicated issues ensuring total compatibility with the T-Trak standard. But I don't think I want to. No, I don't think I want to do that. I think I want to snap together the fun play track and then try to make it look good enough.

I know @robert3985 will be disappointed in me and my results for sure. And Bob, believe me when I say I have deep respect for you both as a technical expert and as an exceptional modeler. But in the end, I'm doing this for me, and I want a break from the self-imposed pressure that's governed my modeling of late. Model railroading is starting to actually become stressful for me, especially when I worry too much about the opinions of others.

Again, if'n I don't like it, I can tear it down, reuse all the structures on some other layout, and then sell the used Unitrack for a buck or two.

I also think maybe I need to quit "socializing" every idea and giving others veto power over my own desires. Better modeling through peer pressure for sure, but if someone doesn't like my T-Trak Pennsy because of the Unitrack, I'll refer them to my two Colorado-themed layouts.

@Dave V - Dave, Firstly, I highly respect your talents as well as your accomplishments.  I often refer model railroaders to your work as examples of what can be done in the hobby, and from a personal aspect, I enjoy immensely looking at what you create and reading your commentary, so I am not, and never would be "disappointed" with what you do and create.

Secondly, forget my opinion.  I'm mostly expressing my puzzlement at your decision to use Kato Unitrack, when, from gathering a lot of evidence and seeing the end results others get with trying to "silk-purse" Unitrack, you're going the stressful route when using it...that is, painting it, ballasting it and weathering it...to make it look more realistic.  I don't think this is just an opinion, but I'm pretty sure that it would be easier and less stressful to just use ME Code55 for your trackage and mix up ME#6's, along with Atlas55 and Peco55 turnouts.  At least you'd be sure of your results, meaning that with less effort, less stress, less experimentation and less concern about the end appearance, your results are gonna be exponentially more realistic.

Hahaha!  Man, I've got a real case against Unitrack don't I??  Oh well...please laugh and don't stress!  

For the least stressful way of using Kato Unitrack, I think it would be just to accept it as it is...with no embellishments, and forget about all that extra work needed to attempt to "improve" its looks.

A few years ago, Peter @peteski challenged me to see what I could do with Kato Unitrack, and y'know, I got some out of one of my Kato COLA sets, put it on my workbench, looked at it for about an hour from every angle, then put it back in the box.  I suppose that if the rails at least had a "rail" profile, instead of that slab-sided slotted rectangle they have, I might have given it an attempt.  I knew I was gonna expend a lot of effort just to make a little diorama with Unitrack, that no matter how much effort I put into it, would remain a pig's ear.

Frankly, because I admire your work...and your work ethic as much as I do, I am still puzzled as to what factors prompt your decision to go with Kato Unitrack, even when T-TRAK rules and recommended practices allow more realistic track between the Unitrack modules' track connectors, which, I assume is an admission by the originators of the T-TRAK modular concept of the visual problems that Unitrack has.

But, also frankly, I am not attempting to change your mind.  I am seeking enlightenment.  AND, I in no way wish to make anything about the hobby more stressful...in fact, just the opposite.

I'll continue to follow your Pennsy N-scale efforts with much anticipation!

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[crrcoal]

I like the idea of the concrete unitrak and painting the ties. I also realize what a pita it would be to do that. However, why not just chip away at it? Do a couple pieces a night or every other night. Maybe have the wife help. Before you know it will be done!  Also a bonus to the broad concrete curves that the M1’s will love, the curves are super elevated those big steamers will look oh so hotttt round the curves.