Kato flex track

[Chris333]

Found this on Twitter. Said to be released in December:
https://www.katomodels.com/product/n/flexible_track_for_permanent_layouts

[peteski]

Interesting. So that is not repackaged Atlas flex track - it is Kato's own design, using their Unitrak rail profile.

[ednadolski]

I wonder what code the rail is.  Those rail clips look ginormous.

Ed

[Mark5]

Is this different than the Kato Flex that has been out for a few years?

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=52690.msg721434#msg721434

https://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Kato-N-21000-Flexible-Track-808mm/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIj8PI3NaX-wIVBb3ICh0cfAB_EAAYASAAEgID3fD_BwE

https://katousa.com/n-unitrack-flexible/

[ncbqguy]

Interesting that the concrete track has different tie spacing and proportions than the wood tie.   
Almost as if the concrete is standard gauge and the wood meter gauge.
No advancement in either product.
Why can't somebody do decent track in N Scale ?
Charlie Vlk

[Chris333]

Is this different than the Kato Flex that has been out for a few years?

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=52690.msg721434#msg721434

https://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Kato-N-21000-Flexible-Track-808mm/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIj8PI3NaX-wIVBb3ICh0cfAB_EAAYASAAEgID3fD_BwE

https://katousa.com/n-unitrack-flexible/

Perhaps the only "new" is the concrete ties?

[Dave V]

Interesting that the concrete track has different tie spacing and proportions than the wood tie.   
Almost as if the concrete is standard gauge and the wood meter gauge.
No advancement in either product.
Why can't somebody do decent track in N Scale ?
Charlie Vlk

Well...  I mean if we do get a more realistic track option in N scale, I certainly wouldn't expect it from Kato. They have such an extensive line of code 80 components that it makes sense that anything new is visually compatible with what they have already.

I was hoping Peco--who's done several lines of North American style track--would move out on a code 55 line with American ties using their "buried code 80" design, but I doubt there's sufficient demand in N like there was for them in HO. Even so, the fact that Peco released a line of North American HOn3 track (my RGS uses mostly Peco 35 turnouts) was both unexpected and extremely welcome.

I do wonder...  When I go out and see N scale stuff, most of what I see is code 80. Is that because that's what's available, or because most N scalers are happy with it? Or is it a self-licking ice cream cone? N scalers buy code 80 because it's what's available most of the time, and so manufacturers see that and assume code 80 is what everyone wants? I mean, clearly--even with all the turnout issues--there's demand for Atlas code 55. Thread after thread here on the Railwire suggests that people are looking for components that simply aren't on shelves anymore. So I don't know. Peco code 55 worked for my pre-1900 trackwork on the Colorado Midland and it's robust as all get out...but it still isn't quite right for North American mainline transition era or later trackwork.

[djconway]

you can't by code 55 if it isn't on the hobby shop shelves, it is not on the shelves because nobody buys it.  A spiral to oblivion.

[Dave V]

you can't by code 55 if it isn't on the hobby shop shelves, it is not on the shelves because nobody buys it.  A spiral to oblivion.

Yeah, that's what I mean. The military does crap like that with manpower. They keep you undermanned and then--because you can't let the mission fail and you somehow make do for a while--they come in and say "See? You didn't need those billets in the first place." And then they cut those positions...because they never filled them.

[bbussey]

I've never had problems getting Atlas c55, but I always buy at least a couple of boxes at a time because I always need rail stock as well as flex track to keep the custom turnouts and crossings compatible.  I do the same with cork.  That probably gets me through the periods of unavailability.

[peteski]

I wonder what code the rail is.  Those rail clips look ginormous.

Ed

Going by the shape of the rail, it looks like the same stuff used for Unitrak. Code 80. Not a surprise at all.

[Spades]

I was hoping Peco--who's done several lines of North American style track--would move out on a code 55 line with American ties using their "buried code 80" design, but I doubt there's sufficient demand in N like there was for them in HO. Even so, the fact that Peco released a line of North American HOn3 track (my RGS uses mostly Peco 35 turnouts) was both unexpected and extremely welcome.

Is the global market for HOn3 larger than North American N market?

[nkalanaga]

Kato's wood-tie track probably IS narrow gauge - because most Japanese railroads are 42 inch gauge, even though they're modeled in "N scale".

But I imagine that most of us already knew that, didn't we?

[peteski]

Kato's wood-tie track probably IS narrow gauge - because most Japanese railroads are 42 inch gauge, even though they're modeled in "N scale".

But I imagine that most of us already knew that, didn't we?

Yes, 1:150 scale.

[Dave V]

Is the global market for HOn3 larger than North American N market?

You wouldn't think so...  And although HOn3 was already covered by Micro Engineering and Shinohara, Peco decided it needed to make North American HOn3 track as well. I'm not complaining. But it's odd. That said, Peco has multiple lines of narrow gauge track including On30, various flavors of HOn30/HOe/OO9, and the aforementioned HOn3. I thought that when their USA-prototype HO scale standard gauge code 83 track line came out years ago that maybe a similar line in N was around the bend. But, so far, no.