At greenburgs shows, is there usually somebody with different lots of unitrack on the floorl under their table? I'm a long time O scaler that is building my wife a 29X48 inch N layout.I've been to many Greenburgs shows and usually found people with different lots of used track usually on the floor,and have gotten good deals over the years,usually asking them I'll give you X amount for the whole box I've been eyeballing E bay also
I've never bought used, but I think you'll find success and savings. I'd think that you'd want to look at the ends to be sure the previous owner has taken care to not bend the fitment or bent the Unijoiners. I've learned too that Unitrack had different coloration long ago, so be sure what you buy matches what you may already own. If you buy turnouts, be sure the point rails close properly with no gap against the stock rail and be sure the black and red wires are attached along with Kato's plug if you go that route.
It is fairly easy to look over almost any piece of Unitrack. No rails kinked, no loose rail, joiners in place. Sits flat on an even surface.
I have to ask? How long ago did uni track come out? I know I bought mine on the advice of people here soon after I signed up and that would have been 17 years ago, 2004 October
Well, the earliest I see it mentioned in Model Railroader is August, 1984, actually distributed by Micro-Trains back then (I had forgotten about), so it's at least that old. Since it's a Japanese product (originally developed for the Japanese market) I'm sure it had been out for a while before then, but I have no idea how long and I'm sure would have been hard to get in the U.S..
Well then, I feel safe saying that at least some of my truck is 17 years old and running just I did lose a lot of it in the fire, (5 years ago ); but I'm sure it's still working just fine
i will never buy used again. most of the used track was pulled up by people who dont give 2 cents about an you wind up with twisted track or busted , bent and busted plastic track.. i have a whole box of broken kato track to prove that fact. if i was you buy new then you know you have good track...( ill use the broken track rails for something the track plastic bases are all bad )
If you do purchase used Unitrack, I would replace the UniJoiners. Some of the older Unitrack I had purchased long ago had metal joiners that looked like brass and newer track had nickel-silver joiners. The UniJoiners can be ordered from your local hobby shop. They are listed at $6.50 for a package of 20, which will replace ten pieces of track and I believe come with a niffty tool to make changing them out easy. Since some track may have been set up and taken down many, many times, you are now assured a good tight connection. Ralph
They also make insulated UniJoiners if you should need those. I have a grain elevator on my layout and a Bachmann GE44 ton locomotive that while it runs OK, I put a section of insulated track at the end of the track to give the impression that it spots the cars for loading in between pick up and deliveries from the BNSF. Since I am a dinosaur and still run DC, I can make hopper pick up and deliveries on the lone siding without any power to my GE 44 tonner. Ralph
nope not a chance . bite me once but i will not be bit twice......all the broken track was ebay stuff . they prob didnt even know it was broken. all i know is i have a big box full of it.....most are cracked right where the ujoiners latch together.....witch caused me many electrical problems..... get a good look and many pics if you buy used ..... what i spent in that used track i could have bought new +a few $$ more
@sidney That really sucks. It is good you mentioned the source of your dismay. I believe you would fair differently on 'Trainboard Swap Meet'. I have Unitrak I will be selling via Trainboard Swap Meet and I will stake my 17 years on Trainboard, 8000+ posts and my reputation on having a satisfied customer.
For a small layout like that, just buy new. It isn't that expensive and you'll be able to get exactly what you need. It will all match and the UniJoiners will all be new and of the latest configuration.
I won't buy anything used sight unseen, including Unitrack, unless the price is cheap enough to make the risk worthwhile or the seller has a generous return policy. If you are not comfortable with soldering, you can also purchase pre-wired feeder Unijoiners for connecting power to your track. The attached wires have polarized connectors (but the powered unijoiners are NOT polarized, so it makes a difference which rail they are installed on), and they sell 3-way wye cables, and a connectorized supply cable with lugs for connecting to screw terminals on a power pack, etc. It's a lot cheaper if you know how to solder electrical connections, but these Unitrack wiring accessories are very reliable and convenient.
I pick up a bunch of used unitrack at the 2nd hand shops here in Japan. Never really a problem. I recommend you check it for any damage and give it a good wipe with rubbing alcohol. I’m not really too worried about color variations on the ballast-As long as it hasn’t been painted over entirely, it usually blends with a little bit of ballast anyways. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have bought used Unitrack from my LHS and used it without problem except for some sections of the old style Unitrack; the ones with lighter colored ballast and joiners with the copper colored metal part. Before installing, I "gleam" the rails (burnish with a stainless steel washer) and polish with Flitz (aka Wenol) metal polish. After installation, cleaning is done with a Tomix track cleaning car in vacuum mode, a home built Masonite sled cleaning car and occasional wiping with a clean cloth on trouble areas. After about a year of use I began to notice pickup problems on sections of the old style Unitrack. Wiping the railheads produced a thick black smudge of gunk on the cloth, while wiping new style Unitrack left very little black material on the cloth. It appears that the old style Unitrack uses an alloy that is more prone to oxidation and/or collecting dirt. Has anyone else encountered this? Barry Cutaia
