So I just bought a 100 piece bulk box of Alas flex track and it occurred to me that I’ve never seen Kato Unitrack offered in bulk packages. So how would one buy a large order of Unitrack without buying one package at a time?
I was just poking around I guess buying track sets might be the only way although I did see some used stuff on eBay, but they seem to be overpriced. So after looking at some sets I realized that most come with power supply's and turnout switches which I don't need. Oh well
When I first started using Unitrack it came in boxes, not blister packs, and there were 10 pieces per box. John
One could always ask a retailer if you could get a "bulk" discount, for ordering a large quantity at once. Not saying they will give one, but never hurts to ask.
I found some Bachmann n scale EZ track in bulk packages of 50. Its too bad Kato doesn't do something lik that. I would be happy if it at least came in 30" pieces. Wow Bachmann has 30" Straight in 25 piece Bulk boxes. Hmm maybe I should start thinking about EZ track. I can’t remember now, but I think I saw a thread on connecting EZTrack to Unitrack
The M (Master) sets come with a Kato power pack but the V (variation) sets are just track. The only two single track V sets that are just track (no turnouts or crossings) are the V5 & V6 sets and it is cheaper to just buy straight track packs unless you need a ton of 11" and 13 3/4" curved tracks.
A few years ago, I got some very nice used Unitrack, here on the forum (From Grey One, thank you). It's track, it's indestructible, so used is fine. Ebay stinks for that. People bid it over retail.... Anyway, there might be someone here moving away from Unitrack, or who has overbought and is scaling back. You basically want a better price than the best etailer (so do I,,, always). Selling on ebay, is a hassle, for that pile of "eh, I could get rid of this and buy something i like, but I've never sold on ebay". Online new, the best I can see is 30% off list. That could be your reference point to pick a price. Start a post, see what happens. If you really want to save money, lock down what you really want, before you post. I'm selling my extra O gauge track, at a huge discount, because I didn't lock down the layout before overbuying. I'm doing it on another forum and it is selling as fast as I list it at 50% off. I figure, I've used up half it's life....
O-Scale! I'm interested in seeing what you have. Do you have it listed some place? Anyway back to N-scale, I don’t have a lot of curves so I can handle buying the small blister packs, but I’m more interested in straight pieces to go long lengths. I hate having to assemble all those little 9-3/4" Straight pieces for long runs and just can’t understand why Kato doesn’t have 30” pieces. I could use the Atlas Flex track that I just bought, but then I have to keep it straight and add roadbed. I just don’t want to go through all that. I actually bought the flex for my helix and I’m not planning on using roadbed unless there is a specific reason why I should.
You could click 3 pieces of Unitrack together and get a 29.25 inch section faster then you read this sentence. Kato being Japenese based...where living/playing space is at a premium...I am sure that part of the thought process is that 9.75" pieces are easier to store then 30" pieces. When I bought all my Unitrack from Fifers I had a few good size boxes of those sleeves they came in. I was gonna store those...thinking if I ever sold the Unitrack...putting the Unitrack back in the sleeves would be a good selling point. Then I realized that rubber bands took up a heck of a lot less room then those sleeves...LOL. A few rubber bands around a bundle of Unitrack...and the fact Unitrack holds its value pretty good...I filled the trash container with those sleeves. Got a whole lot of extra storage space after that.
My o scale is realtrax. I have an O54 figure 8, with extra bits to make it fit the Chrisymas layout I'm going to list and maybe an O42 loop, with some 30" straights. I need to decide if I'm going to switch that over to Atlas track this winter. I sold all the extra. As to the longer kato pieces, I'd use a few. I would really like it if they did smaller crossings for small layout 15 deg figure 8s, curved turnouts, double slips and such. If you take your layout apart, but want to keep some longer pieces together, you could glue a spine to 3 pieces.
if i remember right........kato did make a sectional piece of unitrack where it can be connected to other track systems like EZ track.
