What about that russian decapod Bachmann taunted us with? There's more than the Erie ran these. A New Haven Pacific would be nice, but i've probably got as much chance as Dita Von Teese arriving on my doorstep.
That's a pretty big baby to throw out with the bathwater, when we start thinking about not supplying power/communications (control & status) through the rails... I agree that control of the loco might be better via wireless (e.g. Bluetooth) means, but removal of all electricity from the rails complicates occupancy identification. There are advantages to communicating through the tracks that we need to think about before we leap out of our frying pan.
As a newbie to the hobby I'm sure you're right. And as a newbie to the hobby I'm also thinking, "Man...it sure would be easier and cheaper if I didn't have to run wires and make connections and figure out how DCC works and solder joints and troubleshoot all the problems that come up when those things are done by a newbie." If there were battery powered locos that would run for several hours at a time without track power I'd jump all over that. Status and occupancy identification is far beyond my level of experience right now. Maybe someday those things will matter more to me, but at this stage I'll be happy if I can get track down and the trains actually run on it and I can install scenery to my level of satisfaction.
Hey, I had a train like that! It went around the tracks with no electrical power whatsoever. Of course, it had a big key sticking out the side and every so often you had to wind it up but hey, it ran.
Thank you for calling me out (seriously!) We all need to be mindful of newcomers to the hobby, and be more helpful and understanding. Mea Culpa! Electrical wiring is a lot like plumbing, except with power packs, the pack is both the supply and the "drain" for the electricity (like water.) The supply and drain wires often routed together, and color coded. So one of the wires (lets say the supply) is wired to one rail. Electricity flows into the rail, across the locomotive (decoder or motor) and back into the opposite rail, and back to the power pack (or DCC system). Use color coded wires (one color for supply, +, and another color for return, -.) Follow the rails around the layout to make sure you always connect the same color wire to the same side (rail) of the track, from a locomotive's point of view as it travels along the track. If you want to avoid soldering, I strongly suggest Kato Unitrack track & switches (turnouts), power pack, switch controls, etc. You can assemble, wire, and reliably power your layout (small or huge) without soldering anything. You can even use a DCC system. And as long as you stick to locos available in DCC, or for which drop-in decoders are available (either light board replacement or plug-in), you won't need to solder for DCC either. Such locos are usually advertised as "drop-in decoder-ready." Even if you don't mind learning to solder, I (and many others here) still strongly recommend Unitrack for it's variety of available track pieces and curve radii, switches (turnouts) and crossovers, and overall reliability and robustness. Of course all that plug & play comes at a cost, some of which can be avoided should you decide to add soldering to your skillset. I still would not recommend soldering the track joints (but some do solder their unijoiners in place anyway.) Unitrack offers powered unijoiners that replace the stock unijoiners that come with their track pieces, for ease of adding power taps anywhere on any Unitrack layout. And they offer three-way Y (Psi) extension power cords too. I started using Unitrack over 20 years ago, and after a long hiatus from the hobby, still use it today. Some of my Unitrack even has the old, painted roadbed, instead of the molded-in color now. With copper Unijoiners too (now they are nickel plated.) Unitrack is also available for HO scale, but with not nearly as much variety of track pieces.
I remember when I was wiring my layout. Someone (can't remember who) suggested using a boxcar and using blue painters tape stuck to one side. (The painters tape easily peals off the boxcar when done with no damage to the car). What color wires you use made no difference as long as the color you associated with that blue tape was always the same color on the same rail as you pushed that boxcar down the track as you laid it ! This especially helped when you laid track on the backside of the layout as the track orientation messes with the mind when figuring which rail is what color! JMO .
Hoss, very glad you're here, this is a great bunch. On the Unitrack, I too, have returned to the hobby after a long hiatus. I am building a small layout using Unitrack and could not be more pleased with it. Much, much better than the soldering from 30 years ago. If you want I was posting a thread on building my layout, it shows how the Unitrack can be made to fit any size. https://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?threads/gun-creek-branch-of-the-gorre-daphetid.146632/
I wasn't actually trying to call you out on anything, but you're welcome! Thanks for the lesson in wiring! I'm sure I'll figure it out easy enough when I get to that point. I've done plenty of electrical wiring. Just not on model railroads. My old layouts as a kid were just ovals on a sheet of plywood with two wired rail joiners connected to a power pack. I suppose the concept is the same on a larger layout. Just more of it. Really, I was just agreeing with whoever it was that said they'd love to see rechargeable battery powered locomotives. Having locomotives that reliably run independent of track power for several hours at a time (much like the prototype) sounds pretty cool to me. I'm sure they could be made with sound and directional lighting and all the other bells and whistles folks look for. Not sure if the hobby will ever go that direction, but I wouldn't be opposed if it did.
To add to my other comments, I will say that the way DCC can "communicate" with the engines through the rails and decoders kinda blows my mind. I get the power aspect of it perfectly. Power in, power out. Easy peasy. But the fact that you can now control individual components of an engine (speed, direction, momentum, sound, lights, consists, etc.) is pretty amazing.
Thanks Deacon! I'm pretty intrigued by the unitrack. Just not sure how cost effective it is for the size of layout I'm planning to build. I understand they even make flex track Unitrak now, but I've heard it's pretty $$$. I do like that it's so robust though and it would save a lot of time from laying cork roadbed. Definitely something I'll look at when I start buying track. I'd need a lot of it though for what I want to do.
After 50+ years of cork roadbed, flex track and ballast on numerous N Scale railroads, I went with Unitrack on my new road. Maybe I'm getting lazy as the years go by, but Unitrack sure makes things easy and reliable. I do miss the realism of the traditional method though.
Unitrack Flex track is an unknown to me. While flex provides a lot of options for custom curves, I don't know how it keeps the pockets in the roadbed for the Unijoiners (assuming it has them?), once trimmed to length. And unless kept straight or only bent in symmetrical S curves, the rails (and roadbed?) must be trimmed to square up the track ends to mate with standard, sectional Unitrack pieces, including bridges and switches, etc. Call me old-fashioned, but Unitrack sectional track, with it's variety of pieces and curve radii, has always been sufficient for my needs (ref: Spaghetti & Western). But keep in mind, my needs are constrained to the size of a hollow core door, too. If one is building a larger layout, the advantages of flex track (of any kind) become more important.
Unitrack Flex track (21-000) is a misnomer. it is just flex track with no roadbed so you need to add roadbed. It uses this joiner to attach to Unitrack - 24-810 I am using it on tricky sections of my layout. Between that and the size adjustable slider track you can make pretty much anything. https://katousa.com/n-unitrack-flexible/
Thanks for the info. So Unitrack Flex track is pretty much regular flex track... Hmmm. I generally cobble together assorted short track pieces to prototype, but replace them with a section of standard, straight Unitrack trimmed to length. The key is to cut a section of the roadbed out of the middle of a standard Unitrack piece, slide the remaining roadbed ends together on the rails, then trim the rail ends to length. A small fine-tooth saw* with miter box helps keep the roadbed cuts square to the rails so they meet up nicely. You can glue the roadbed ends back together from underneath. * "ZONA TOOL Deluxe Fine Kerf Razor Saw and Miter Set" at Woodcraft, etc.
I did that at about a dozen locations on my layout and it was kind of fun when I got the hang of it. I have an area of track that I designed to provide a switching challenge that required quite a few custom pieces and it all turned out pretty neat.
. YUp...but... My understanding is Unitrack Flex track has the same tie spacing as their sectional track.
Maybe time to switch to G scale? Actually, I'm pretty much right there with you. I had lasik surgery about 12 years ago and up until the last year or so my vision has been great, but I've noticed things getting blurry and it's hard to read anything up close. N scale might not be the scale I need!
