I have purchased used and new Kato UniTrack N and have amassed a fair amount of track. I started tinkering yesterday afternoon and did an Atlas Classic, the Junior Pretzel. The basic design is still there, I added a few items for more action. The Minimum Radius is R11" with R12.375" and R13.25" curves. The layout sits on 6'-6" x 4'-6" of real estate compared to the original 8' x 6". With some minor adjustment, I do believe the Original Atlas plan could be 95% duplicated, the Kato Geometries will make some minor differences. BTW, the turnouts are #4 in this layout. The one I got were used and don't appear to have the issues known to plague the Kato #4's; they might have been tuned prior to my getting them. It was fun to set this up and run my Kato SD-70MAC BNSF around this, just to see if it could be done.
That looks great. Since you've already altered things by adding a yard, I have a couple suggestions. You have three switches in a row up top from right to left. Why not move switch #1 (right most) to past the #3 switch. And connect the middle switch so that it would connect before the end of the passing siding leading into the yard. It would give you longer sidings as well as keeping the mainline clear while sorting cars in the yard.
A couple of suggestions. I'd move the yard around to the front for better access, and extend/connect the passing sidings to make them longer and more useful, while keeping switches away from the upper right corner as much as possible to avoid reach issues.
David, I like your adjustment of the layout and I understand what you are saying about having things in reach. Thank you for your input. Charlie Johnson, KD5AWS
I am new to unitrack, and have built out of the old Atlas guides in the past. I started and never finished the junior pretzel years ago - but in HO. I want to build the JP in unitrack HO. Does unitrack scale from N to HO with any ease? Thanks
