Surely you jest. Arrrrrggg! that has been on my big list since I first saw John Sing's solution. New Thought: Powered rail joiners that don't fall apart or are cold soldered. Inexpensive extenders for said joiners. Simplistic ways to hook it up to a 'pre-fab' control panel. Well, I can dream, can't I?
Do I have a dollar... dollar and a quarter... dollar and half... going... going... Oh... man... that's the ticket!!! I'm going to call my options broker on that little known Wall Street track exchange... errr.. eBay... and make a killing on flipping my Unitrack!! Bruce... still ROTFLMAO with your 'investment' comment about Unitrack. Unitrack is expensive to a certain degree... but... 'gently used' Unitrack is fairly marketable. When reselling... we're not looking to make a profit... but... minimize loss should a better option comes along. Should Inkaneer be right on the 'futures' of Unitrack... I'll buy a house with my profits... LOL
Possibly single track super elevated curves, similar to what they recently announced in HO scale. However, I also would LOVE to see a single crossover in either rh & lh using #6 turnouts and 33mm track centers, curved turnouts using radii matching existing curved pieces, a double-slip switch, or a three-way turnout. But it may just be the under-layout "sound box" shown at the Atlanta NMRA National Trainshow this past July. Bill in FtL
OHhhhhhhhhh...I'm liking this one. "Under layout sound" "Knock your socks off" Makes sense...if they wanna do a 'play on words'....hmmmmmmmm ;-)
Ummmmmmmm I believe (2) #6's diverging route to diverging route make a single crossover with the right track spacing. Will have to double check that in the morning...hmmmmm. However...a #10 single crossover would be nice ;-)
I'm not sure if this is real or just generated but if it's true, Kato got a container in at Los Angeles on January 23. http://www.importgenius.com/suppliers/sekisui-kinzoku-co-ltd
I go along with a post a few pages back that everyone seems to have ignored. A turntable. It has been shown with a prototype photo in the 'coming soon' pages of the Japanese catalog for three years now. The other new track item in this years catalog is a crossover in the Unitram track. There was a crossover using No.4 turnouts to be made but Japanese dealers are showing it as 'terminated' and are no longer taking reservations.
....funny that you should mention this. Someone mentioned it earlier either on this forum or another. At the WGH On Tour show that recently occurred at Oaks, Pee-Ayyyy, I asked the Kato representative about this. He said that it was not happening. I would not mind seeing it, as I suspect that it would be easier to cut up this turnout than the existing double track turnout. I have been using the UNITRAM trackage as street trackage on my pike. While the curves are sharp, there are some locomotives, steam and diseasel, that will take them. The real problem is the double track turnout. The turnout is rather sharp, which can cause climbling. Add to the climbing the placement of the plastic diamonds where the outer diverging crosses the inner main and you get all sorts of stalling problems. You get far fewer stalling problems on the inner main turnout. While there may be some climbing problems on the inner main turnout, there is only the plastic frog--no plastic diamonds with which to bother. Thus, more locomotives will pass through that turnout. I have managed to tale a Dremel to the straight and curved pieces to make single track street running. I have yet to summon the courage to take the Dremel to the double track turnout piece. If they ever do sell a crossover, it would be much simpler to cut that piece.
Nope, sorry; you need to use #4s for the proper track spacing. Kind of embarrassing to be forced to use switches usually only found on industrial branchlines for a single crossover on a mainline--and even more embarrassing to think that Bachmann offers single crossovers for their EZ-Track line. Plus the Kato double-crossover (which almost everyone uses because there are almost no alternatives) is rarely ever found in real life except in passenger terminals. So, Kato has a tremendous number of opportunities to improve their track line.
