Wanting to make this layout but am unsure as to the turnouts. Do I have to do anything as far as insulating the rails after they split? I am really unsure as to what I am suppose to do with these Kato turnouts as far as this goes. Alot of conversation also about the #4 turnouts causing derailments and shorts. Would switching to #6 turnouts be advised or would that even work with this layout? Any help would be appreciated.
You don’t have to do anything to the switches. The #6 switches are power routing while the #4 switches can be set to power routing or non power routing with screws on the bottom. I have all #6 switches on my layout so I can’t talk from experience but I know there are guys that say they have problems with the #4s and other guys who say their trains run flawlessly over the #4s.
Kato Unitrack turnouts are power-routing (if power is applied to the point end, the switch will automatically provide that power to the selected route.) Some can be internally re-configured to disable power-routing. When you look at the switch from above, the frog and both inside rails past it (opposite the moveable points) are connected to the appropriate point rails, depending on the selected route (switch thrown or not). These connections are made automatically inside the roadbed, accessible by removing the bottom cover plate.
I have not used many #4 Unitrack turnouts, but those that I have used have not had any problems. The #6 turnouts work and route power very reliably, by my and virtually all other accounts. Unitrack crossovers (single and double) are very reliable as well. Just like all the rest of Unitrack.
A good summary. Out of 12 Ea No. 4's on my layout (all in yard tracks and industry spurs), I had just one No. 4 with point closure trouble that sometimes derailed my most picky locomotives (Atlas SD-35s with the new hard-wired trucks that have almost no ability to rock from side-to-side). I made it right by filing a notch in the stock rail and it's been perfect since. The 8 Ea No. 6s (all on the mainline) and 1 Ea Crossover (mainline) have been flawless. (I've now probably jinxed my railroad. )
My layout to be* (Spaghetti & Western) only uses #4 switches on secondary trackage, not the mainline. However, I'm not sure of the frog geometry on Unitrack single crossovers. They have the same overall length and separation between tracks as one built out of #4s. But the crossovers have an excellent reputation for reliability. The point rails & pivots are a little different than #4's though. * My honey-do list from moving into our new house, and selling our old house, is finally short enough to see daylight at the end of the tunnel (or is that an oncoming headlight?) And in the mean-time, a nice furniture console we will no longer use, will be the new base cabinet under my HCD layout. It will provide a lot more storage for me, and is easier on the eyes that what I had cobbled together.
