I was well on my way to adding track and turnouts to the west end of my yard, but cannot find my rail joiners. ARGH!!!!! I am sure I have a couple packs hiding from me. I was able to get the crossovers and some other track in. So Fifer got my money for 6 packs of ME rail joiners and a bunch of ground throws.
If I could change ONE thing about Unitrack, it would be to have the turnout wires connect with little plugs like the terminal track wires do. If you are using the turnouts manually your only options are to cut the wire off (which is a hard change to undo), or to leave it bundled up somewhere (which is a mess). Being able to unplug and stash the wire would be nice. But as always, I digress.
I agree R.J. I will probably control my switches manually. I don’t want to cut the plugs off so I’ll drill a hole large enough for the plugs to go through and tie them with a twist wire under the layout. That will keep them neat and allow me to control them remotely in the future if I want to.
I use my turnouts manually. I cut the wires flush with the bottom. I saved the wires. If ever needed to put back on it is simple to open the bottom of the turnout and re-solder the wires back. You would lose less then an inch in total length of the wire. Drilling big ole holes to feed the plug through and bundling the wires under the layout just seemed so............
Today was a good day! Ice Cube. Actually this whole weekend was a good weekend. I got another E9 for my Southern Pacific Daylight, I acquired a total of 3 Kato RDCs and while not N scale, it actually the polar opposite of N scale, I got a Milwaukee Road Alco FA-1 and FB-1 (both powered) and 4 heavyweight passenger cars for a song and dance… and some auto repairs. They are all Aristocraft and the engines have never been out of the box until tonight. I just need track… lots and lots of track. And a battery conversion, yup that too! Here they are in my truck. I have not unboxed everything, but here are 2 of the cars and the locomotives. The yellow boxes were slightly larger than the blue ones and the blue ones didn’t say what scale they were so I wanted to make sure they were the same scale… they are. I will get pics of the other purchases tomorrow, they are not in the house right now, and I don’t want to go and get them.
Are you guys using an old version? I thought Kato turnouts have removeable cables without cutting them. KATO #24-84TC Click for details N & HO Replacement Turnout cable [1 pc] (trainworld.com) Kato #20-220 #4 Left Turnout with 481mm (19") Radius Curve (trainworld.com)
The N scale #4 turnouts have a removable plug but to my knowledge none of the other ones do, including the crossovers. The #4 also have a slot where you can mount a Digitrax stationary decoder designed for these turnouts to make them controllable through the DCC system. I also cant say for the HO scale ones I do not own any of those.
I have a new N scale oval with a siding. The turnouts don't have a plug in the wires go in under a metal plate the is screwed down. There is a slot to put the wires out to the side.
Massey, I got my UP gp's out yesterday and ran them, first time in about a year. The layout is gone so I got to run on a friends layout.
I have some brand new #6 switches and they are permanently wired and don't have a plug, plus they are not included in the part numbers of switches that the replacement cable will fit. The #4 switches have a removable cable. The double crossover is listed but I don't have any right now so I can't verify whether or not they have a removable cable. Two of the switches listed as compatible with the cable by Trainworld are HO.
I bet a Great Dane could carry those off. Really nice models, though, particularly since they are of my hometown road. Doug
More Kato “used”containers-picked then up for cheap off eBay and are in great condition. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
An 'almost purchase'. I went online looking for 4-6 flatcars to put some homemade loads on. It's a good thing my desk chair has armrests !! I almost fell out of my chair at the prices !!! I am going to have to look in my 'junk' boxes and see if I can find a few in there that I can fix up !!!
From my favorite hobby shop in Illinois-a few sets of adaptors to connect unitrack to flex track, some JTC containers that were on sale, and the Walthers Superior Paper kit. Most of the kit will go towards a future chemical plant with a Metro Power and Light, Interstate Fuel and Oil, and North Island Refinery. Have not decided on the future of the brick structure yet. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
