I am considering doing the Black River Junction shown in Model Railroaders Special Issue, Winter 2013. The staging extension would have to be curved to fit the room but the rest should be a fit. Maybe later bring it around with a lift out section to reconnect to the main layout. My issue is that the plan spells out what's needed using Kato Unitrack that I find rather expensive. I was wondering if it would be hard to convert to Atlas Code 83 using flex track? Most of there sectional track doesn't match and am wondering how close the switches match. I do have a power pack for DC but would like to go to DCC later. What would be necessary to have the switches compatable for DCC? It's been 40 years since I layed track so I wish to keep it simple at first.
I'm sure the two lines of turnouts have different geometries. But if you're using flextrack, you should be able to compensate for any differences in curvature. The experts here can correct me if I'm wrong, but if you're using Atlas turnouts, I think no changes are necessary to use them with DCC, because the frogs are completely insulated.
The best thing to do would be to try out some of the different track design software (AnyRail, XtracCad etc) and design the same layout using different brands of track / switches. Good Luck
This plan calls for a 90ยบ cross over and Atlas doesn't have one. Is there one available from another supplier that would work?
