Opinions on Unitrack, E-Z Track, etc.


E

ecarfar

New Member
Hi, I'm contemplating building an HO layout suspended from the ceiling around the wall of my basement family room. You know, the kind that's 1 track wide siting on a narrow shelf near the ceiling and goes around the whole room? I've had a few layouts, mainly N gauge, using the standard Atlas track with cork roadbed. I've never used the "snap tracks" that come with the roadbed already attached. I'd like to go this route for ease and to prevent hassles in the future. I see there are four biggies that sell this stuff: Kato Unitrack, Lifelike Power-Loc, Bachmann E-Z Track and Atlas True Track. I really like Kato products but see their version of this track is priced higher (in some cases MUCH higher) than the other three. Is there anyone out there who has had a bad experience with any of these or who could steer me to or away from one or the other? Oh, BTW, if it matters, I'm planning on going DCC with this "layout".

Thanks!
 
I've never used Kato Unitrack or the Atlas True Track. I have however used the Power-Loc and the EZ-Track and I have to say that of the two the EZ-Track is the better one hands down. The nickel silver track is much better than the steel. How do I feel about it? My entire layout is Bachmann nickel-silver EZ-Track.
 
jeffrey-wimberly said:
I've never used Kato Unitrack or the Atlas True Track. I have however used the Power-Loc and the EZ-Track and I have to say that of the two the EZ-Track is the better one hands down. The nickel silver track is much better than the steel. How do I feel about it? My entire layout is Bachmann nickel-silver EZ-Track.
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Thanks for that, very helpful...Wow, they still make track out of steel??? :eek:
 
I've used the bachman EZ track when I had N gauge and was happy with it.
The Kato and Atlas are more expensive but they do have more options. One good thing about the pre installed roadbed is you can hide your track bus under it.
 
hamltnblue said:
I've used the bachman EZ track when I had N gauge and was happy with it.
The Kato and Atlas are more expensive but they do have more options. One good thing about the pre installed roadbed is you can hide your track bus under it.
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Thanks, that's a good point about the bus. How do you anchor this stuff? Glue?
 
I use tape and glue. I run a thick zig-zag bead of glue with the beads 1.5 to 2 inches apart and put the track down on it then with track section weighted at both ends I put a 6 inch piece of clear tape on each side of the section so it comes halfway up the roadbed. The rest I stick down on the board. This helps hold the track down while the glue sets and I can use the weights elsewhere.
 
Unitrack has spots you can run small screws through into the base you are working on.
Also, I'm partial to Unitrack, I've worked with all the others, and, while they do the job, Unitrack is the best as far as no-fuss setup and operation. I had a large HO Unitrack setup running all over the house (on the floor), and it held up well to the occasional "Foot of God" accidentally stomping on it. The others were less forgiving.
 
I on the other hand used EZ-track and hated it. I endied up ripping the layout apart because of it. The turnouts are serviced from below and you have to rip them out to fix them when they fail and they do. If you have them ballasted in it's a mess. They are also 3/16 too high so your rollingstock will tower over your docks.
 
I only have experience with EZ-Track, and I think it is a good product. I found it easy to use.

The one thing I hated about EZ-Track were the turnouts. When I was using it in 2005, all that was available were 22" radius curve sections and the "long" turnouts that were close to a #6. The turnouts are expensive and they are generally sloppy, requiring a lot of fiddling to get them to work reliably for all rolling items that will use them. To be fair, some were better than others.

But by far the biggest problem was that the curvature and lengths of pieces limit the user to certain configurations. If you are willing to cut and bend the odd piece of flextrack to work around odd angles and lengths, you should do fine. But if you want all EZ-Track, you will have a tough time getting your loop to close unless you plan it meticulously.

-Crandell
 
I too have E-Z track as part of my layout. It's mostly because what came with the train set my wife bought me and I used up what I had. The E-Z track itself is fine although the steep sides make it a challenge to ballast. OTOH, you can use Krylon's Make-It-stone Granite paint to spray the roadbed and it doesn't look half bad. I've attached a couple of pictures of one section I experimented on and I think it looks decent for just paint, although you do have to repaint every tie.

However, as Crandell said, the E-Z track switchs are just awful. They have no positive latching mechanism for the points so the points are easy to move and engines will constantly picking the points on facing points switches. Filing the points super sharp helps but I quickly abandoned them and used Atlas and Walthers/Shinohara switches in their place. It's tricky to get the switches on a roadbed built up to the same height as the E-Z track but I've found Woodland Scenics black roadbed with another layer cut in half on top of it is about perfect for the transition.
 
I've used Unitrack, EZ track, and Power-Lock track. Don't even go there with the Power-Lock track. Unitrack is by far the best, no compition. However EZ track is great and much cheaper.
 
David, you didn't happen to have a grade change going into the turnouts did you? That'll cause problems every time no matter whose product you use. The track going to and away from the turnout should be level with the turnout. ie:turnout on 1% grade, track needs to be on 1% grade also with no change in grade for at least one car length, the car length being the same as your longest car or loco. Also entering a turnout from a curve can also be problematic. All the track on my layout is EZ-Track with #4 and #5 turnouts throughout and I have no problem with them with the exception of one P2K E7A. I run P2K, Bachmann, Atlas, IHC, Kato and Athearn locos with rolling stock ranging from 40' to 70'. Most problems I see with EZ-Track are because of the track not being completely level from section to section with dips between the right and left rails that especially wreak havok with passenger cars and many 6 axle locos.
 
Life-Like Power Loc Track is the worst !!!! The track easily get's dirty and doesn't really look all that realistic. Bachmann E-Z Track is not as good either. The rail joiners easily break and I don't think it looks that realsistic either. If I were in your situation I would definitely stick with Kato Unitrack because it looks more realistic, and the train runs much quieter on the track. Atlas True Track is also good as well because you can snap the track off of the roadbed. Have you ever thought about getting some Atlas Flex Track and just putting it on top of cork roadbed ????
 
I use Atlas True Track and in my opinion, it's great. I've used E-Z Track before and i don't think it's all that great. With True Track, if you want to, you can take the roadbed away from the track so it can be your basic Code 83 track which is great if for later on, you want to lay cork. However, what I'm doing is using the roadbed to my advantage. I simply ballast the track and the roadbed. No need for cork! I know some people look down upon these roadbed ready systems but if you're not to great at laying cork, or anything like that, then True Track I believe is your best choice.
 
if you are going to make a permanent install, I would suggest scrapping sectional track and just use flextrack with a cork roadbed. You will be able to create smoother curves for your corners (read: easements) and by using Atlas nickle silver track, you will also have a more reliable line.

The other benefit of flex is cost per foot: i have seen the sectional track prices rise and rise and it is approaching $2 a section of 9 inch. Flex on the other hand will give you not only better track, but will also be closer to $1 a foot.

Yet another benefit of flex is that it will have less joints in it, and joints are always a headache unless soldered, and you dont want to solder sectional track.

You really dont want to use roadbed track unless you are actually going to be taking it apart after setting it up. I use EZ track to set up when i want to run my trains, and it winds up being on the patio, where i can create nice long tangents and stuff.
 
I've used and now absolutely swear by Kato unitrack.

Over a decade ago, before a series of moves, I was very good at building "bulletproof" track, soldering my rails and everything. It was a lot of work but I eliminated any derailments due to track. That was years ago, and after tearing up my last layout and many moves to places where I never had any space except a temporary table or board I started using sectional track to make temporary layouts so I could at least run the occasional train. I started collecting Unitrack. It looks good enough for my tastes with very little modification (just blend it into the terrain some with the matching ballest Kato makes/made), runs as good or better than anything I laid, and even makes electrical work easier as well.
 
I finally set up a basic oval of Kato Unitrack with a simple siding to see how it worked. I'm pretty happy. The Kato Unitrack went together easy and is easy to take apart. It's totally quiet in operation and no problems with power to the track. I'm running a Digitrax Zepher DCC controller to it and using just one 'feeder' track to provide power and DCC control the the train. I'm using 2 #6 turnouts to create the siding.

When using Bachmann E-Z Track, I learned to put a straight section prior to each turnout as my Genesis UP 844 picked the switches if it was still in a turn when it hit the switch. I also had a continous problem with my IHC Gold series Pacific tender derailing on more than one E-Z Track switch.

So, I put both to the test on my basic Unitrack layout. Both #6 turnouts are connected to 22" radius turns and UP 844 went right through them each and every time whether they were straight through or set to turn out and all all speeds from barely moving to full throttle. Ditto my IHC Pacific. The tender on the Pacific is stable at all speeds also.

I like the Unitrack.

Now I have a lot of E-Z Track to sell!!!
 
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